Hearst Television

Hearst Television, Inc.

Formerly	Hearst Broadcasting (1931–1997) Hearst-Argyle Television (1997–2009)
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Broadcast Television Television Production
Predecessor	Hearst Broadcasting Argyle Television Holdings II
Founded	1931;90 years ago (1931) (as Hearst Broadcasting)
Headquarters	New York City, New York , United States
Area served	United States (Nationwide)
Key people	Jordan Wertlieb (President)
Products	Broadcast television
Revenue	US$ 785.4 million (2006)
Operating income	US$ 228.8 million (2006)
Net income	US$ 98.7 million (2006)
Number of employees	approx. 3000 (full-time)
Parent	Hearst Communications
Subsidiaries	Litton Entertainment
Website	hearst.com/broadcasting

Hearst Television, Inc. (formerly Hearst-Argyle Television) is a broadcasting company in the United States owned by Hearst Communications. From 1998 to mid-2009, the company traded its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HTV."

Hearst-Argyle was formed in 1997 with the merger of Hearst Corporation's broadcasting division and stations owned by Argyle Television Holdings II, ^[1] which is partially related to the company of the same name who (in 1994) sold its stations to New World Communications, stations that eventually became Fox-owned stations (Hearst itself, unusual for any American broadcast group, has never held a Fox affiliation on any of its stations). Hearst's involvement in broadcasting dates to the 1920s.

In terms of audience reach, Hearst is the third-largest group owner of ABC-affiliated stations, behind the E. W. Scripps Company and Sinclair Broadcast Group, and ahead of Tegna Inc., and the second-largest group owner of NBC affiliates, behind Tegna.

Hearst-owned ABC affiliates in National Football League markets simulcast Monday Night Football games from ESPN that involve these teams - ESPN is 20% owned by Hearst, the rest being owned by ABC's parent, The Walt Disney Company. Other Hearst-owned stations also carry ESPN-aired NFL games, even though they are affiliated with other networks (like WBAL-TV, Baltimore's NBC affiliate). Hearst also holds some joint ventures for syndicated programming with NBCUniversal Television Distribution.

On June 3, 2009, the Hearst Corporation announced that it would purchase substantially all of the stock not held by Hearst. Hearst-Argyle Television then dropped "Argyle" from its name and became a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation. ^[2]

Digital television

In February 2009, Hearst-Argyle announced that its stations (except for KITV and its satellites in Hawaii, which had already completed their transition to digital, and WPTZ in Plattsburgh, New York and WNNE in Hartford, Vermont, which followed the other Champlain Valley in transitioning on February 17, 2009) would comply with the new DTV transition date of June 12, 2009.

Hearst-owned stations

Hearst-Argyle Television logo, 2007-2009

Currently, Hearst owns a total of 34 overall television stations but considers two groups of four stations and an NBC station with an ABC digital subchannel joint operations, bringing its count down to 31 under that consideration: eleven NBC affiliates, fifteen ABC affiliates (one as a subchannel of an NBC affiliate, and one which acts as a two-station simulcast), two CBS affiliates, six CW affiliates (two traditional, two subchannel (which are part of a two-station simulcast), and two channel shares), two MyNetworkTV affiliates (one traditional, one subchannel), and one independent station. Most of the company's subchannel stations broadcast either Weigel Broadcasting's MeTV or NBC's Cozi TV through national affiliation deals, along with being charter carriers of Weigel's two newest concepts, Heroes & Icons and Movies!. Since December 1, 2014, Des Moines CBS affiliate KCCI has used its third subchannel as an H&I affiliate carrying MyNetworkTV programming in primetime. Hearst also owns two radio stations in Baltimore, the last remaining from the company divesting most of their radio assets after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 went into effect. As already mentioned above, none of Hearst's stations have ever held a Fox affiliation, with the exception of two WMUR translators in the northern part of New Hampshire dis-affiliating with the network upon Hearst's assumption of ownership of WMUR.

