Hoak Media


Hoak Media Corporation was a broadcast media company based in Dallas, Texas. Hoak once owned eighteen television stations, all in medium and small-markets, mostly in the Great Plains states and Colorado.

History

Hoak Media was established in August 2003.
On November 20, 2013, Gray Television announced that it would purchase Hoak Media and Parker Broadcasting, excluding KREX, KFQX and WMBB, and as well as KAUZ-TV. Some of Hoak's stations were originally going to be sold to Excalibur Broadcasting and they would have been operated by Gray under local marketing agreements. On December 19, it was announced that KREX and WMBB would be sold to Nexstar Broadcasting Group, while KFQX would be sold to Mission Broadcasting.
The sale was completed on June 13, 2014. However, some stations were forced to go off the air and their programming was moved to subchannels of Gray-owned stations, due to some stations unable to receive regulatory approval after the FCC's then-recent ruling on joint sales agreements. Those silent stations were later sold off to minority interests.
On August 10, 2015, Hoak announced it would sell its last remaining station, KAUZ-TV, to American Spirit Media and would be operated under a shared services agreement by Raycom Media as a result of that company's acquisition of Drewry Communications. The sale was completed on December 1, completing the disestablishment of Hoak.

Former stations

Media marketStateStationPurchasedSoldNotes
Glenwood SpringsColoradoKREG-TV20032014
Grand JunctionColoradoKFQX20032014
Grand JunctionColoradoKREX-TV20032014
Grand JunctionColoradoKGJT-CD20032014
MontroseColoradoKREY20032014
Panama CityFloridaWMBB20082014
AlexandriaLouisianaKALB-TV20082014
AlexandriaLouisianaKAQY20082014
MonroeLouisianaKNOE-TV20072014
HastingsNebraskaKHAS-TV20052014
North PlatteNebraskaKNOP-TV20052014
North PlatteNebraskaK11TW20052014
BismarckNorth DakotaKFYR-TV20072014
DickinsonNorth DakotaKQCD-TV20072014
FargoNorth DakotaKVLY-TV20072014
FargoNorth DakotaKXJB-TV20072014
MinotNorth DakotaKMOT20072014
WillistonNorth DakotaKUMV-TV20072014
AberdeenSouth DakotaKABY-TV20072014
PierreSouth DakotaKPRY-TV20072014
Sioux FallsSouth DakotaKSFY-TV20072014
Wichita FallsTexasKAUZ-TV20032015

Carriage with Dish Network

On June 5, 2012, all of Hoak's stations were pulled from Dish Network after they failed to renew a carriage agreement. The refusal to renew reportedly surrounds Dish Network's "Hopper" digital video recorder and its controversial commercial-skipping feature AutoHopwhich has also led to complaints from the major U.S. television networks. Dish Network's senior vice president of programming scolded the company for its decision to pull its channels from the service, believing that their decision disrespects "customer control" over programming.