Hearst Television laid off dozens of employees last week from its streaming service Very Local, according to the Penske showbiz trades.

The Very Local platform, which offers a blend of live news, weather and original series, has faced increasingly tougher competition from fellow streaming services in recent years.

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Traditionally, local TV stations have relied on advertising and local programming to attract customers. Now, many viewers opt for free streaming services like Tubi and Spectrum News Plus, which offer local news for free, often with a wider range of content.

Very Local, which launched in 2021, aimed to cater to local audiences and connect viewers through live news and original content from Hearst and its stations.

But despite offering 24-hour access to local news across 26 U.S. media markets, Very Local has struggled to gain footing in a competitive streaming landscape.

A representative from Hearst was not immediately available for confirmation and comment. 

Hearst Television said it named Kenneth Murphy VP, information technology, a new post, effective July 31.

Murphy has been Hearst’s executive director, network architecture and engineering. 

“Ken has a history of Hearst success and will bring that knowledge with him in this move to Hearst Television,” said Michael Hayes, president of Hearst Television.  “His experience in security, systems and integration is additive to our technology strategy today and fortifies it for the future.”

“Ken will be responsible for helping lead all of Hearst Television’s technological initiatives,” added Stefan Hadl, senior VP, broadcast engineering & technology. “A primary focus is on IT security; he will also lead the planning, design and implementation of our next-generation IT networking infrastructure to support all operations relative to connectivity, storage, data, and video transport and distribution.  And he will help lead our strategic planning and deployment of cloud resources and technology with the objective of making our operations more efficient and nimble.”

Murphy joined Hearst in 2006 as a network engineer.

Jessica Mathies has been named VP, development, at Hearst Media Production Group (HMPG), where she will focus on unscripted program development for television stations, broadcast and cable networks and streaming services. 

Mathies previously served as an executive producer at HMPG parent company Hearst Television.

“Jessica has strong creative instincts for finding unique and compelling talent and stories,” said Angelica Rosas McDaniel, HMPG executive VP and general manager, entertainment, in a statement. “As we bring together our new team, including VP, development Jeffrey Wank, we’re excited about upcoming projects that will engage the creative community and our national partners.”

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Mathies joined Hearst Television in 2018 from Park Slope Productions, a New York-based production company, where she was executive VP of development. Prior to that, she was the East Coast director of development for Entertainment One, where she developed shows for OWN, Investigation Discovery and UP TV.  Prior to Entertainment One, she held various production positions at companies including Original Media, Metal Flowers Media and Johlt Productions. 

She began her television career as a production assistant at San Francisco PBS station KQED, moving from there to San Francisco-based Edelman Productions, which developed numerous HGTV shows. Mathies holds a bachelor’s degree in television and radio from San Francisco State University.

HMPG is a business unit of Hearst Television and it serves as an independent producer and distributor of original programming, including such shows as weekly syndicated news program Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien and educational/informational kids’ programming blocks that HMPG took over when Hearst fully acquired Litton Entertainment in 2021. ■

Survivor star Rob Mariano, known as Boston Rob, is the host of Boston Rob Does Beantown, which begins April 21 on the Hearst Television streaming app Very Local. There are eight episodes. 

Mariano was on Survivor six times, and met his wife Amber on the show. The pair was on The Amazing Race twice.

Boston Rob Does Beantown has Mariano taking viewers on a tour of Boston, featuring “a series of local adventures encompassing the competitive, the creative and the culinary.”  

“Rob’s local pride and love for his hometown make him the perfect host for this series that celebrates Boston. We hope locals and non-locals alike will appreciate this insider’s guide to the city,” said executive producer Laura Ling.

Very Local, a streaming app that offers 24/7 access to local news, weather and original series, launched in 2021. 

“Boston is the greatest city in the world and the people are incredible. I had a blast visiting favorite local places and discovering new, must-see spots,” Mariano said. ■

“Nearly everybody reads The Bulletin” was the popular slogan for what was once the top evening newspaper in the nation. In the summer of 1974, one of those readers was Steven Swartz, who would splay the broadsheet on the floor in his suburban Philadelphia home. It seemed a heady time for news and Swartz knew it. On TV, Sen. Sam Ervin prosecuted President Richard Nixon during the Watergate hearings; at 6 p.m., The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite became required viewing. Swartz recalls being captivated. He was also “around 11 or 12 years old,” he said. “I became a news junkie at a very early age. I loved the role it played in society.”

Years later, attending Harvard, he’d watch the local news on WCVB Boston, now a flagship station for Hearst, the corporation Swartz has run as president and CEO since 2013. By the time he arrived at college, the die was cast. “I had decided before I got to campus that my ambition was to become a journalist,” he said. But the dream didn’t end there. “My long-term ambition was to be able to lead a media company that at least in part did journalism.”

