Who Owns TV Stations and Why it Matters

Some of the largest owners in the country own TV stations in Iowa

Leadership begins at the top and nowhere is that truer than assessing local television stations and who owns them.  Like many businesses, there’s been a lot of consolidation in television station ownership.  A few years ago, a company would be considered big if it owned 25 or 30 stations.  Now, some ownership groups own more than 200 stations!  Sometimes that can be good, and sometimes it can be bad.

The Good:

Large ownership groups can bring economies of scale to the television business.  They can buy everything for less money, particularly expensive syndicated programming like Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune or a talk show like Dr. Phil.  The companies that produce those programs want exposure in as many markets as possible, so if they can make a deal with a station owner covering 100 markets, they’re going to give that owner a better deal.

Large groups should theoretically have more resources to invest in quality news coverage.  A big group can open a bureau in Washington, DC to cover local issues and politicians.  They offer career advancement opportunities for staff to move to a bigger market.  They can do back-office functions more economically by hubbing those jobs in one location. 

The Bad:

Companies that buy up a lot of TV stations may have done so by going heavily into debt, and to service that debt, some groups cut expenses to the bone.  That can mean fewer reporters on the street, low salaries, and unfixed equipment.  It may mean one MMJ (multi-media journalist) doing the reporting AND the videography AND setting up a live shot on a story instead of sending a reporter and a photographer.  I’ve known some large groups that didn’t even provide the Associated Press wire for their newsrooms.  The AP is expensive, but it’s a fundamental part of news gathering. 

From a management viewpoint, running one TV station is like herding cats.  It’s a complicated business involving advertising, journalism, technology, human resources, ethical issues, social media, a federal license and on and on.  I can’t imagine owning 200 stations and trying to keep it all straight. 

The networks:

ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox own some televisions stations, but mostly in large markets like New York and Los Angeles.  Those stations are called O&O’s, meaning they’re owned and operated by the networks. The NBC affiliate in Chicago is owned by NBC.  But the networks don’t own any stations in Iowa.  The relationship between a station like KCCI and CBS is contractual only.  KCCI is owned by Hearst Television and the station has had a contractual relationship with CBS since it signed on the air in 1955. KCCI gets quality programming, sports events and national news while CBS gets a station to air those programs, including network commercials, for central Iowans.

The owners:

Some of the largest owners in the country own TV stations in Iowa.  The companies that own stations in the most markets are Nexstar (Des Moines, Sioux City, Quad Cities), Sinclair (Des Moines, Sioux City, Cedar Rapids), Gray Television (Sioux City, Quad Cities, Cedar Rapids) and Tegna (Des Moines, Quad Cities).   Hearst Television owns only one Iowa station, KCCI in Des Moines while Allen Media owns only KWWL in Waterloo.

Nexstar owns 200 stations in 116 markets.  That’s a lot of cats to herd!  Sinclair, which gets criticized for forcing its stations to run conservative commentary, owns 185 stations in 86 markets.  Tegna, which was split off from Gannett in 2015 because newspapers’ poor earnings were dragging down stock prices, owns 64 stations in 51 markets.  Hearst, a privately held company in New York, can seem downright quaint these days owning a mere 33 stations, but the overall company is a huge media conglomerate with newspapers, magazines and cable network holdings. 

What to look for

So how can viewers figure out if their local stations are owned by a good broadcaster or a company only in it to turn a profit and service the debt? Watch the local news.  Have most of the anchors and reporters been around a while?  That means owners are willing to pay experienced journalists to put roots down in the community. If most of the on-air staff looks like they’re fresh out of junior high, that usually means low pay and less experience - a red flag.  Do newscasts feature plenty of reporters out knocking on doors and doing original reporting?  Or is it mostly anchors reading copy over short videos?  It’s possible to fill a half-hour newscast with something that looks like news, but it takes money to put reporters and photographers out on the street every day finding good stories.

There are plenty of quality broadcast companies who are in it for the right reasons, but plenty of companies just in it for the money.  Astute viewers can usually figure out the difference if they know what to look for.

Check out other writers in the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative

Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Columnists

Laura Belin: Iowa Politics with Laura Belin, Windsor Heights

Doug Burns: The Iowa Mercury, Carroll

Dave Busiek: Dave Busiek on Media, Des Moines

Art Cullen: Art Cullen’s Notebook, Storm Lake

Suzanna de Baca Dispatches from the Heartland, Huxley

Debra Engle: A Whole New World, Madison County

Julie Gammack: Julie Gammack’s Iowa Potluck, Des Moines and Okoboji

Joe Geha: Fern and Joe, Ames

Jody Gifford: Benign Inspiration, West Des Moines

Beth Hoffman: In the Dirt, Lovilla

Dana James: New Black Iowa, Des Moines

Tar Macias: Hola Iowa, Iowa

Fern Kupfer: Fern and Joe, Ames

Robert Leonard: Deep Midwest: Politics and Culture, Bussey

John Naughton: My Life, in Color, Des Moines

Chuck Offenburger: Iowa Boy Chuck Offenburger, Jefferson and Des Moines

Barry Piatt: Behind the Curtain, Washington, D.C.

Mary Swander: Mary Swander’s Buggy Land, Kalona

Cheryl Tevis: Unfinished Business, Boone County

Ed Tibbetts: Along the Mississippi, Davenport

Teresa Zilk: Talking Good, Des Moines

We are proud to have an alliance with Iowa Capital Dispatch. They run our commentary and make the columns available to newspapers in exchange for linking back to our columns.