Belo Corporation was a Dallas-based media company that owned 20

commercial broadcasting Commercial broadcasting (also called private broadcasting) is the broadcasting of television programs and radio programming by privately owned corporate media, as opposed to state sponsorship. It was the United States′ first model of radio (an ...

television stations and three regional

24-hour The modern 24-hour clock, popularly referred to in the United States as military time, is the convention of timekeeping in which the day runs from midnight to midnight and is divided into 24 hours. This is indicated by the hours (and minutes) pas ...

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 Alfred Horatio Belo (May 27, 1839 – April 19, 1901) was the founder of ''The Dallas Morning News'' newspaper in Dallas, Texas, along with business partner George Bannerman Dealey. The company A. H. Belo, A. H. Belo Corporation, owner of ''The Da ...

, 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 the establishment of ''The Daily News'' in

Galveston, Texas Galveston ( ) is a coastal resort city and port off the Southeast Texas coast on Galveston Island and Pelican Island in the U.S. state of Texas. The community of , with a population of 47,743 in 2010, is the county seat of surrounding Galvesto ...

in 1842, four years before the

Republic of Texas The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...

was

annexed Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...

to the United States; the company sold ''The Daily News'' in 1923. In 1857, the company began publishing the '' Texas Almanac'', a reference book focused on Texas, and on October 1, 1885, launched a second newspaper, '' The Dallas Morning News,'' based in Dallas, Texas. On June 26, 1922, the company expanded into broadcasting with the sign-on of WFAA-AM (at that time, shared time with WBAP and WRR in Dallas, Texas). In July 1926, A.H. Belo Corporation was founded when George Bannerman Dealey acquired a majority interest in the company. On January 30, 1950, the company announced the purchase of DuMont-

affiliated Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation pla ...

Dallas television station KBTV (renamed WFAA after the acquisition) for $575,000. This purchase, approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on March 13, 1950 and completed on March 17, marked the company's entry into television broadcasting. The station switched its primary affiliation to NBC after the acquisition and was also affiliated with ABC on a secondary basis. In 1963, the company acquired News-Texan Inc., a publishing company that owned suburban newspapers in the

Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, officially designated Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, is a conurbated metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Texas encompassing 11 counties and anchore ...

; this subsidiary was later renamed Dallas–Fort Worth Suburban Newspapers Inc. The company acquired its second television station in 1969 when it purchased KFDM-TV in Beaumont from Beaumont Broadcasting, followed in 1980 by its purchase of WTVC in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Among its purchases in later years, Belo acquired the Corinthian Broadcasting subsidiary of

Dun & Bradstreet The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation is an American company that provides commercial data, analytics, and insights for businesses. Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, the company offers a wide range of products and services for risk and financia ...

in December 1983, adding six additional stations, including CBS affiliates KHOU in Houston and KOTV in Tulsa,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

and ABC affiliate WVEC-TV in

Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...

to its portfolio. This forced the sales of KFDM and WTVC to Freedom Communications, and of WISH-TV in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

and WANE-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana to LIN Broadcasting, to comply with FCC ownership limits. On December 8, 1991, A.H. Belo acquired the ''

Dallas Times-Herald The ''Dallas Times Herald'', founded in 1888 by a merger of the ''Dallas Times'' and the ''Dallas Herald'', was once one of two major daily newspapers serving the Dallas, Texas ( USA) area. It won three Pulitzer Prizes, all for photography, ...

'' for $55 million; the paper ceased operations the next day. On September 26, 1996, A.H. Belo announced that it would acquire the Providence Journal Company (publishers of '' The Providence Journal'' in Providence, Rhode Island) for $1.5 billion''.'' This purchase brought Belo the Providence company's ten television stations including

KING-TV KING-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Everett-licensed independent station KONG (channel 16). Both stations share studios at the Home Plate ...

in Seattle.' 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 DallasNews Corporation, formerly A. H. Belo Corporation (), is a Dallas-based media holding company of The Dallas Morning News and Belo + Company. The current corporation was formed when Belo Corporation separated its broadcasting and publi ...

, officially completed in February 2008. The television business retained the Belo Corporation name (without the "A. H." initials). 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 five of their stations ( WFAA, KMOV, WCNC-TV, WVEC, & WWL-TV) on November 8, 2010. On June 13, 2013,

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.KMOV in St. Louis, WHAS-TV in Louisville, KMSB in Tucson, KGW 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 owned television stations or collusion involving the Gannett and Sander stations in retransmission consent negotiations, anti-media-consolidation groups (such as

Free Press Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic media, especially published materials, should be considered a right to be exerc ...

) and pay television providers (such as Time Warner Cable and DirecTV) 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 Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned magazines, television stations, websites, and radio stations. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more ...

(which owns

KPHO-TV KPHO-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside independent station KTVK (channel 3) and low-power LATV affiliate KPHE-LD (channel 44). KPHO-TV and K ...

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. 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 (now

Nexstar Media Group Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...

) 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

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.

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 Classified Ventures, LLC was a very successful Chicago-based digital media company. The company was established to capitalize on the revenue growth opportunities in the online classified advertising categories of automotive and rentals. It was a ...

. 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

relaunched its Web site.

Infomercials

Belo used a modified

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

form on many of its stations, branded ''Great Day (city)'' in several markets: * WFAA-TV in Dallas, Texas uses the name ''Good Morning Texas'' to have some similarity to ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'' as WFAA is an ABC affiliate * the NBC affiliate KGW in Portland, Oregon brands its program ''Greater Portland Today'' to have similarity with the '' Today'' show. These programs remained in production following Belo's merger with the broadcasting unit of the

Gannett Company Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.TEGNA) in 2013.

References

Notes Further reading * *

External links

A.H. Belo Corporation
at the

Handbook of Texas The ''Handbook of Texas'' is a comprehensive encyclopedia of Texas geography, history, and historical persons published by the Texas State Historical Association (TSHA). History The original ''Handbook'' was the brainchild of TSHA President Wal ...

Online {{A. H. Belo Tegna Inc. Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Companies based in Dallas Mass media companies established in 1926 2013 disestablishments in Texas Mass media companies disestablished in 2013 Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange 1926 establishments in Texas 2013 mergers and acquisitions Defunct companies based in Texas