Hearst-Argyle Television Directors Elected at Annual Shareholders' Meeting

Hearst-Argyle Television Directors Elected at Annual Shareholders' Meeting

Board Declares Dividend

NEW YORK, May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. (NYSE:HTV) announced that shareholders elected one Class I Series A nominee and five Class I Series B nominees to the Board of Directors for a two-year term.

The Series A director, Caroline L. Williams, has been a director of Hearst-Argyle Television and a predecessor company, Argyle Television, Inc., since 1994. Ms. Williams is President of Grey Seal Capital, an investment and consulting firm.

The Series B directors are: Frank A. Bennack, Jr., former President and CEO of The Hearst Corporation, who has served as a director of Hearst-Argyle Television since 1997 and as the Board's Presiding Director since 2002; John G. Conomikes, former President and Co-CEO of Hearst-Argyle Television and a Hearst-Argyle director since 1997; George R. Hearst, Jr., Chairman of the Board of Directors of The Hearst Corporation and a Hearst-Argyle Television director since 1997; Bob Marbut, former Chairman and Co-CEO of Hearst-Argyle Television and a director of Hearst-Argyle and a predecessor company since 1994; and Gilbert C. Maurer, former Chief Operating Officer of The Hearst Corporation and a Hearst-Argyle director since 1997.

Shareholders also ratified the appointment by the Hearst-Argyle Board of Directors' Audit Committee of Deloitte & Touche LLP to serve as the Company's independent auditors for 2008. Shareholders also re-approved material performance goals of the Company's long term incentive compensation plan for officers and other key employees.

The deadline for the submission of stockholder proposals to be included in the Company's proxy materials for the 2009 Annual Meeting is December 3, 2008.

At a meeting of the Board of Directors subsequent to the Annual Shareholders' Meeting, the Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.07 per share on its Series A and Series B Common Stock. The dividend is payable on July 15, 2008 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 5, 2008.

In their comments during the shareholders' meeting, Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. Chairman Victor F. Ganzi and President & CEO David J. Barrett acknowledged the valuable daily contributions of employees at Hearst-Argyle's television and radio stations across the country. "We're fortunate to have such a talented and dedicated group of colleagues whose contributions have made our stations so successful," Barrett said.

In reflecting on the work of Hearst-Argyle newsrooms in 25 markets around the country, Barrett noted the Hearst-Argyle television and radio stations' latest accumulation of the nation's highest awards for electronic journalism - for both on-air and online reporting. The latest honors include a George Foster Peabody Award, an Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) Award and a National Headliner Award to WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh, for its investigation of spending practices at Pennsylvania's state-run student loan agency. WTAE-TV also received an Overall Excellence honor, as did five other Hearst-Argyle stations, in regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, from the Radio-Television News Directors Association; collectively, more than two dozen regional Murrows went to Hearst-Argyle stations in 2008. Earlier this year, WYFF-TV, Greenville, S.C., received the 2008 National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation (NABEF) Service to America Television Award, among the highest public-service honors in broadcasting. WYFF is the third consecutive Hearst- Argyle winner of this award, following similar honors to Hearst-Argyle stations in West Palm Beach and Louisville.

"A cornerstone principle for Hearst-Argyle is a strong viewer proposition led by local news," Barrett added. "In combination with other on-air and online programming throughout the day, and local service to our communities, it is a key factor in making local television the leading medium, reaching 90% of adults daily, with average daily viewing of more than four hours."

Barrett also cited the increasingly complementary role of the Web in enabling audiences to access Hearst-Argyle content throughout the day. "Yesterday, nearly 2 million visitors viewed more than 6 million pages of content relevant to their markets on our local Websites.

"The quality and reach of Hearst-Argyle's local content, and the Company's investment in the digital TV transition and in local high-definition news programming, are essential to the Company's strategic efforts," Barrett noted.

A replay of the audio webcast of the meeting is available at the Company's Website, www.hearstargyle.com, in the Investor Relations section.

Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. owns 26 television stations, and manages an additional three television and two radio stations owned by Hearst Corporation, in geographically diverse U.S. markets. The Company's television stations reach approximately 20 million households, or about 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 one ABC station owned by Hearst Corporation, and is the largest ABC affiliate group. The Company also owns 10 NBC affiliates, making it the second-largest NBC affiliate owner. Hearst-Argyle owns two CBS affiliates. Also, Hearst-Argyle owns more than 30 Websites and currently multicasts 18 digital weather channels and one digital channel carrying CW Network programming. Hearst- Argyle is an investor in Internet Broadcasting, which operates a nationwide network of local Websites, and Ripe Digital Entertainment, which provides advertising-supported short-form video content on various on-demand video platforms. 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-); Hearst Corporation, Hearst-Argyle's majority owner, is an investor in Fitch's parent Company. Hearst-Argyle's corporate Web address is www.hearstargyle.com.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This news release includes forward-looking statements. We base these forward-looking statements on our current expectations and projections about future events. These forward-looking statements generally can be identified by the use of statements that include words and/or phrases such as "anticipate", "will", "may", "likely", "plan", "believe", "expect", "intend", "project", "forecast" or other such similar words and/or phrases. For these statements, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward- looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release, concerning, among other things, trends and projections involving revenue, income, earnings, cash flow, liquidity, operating expenses, assets, liabilities, capital expenditures, dividends and capital structure, involve risks and uncertainties, and are subject to change based on various important factors. Those factors include the impact on our operations from:

-- Changes in Federal regulation of broadcasting, including changes in
Federal communications laws or regulations;
-- Local regulatory actions and conditions in the areas in which our
stations operate;
-- Competition in the broadcast television markets we serve;
-- Our ability to obtain quality programming for our television stations;
-- Successful integration of television stations we acquire;
-- Pricing fluctuations in local and national advertising;
-- Changes in national and regional economies;
-- Our ability to service and refinance our outstanding debt;
-- Changes in advertising trends and our advertisers' financial condition;
and
-- Volatility in programming costs, industry consolidation, technological
developments, and major world events.

These and other matters may cause actual results to differ from those we describe. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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

Source: Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.

CONTACT: Thomas W. Campo, +1-212-887-6827, tcampo@hearst.com

Web site:

http://www.hearstargyle.com/

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