Candy Altman at the 68th Annual Peabody Awards for Hearst-Argyle Television-Commitment 2008

Some Hearst-owned stations use the "Commitment (Year)" banner for all political news coverage leading up to the local, national, and statewide elections in lieu of a localized version of their associated network's political branding. This started in 2000. Hearst also maintains a Washington, D.C. bureau to assist its stations in coverage of national politics, including on-air reporters and facilities and equipment assistance for local stations. Many Hearst stations license the "Operation High School" branding for coverage of local high school sports. In 2007, Hearst-Argyle became one of the first television broadcasting groups to post its news stories on YouTube. WCVB, KCRA, WTAE, WBAL and WMUR were the first stations in Hearst-Argyle's station group to do this.

Until 2009, three of Hearst's television stations (KCWE, WMOR-TV, and WPBF) and its two radio stations (WBAL radio and WIYY) were owned by Hearst Broadcasting, Inc., an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation through which Hearst ultimately controlled Hearst-Argyle Television, as opposed to Hearst-Argyle itself; Hearst-Argyle still operated these stations under a management services agreement. These stations were transferred to Hearst Television shortly after its privatization. ^{[3] [4]} Hearst's television and radio cluster in Baltimore additionally serves as the flagship stations and operation bases for the Baltimore Ravens radio and television networks.

On August 20, 2014, it was announced that Hearst Television would acquire WVTM in Birmingham, Alabama and WJCL in Savannah, Georgia from Media General, which divested those stations under FCC advisement as part of its acquisition of LIN Media. ^{[5] [6]}

On January 6, 2017, Hearst acquired majority control of Charleston, South Carolina-based syndicator Litton Entertainment, which has control of four of the five E/I-compliant Saturday morning blocks on the five major broadcast networks, along with being a syndicator of traditional programming. The deal closed on February 1. ^[7]

In 2021, Hearst began to carry the home shopping network Shop LC on several its stations under a revenue-sharing agreement with that network's owners. In most markets, Hearst will not pursue cable or satellite carriage for Shop LC, as the network already pays providers nationwide to carry its network on several channel slots per system.

Television production

Hearst Television also produces the weekly public-affairs program Matter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien , which in fall 2018 entered its fourth season. Outside of the Hearst stations and A&E, the show is distributed in national broadcast syndication by Sony Pictures Television.

In 2019, former Today consumer affairs reporter Jeff Rossen joined Hearst as a multi-platform consumer affairs reporter, whose reports (which as of April 2020, include COVID-19 pandemic consumer issue Q&A segments) are syndicated throughout the chain, in addition to full-scale semi-annual consumer specials that are also carried by Hearst Television stations. ^[8]

Television stations

Stations are listed alphabetically by state and city of license.

Notes:

• (**) – Indicates a station that was built and signed-on by Hearst.
• (§§) – Indicates a station that was owned by Argyle Television Holdings II prior to the formation of Hearst-Argyle Television in 1997.
• (~~) - Indicates a station that was affected by an ownership swap between Argyle II and Gannett in 1997.
• (≈≈) – Indicates a station that was affected by an ownership swap between Hearst-Argyle and Sunrise Television in 1998.
• (¤¤) – Indicates a station that was owned by Pulitzer prior to its acquisition by Hearst-Argyle in 1998.
• (κ) – Indicates a station that was owned by Kelly Broadcasting prior to its acquisition by Hearst-Argyle in 1999.
• (µ) - Indicates a station that was acquired by Hearst from Media General in 2014.

