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Hoak Media Corporation
IndustryMedia
FoundedAugust 2003 (August 2003)
Founder
  • James M. Hoak, Jr. and
  • Eric D. Van den Branden
Defunct
  • June 13, 2014 (2014-06-13)
  • (most stations)
  • December 1, 2015 (2015-12-01)
  • (officially)
FateAcquired by Gray Television
SuccessorGray Television
HeadquartersDallas, Texas
ServicesBroadcast television

Hoak Media Corporation was a broadcast media company based in Dallas, 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 as KAUZ-TV. Some of Hoak's stations were originally going to be sold to Excalibur Broadcasting and they would have been operated by Gray under local marketing agreements.[1] On December 19, it was announced that KREX and WMBB would be sold to Nexstar Broadcasting Group, while KFQX would be sold to Mission 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 in Hastings, Nebraska, from KHAS-TV to KSNB-TV with KSNB-TV's existing programming moving to a subchannel), due to some stations unable to receive regulatory approval after the FCC's then-recent ruling on joint 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.), to American Spirit Media (a Charlotte, North Carolina-based company headed by Thomas B. Henson) and would be operated under a shared services agreement by Raycom Media as a result of that company's acquisition of Drewry Communications (which had operated KAUZ-TV under a joint sales agreement since 2009). The sale was completed on December 1,[5] completing the disestablishment of Hoak.

Former stations

Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by city of license.

City of license / Market Station Channel Years owned Current status
Grand Junction, CO KFQX 4 2003–2014[a] Fox affiliate owned by Mission Broadcasting[b]
KREX-TV 5 2003–2014 CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
KGJT-CD 27 2003–2014 MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Glenwood Springs, CO KREG-TV[α] 3 2003–2014 MeTV owned-and-operated (O&O) by Weigel Broadcasting
Montrose, CO KREY[α] 10 2003–2014 CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Panama City, FL WMBB 13 2008–2014 ABC affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group
Alexandria, LA KALB-TV 5 2008–2014 NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Monroe, LA KNOE-TV 8 2007–2014 CBS affiliate owned by Gray Television
KAQY 11 2008–2014[a] MeTV affiliate KMLU, owned by Legacy Broadcasting
Hastings, NE KHAS-TV 5 2005–2014 The CW affiliate KNHL, owned by Gray Television
North Platte, NE KNOP-TV 2 2005–2014 NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
K11TW 11 2005–2014 Fox affiliate KIIT-CD, owned by Gray Television
Bismarck, ND KFYR-TV 5 2007–2014 NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Dickinson, ND KQCD-TV[β] 7 2007–2014 NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Minot, ND KMOT[β] 10 2007–2014 NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Williston, ND KUMV-TV[β] 8 2007–2014 NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Fargo, ND KXJB-TV 4 2007–2014[a] KRDK-TV, owned by Major Market Broadcasting
KVLY-TV 11 2007–2014 NBC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Sioux Falls, SD KSFY-TV 13 2007–2014 ABC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Aberdeen, SD KABY-TV[γ] 9 2007–2014 Defunct, license cancelled in 2018
Pierre, SD KPRY-TV[γ] 4 2007–2014 ABC affiliate owned by Gray Television
Wichita Falls, TX KAUZ-TV 6 2003–2015[c] CBS affiliate owned by American Spirit Media[d]

Carriage with Dish Network

On June 5, 2012, all of Hoak's stations were pulled from Dish 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 feature AutoHop—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]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c Owned by Parker Broadcasting.
  2. ^ Operated by Nexstar Media Group.
  3. ^ Operated by Drewry Communications from 2009 to 2015.
  4. ^ Operated by Gray Television.
  1. ^ a b Satellite of KREX-TV.
  2. ^ a b c Satellite of KFYR-TV.
  3. ^ a b Satellite of KSFY-TV.

References

  1. ^ "Gray Buying Hoak, Prime Stations For $342.5M". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved November 20, 2013.
  2. ^ Gray Sells Grand Junction Duop To Nexstar, TVNewsCheck, December 19, 2013
  3. ^ Gray closes Hoak deal; completes refinancing., rbr.com, Retrieved June 13, 2014.
  4. ^ Press Release from Gray Television, June 13, 2014
  5. ^ Raycom Media Completes $160 Million Acquisition of Drewry Communications Broadcasting & Cable, Retrieved December 1, 2015.
  6. ^ "Because of dispute, DISH customers lose Hastings' KHAS-TV". Lincoln Journal Star. Retrieved June 7, 2012.
  7. ^ Jeffrey, Don (June 5, 2012). "Dish's Ad-Skip Tool May Benefit From Cablevision DVR Case". Bloomberg. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
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