Belo

Belo Corporation /ˈbiːloʊ/ was a Dallas-based media company that owned 20 commercial broadcasting television stations and two regional 24-hour cable news television channels. The company was previously known as A. H. Belo Corporation after one of the early owners of the company, Alfred Horatio Belo, now the name of the newspaper company spun off from Belo early in 2008. Belo had its headquarters in the Belo Building in Downtown Dallas, designed by Dallas architects Omniplan and constructed between 1983 and 1985.[3]

For other uses, see Belo (disambiguation).
Belo Corporation
Public
Traded asNYSE: BLC
IndustryBroadcasting, Television, Interactive media
FateAcquired by Gannett
SuccessorGannett Company
Founded1926 (1926)
DefunctDecember 23, 2013 (2013-12-23)
HeadquartersDallas, Texas, United States
Key people
Dunia Shive
(President and CEO)
RevenueUS$687 million (FY 2010)[1]
US$216 million (FY 2010)[1]
US$86.9 million (FY 2010)[1]
Total assetsUS$1.59 billion (FY 2010)[2]
Total equityUS$171 million (FY 2010)[2]
Number of employees
6,600

History
The Belo Tower (now called 400 Record) in downtown Dallas.

The company traces its roots back to 1842 with the introduction of The Daily News in Galveston, Texas. Its flagship, The Dallas Morning News, has been publishing since 1885. The name A.H. Belo Corporation was applied to the company in 1926. The name was shortened to Belo Corporation in 2002.

On October 1, 2007, Belo announced the separation of its newspaper and television businesses by spinning off its newspaper business to shareholders as A. H. Belo Corporation, officially completed in February 2008. The television business retained the Belo Corporation name (without the "A. H." initials).[4] The spin-off was structured so that the broadcasting company was the legal successor to the prior company.[5]

In September 2010, Belo became the first non-ABC group to sign on with the Live Well Network, adding it to 5 of their stations (WFAA, KMOV, WCNC-TV, WVEC, & WWL-TV) on November 8, 2010.[6]

On June 13, 2013, Gannett Company announced plans to buy Belo for $1.5 billion and the assumption of debt.[7] Because of ownership conflicts that exist in markets where both Belo and Gannett own television stations and newspapers, Gannett planned to sell six Belo-owned stations--KMOV in St. Louis, WHAS-TV in Louisville, KMSB in Tucson, KGW-TV in Portland, Oregon and KTVK and KASW in Phoenix—to Sander Media, LLC, owned by former Belo executive Jack Sander. Gannett would have provided some services to the Sander stations under joint services agreements. Due to concerns about any possible future consolidation of operations of Gannett- and Belo-owned properties in markets where both own television stations or collusion involving the Gannett and Sander stations in retransmission consent negotiations, anti-media-consolidation groups (such as Free Press) and pay television providers (such as Time Warner Cable and DirecTV) called for the FCC to block the acquisition.[8][9]

The concerns were especially pronounced in St. Louis, since the merged company would have controlled two of the three news departments run by "Big Four" stations in that city—KMOV, which was to have been sold to Sander, and Gannett-owned KSDK. On December 16, 2013, the United States Department of Justice threatened to block the deal unless Gannett, Belo and Sander completely divested KMOV to a government-approved third-party company that would be barred from entering into any agreements with Gannett, in order to fully preserve competition in advertising sales with KSDK. Justice claimed that Gannett and Sander would be so closely aligned that Gannett would have dominated spot advertising in St. Louis.[10] On December 20, the deal was approved by the FCC.[11] With the completion of the deal on December 23,[12] on the same day Gannett and Sander agreed to sell KMOV, KTVK and control of KASW for $407.5 million to Meredith Corporation (which owns KPHO-TV in the Phoenix market); Sander served as caretaker owner of those stations during the sale process, and SagamoreHill Broadcasting would take on KASW's license.[13] Meredith's purchase of KMOV was completed on February 28, 2014,[14] and its purchase of KTVK, along with SagamoreHill's purchase of KASW, were completed on June 19. SagamoreHill was then forced to divest KASW to Nexstar Broadcasting Group (now Nexstar Media Group) on January 30, 2015.