City of license / Market	Station	Channel TV (RF)	Owned Since	Network Affiliation
Birmingham - Tuscaloosa - Anniston	WVTM-TV µ	13 (13)	2014	NBC
Fort Smith - Fayetteville - Rogers, AR	KHBS §§	40 (21)	1996	ABC The CW (DT2)
	KHOG-TV§§ (satellite of KHBS)	29 (15)
Sacramento - Stockton - Modesto	KCRA-TV κ	3 (35)	1999	NBC
	KQCA κ	58 (23)	2000	MyNetworkTV
Salinas - Monterey - Santa Cruz, CA	KSBW ≈≈	8 (8)	1998	NBC ABC (DT2)
Daytona Beach - Orlando - Clermont, FL	WESH ¤¤	2 (11)	1999	NBC
	WKCF	18 (23)	2006	The CW
Lakeland - Tampa - St. Petersburg, FL	WMOR-TV	32 (18)	1996	Independent
Tequesta - West Palm Beach, FL	WPBF	25 (16)	1997	ABC
Savannah, Georgia	WJCL µ	22 (22)	2014
Des Moines, Iowa	KCCI ¤¤	8 (8)	1999	CBS MyNetworkTV (DT3)
Louisville	WLKY ¤¤	32 (14)		CBS
New Orleans	WDSU ¤¤	6 (19)		NBC
Poland Spring - Portland, ME	WMTW	8 (8)	2004	ABC
	WPXT	51 (34)	2018	The CW
Baltimore	WBAL-TV **	11 (11)	1948	NBC
Boston	WCVB-TV	5 (33)	1986	ABC
Jackson, Mississippi	WAPT §§	16 (21)	1995
Kansas City, Missouri	KMBC-TV	9 (29)	1982
	KCWE	29 (31)	2006 1	The CW
Omaha, Nebraska	KETV ¤¤	7 (20)	1999	ABC
Manchester, New Hampshire	WMUR-TV	9 (9)	2001
Albuquerque - Santa Fe	KOAT-TV ¤¤	7 (7)	1999
Plattsburgh, N.Y. - Burlington, VT	WPTZ ≈≈	5 (14)	1998	NBC
	WNNE ≈≈2	31 (14)		The CW
Winston-Salem - Greensboro - High Point	WXII-TV ¤¤	12 (16)	1999	NBC
	WCWG	20 (16)	2018 3	The CW
Cincinnati	WLWT §§~~	5 (20)	1997	NBC
Oklahoma City	KOCO-TV §§~~	5 (7)		ABC
Lancaster - Harrisburg - York - Lebanon	WGAL ¤¤	8 (8)	1999	NBC
Pittsburgh	WTAE-TV **	4 (27)	1958	ABC
Greenville - Spartanburg - Asheville - Anderson	WYFF ¤¤	4 (30)	1999	NBC
Milwaukee	WISN-TV	12 (28)	1955	ABC

Other Notes:

• ¹ KCWE in Kansas City has been managed by Hearst since its sign-on in 1996.
• ² As a result of the incentive auction, WNNE channel shares with WPTZ after the sale of its former spectrum. WNNE previously served Hartford, Vermont and Hanover, New Hampshire as a semi-satellite of WPTZ.
• ³ As a result of the incentive auction, WCWG channel shares with WXII after the sale of its former spectrum. Hearst purchased WCWG outright on February 12, 2018 from former owner Lockwood Broadcast Group, but operated the station under a secondary shared services arrangement after the channel share went into effect on July 31, 2017.

Radio stations

AM Station

FM Station

City of License/Market	Station	Owned Since	Current Format
Baltimore	WBAL 1090 AM W268BA 101.5 FM	1935	News-Talk
	WIYY 97.9	1960	Active rock/Alternative rock/Classic rock

Stations formerly owned by Hearst and/or Argyle II

Television stations

City of license / Market	Station	Channel TV (RF)	Years owned	Current ownership status
Honolulu	KITV §§	4 (40)	1995–2015	ABC affiliate owned by Allen Media Broadcasting
Hilo, Hawaii	KHVO§§ (satellite of KITV)	4 (18)	1995–2015	ABC affiliate owned by Allen Media Broadcasting
Wailuku, Hawaii	KMAU§§ (satellite of KITV)	4 (29)	1995–2015	ABC affiliate owned by Allen Media Broadcasting
Grand Rapids - Kalamazoo - Battle Creek, MI	WZZM §§~~	13 (13)	1995–1997	ABC affiliate owned by Tegna
Buffalo, New York	WGRZ §§~~	2 (33)	1995–1997	NBC affiliate owned by Tegna
Dayton, Ohio	WDTN ≈≈1	2 (50)	1981–1998	NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Providence, R.I.-New Bedford, MA	WNAC-TV §§ ≈≈2	64 (12)	1995–1998	Fox affiliate owned by Super Towers, Inc. (operated under LMA by Nexstar Media Group)
Clarksburg - Weston, W.V.	WBOY-TV	12 (12)	2001	NBC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
New England Region	NECN	N/A	1992–2009 (joint venture w/Comcast)	Cable-only regional news channel owned by NBCUniversal

First Hearst-Argyle Television logo from 1997 to 2007.