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That Swartz has risen to such corporate heights, with Hearst thriving during seismic shifts that have buckled many competitors, speaks to a remarkable mix of determination, talent and opportunity for the executive. (“I would throw a lot of luck in there,” he also insists.) His colleagues would add other qualities to the formula. “Steve is widely respected, forward-thinking, has tremendous energy and big insight, and he’s got an important voice in the marketplace,” said Leo MacCourtney, president of Katz Television Group and a fellow B+C Hall of Fame honoree this year. “Hearst might be, in my mind, the finest broadcaster in America. They just do everything right. And that’s no small tribute to Steve.”

Swartz’s prosperous run atop a 135-year-old company speaks to his eagerness to partner with great predecessors: “I’ve been really fortunate on the mentor side,” he said. He cited among them seventh grade English teacher John DeGregorio (“He just radiated enthusiasm and I learned a lot from him”) and Norman Pearlstine, then-managing editor at The Wall Street Journal, where Swartz was recruited out of college and where he eventually worked on the Page One desk. “That was my most enjoyable time there,” Swartz said.

The movement toward combining journalism with business came when Hearst and Dow Jones agreed to partner on a personal finance magazine that became SmartMoney, with Swartz named founding editor in 1991. Four years of award-winning copy later, Swartz was tapped as president and CEO.

SmartMoney introduced him to Hearst, with its corporate culture fixed and strong on legacy, thanks to leaders such as William Randolph Hearst and Frank Bennack, who served two tenures as Hearst’s CEO from 1979 through 2002 and from 2008 through May 2013. Toward the end of Bennack’s run, Swartz became executive VP, rising to chief operating officer in 2011.

Helping Hearst Grow

In his current tenure, Swartz has either continued or orchestrated growth measures that have well insulated Hearst’s vaunted place in the market. Along with the newspapers  on which the company built its foundation, Hearst’s empire currently includes holdings among cable networks (A&E, History, Lifetime and ESPN); 33 television stations that in total reach 19% of U.S. viewers; 250 magazine editions worldwide; and a successful roster on the B2B side, including global financial services (Fitch Group) and medical information and transportation assets.

The diversification is an asset that helps Swartz’s Hearst in these times of technological change where, as he said, “everybody is fighting to establish a sustainable growth business model. It’s a challenge but I think we’re up to it.”

Swartz’s colleagues agree because they see in him a leader bent toward inspiration, and a man whose understanding of what matters most at any given moment was bred back in his early newspaper-reading days. Hearst Television president and B+C Hall of Famer Jordan Wertlieb recalled that, at the start of the pandemic when other companies were cutting back, “Steve announced we were bonusing all employees. He wanted people to not only feel secure in their jobs, but to share in the success of the prior year. The timing of that was extraordinary.” 

Unusual, but certainly in character. “I was not surprised at all that that was the way Hearst, through Steve’s leadership, acted,” MacCourtney said. “His legacy is the way that company operates.”  ■

Pittsburgh is known as one of the truly competitive TV markets in the nation, and a new battleground has emerged in the 4 p.m. hour. KDKA has run 4 p.m. news since 2002, while WTAE debuted an hour-long program in July and WPXI did so in mid-September. 

“There’s been a pretty good shift in the market at 4 p.m.,” said Kevin Hayes, VP and general manager, WPXI. 

Cox Media Group owns NBC affiliate WPXI. Hearst Television holds ABC outlet WTAE. CBS owns KDKA and WPCW, a CBS-The CW duopoly. Sinclair Broadcast Group has the Fox affiliate, WPGH.

Comcast is the primary pay TV operator in DMA No. 26. 

KDKA is the station to beat. It premiered a 7:30 p.m. newscast in summer 2020 that focuses on positive stories. Chris Cotugno, KDKA-WPCW VP/general manager, mentioned a real appetite for good news in Pittsburgh. “It’s doing phenomenally well in the ratings,” he said. “The news of the day, when something happens, we have to tell it. But we try to focus on all positive stories.”

KDKA has a similar philosophy for morning newscast Your Day Pittsburgh. “We want to solve people’s problems,” Cotugno said. “We want to be partners in the community, not just tell them the news.”

WTAE won the 6 a.m. battle in household ratings in September, and WPXI was tops in the 25-54 demo. KDKA won the 5 p.m. races in households and the demo. WTAE won 6 p.m. households, while KDKA took the demo. At 11 p.m., KDKA averaged a 5.7 in households, WPXI a 5.2 and WTAE a 4.3. WPXI posted a 2.5 in the 11 p.m. demo, KDKA a 2.3 and WTAE a 1.3. 

WPGH and WPCW do 10 p.m. news. 

KDKA lost its grip on the market leader title a few years ago, but it’s headed in the right direction. “We have it back,” Cotugno said. “We got our mojo back.”

WTAE uses Action News branding. Chuck Wolfertz, WTAE president and general manager, mentions “fast-paced, high-information newscasts” on the station’s air. 

WTAE hired its fifth meteorologist earlier this month in Penn State grad Kasey Reigner. “We have the largest [weather] crew in the market,” Wolfertz said. 

Pittsburgh has plenty of winter weather news. Asked what he likes about the market, Hayes commented, “I love the weather in the spring, summer and fall.”

