Belo


Belo Corporation 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.

History

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. The spin-off was structured so that the broadcasting company was the legal successor to the prior company.
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 on November 8, 2010.
On June 13, 2013, Gannett Company announced plans to buy Belo for $1.5 billion and the assumption of debt. 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 and pay television providers called for the FCC to block the acquisition.
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. On December 20, the deal was approved by the FCC. With the completion of the deal on December 23, on the same day Gannett and Sander agreed to sell KMOV, KTVK and control of KASW for $407.5 million to Meredith Corporation ; Sander served as caretaker owner of those stations during the sale process, and SagamoreHill Broadcasting would take on KASW's license. Meredith's purchase of KMOV was completed on February 28, 2014, 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 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:
City of license / MarketStationChannel
TV 		Years owned /
managed		Current ownership status
Phoenix, AZKTVK3 1999–2013Independent station owned by Meredith Corporation
Phoenix, AZKASW61 2000–2013The CW affiliate owned by the E. W. Scripps Company
Tucson, AZKMSB-TV ++11 1997–2013Fox affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Tucson, AZKTTU18 2002–2013MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Sacramento - Stockton - ModestoKXTV **10 1984–1999ABC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
HonoluluKHNL ++13 1997–1999NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Boise, IDKTVB ++7 1997–2013NBC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Twin Falls, IDKTFT-LD ++
7 1997–2013NBC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Fort Wayne, INWANE-TV **15 1984CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
IndianapolisWISH-TV **8 1984The CW affiliate owned by Circle City Broadcasting
Louisville, KYWHAS-TV ++11 1997–2013ABC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
New Orleans, LAWWL-TV4 1994–2013CBS affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
New Orleans, LAWUPL54 2007–2013MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
St. Louis, MOKMOV4 1997–2013CBS affiliate owned by Meredith Corporation
Santa Fe - AlbuquerqueKASA-TV ++2 1997–1999Telemundo affiliate owned by Ramar Communications
Charlotte, NCWCNC-TV ++36 1997–2013NBC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
TulsaKOTV **6 1984–2000CBS affiliate owned by Griffin Communications
Portland, ORKGW-TV ++8 1997–2013NBC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
ChattanoogaWTVC9 1980–1984ABC affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Austin, TXKVUE24 1999–2013ABC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Beaumont - Port Arthur, TXKFDM-TV6 1969–1984CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Dallas - Fort Worth, TXWFAA-TV8 1950–2013ABC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Dallas - Fort Worth, TXKFWD ~~52 2006–2012Sonlife Broadcasting Network affiliate owned by NRJ Holdings.
Houston, TXKHOU-TV **11 1984–2013CBS affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
San Antonio, TXKENS-TV5 1997–2013CBS affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Hampton - Norfolk - Portsmouth, VAWVEC-TV **13 1984–2013ABC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Seattle - Tacoma, WAKING-TV ++5 1997–2013NBC affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Seattle - Tacoma, WAKIRO-TV7 1995–1997CBS affiliate owned by Cox Media Group
Seattle - Tacoma, WAKONG16 2000–2013Independent station owned by Tegna Inc.
Spokane, WAKREM-TV ++2 1997–2013CBS affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.
Spokane, WAKSKN22 2001–2013The CW affiliate owned by Tegna Inc.

Cable networks

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 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 in several markets:
These programs remained in production following Belo's merger with the broadcasting unit of the Gannett Company in 2013.