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| Industry | Media |
|---|---|
| Founded | August 2003 (2003-08) |
| Founder |
|
| Defunct |
|
| Fate | Acquired by Gray Television |
| Successor | Gray Media |
| Headquarters | Dallas, Texas |
| Services | Broadcast television |
Hoak Media Corporation was a broadcast media company based inDallas, Texas. Hoak once owned eighteen television stations (including satellites), all in medium and small-markets, mostly in the Great Plains states and Colorado.
Hoak Media was established in August 2003.
On November 20, 2013,Gray Television announced that it would purchase Hoak Media and Parker Broadcasting, excluding KREX (and its satellites), KFQX and WMBB (which could not be sold to Gray as it already owned stations in the markets affected), and as well asKAUZ-TV. Some of Hoak's stations were originally going to be sold to Excalibur Broadcasting and they would have been operated by Gray underlocal marketing agreements.[1] On December 19, it was announced that KREX and WMBB would be sold toNexstar Broadcasting Group, while KFQX would be sold toMission Broadcasting.[2]
The sale was completed on June 13, 2014. However, some stations were forced to go off the air and their programming was moved to subchannels of Gray-owned stations (and inHastings, Nebraska, fromKHAS-TV toKSNB-TV with KSNB-TV's existing programming moving to a subchannel), due to some stations unable to receive regulatory approval after theFCC's then-recent ruling onjoint sales agreements. Those silent stations were later sold off to minority interests.[3][4]
On August 10, 2015, Hoak announced it would sell its last remaining station,KAUZ-TV (which was not included in the sale of most of Hoak's other stations to Gray Television, and of which was originally going to be sold to KAUZ Media, Inc.), toAmerican Spirit Media (aCharlotte, North Carolina–based company headed by Thomas B. Henson) and would be operated under ashared services agreement byRaycom Media as a result of that company's acquisition ofDrewry Communications (which had operated KAUZ-TV under ajoint sales agreement since 2009). The sale was completed on December 1,[5] completing the disestablishment of Hoak.
| Media market | State | Station | Purchased | Sold | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Glenwood Springs | Colorado | KREG-TV | 2003 | 2014 | [A] |
| Grand Junction | KFQX | 2003 | 2014 | [a] | |
| KREX-TV | 2003 | 2014 | |||
| KGJT-CD | 2003 | 2014 | |||
| Montrose | KREY | 2003 | 2014 | [A] | |
| Panama City | Florida | WMBB | 2008 | 2014 | |
| Alexandria | Louisiana | KALB-TV | 2008 | 2014 | |
| KAQY | 2008 | 2014 | [a] | ||
| Monroe | KNOE-TV | 2007 | 2014 | ||
| Hastings | Nebraska | KHAS-TV | 2005 | 2014 | |
| North Platte | KNOP-TV | 2005 | 2014 | ||
| K11TW | 2005 | 2014 | |||
| Bismarck | North Dakota | KFYR-TV | 2007 | 2014 | |
| Dickinson | KQCD-TV | 2007 | 2014 | [B] | |
| Fargo | KVLY-TV | 2007 | 2014 | ||
| KXJB-TV | 2007 | 2014 | [a] | ||
| Minot | KMOT | 2007 | 2014 | [B] | |
| Williston | KUMV-TV | 2007 | 2014 | [B] | |
| Aberdeen | South Dakota | KABY-TV | 2007 | 2014 | [C] |
| Pierre | KPRY-TV | 2007 | 2014 | [C] | |
| Sioux Falls | KSFY-TV | 2007 | 2014 | ||
| Wichita Falls | Texas | KAUZ-TV | 2003 | 2015 | [b] |
On June 5, 2012, all of Hoak's stations were pulled fromDish Network after they failed to renew a carriage agreement. The refusal to renew reportedly surrounds Dish Network's "Hopper"digital video recorder and its controversial commercial-skipping featureAutoHop—which has also led to complaints from the major U.S. television networks. Dish Network's senior vice president of programming scolded the company for its decision to pull its channels from the service, believing that their decision disrespects "customer control" over programming.[6][7]