As the cold weather approaches, WTAE is hustling to provide coats, hats, mittens and boots for those in need through Project Bundle Up, a long-term partnership with the Salvation Army. KDKA is working on its Turkey Fund, providing Thanksgiving meals to the needy. That initiative, a partnership with PNC Bank and Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, is in its 40th year. 

Big in Health Care, Higher Ed

Pittsburgh dropped from DMA No. 24 to No. 26 in the Nielsen rankings from 2020 to 2021. The market was, of course, known for steel production, but so-called “eds and meds” — colleges and hospitals — have emerged as a giant economic driver. University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Allegheny Health Network are big health players in Western Pennsylvania. “It’s a town that has reinvented itself,” Cotugno said. 

The local economy is finding its way out of the pandemic malaise. “It’s better in a sense that everything is open,” said Hayes, “but business has not returned to retailers the way it was.”

When Hayes came to Pittsburgh four years ago, he was told repeatedly to prepare for an intensely competitive market. Pittsburgh has proven to be that. Broadcast viewing is high in the region, thanks to an aging populace and concerns about the day’s weather, and stations are trying everything to hook in viewers. “It makes it a fun market to work in,” said Hayes. 

KDKA has a team of five working on digital news platform CBSN Pittsburgh. WPCW does weekday news from 7 to 9 a.m. WTAE airs quarterly specials for local newsmag Chronicle, including a recent one commemorating the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Susan Koeppen, who worked at both WTAE and KDKA, anchors the new 4 p.m. news on WPXI, which goes with Channel 11 News branding. 

Residents speak of big-league sports in Pittsburgh, including the beloved Steelers, world-class arts, and more down-to-earth people than you’d ever hope to find in a market. “Very friendly, very welcoming,” said Wolfertz. 

Cotugno called it “the best place to raise a family.”

“It’s a great place to live, not that expensive, three major sports teams, Broadway, concerts,” he added. “Everything comes through here.”

Hearst President Steven Swartz signed onto a letter from over 140 executives urging Congress to pass the compromise infrastructure bill.

They told the bipartisan leadership of the House and Senate that funding the modernization of physical and digital infrastructure are "a necessary foundation for our nation's sustainable growth."

They said investments in broadband and other "essential assets" will also "create training and re-employment opportunities for millions of Americans who lost jobs during the pandemic."

Also Read: Sen. Warner Says Virginia Will Be Among First to Universal Broadband

Democrats and Republicans both back spending billions on broadband deployment, though how many and in what way is where that bipartisan impulse diverges along political lines.

Among those others signing on to the letter were Microsoft President Brad Smith and Vox Media President Pamela Wasserstein.

Paige Harrison, WCVB Boston news director, has been named VP of news at Hearst Television. She begins July 1 and relocates to company headquarters in New York. She will report to Barbara Maushard, senior VP of news, and succeeds Andrew Vrees, who was named president and general manager of Hearst TV’s WMUR Manchester (New Hampshire). 

“Paige has had tremendous success at every assignment throughout her career with Hearst,” said Hearst Television President Jordan Wertlieb. “Most notably, her leadership style and insight make her not only an exceptional addition to our outstanding corporate team, but an invaluable resource for our local news leadership and national enterprise news units.” 

Harrison has spent 18 years at Hearst TV. Before joining WCVB, she was news director at WPBF West Palm Beach. She previously worked in news at WESH Orlando, KOCO Oklahoma City and WTAE Pittsburgh. 

“Paige’s breadth and depth of experience is universally recognized by her colleagues and industry peers,” Maushard said. “Her keen eye for news and the evolution of news consumption positions her perfectly to help move Hearst Television news operations forward in serving audiences with relevant, factual content wherever they seek it.”

A Michigan native, Harrison was raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

WCVB has not named a new news director.

Andrew Vrees has been named president and general manager of WMUR in Manchester, New Hampshire. Vrees has been WMUR parent Hearst TV’s VP of news since 2016. 

A New Hampshire native, Vrees was previously news director at Hearst TV’s WCVB Boston. Before that, he was news director at WMUR. 

Vrees succeeds Jeff Bartlett atop WMUR, with Bartlett retiring this summer. 

“Andrew is the ideal executive to succeed Jeff and work with the outstanding WMUR team to continue and expand upon the station’s great legacy,” said Hearst Television president Jordan Wertlieb. “His career-long dedication to local television’s special role as a provider of news, information and community service and his inherent connection to the state will ensure that WMUR builds upon its rich history as New Hampshire’s statewide news leader.”

Vrees was named B+C News Director of the Year in 2012. Prior to his stints at WCVB and WMUR, Vrees has worked in news at KOAT Albuquerque, WTVG Toledo and KTVF Fairbanks (AK), among other stations. 

Hearst has teamed with the Emma Bowen Foundation to endow need-based media scholarships and internships for minority students.

The endowment will honor Hearst executive Jeana Stanley, VP of finance, and a board member and officer of the Media Financial Management Association, who died suddenly in June 2020. 

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In addition to the scholarships, students will get industry education and training at Hearst and other companies.

“We are so pleased to be able to partner with the Emma Bowen Foundation to honor Jeana and to advance diversity in the media industry’s finance ranks,” said Hearst president Steven R. Swartz.