Notes:

• ¹ WDTN was an ABC affiliate under Hearst during its ownership; LIN switched the station's affiliation back to NBC in 2004.
• ² WNAC-TV was owned by Argyle, but operated from 1996 to 2001 by Clear Channel Communications under a local marketing agreement (LMA) with WPRI-TV, which Clear Channel owned at the time.

In addition to the above, Hearst-Argyle never owned WZZM or WGRZ. Those two stations were divested by one of the company's predecessors, Argyle Television Holdings II, several months prior to the merger with Hearst Broadcasting. The "years owned" information reflects the years of ownership by Argyle Television Holdings II. And WDTN was the only formerly owned television station that was owned directly by Hearst prior to the merger.

Radio stations

(a partial listing)

AM Station

FM Station

Market	Station	Years Owned	Current Ownership
Phoenix	KTAR 620	1999–2001	Owned by Bonneville International
	KMVP 860	1999–2001	KNAI , owned by Farmworker Educational Radio Network
	KKLT 98.7	1999–2001	KMVP-FM , owned by Bonneville International
Los Angeles	KEHE 780	1935–1939	KABC 790, owned by Cumulus Media
San Francisco	KYA 1260	1934–1942	KSFB , owned by Immaculate Heart Media
Louisville	WLKY 970	1999–2000	WGTK , owned by Salem Media Group
New York City	WGBS/WINS 1010	1931–1946	Owned by Entercom
Kernersville - Winston-Salem - Greensboro - High Point	WXII 830	1999–2000	WTRU , owned by Truth Broadcasting Corporation
Oklahoma City	KOMA 1480	1936–1939	KOKC 1520, owned by Tyler Media Group
Pittsburgh	WCAE/WRYT/WTAE 1250	1931–1997	WPGP , owned by Salem Media Group
	WCAE-FM/WRYT-FM/WTAE-FM/WXKX/WHTX/WVTY 96.1 **	1960–1997	WKST-FM , owned by iHeartMedia
San Juan, PR	WAPA 680	1961–1991	Owned by Wifredo G. Blanco Pi
Austin	KNOW 1500	1936–1939	KTSN 1490, owned by REO Radio Group
San Antonio	KTSA 550	1936–1939	Owned by Alpha Media
Waco	WACO 1420	1936–1939	KCLE 1460, owned by M&M Broadcasters
Milwaukee	WISN 1130	1928–1997	Owned by iHeartMedia
	WISN-FM/WLPX/WBTT/WLTQ 97.3 **	1961–1997	WRNW , owned by iHeartMedia

References

1. Rathbun, Elizabeth A. (1997-03-31). "Hearst stocks up on Argyles; merged TV group with 14 stations, 11.6% coverage is valued at $1.8 billion". Broadcasting & Cable . Archived from the original on 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2011-02-17– via HighBeam Research.
2. Malone, Michael (2009-06-03). "Hearst Moves On Merger". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved 2019-04-23.
3. "Explanation to FCC of Hearst-Argyle privatization" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. May 18, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
4. "Explanation to FCC of Hearst reorganization" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. July 29, 2009. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
5. "Media General, LIN Sell Stations In 5 Markets". TVNewsCheck. August 20, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2014.
6. Malone, Michael (August 20, 2014). "Media General, LIN Divest Stations in Five Markets". Broadcasting & Cable . Retrieved August 20, 2014.
7. Littleton, Cynthia (6 January 2017). "Hearst Acquires Majority Stake in Independent Distributor Litton Entertainment". Variety . Retrieved 27 January 2017.
8. "Jeff Rossen joins Hearst Television as Chief National Consumer Correspondent". WPBF. 5 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2020.

External links

• Official website