Tegna, Inc.

Tegna, Inc.

Type	Public
Traded as	NYSE: TGNA
Predecessor	Gannett Company
Founded	June 29, 2015 (2015-06-29) As a Spin-Off of Gannett
Headquarters	Tysons Corner, Virginia
Key people	Gracia Martore (President & CEO) Marjorie Magner (Chairman) Dave Lougee (President, Tegna Media) John Williams (President, Tegna Digital)
Products	Television Internet Media
Slogan	Reach, Inspire, Inform.
Website	tegna.com

Tegna, Inc. (stylized as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast and digital media company headquartered in McLean, Virginia. It was formed on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company spun off its publishing assets – which retained the "Gannett" name – in order to focus on its more profitable broadcast television and digital media divisions. Tegna owns or operates 46 television stations (which, alongside those historically owned by Gannett, includes stations that had recently been acquired by Gannett from Belo Corporation and the London Broadcasting Company), and is the largest group owner of stations affiliated with NBC and CBS, and properties in digital media.

History

On August 5, 2014, Gannett announced that it plans to split into two independent publicly traded companies, one focusing on its newspapers and publishing, which would retain the Gannett name, and one on broadcasting. Robert Dickey – who currently leads Gannett's newspaper group — would serve as CEO of the former company, leaving Gannett's remaining broadcasting and digital operations under the leadership of Gracia Martore. In a statement, she explained that the split plans were "significant next steps in our ongoing initiatives to increase shareholder value by building scale, increasing cash flow, sharpening management focus, and strengthening all of our businesses to compete effectively in today's increasingly digital landscape." Additionally, the company announced that it would buy out the remainder of Classified Ventures (a joint venture between Gannett and several other media companies) for $1.8 billion, giving it full ownership of properties such as Cars.com.^[1][2]

On April 21, 2015, Gannett announced that the broadcasting and digital company would be named Tegna—a partial anagram of "Gannett". The spin-out was structured so that Tegna is the legal successor to the previous incarnation of Gannett Company, while the "new" Gannett is legally considered a new company^[3] The split was completed on June 29, 2015.^[4]

Assets

Tegna Media

As of June 2015, Tegna Media currently owns 46 television stations located in 38 markets (including seven duopolies).^[5] 18 of the company's stations are affiliated with NBC (including a semi-satellite of KCEN-TV and a digital subchannel of KBMT), ten are affiliated with CBS, nine are affiliated with ABC, and three are affiliated with Fox. In addition, the company owns one CW affiliate, three MyNetworkTV affiliates and one independent station.

It also provides operational services to three stations (one NBC affiliate, one ABC affiliate, one Fox affiliate and one MyNetworkTV affiliate – the latter two are also operated as part of a virtual duopoly) in the respective markets of Portland, Oregon; Louisville, Kentucky and Tucson, Arizona through shared services agreements with Sander Media and Tucker Operating Co. The Sander agreements were struck prior to the Gannett-Tegna split-off following the company's 2013 acquisition of Belo, due to ownership conflicts with Gannett-owned newspapers in the three markets (and in Tucson, due to FCC ownership limits that resulted in the separation of a legal duopoly that existed under Belo ownership). However, soon after the Gannett-Tegna split was completed, Tegna and Sander announced plans to have Tegna acquire the latter company's stations outright.^[6]

Television stations

Stations are listed alphabetically by state and city of license.

Notes of prior ownership or current shared services agreement:

• (**) - Indicates a station owned by Combined Communications prior to its acquisition by the Gannett Company in 1978.
• (~~) - Indicates a station owned by Multimedia, Inc. prior to its acquisition by the Gannett Company in 1995.
• (##) – Indicates stations involved in the Gannett Company's station trade deal with Argyle Television Holdings II in 1997.
• (¤¤) – Indicates a station owned by Belo prior to its acquisition by the Gannett Company in 2013.
• (++) – Indicates a station owned by the London Broadcasting Company prior to its acquisition by the Gannett Company in 2014.^[7]
• (^^) - Indicates a station owned by Sander Media from 2013 to 2015 and operated by Gannett/Tegna prior to its acquisiton by Tegna, Inc. in 2015.
• (††) – KMSB is owned by Tegna; KTTU is owned by Tucker Operating Company. Tegna and Raycom Media affiliate KOLD-TV (CBS) operate these stations through shared services agreements.
• (§§) – KVUE was previously owned by Gannett from 1986 to 1999, when it was traded to Belo in exchange for KXTV.

Cable networks

All of these are news networks owned by Belo prior to acquisition by Gannett.

TEGNA Digital

Gannett Company spun-off most of its internet media properties to TEGNA.^[8] When the total internet media division was part of the Gannett Company, it managed the websites for USA Today, as well as Gannett’s newspaper and broadcast properties throughout the United States. It owns:

Former Broadcast assets

Television stations

Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license. The list includes stations owned by Tegna, Inc. during its time as Gannett Company, Inc.

Notes:

• (**) - Indicates a station that was built and/or signed-on by Gannett.
• (§§) – Indicates a station owned by Combined Communications Corporation, prior to its acquisition by Gannett in 1979.
• (¤¤) – Indicates a station owned by Multimedia, Inc., prior to its acquisition by Gannett in 1995.
• (##) – Indicates stations involved in the Argyle II swap in 1997.
• (++) – Indicates a station owned by Belo Corporation prior to its acquisition by Gannett in 2013.

Other Notes:

• ¹ KTVY, KOLD-TV and WALA-TV were acquired with Gannett's purchase of The Detroit News, but were subsequently spun off to Knight-Ridder a day later in order for Gannett to comply with the FCC's then-current limits on group ownership.
• ² Owned by Sander Media, LLC, Gannett operated these stations through a shared services agreement (SSA).
• ³ As part of the Gannett/Belo merger, KMOV, KTVK, and KASW were transferred to Sander Media, LLC; Gannett planned to operate the stations through shared service agreements. However, on December 16, 2013, the Department of Justice ordered that the parties (Gannett, Belo and Sander) had a period of 120 days to divest KMOV to a government-approved independent third-party that would be barred from entering into any agreements with Gannett, in order to fully preserve competition in advertising sales with KSDK. On December 23, shortly after the approval and completion of the Gannett/Belo deal, Meredith Corporation announced that it would purchase KMOV, KTVK and KASW in a $407.4 million deal.^[11] The KMOV sale was completed on February 28, 2014.^[12] The KTVK/KASW sale was completed on June 19.^[13]
• ⁴ KTTU is owned by Tucker Operating Co, LLC. Both KTTU and KMSB (owned by Sander Media, LLC) are operated through a SSA by Raycom Media CBS affiliate KOLD-TV.
• ⁵ WDAN-TV changed call letters to WICD following its sale, and in 1967 was merged with WCHU (channel 33) in Champaign into the present-day WICD on channel 15.
• ⁶ Gannett purchased the construction permit for WINR-TV and signed the station on in 1957. Because of this, WHEC-TV and WDAN-TV are the only television stations built from the ground-up by Gannett.
• ⁷ WHEC-TV's frequency was shared with WVET-TV, owned by Veterans Broadcasting, from its 1953 sign-on until 1961 when Gannett purchased full ownership of the frequency.

Radio stations

(a partial listing)

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References

1. 1 2 3 4 Station assigned to licensee Pacific and Southern Company, Inc.
2. 1 2 3 4 5 Station assigned to licensee King Broadcasting Company.