Heartland Media
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Media |
| Founded | 2013 |
| Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia , United States |
Area served | United States |
Key people | Bob Prather (leader) |
| Products | Television stations |
| Owner | Heartland Media, LLC |
Heartland Media, LLC is a U.S.-based media enterprise that owns television stations primarily in smaller American markets. The company maintains offices in St. Joseph, Missouri and the Utica–Rome metropolitan area of New York. Its corporate headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Heartland Media operates broadcasting entities USA Television Holdings, LLC and USA Television MidAmerica Holdings, LLC (collectively known as USA TV), formed as a partnership with MSouth Equity Partners. Under the leadership of Bob Prather, former Gray Television CEO, the organization specializes in acquiring top-rated Big Four network affiliates that deliver strong local news coverage, particularly in university towns and state capital cities.
History
The company's initial purchase was the NBC affiliate WKTV in Utica, New York, acquired from Smith Media in September 2013. The following year, Heartland expanded by purchasing Chambers Communications based in Oregon, which included stations KEZI (Eugene), KDRV (Medford), and its satellite KDKF (Klamath Falls). Later in 2014, Heartland and MSouth Equity Partners jointly acquired NBC affiliate WTVA in Tupelo, Mississippi, along with a shared services agreement for Fox affiliate WLOV-TV.
In 2015, USA Television Holdings bought CBS affiliate KHSL-TV located in Chico, California, from GOCOM Media; KHSL retained partial advertising responsibilities for NBC affiliate KNVN. On August 26, 2016, Heartland announced the acquisition of ABC affiliate WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Alabama, from Calkins Media, with the transaction completing on May 1, 2017.
On June 13, 2016, USA Television MidAmerica Holdings revealed plans to purchase five small-market stations from Nexstar Broadcasting Group and Media General for $115 million. This sale was part of compliance with FCC ownership regulations during Nexstar's merger with Media General and was finalized on January 17, 2017.
On October 1, 2019, Allen Media Broadcasting—a division of Entertainment Studios—declared its intent to acquire 11 USA TV stations for $290 million. Despite the sale's completion following FCC approval on November 22, 2019, Heartland's management continued to operate these stations.
Television stations
Stations are organized alphabetically by state and their respective city of license.
Current
| City of license / Market | Station | Channel TV (RF) |
Owned since | Network affiliation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Joseph, MO | KQTV | 2 (7) | 2017 | ABC |
| Utica–Rome, NY | WKTV | 2 (29) | 2014 |
|
Former
| Media market | State | Station | Acquired | Sold | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Huntsville | Alabama | WAAY-TV | 2017 | 2020 | |
| Chico–Redding | California | KHSL-TV | 2015 | 2020 | |
| KNVN | 2015 | 2020 | [lower-alpha 1] | ||
| Fort Wayne | Indiana | WFFT-TV | 2017 | 2020 | |
| West Lafayette | WLFI-TV | 2017 | 2020 | ||
| Terre Haute | WTHI-TV | 2017 | 2020 | ||
| Rochester | Minnesota | KIMT | 2017 | 2020 | |
| Tupelo–Columbus | Mississippi | WTVA | 2015 | 2020 | |
| WLOV-TV | 2015 | 2020 | Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; refs with no name must have content
| ||
| Eugene | Oregon | KEZI | 2014 | 2020 | |
| Medford–Klamath Falls | KDRV | 2014 | 2020 | ||
| KDKF | 2014 | 2020 | Template:Efn-ua |
Cite error: <ref> tags exist for a group named "lower-alpha", but no corresponding <references group="lower-alpha"/> tag was found