Heritage Media Corporation (

NYSE The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the List of stock exchanges, world's largest s ...

: HTG) was a media company which owned television and radio stations across the United States, as well as in-store and direct marketing companies. It was based in

Dallas, Texas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County w ...

, from 1987 to 1997.

History

Heritage Media was founded in August 1987 by a group of Heritage Communications executives to acquire the company's television and radio stations. The sale coincided with Heritage Communications' merger with

Tele-Communications Inc. Tele-Communications, Inc. (TCI) was a cable television provider in the United States, and for most of its history was controlled by Bob Magness and John Malone. The company was started in 1958 in Bozeman, Montana as Western Microwave, Inc. and Co ...

; at the time,

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC) regulations did not allow a company to own both a television station and a cable system in a market. Heritage Communications had acquired the stations through the 1985 purchase of Dakota Broadcasting and the 1986 acquisitions of Rollins Communications and six

LIN Broadcasting LIN Media was an American holding company founded in 1994 that operated 43 television stations. All except one were affiliates of the six major U.S. television networks. One of the remaining stations was a low powered weather station in Ind ...

radio stations. Heritage Media's president and chief executive officer, James M. Hoak Jr., held the same positions with Heritage Communications; the company's headquarters were located in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

(where Heritage Communications was based), until later in 1987, when it relocated to Dallas, Texas. Heritage Media managed its television stations with more of an emphasis on

cash flow A cash flow is a real or virtual movement of money: *a cash flow in its narrow sense is a payment (in a currency), especially from one central bank account to another; the term 'cash flow' is mostly used to describe payments that are expected ...

than ratings, and focused its radio group on stations that it felt needed a turnaround (for instance, it had acquired KKSN AM- FM in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

, out of bankruptcy). To implement this strategy, the company's stations operated with large sales staffs but were otherwise staffed sparingly. Heritage Media went public in September 1988, trading on the

American Stock Exchange NYSE American, formerly known as the American Stock Exchange (AMEX), and more recently as NYSE MKT, is an American stock exchange situated in New York City. AMEX was previously a mutual organization, owned by its members. Until 1953, it was known ...

. By then, it had invested in POP Radio, an in-store radio company, and Du-Kross Media, which sold advertisements on

shopping cart A shopping cart (American English), trolley (British English, Australian English), or buggy (Southern American English, Appalachian English), also known by a variety of other names, is a wheeled cart supplied by a shop or store, especially ...

s. In 1989, Heritage Media purchased Actmedia, a in-store marketing company. In 1996, the company merged with DIMAC Corporation, a direct marketing services company. On July 15, 1996, Heritage Media moved its stock listing to the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...

News Corporation News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp.), also variously known as News Corporation Limited, was an American multinational mass media corporation controlled by media mogul Rupert Murdoch and headquartered at 1211 Avenue of the Americas in Ne ...

announced on March 17, 1997, that it would acquire Heritage Media for $754 million. The purchase was mainly for the Actmedia and DIMAC subsidiaries, and News Corporation immediately announced its intention to sell Heritage Media's broadcast properties; News Corporation's

Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (FTS; alternately Fox Television Stations Group, LLC), is a group of television stations located within the United States, which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Corp ...

subsidiary was already at

(FCC) ownership limits, and the company had no interest in operating radio stations. On July 16, 1997,

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...

announced that it would acquire the Heritage Media stations for $630 million. The sale to News Corporation was completed on August 20, 1997; Heritage Media's stations were then transferred to a trustee, with Sinclair assuming control of the stations in stages from January 29, 1998, to July 1998. Actmedia was folded into News Corporation's

News America Marketing News America Marketing, often referred to as just News America, is a marketing business owned by News Corp. It publishes ''SmartSource Magazine'', a weekly consumer-branded newspaper insert offering advertising and coupon promotions, delivered in ...

subsidiary.

Former stations

Stations are arranged alphabetically by state and by

city of license In American, Canadian, and Mexican broadcasting, a city of license or community of license is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator. In North American broa ...

Television

Radio

Notes

References

{{Authority control Defunct companies based in Texas Defunct broadcasting companies of the United States Defunct mass media companies of the United States Former News Corporation subsidiaries Companies based in Dallas Entertainment companies established in 1987 Mass media companies established in 1987 Mass media companies disestablished in 1997 Companies disestablished in 1997 Companies formerly listed on NYSE American Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Sinclair Broadcast Group 1987 establishments in Texas 1997 disestablishments in Texas