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Hearst Television, Inc.

Formerly	Hearst Broadcasting (1931–1997) Hearst-Argyle Television (1997–2009)
Company type	Subsidiary
Industry	Broadcast television Television production
Predecessor	Hearst Broadcasting Argyle Television Holdings II
Founded	1931; 94 years ago (1931) (as Hearst Broadcasting)
Headquarters	New York,New York , United States
Area served	United States (Nationwide)
Key people	Michael J. Hayes (president)
Products	Broadcast television
Number of employees	approx. 3000 (full-time)
Parent	Hearst Communications
Divisions	Hearst Media Production Group
Website	hearst.com/broadcasting

Hearst Television, Inc. (formerlyHearst-Argyle Television) is a broadcasting company in theUnited States owned byHearst Communications, made up of a group of television and radio stations, and theHearst Media Production Group, a distributor of programming inbroadcast syndication.

Hearst-Argyle was formed in 1997 with the merger of Hearst Corporation's broadcasting division and stations owned byArgyle Television Holdings II,^[1] which is partially related to the company of the same name who (in 1994) sold its stations toNew World Communications, stations that eventually becameFox-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 1980, Hearst Broadcasting purchasedWDTN inDayton, Ohio, fromGrinnell College for a price estimated to be $45–48 million.^[2]

Hearst-Argyle announced its purchase of the nine television stations and two radio stations owned byPulitzer Publishing Company in May 1998, in a deal worth $1.15 billion in stock.^[3] The acquisition was completed in March 1999.^[4]

In terms of audience reach, Hearst is the third-largest group owner ofABC-affiliated stations, behind theE. W. Scripps Company andSinclair Broadcast Group, and ahead ofTegna Inc., and the second-largest group owner ofNBC affiliates, behind Tegna.

Hearst-owned ABC affiliates inNational Football League markets simulcastMonday Night Football games fromESPN 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 (likeWBAL-TV, Baltimore's NBC affiliate). Hearst also holds somejoint ventures forsyndicated programming withNBCUniversal Syndication Studios.

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.^[5]

In February 2009, Hearst-Argyle announced that its stations (except forKITV and its satellites inHawaii, which had already completed their transition to digital, andWPTZ inPlattsburgh, New York, andWNNE inHartford, Vermont, which followed the otherChamplain Valley stations in transitioning on February 17, 2009) would comply with the new DTV transition date of June 12, 2009.

Currently, Hearst owns a total of 34 overall television stations but considers two groups of four stations and an NBC station with an ABCdigital 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), twoCBS affiliates, sixCW affiliates (two traditional, two subchannel (which are part of a two-station simulcast), and two channel shares), oneMyNetworkTV affiliate, and oneindependent station. Most of the company's subchannel stations broadcast eitherWeigel Broadcasting'sMeTV or NBC'sCozi TV through national affiliation deals, along with being charter carriers of Weigel's two newest concepts,Heroes & Icons, andStory Television. Since December 1, 2014,Des Moines CBS affiliateKCCI has used its third subchannel as an H&I affiliate carrying MyNetworkTV programming in primetime. Hearst also owns two radio stations inBaltimore, the last remaining from the company divesting most of their radio assets after theTelecommunications Act of 1996 went into effect. As already mentioned above, none of Hearst's stations have ever held aFox affiliation, with the exception of two WMUR translators in the northern part of New Hampshire disaffiliating with the network upon Hearst's assumption of ownership of WMUR.

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 aWashington, 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 localhigh school sports. In 2007, Hearst-Argyle became one of the first television broadcasting groups to post its news stories onYouTube.WCVB-TV,KCRA-TV,WTAE-TV,WBAL-TV andWMUR-TV were the first stations in Hearst-Argyle's station group to do this.

Until 2009, three of Hearst's television stations (KCWE,WMOR-TV, andWPBF) and its two radio stations (WBAL radio andWIYY) 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.^[6][7] Hearst's television and radio cluster in Baltimore additionally serves as theflagship stations and operation bases for theBaltimore Ravens radio and television networks, and as the flagship/operations base for theBaltimore OriolesRadio Network.

On August 20, 2014, it was announced that Hearst Television would acquireWVTM in Birmingham, Alabama, andWJCL in Savannah, Georgia, fromMedia General, which divested those stations under FCC advisement as part of its acquisition ofLIN Media.^[8][9]

In 2021, Hearst began to carry the home shopping networkShop LC on several its stations under a revenue-sharing agreement with that network's owners. In most markets, Hearst did 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.

On September 20, 2021, Hearst launchedVery Local, anover-the-top media service which consists of news programming from its television stations as well as nationally produced content such asChronicle andMatter of Fact.^[10][11]

On April 5, 2023, the company began the process of purchasing NBC affiliateWBBH-TV inFort Myers, Florida, which would be acquired from Waterman Broadcasting for $220 million.^{[12][13]: 20} The transaction included thelocal marketing agreement (LMA) for ABC affiliateWZVN-TV with Montclair Communications.^[13]: 14 The sale was completed on June 30, 2023.^[14]

Hearst Television also produces the weekly public-affairs programMatter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien. Outside of the Hearst stations andA&E, the show is distributed in nationalbroadcast syndication bySony Pictures Television.

In 2019, formerTodayconsumer affairs reporterJeff Rossen joined Hearst as a multi-platform consumer affairs reporter, whose reports (which as of April 2020, includeCOVID-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.^[15]

Hearst once owned Hearst-Argyle Television Productions, a producer and distributor of syndicated programming. As part of Hearst-Argyle's acquisition of KCRA-TV in Sacramento, the company also acquired Kelly News & Entertainment, which was merged into Hearst-Argyle Television Productions.^[16] In January 2001,NBC Enterprises and Hearst-Argyle agreed to merge their production and distribution operations into a joint venture majority-owned by NBC; this followed a December 2000 deal between theNBC-owned stations,Gannett, and Hearst-Argyle to develop programming.^[17] NBC Enterprises continued to produce some programming from a Hearst-Argyle facility near Boston until June 2003.^[18]

On January 6, 2017, Hearst acquired majority control ofCharleston, South Carolina-based syndicator Litton Entertainment, which has control of four of the fiveE/I-compliant Saturday morning blocks on the five major broadcast networks (also encompassing a best-of package in syndication calledGo Time), along with being a syndicator of traditional programming. The deal closed on February 1.^[19] Hearst acquired the remaining interest in Litton in 2021; in January 2022, it rebranded the entity—which, in addition to Litton's existing programming, had also taken over production ofMatter of Fact with Soledad O'Brien— asHearst Media Production Group.^[20]

Stations are listed alphabetically by state andcity of license.

(**) – Indicates a station that wasbuilt andsigned-on by Hearst.

(a partial listing)

• Official website

• Hearst Television
• Television broadcasting companies of the United States
• Former joint ventures
• Hearst Communications assets
• Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange
• Radio broadcasting companies of the United States

• Use mdy dates from October 2022
• Articles with short description
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