On June 29, 2015, Gannett split into two companies, one specializing in print media and named "Gannett," and the other specializing in broadcast and digital media. The latter company, Tegna, retained most of the Belo stations and is the legal successor to the company that previously bore Gannett's name.

Former Belo-owned Television Stations

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.

Notes:

  • (**) - Indicates a station owned by Dun & Bradstreet subsidiary Corinthian Broadcasting prior to its acquisition by the original A. H. Belo Corporation in 1984.
  • (++) - Indicates a station owned by The Providence Journal Company prior to its acquisition by the original A. H. Belo Corporation in 1997.
  • (~~) - Indicates a station managed by Belo Corporation. Previously under ownership of HIC Broadcast, Inc.
City of license / Market Station Channel
TV (RF)		 Years owned /
managed		 Current ownership status
Phoenix, AZ KTVK 3 (24) 1999–2013 Independent station owned by Meredith Corporation
KASW 61 (49) 2000–2013 The CW affiliate owned by the E. W. Scripps Company
Tucson, AZ KMSB-TV ++ 11 (25) 1997–2013 Fox affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
(Operated through a SSA by Gray Television)
KTTU 18 (19) 2002–2013 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
(Operated through a SSA by Gray Television)
Sacramento - Stockton - Modesto KXTV ** 10 (10) 1984–1999 ABC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Honolulu KHNL ++ 13 (35) 1997–1999 NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Boise, ID KTVB ++ 7 (7) 1997–2013 NBC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Twin Falls, ID KTFT-LD ++
(satellite of KTVB)		 7 (20) 1997–2013 NBC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Fort Wayne, IN WANE-TV ** 15 (31) 1984 CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Indianapolis WISH-TV ** 8 (9) 1984 The CW affiliate owned by Circle City Broadcasting
Louisville, KY WHAS-TV ++ 11 (11) 1997–2013 ABC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
New Orleans, LA WWL-TV 4 (36) 1994–2013 CBS affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
WUPL 54 (24) 2007–2013 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
St. Louis, MO KMOV 4 (24) 1997–2013 CBS affiliate owned by Meredith Corporation
Santa Fe - Albuquerque KASA-TV ++ 2 (27) 1997–1999 Telemundo affiliate owned by Ramar Communications
Charlotte, NC WCNC-TV ++ 36 (22) 1997–2013 NBC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Tulsa KOTV ** 6 (45) 1984–2000 CBS affiliate owned by Griffin Communications
Portland, OR KGW-TV ++ 8 (8) 1997–2013 NBC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Chattanooga WTVC 9 (9) 1980–1984 ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Austin, TX KVUE 24 (33) 1999–2013 ABC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Beaumont - Port Arthur, TX KFDM-TV 6 (21) 1969–1984 CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Dallas - Fort Worth, TX WFAA-TV 8 (8) 1950–2013 ABC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
KFWD ~~ 52 (9) 2006–2012 Sonlife Broadcasting Network affiliate owned by NRJ Holdings.
Houston, TX KHOU-TV ** 11 (11) 1984–2013 CBS affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
San Antonio, TX KENS-TV 5 (39) 1997–2013 CBS affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Hampton - Norfolk - Portsmouth, VA WVEC-TV ** 13 (13) 1984–2013 ABC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Seattle - Tacoma, WA KING-TV ++ 5 (48) 1997–2013 NBC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
KIRO-TV 7 (39) 1995–1997 CBS affiliate owned by Cox Media Group
KONG 16 (31) 2000–2013 Independent station owned by Tegna Inc.
Spokane, WA KREM-TV ++ 2 (20) 1997–2013 CBS affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
KSKN 22 (36) 2001–2013 The CW affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.