Also Read: Knight Awards Local TV News Grants

Stanley joined Hearst corporate in 2018 after 14 years at Hearst Television where she led strategic initiatives on accounting, finance and back office operations. A CPA, she began her career at Ernst & Young before getting into TV station accounting and finance.

The Emma Bowen Foundation has been promoting media internships and scholarships for minority students since 1989.

Jeff Bartlett, WMUR Manchester (NH) president and general manager, will retire this summer. His successor will be announced at a later date.

Bartlett, a news director in several major markets before his first general manager job, ran the Hearst TV station for two decades. 

“Jeff exemplifies local television leadership,” said Hearst Television president Jordan Wertlieb. “His deep journalistic experience and keen appreciation for a station’s community-service role have been synonymous with the WMUR mission in New Hampshire and nationally.” 

An ABC affiliate, WMUR is a local news powerhouse and reaches a wider array of viewers as host of primary debates in the state during presidential election cycles. 

Before arriving at WMUR, was president and general manager of KHBS-KHOG Fort Smith/Fayetteville, Arkansas. Prior to joining Hearst, Bartlett was news director at WBBM Chicago. Previously, he was news director of KYW Philadelphia, WBZ Boston, KTUL Tulsa and KGUN Tucson.

“I am fortunate to have had such a long and eventful career,” Bartlett said. “And I am proud to have spent more than half of it with Hearst and to have had the privilege of finishing at a great television station in a great state.”

Jack Hanna is the focus of Hearst-owned Litton Entertainment's second free, ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) channel, The Jack Hanna Channel, launching Wednesday on Vizio SmartCast devices in the U.S., Litton said Wednesday.

The channel will debut in April on Samsung TV Plus in both the U.S. and Canada.

“For more than 40 years, Jack has educated, entertained, and introduced viewers to new worlds,” Andrew Tew, Litton Entertainment VP of licensing and distribution and general manager of global channels, said in a statement. “A channel dedicated to the decades-long adventures of Jack Hanna, his global travels, and his wildlife and conservation efforts will give millions of fans across generations a new programming destination to find their favorite American icon.”

Also Read: IMDb TV, Roku and Tubi Plunge into Originals - Recapping the FASTs' Big Moves So Far

Hanna -- who got his start as a zoologist at the Columbus, Ohio city zoo in 1978 -- is the star of several wildlife-focused TV shows, including Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild, Jack Hanna’s Wild Countdown and Jack Hanna’s Animal Adventures. Hanna also has been a frequent guest on late-night shows since the ‘80s, appearing on The Late Show with David Letterman and more recently on The Late Late Show with James Corden. 

Last November, Litton launched its first FAST channel, Xplore, which includes programming on travel, lifestyle, natural sciences, technology and others and stars such personalities as Mo Rocca, Miranda Cosgrove and Dylan Dreyer. Xplore is currently available in the U.S. on Vizio SmartCast, Samsung TV Plus, the Roku Channel and Plex and will soon launch on Xumo. It’s slated to launch on Samsung TV Plus in the UK and Canada next month.

Hearst Television will air The Hard Truth About Bias: Images and Reality in prime time across its 26 media markets during the month of February, which is Black History Month.

Also Read: O'Brien to Host Special on Race

The one-hour program, a project from Hearst's weekly public affairs show, Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien, will also air on co-owned cable nets A&E (Feb. 20 at noon) and fyi (Feb. 21 at 10 a.m. and Feb. 27 at 9 a.m.).

The special, which had an initial digital platform airing in October 2020, will be making its first TV appearance. It features sometimes tough conversations about race and privilege, racial stress, stereotypes, and the impact of bias in images and language, including in daily news and information programming.

“We are extremely proud of this program as it directly addresses very important issues that are traditionally uncomfortable to talk about,” said Hearst Television president Jordan Wertlieb in a statement. “As we work to improve and inform our communities around the subject of racial equity and social justice, more programming like The Hard Truth About Bias will serve as excellent platforms to advance the conversation forward.”

Also Read: CBS News 'Unifying America' Series Expands to Owned Stations

“We don't shy away from tough conversations because they are the path to understanding each other better, healing our wounds and finding a way forward,” said O’Brien.

The Hard Truth About Bias: Images and Reality is the initial installment of Hearst's Matter of Fact series of virtual forums.

Comcast, which reached a deal that allowed it to keep nearly 40 out-of-market stations owned by Hearst TV as part of a larger retransmission consent agreement in December, said on its customer service website that it will remove about 10 of those stations beginning next month. 

“On March 31, 2021 and April 6, 2021, we'll be removing some TV stations in certain areas from neighboring markets,” Comcast said on the website. “Please note that the local station affiliate with the same network in your area will still be available for you to watch.”

According to the Comcast website, on March 31 customers in seven areas would lose access to their out-of-market affiliate: WJCL (ABC) in Twin City, Georgia; WLKY (CBS) in Horse Cave, Kentucky; WYFF (NBC) in Newberry, South Carolina; WLKY (CBS) in Tell City, Indiana; WLWT (NBC) in Connersville, Richmond, Lynn-Winchester, Indiana; WLKY (CBS) in Bedford, Indiana; and WXII (NBC) in Galax, Virginia.

