Hearst Television

The veteran sales executive at Hearst Television’s Sacramento Duopoly is tapped to lead the group’s ABC-NBC affiliate in the Central Coast.

Station groups say they will send fewer correspondents to August’s largely virtualized political conventions and centralize their reporting resources. At the same time, they see local coverage opportunities of the conventions expanding, largely down to use of the remote production technology they’ve already been mastering for months during the pandemic.

The career Hearst Television executive is promoted from general sales manager at WPBF West Palm Beach to lead the group’s NBC-CW duopoly in Burlington-Plattsburgh, succeeding Justin Antoniotti.

Hearst Television chooses the veteran news executive to succeed Shawn Oswald in leading the group’s ABC and CW duopoly in northwest Arkansas.

Longtime Hearst Television news executive Sinan Sadar is chosen to head the station group’s new multi-pronged effort in the newly created position.

The first phases of dynamic, addressable advertising trials include participation from Fox, ViacomCBS, NBCUniversal, Scripps, AMC Networks, Disney Media Networks, Discovery, Hearst Television and WarnerMedia.

The Hearst broadcaster caps a five-decade career, including 21 years leading its NBC-AABC-Estrella affiliate KSBW Monterey, Calif.

Hearst Television’s SVP of News Barb Maushard says it’s “extremely troubling” to see journalists under fire in their coverage of recent protests over U.S. racial injustice. She lauds their commitment to facing dangers from numerous quarters in returning each day to the volatile, anxious streets of their communities and says Hearst’s news operation is ready to adapt to anything 2020 can throw at it.

The move to succeed Kyle Grimes in Harrisburg-Lancaster is a return to the Keystone State for the veteran Hearst station executive, who most recently was president-GM of WPTZ-WNNE Burlington, Vt.

The veteran Hearst Television executive and GM of its WGAL Lancaster-Harrisburg, Pa., is tapped to succeed the retiring Bill Fine as head of Hearst’s Boston flagship beginning July 1.

Hearst moves him from KHBS-KHOG Fayetteville-Fort Smith, Ark., to succeed Ariel Roblin as leader of its ABC affiliate in Omaha.

The local broadcaster caps a five-decade career including 20 years leading Hearst Television’s NBC-MNT duopoly in Sacramento, Calif.

The group’s second Facebook Watch show, Field Notes, features pandemic stories from Hearst stations in 26 markets cross the U.S.

Stations and broadcast networks alike are heavily turning to IP contribution to cover the presidential primaries this year as past contention problems have largely dissipated and cellular networks greatly improved. For some, however, dedicated fiber and satellite trucks will still play a key role.

Hearst Television, after granting four temporary extensions to DirecTV and streaming service AT&T TV Now to try to hammer out a deal, pulled its 34 broadcast stations from the satellite giant’s customers Friday evening, after the parties failed to reach a retransmission consent agreement.

Next year should see broadcasters making advances in the continuing move to IP, greater use of cloud platforms and significant progress for two new wireless technologies: ATSC 3.0 and the various 5G services being rolled out by wireless carriers. Above, a Sony camcorder and prototype 5G transmitter were used to test camera backhauls over Verizon’s 5G network during a recent NBC NFL broadcast.

The consumer series will be distributed across all Hearst Television stations and platforms.

Industry veteran Gerry McGavick adds the new role to his existing duties overseeing ad sales at the group’s WMUR Manchester, N.H.

In advance of the 2020 elections, the station group also announces a partnership with FactCheck.org to support identifying the facts in campaign ads, statements and speeches.

“In our current multiplatform world, everything is now being sold on an impression basis except linear TV,” says TVB President Steve Lanzano. “We want local TV stations and the ad agencies to be able to sell and buy that way, too. We have been working with the buying agencies for some time behind the scenes and now we are going public.”

Katherine Barnett, Suzanne Grethen and Nicholas Radziul are promoted to senior vice president.

Stefan Hadl is tapped to succeed Martin Faubell who will retire next year. Hadl will oversee the Hearst stations’ engineering operations and staffs.

Hearst Television’s SVP of news says local newscasts don’t need a radical reinvention to stay relevant to younger audiences, but they must adhere to trust and transparency in a more relatable voice.

The deal provides Hearst television stations with local electronic ratings across its 26 local markets; national TV ratings for its syndicated program, Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien, and for Litton Entertainment educational programming, as well as PPM-based audio ratings for WIYY-FM and WBAL-AM Baltimore.

The year-long Project CommUNITY in the group’s 26 markets will spotlight people and efforts across America working to unite communities in order to foster discussions and to explore innovations that help bridge divides.

Hearst chooses its regional news director to fill the top management role at its ABC affiliate in Albuquerque, N.M., succeeding Mary Lynn Roper.

A national study by Smith-Geiger for Hearst Television finds that four out of five younger video consumers rely on local news from a TV station — across broadcast and digital platforms — each week.

The head of Hearst Television’s NBC affiliate in Birmingham, Ala., caps a nearly five-decade broadcasting career, including 18 years with Hearst.

The defunct retailer has filed a class-action lawsuit alleging that Sinclair Broadcast Group, Tribune Media and other big owners of local TV stations conspired to jack up the prices of local commercials, violating federal antirust laws.