Cable networks
Availability Station, Channel No. Acquired/
Introduced		 Notes
Seattle, Portland, Spokane, Boise NWCN (Northwest cable news), Channel Numbers Vary 1997 Acquired from part of the King Broadcasting Group from merger with The Providence Journal Company. Defunct as of January 6, 2017.
Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Austin, Corpus Christi, Laredo, Texarkana, Port Arthur/Beaumont, Waco, El Paso, Wichita Falls, Rio Grande Valley TXCN (Texas Cable News), Channel Numbers Vary 1999 Composed of news teams from: WFAA, Dallas; KHOU, Houston; KENS, San Antonio; KVUE, Austin. Defunct as of May 1, 2015.
Greater Houston News 24 Houston 2002 A joint venture with Time Warner Cable serving the Greater Houston area. Defunct as of July 23, 2004.
Greater San Antonio News 9 San Antonio 2003 A joint venture with Time Warner Cable serving the Greater San Antonio area. Defunct as of July 23, 2004.
Boise 24/7 (news channel)
KTVB sub-channel: 7.2 / 26.2, 28, KZAK-LD: 49		 2003 Composed of the KTVB news team. Originally a 24/7 news channel, it airs a general entertainment format. Owned by Tegna.
New Orleans metropolitan area, Baton Rouge, Acadiana Region NewsWatch 15 15 1988 Composed of the WWL-TV news team, jointly owned with Cox Communications. Partially owned by Tegna.
Hampton - Norfolk - Portsmouth, VA Local News on Cable (LNC) 5 1997 24-Hour News channel that was only available on Cox Cable. Defunct as of December 31, 2010.

Online presence

Belo operated websites for each of its properties. The sites were formerly part of a separate company, known as Belo Interactive. In late 2004, the company began the process of reintegrating the sites into sister media properties. One of its most infamous investments was in the failed CueCat and its parent company, Digital Convergence. Belo integrated its media properties to be able to use the device, but it never took off.

Belo also was one of the major investors in Classified Ventures, LLC.

In late 2009, Belo began transitioning the Web operations of its television stations from a largely in-house operation to the Broadcast Interactive Media platform. The first such relaunches were the Web sites of its Arizona station properties—KTVK/KASW in Phoenix and KMSB/KTTU in Tucson—which launched in September 2009. The transition (at least for the major Belo television properties) was completed on November 19, 2009 when WFAA in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex relaunched its Web site.

Infomercials

Belo used a modified infomercial form on many of its stations, branded Great Day (city) in several markets:

These programs remained in production following Belo's merger with the broadcasting unit of the Gannett Company (now known as TEGNA) in 2013.

References

Notes

  1. Belo (BLC) annual SEC income statement filing via Wikinvest.
  2. Belo (BLC) annual SEC balance sheet filing via Wikinvest.
  3. "Contact Us Archived 2010-03-09 at the Wayback Machine." Belo. Retrieved on November 21, 2009. See also Judith Garrett Segura, Belo: From Newspapers to New Media. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2008.
  4. "Belo to Create Separate Television and Newspaper Businesses". Belo Corp. 2007-10-01. Archived from the original on 2007-10-09.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-02-14. Retrieved 2008-02-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Malone, Michael (September 29, 2010). "Adds ABC's Live Well Network". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. Retrieved December 3, 2014.
  7. "Gannett to buy Belo for $1.5 billion". Reuters. 2013-06-13.
  8. Free Press, Others Ask FCC To Deny Some Gannett/Belo Transfers, Broadcasting & Cable, July 24, 2013.
  9. Public Interest Groups, Cable Companies Oppose Gannett-Belo Merger, AdWeek, July 25, 2013.
  10. Eggerton, John (December 16, 2013). "Justice: Sander Can't Keep KMOV". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
  11. "FCC OKs Gannett-Belo And Tribune-Local". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved 20 December 2013.
  12. Gannett Completes Its Acquisition of Belo, TVNewsCheck, Retrieved 23 December 2013
  13. "Meredith Buying Three Stations From Gannett". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
  14. Brown, Lisa (February 28, 2014). "Meredith Corp. closes on $177 million purchase of KMOV". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved February 28, 2014.

Further reading

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