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And on April 6, 2021, five locations would lose the following out-of-market stations: KOAT (ABC) in Portales, New Mexico; KCRA (NBC) in Chico/Oroville, California; KOAT (ABC) in Las Cruces, New Mexico; KCRA (NBC) in Contra Costa/Solano County, California; and KSBW (NBC) in Santa Clara County, California. According to Comcast, the national feeds of all of these stations are subject to local blackout. 

The areas would still keep their respective in-market network affiliates, so they wouldn’t lose access to national network programming.   

Comcast was originally scheduled to remove 38 stations in 35 markets on Dec. 22 after Hearst had said it would begin charging for the out-of-market properties. The stations were located in markets that were outside of the Nielsen Designated Market Areas for Comcast territories, but close enough that Comcast customers could find them relevant. 

For example, one of the stations set to be removed is KOAT-TV, the ABC affiliate in Albuquerque, N.M., that Comcast customers in Portales,  N.M. received in addition to the Amarillo, Texas ABC affiliate, KVII-TV. Portales is located in the Amarillo DMA, but because it is closer to Amarillo (123 miles) compared to Albuquerque (231 miles away), it receives access to both stations. While Portales Comcast customers won’t be able to watch KOAT after April 6, they will still receive the Amarillo ABC affiliate KVII and its local news.

Comcast and Hearst worked out an agreement to keep the stations back in December after some legislators complained. In Massachusetts, U.S. Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren, and U.S. Reps. Bill Keating and Joseph Kennedy III sent letters to Comcast concerned that by dropping Boston station WCVB (ABC), residents in Bristol County, Mass. that are also served by a Rhode Island ABC affiliate, would lose access to Massachusetts news programming. On Dec. 15, Comcast said it had reached a comprehensive agreement with Hearst that allowed it to continue carrying the out-of-market stations free of charge. 

Comcast said that the decision to remove the stations is part of its normal process of reviewing its channel lineups. A spokesperson said any decision to remove a station is due to several factors and five of the 10 stations that will be removed have their national feeds blacked out, meaning that they broadcast dead air in those respective markets during primetime. Removing the stations also frees up bandwidth that could be used for a variety of things, although Comcast wouldn't specify. 

Hearst declined comment.

Per FCC rules, Verizon has started warning Fios customers they may lose access to Hearst Television stations at month's end.

Verizon said Hearst is demanding "unreasonably large" increases in retransmission consent fees that may force Verizon to raise rates for its customers. 

“Affordable local news is vital and customers want quality at-home entertainment, especially during a pandemic, so Verizon is surprised that Hearst Television is demanding pay increases that might keep Fios customers from watching their channels," Verizon said in a statement. "We urge Hearst Television to get serious about reaching a fair agreement and hope they will not remove their channels while negotiations continue.”

Also Read: Retrans Season Starts With a Bang

The Hearst channels at issue include WBAL Baltimore (NBC), WGAL Harrisburg (NBC), WTAE Pittsburgh (ABC), WCVB Boston (ABC) and WMUR Manchester, N.H. (ABC).

The two companies have a complex relationship, given that Verizon and Hearst are elsewhere 50/50 partners in Complex Networks, a suite of online brands.

A Verizon spokesperson also said there could be potential issues with carriage of a couple of Gray Television stations, WWBT (NBC) and WUVP (CW) Richmond, Va., based on "[Gray's] actions with other companies," they said, without elaboration.

Also Read: Comcast Says it Reaches Hearst TV Retrans Deal

A Hearst TV spokesperson declined comment.  

"Over the last ten years, Gray has signed more than 1,000 retransmission consent agreements," said a Gray TV spokesperson, who added they could count on one had --"with fingers to spare"--the number of times Gray has not reached such agreements. "So, if Verizon is serious about reaching a deal [at] today’s marketplace rates for our top-rated stations in Richmond, a deal will get done," they said.

Four Massachusetts legislators have called on Comcast CEO Brian Roberts and Hearst president Jordan Wertlieb to negotiate in good faith and resolve their carriage dispute such that ABC affiliate WCVB Boston stays on Comcast's system serving Bristol County, Massachusetts, residents.

Sens. Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren and Reps. William Keating and Joseph P. Kennedy III wrote the pair saying they were not taking sides, but simply encouraging them to resolve the issue so that Bristol County residents continue to get important emergency information and local news and sports, particularly given the importance of local information during the pandemic.

Comcast has said that on Dec. 22 it will drop Hearst-owned stations in 38 markets where cable subs have access to two affiliates of the same network. That move was outlined in a memo to subs and mainly affects towns and suburbs between major markets.

Bristol residents also have access to ABC affiliate WLNE Providence, R.I.

"The loss of this channel will prevent Bristol County residents from viewing a critical source of Massachusetts news and information over their set-top boxes," the legislators wrote. "Particularly during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, loss of access to this station would be harmful to Bristol County viewers who rely on state-specific announcements to stay healthy and safe."

