Hearst-Argyle Television and National Broadband Company Reach Content-Sharing Agreement

Hearst-Argyle Television and National Broadband Company Reach Content-Sharing Agreement

NEW YORK, Jan. 8 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. (NYSE:HTV) today announced that it has finalized an agreement with the National Broadband Company ("nbbc") under which Hearst-Argyle's NBC affiliated TV stations and NBC Universal will jointly share and monetize their video content.

The plans for nbbc -- an advertising-supported service jointly owned by NBC Universal and NBC television affiliates to aggregate, syndicate and distribute video and other digital content sourced from the NBC stations, NBC Universal cable networks and those of partner affiliate stations and other content partners -- were first announced in April 2006 jointly by NBC Universal officials and Terry Mackin, Hearst-Argyle Executive Vice President and head of the company's Digital Media Group, who at the time also served as Chair of the NBC Affiliates Board. nbbc was officially launched in September 2006 with content from the NBC Universal companies and various third-party content providers. nbbc marks the second equity joint venture in the digital space, after Weather Plus, between NBC and its television affiliates.

"We see significant growth potential for broadband-based use by consumers and professionals of high-quality local video," Mackin said. "By partnering with our colleagues at NBC Universal in this video syndication marketplace, we expect to increase widely the distribution of our local content. nbbc can broaden our access to a larger retail and commercial audience and offers us greater potential for content-licensing revenue."

Brian Buchwald, nbbc general manager, added, "Terry has been an indispensable partner and collaborator in launching nbbc, and we are thrilled that the Hearst-Argyle content and distribution are now part of our diverse marketplace."

Under the agreement, access to nbbc and its content will be available from the various local NBC-affiliated Hearst-Argyle station web sites, and vice- versa, on a non-exclusive basis.

The sites of seven of the 10 largest Hearst-Argyle stations consistently are the #1 TV-station sites in their markets. The Hearst-Argyle sites are also at the leading edge in providing wireless application protocol (WAP) content, podcasts, web-based newscasts, web-based video and blogs in a broad cross-section of markets.

Hearst-Argyle's NBC-affiliated stations have launched digital broadcast carriage of Weather Plus, the 24/7 local weather channels whose template was developed by NBC and Hearst-Argyle.

Additional information about nbbc can be found at the service's FAQs page: http://www.nbbc.com/generalfaqs.html

About Hearst-Argyle

Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. owns 26 television stations, and manages an additional three television and two radio stations, in geographically diverse U.S. markets. The Company's television stations reach approximately 18% of U.S. TV households, making it one of America's largest television station groups. Hearst-Argyle owns 12 ABC-affiliated stations, and manages an additional ABC station owned by Hearst Corporation, and is the largest ABC affiliate group. The Company also owns 10 NBC affiliates, and is the second- largest NBC affiliate owner, and owns two CBS affiliates. Hearst-Argyle also is a leader in the convergence of local broadcast television and the Internet through its partnership with Internet Broadcasting, and in the application of digital broadcast spectrum for new local informational services through its Weather Plus partnership with NBC and various NBC affiliate groups. Hearst- Argyle Series A Common Stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HTV." HTV debt is rated investment grade by Moody's (Baa3), Standard & Poor's (BBB-) and Fitch (BBB-), each with a stable outlook. The Company's Web address is www.hearstargyle.com.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact: tcampo@hearst.com

Source: Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.

CONTACT: Thomas W. Campo, Hearst-Argyle, +1-212-887-6827,
tcampo@hearst.com; or Liz Fischer, NBC Universal, +1-212-664-4825,
liz.fischer@nbcuni.com

Web site: http://www.hearstargyle.com/

-------
Profile: intent