Heartland Media
Heartland Media, LLC is an American media company that owns television stations in smaller markets in the United States. The company is based in Atlanta, Georgia and operates as a joint venture with MSouth Equity Partners under the business name USA Television Holdings. The company is run by Bob Prather, a former CEO of Gray Television, whose philosophy of station acquisitions, acquired during his time at Gray, is centered on "acquiring No. 1-rated stations, Big Four affiliates with strong local news operations targeting university towns and state capitols that are deeply ingrained in the fabric of their communities".[1]
Contents
History
Heartland Media made its first acquisition in 2013, when it acquired NBC affiliate WKTV in Utica, New York from Smith Media, which was the company's remaining television property.[2] This was followed by the 2014 acquisition of Oregon-based Chambers Communications Corporation and its stations, KEZI in Eugene and KDRV in Medford, as well as the latter's satellite station in Klamath Falls, KDKF.[3] Later that year, Heartland also acquired NBC affiliate WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi, along with WTVA's shared services agreement with West Point-based Fox affiliate WLOV-TV (owned by Coastal Television).[4]
In 2015, Heartland would acquire CBS affiliate KHSL-TV in Chico, California from GOCOM Media, LLC, in a deal that also concurrently saw the station's LMA partner, NBC affiliate KNVN, sold by K4 Media Holdings to Maxair Media, LLC, with KHSL selling up to 15 percent of KNVN's advertising time.[5]
On August 26, 2016, Heartland agreed to acquire ABC affiliate WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Alabama from Calkins Media as that company sold the rest of its television stations to Raycom Media, who already owned WAFF in the market.[6]
Acquisition of stations from Nexstar-Media General
On June 13, 2016, Heartland Media announced its acquisition of five small-market stations owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group and Media General for $115 million.[1] The stations were sold to allow Nexstar to comply with FCC ownership rules as part of its acquisition of Media General, particularly in regards to national market coverage and rules forbidding duopolies in these markets, which are amongst the smallest in the United States.
Stations acquired by Heartland as part of the deal were:
- CBS affiliates WLFI-TV in West Lafayette, Indiana, WTHI-TV in Terre Haute, Indiana, and KIMT in Mason City, Iowa, all owned by Media General; in Terre Haute, Nexstar already owned NBC affiliate WTWO and operates ABC affiliate WAWV-TV, owned by Mission Broadcasting.
- Fox affiliate WFFT-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana, owned by Nexstar who planned to acquire Media General's CBS affiliate, WANE-TV.
- ABC affiliate KQTV in St. Joseph, Missouri, owned by Nexstar.
The deal was consummated upon the approval of Nexstar's merger with Media General on January 17.[7]
Television stations
Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.
| City of license / Market | Station | Channel TV (RF) |
Owned since | Network affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huntsville, Alabama | WAAY-TV | 31 (32) | 2017 | ABC |
| Chico – Redding, California | KHSL-TV | 12 (43) | 2015 | CBS The CW (DT2) |
| KNVN | 24 (24) | 1 | NBC Telemundo (DT2) |
|
| Fort Wayne, Indiana | WFFT-TV | 55 (36) | 2017 | Fox |
| West Lafayette, Indiana | WLFI-TV | 18 (11) | 2017 | CBS The CW (DT2) |
| Terre Haute, Indiana | WTHI-TV | 10 (10) | 2017 | CBS Fox/MyNetworkTV (DT2) The CW (DT3) |
| Mason City, Iowa – Rochester, Minnesota | KIMT | 3 (42) | 2017 | CBS MyNetworkTV (DT2) |
| Saint Joseph, Missouri | KQTV | 2 (7) | 2017 | ABC |
| Eugene, Oregon | KEZI | 9 (9) | 2014 | ABC |
| Medford – Klamath Falls, Oregon | KDRV | 12 (12) | 2014 | ABC |
| KDKF (Satellite of KDRV) |
31 (29) | 2014 | ABC | |
| Tupelo – Columbus, Mississippi | WTVA | 9 (8) | 2015 | NBC ABC (DT2) |
| WLOV-TV | 27 (16) | 2 | Fox | |
| Utica – Rome, New York | WKTV | 2 (29) | 2014 | NBC CBS (DT2) The CW (DT3) |
Notes:
- 1 Owned by Maxair Media, LLC. Heartland operates the station under a shared services agreement (SSA).
- 2 Owned by Coastal Television Broadcasting Company LLC. Heartland operates the station under a shared services agreement.
References
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- ↑ Nexstar Broadcasting Group Completes Acquisition of Media General Creating Nexstar Media Group, The Nation’s Second Largest Television Broadcaster Nexstar Media Group, 17 January, 2017. Retrieved 22 January, 2017.