Daniel Frankel contributed to this story.

Hearst-owned 16 WAPT in Jackson, Miss., announced that it will be adding a 9 p.m. newscast on subchannel MeTV Jackson. The newscast launches Monday, Aug. 31 and will air seven days a week for a half hour.

The 16 WAPT evening team, which includes Megan West, Keegan Foxx, Troy Johnson, Joe Cook and chief meteorologist David Hartman, will anchor the newscast during the week. The weekend edition will be anchored by Scott Simmons, Nick Niehaus and meteorologist Christina Kay. 

“16 WAPT is constantly working to find new ways to serve our community,” said president and general manager Mike Neelly. “We’re thrilled to add this new newscast, seven days a week, making it even more convenient for viewers trying to keep up with constantly changing news, sports, and weather. In a year branded by chaos and uncertainty, providing a convenient local source of verified information is more important than ever.” 

The staffers of Hearst Magazines, print and digital, have voted to unionize with the Writers Guild of America East. 

The union organizing committee tweeted the news. 

[embed]https://twitter.com/HearstUnion/status/1288631390016278529[/embed]

Those magazines include TV-related titles Food Network Magazine, HGTV Magazine and O The Oprah Magazine, which just announced it is going all-digital. 

The WGAE bargaining unit will comprise 500 staffers from those and 25 other digital/print brands including Marie Claire, Road & Track, Seventeen and Woman's Wear Daily. 

The vote was administered by the National Labor Relations Board, which directed that there be a single election after Hearst had pushed for a number of separate bargaining units. 

The staffers are looking for a contract that deals with "diversity, transparency, compensation and editorial standards," said WGAE.  

“Hearst is not just about a storied brand, it’s about the hard work of the people who are involved with writing, editing, and producing the stories that educate and inspire and delight readers and viewers," said WGAE executive director Lowell Peterson. "These employees have voted overwhelmingly to join with the Writers Guild of America, East to bargain collectively over the terms and conditions of their employment, to make their voices heard in the workplace, to ensure that their needs and interests and priorities are addressed. We welcome them to our community of creative professionals, and we look forward to working together to demonstrate, again, that collective bargaining works.” 

“We’ve been listening to our editorial teams’ aspirations for the company and will continue to address and act on them," said a Hearst Magazines spokesperson. "Now, it’s time to forge a path forward together, to maintain Hearst Magazines’ focus on innovation and long tradition of creating highly informative, engaging content. We remain committed to providing an equitable work environment that embraces diversity, transparency, fair compensation and best-in-class editorial standards.” 

Viacom said it has purchased AwesomenessTV Holdings, parent of digit-first short-form video content company AwesomenessTV, which will join the programmer’s stable of entertainment brands housed within Viacom Digital Studios.

The deal had been expected for days.  Although terms were not disclosed, past reports estimated that Viacom purchased the company for under $300 million, a fraction of its earlier $650 million valuation.

Since the launch of Viacom Digital Studios in November,  Viacom says its domestic social video views have increased by 112% and watch time has risen 104%, while its YouTube subscribers have nearly doubled in the past year. The company claims its digital streams have tripled over the past two years driven by that social media growth.

“Awesomeness has done an incredible job building their brand into a digital media powerhouse for today’s most sought-after and hard-to-reach youth audiences,” said Viacom Digital Studios president and former AwesomenessTV chief business officer Kelly Day in a statement. “The team brings strong digital expertise, deep connections with top talent and influencers, a world-class television and film studio, and a robust branded content team and creative agency that will accelerate the growth and scale of Viacom Digital Studios.”

AwesomenessTV is expected to be a good fit with Viacom’s youth-oriented MTV and Nickelodeon networks, as it reaches about 158 million subscribers with about 300 million monthly views and an additional 6 million people watch it on YouTube. AwesomenessTV’s Emmy-winning production studio also has a library of over 200 hours of long-form television and feature films.

AwesomenessTV was co-founded by Brian Robbins, who currently serves as president of Paramount Players at Viacom, and Joe Davola. AwesomenessTV was previously owned by Comcast/NBCUniversal, Hearst and Verizon.

Viacom is in talks to purchase short-form video pioneer AwesomenessTV, two years after the company received a big cash infusion that valued it at about $650 million, sources familiar with the companies confirmed.

News of the deal was first reported by Bloomberg News. 

AwesomenessTV was created by DreamWorks animation in 2013 and Verizon purchased a 24.5% stake in the company in 2016. It was believed AwesomenessTV’s short-form videos would play well on Verizon’s mobile platform, particularly is go90 service, which launched in 2015. 

But Verizon plans to shutter go90 this month and AwesomenessTV’s other partners – Comcast owns 51% (which it inherited after buying DreamWorks Animation in 2016) and Hearst the remaining 24.5% -- apparently are wiling to sell.

According to sources familiar with the companies, Viacom is in advanced stages with Awesomeness TV and could reach a deal in the next few weeks, although there is no guarantee the transaction will be completed.

Two former AwesomenessTV executives also currently have a Viacom connection and their familiarity with the brand adds to its attractiveness to the programmer. AwesomenessTV co-founder Brian Robbins is president of Viacom's Paramount Players youth-focused production division and former chief business officer Kelly Day is president of Viacom Digital Media. 

Adding to Viacom's interest is that Awesomeness TV will likely be priced at less $300 million, way below the $650 million valuation the company received when Verizon first invested in 2016.

Skinny bundles, Title II and 5G were nowhere to be found.

The most widely read story on MCN in 2017 was Hearst stations going dark on DirectTV, followed by the House vote to scrap privacy rules and Crown Media’s decision to launch a new linear channel.

Here’s a closer look at the most engaging stories on the list:

1. Hearst Stations Dark on DirecTV

2. House Votes to Repeal FCC Privacy Rules

3. TCA17: Crown Media to Launch Hallmark Drama Cable Network

4. Comcast Starts to Deploy 4K/HDR X1 Box

5. What A&E Wants You to Know About ‘Live PD’

6. Charter Targets Cord-Cutters With ‘Spectrum TV Stream’

7. Comcast Won't Authenticate Subs for New Starz App

8. Hallmark Drama Channel Launches Into Headwinds for Linear Networks

9. Comcast Opens Access to Fire TV, Fire TV Stick

10. Verizon Dropping Its Email Business

iflix, a multiscreen SVOD service for emerging markets, said it has wrapped up a $133 million round of funding led by Hearst along with new and existing investors that include Singapore’s EDBI, Evolution Media, Sky PLC, Catcha Group, Liberty Global, Jungle Ventures and PLDT.

The new round brings iflix’s total funding to more than $220 million. The new round will be used to invest in iflix’s local content strategy, the company said.

RELATED: iflix Taps CSG for Payment Options 

iflix, which competes with Netflix and Amazon Video in some markets around the globe, launched service in May 2015 and has grown from four markets to 19 across Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The company said its subscriber base has grown 3x and revenues have risen 230% over the past 12 months, and that mobile viewing is around 2.5 hours to 2.75 hours per session.

“We are thrilled to welcome Hearst President and CEO Steven Swartz and Hearst Entertainment & Syndication President Neeraj Khemlani to the iflix family,” iflix co-founder and group CEO Mark Britt, said in a statement. “Hearst is a leading investor and has many of the world’s most innovative and iconic video brands, including ESPN, A+E Networks, Vice, AwesomenessTV, Complex and more. This collaboration significantly deepens our bench of experts with our longstanding partners Evolution Media, Sky and Liberty Global to help drive iflix’s continuing growth.”

iflix was advised by Moelis & Company LLC, Delta Partners and Herbert Smith Freehills for its latest funding round. 

Verizon Communications and Hearst have introduced Complex Networks, a service that puts millennial-focused brand Complex and new digital video networks RatedRed.com and Seriously.TV under the same umbrella.

Rich Antoniello, formerly CEO of Complex and its founder, has been named CEO of Complex Networks. Additionally, Neeraj Khemlani, president of Hearst Entertainment & Syndication, and Brian Angiolet, senior vice president of Verizon’s consumer product portfolio, to take on the additional roles of co-chairmen of Complex Networks.

The debut of Complex Networks follows the formation earlier this year of Verizon Hearst Media Partners, an initiative focused on digital video programming for mobile platforms and younger audiences. They launched RatedRed.com and Seriously.TV in the spring.

They said Complex Networks’s offerings generate more than 500 million videos views a month and have a combined social following of over 75 million users.

“Our partners at Verizon and Hearst respected what we have built with Complex and are now entrusting us with this immense opportunity to bring all of these brands together to build the biggest and best collection of vertical voices of tomorrow,” Antoniello said in a statement. “By combining the resources and assets of our parent companies—with unparalleled offerings in mobile ad and video technology, as well as premium content production—with the differentiation and growth of RatedRed, Seriously.TV and Complex, you’re looking at a set of digital video networks that will continue to grow production, distribution, and monetization of must watch programming for an audience that is as massive as it is engaged.”

Verizon and Hearst also have stakes in AwesomenessTV. 

Shane Smith, Vice Media co-founder and CEO, is not a man accustomed to taking things lying down. And yet there he was one Friday evening last month, admittedly with a few ales in him, lying prone on stage at Manhattan’s Chelsea Piers, talking up his company’s virtues and history through a microphone before a packed house of mainly millennials.

It was the last of the 2016 NewFront events, and Smith was heaping the attention on Viceland, the few-months-old cable network that took over the dial space of A+E Networks’s unplugged H2 channel, premiering in 70 million homes. Since H2 was preaching to a whole other, older demo, it made sense for Smith to tout from the floor that Viceland had experienced the “fastest f--king aging down of a network in the history of television.”

A few moments later, Smith rose to his feet and soon began shouting the lyrics to 1970s punk band Sham 69’s “If the Kids Are United.” With the night’s house band playing along, Smith loudly sang the chorus, “If the kids are united/then we’ll never be divided.”

It played like a fitting rallying cry for Smith’s new millennials-focused cable network. But the man has quite the task in front of him with Viceland, and a climb that could run at the same angle as the six verticals he talked about launching at the NewFronts.

Smith has said Viceland will accomplish what many regard as two of the most dificult goals in current-day television: make the kind of content that will lure lots of persnickety millennials to traditional live and C3 viewing, and create a successful new cable network in a world of skinny bundles and cord-cutters.

The digital media company is valued at about $4.5 billion, but it’s playing with a bunch of high-profile, newer-blood investments from such foundational industry concerns as The Walt Disney Co., Hearst and 21st Century Fox, to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars each. The pressure to succeed may not yet be high, but how long before the suits start calling Smith and network creative director Spike Jonze with a sigh and suggestions — especially if the Nielsen numbers the network isn’t yet reporting don’t rise?

Granted, it’s early — fittingly enough, Viceland launched on leap day this year — but the safe bet is that a network sporting series with titles such as Gaycation, Weediquette, Balls Deep and F---k, That’s Delicious has the deck stacked against it.

That, of course, is the safe bet. But Smith, who has spent his share of time gambling and imbibing in Las Vegas, isn’t interested in the odds against his platform-agnostic concern making bank. Certainly not at the NewFronts, as he worked the room with a wicked smile, a woman on each arm and a bearded cable executive at his ear.

The Vice Media sensibility is everywhere here: It would be a challenge to find another party that would attract such a radiant mix of power suits, neck tattoos and Founding Father wigs (worn by Vice execs, ready to answer your questions). For Smith, the question comes down to how he measures success, and an answer that offers what he believes is his most abiding weapon.

“I don’t know — having fun. Enjoying myself. Not dying,” he began with a chuckle. “I mean, the usual metrics: Growth, money … but content. If I’m proud of the stuff we’re making, that makes me happiest.”

CONTENT BUBBLE

Smith has every reason to see Viceland’s content as the ultimate game-changer, given the company’s track record for bringing eyeballs to other platforms with a youth-minded élan. The only issue is, the competition is now overwhelmingly crowded for those eyeballs, to the point where, one year after FX Networks CEO John Landgraf declared, “There is simply too much television,” the ability to stand out gets increasingly dificult.

Viceland’s wild card is its long-honed formula for producing cross-platform successes in the years since Vice began as a Canadian magazine in 1994, moving from Montreal to New York in 2001 and continuing its multimedia expansion. The company’s content has reached more than 150 million non-linear viewers to date across all platforms, from video-on-demand to YouTube, from Facebook to Apple TV and other apps.

The hope is that Viceland’s shows — a mix of immersive documentary series and reality fare — will build a homestead on the frontier land of cable. But while the style of shooting may be familiar enough to fans of anything from TMZ to 30 for 30 to Storage Wars, series devoted to subjects from gay lifestyle and travel to marijuana use aren’t, on the surface, quite as common to traditional viewers as, say, Chopped and Love It or List It.

“It doesn’t look like your mother’s cable network,” Bill Carroll, senior vice president and director of content strategy for Katz Television Group, said. “You see a lot of these entities like Vice looking at … [being] available through mainstream media. Whether they’re mainstream is a different conversation.”

In a sense, the more relevant conversations are: Can Viceland bring ad dollars in, despite the fact that the company is not publicly sharing Nielsen figures, and is the content of a quality that people will want to tune in and come back for more?

The list of clients on the network at present includes some big names — Samsung, Unilever, Bank of America, Diageo, T-Mobile and Toyota — including several that have followed the company from earlier digital incarnations to the cable network. The network has also eschewed, by necessity or design, some of the typical spot count numbers for more custom messaging.

“We really believe that when advertisers come to the network, it should be more relevant,” said Guy Slattery, who moved over from his vice president of marketing post at A&E to become GM of Viceland earlier this year. “We try to make custom messaging for our clients that will be on the most relevant platform for them, and a lot of client partners on the digital side come in wanting to work on the network side.”

That includes Unilever’s Tresemmé brand tying in with Broadly, Vice’s vertical that looks at women’s experiences, and Bushmills Black Bush Whiskey in spots with Thomas Morton, the longtime Vice contributor who now hosts Viceland’s investigative series, Balls Deep.

It’s folks such as Morton who are really key to the growth of the cable network, Slattery maintained. Showcasing the kind of filming and editing de rigueur in current docuseries, Viceland’s slate represents the passions of the young filmmakers behind them. Weediquette is correspondent Krishna Andavolu’s take on pot culture; Gaycation follows actress Ellen Page and her friend Ian Daniel exploring LGBTQ culture the world over; and Huang’s World finds Eddie Huang searching for meaning and identity with a healthy serving of food thrown in. The faces are fresh and new, but familiar to fans of Vice platforms. And the content has a sensibility of wonder about it. When Vice World of Sports host Selema Masekela watches a boxing match in the episode “The Boys of Bukom,” about a slum village in Ghana that has produced an inordinate number of fighting champions, his wide-eyed shouts of “whoa!” imply he’s just as amazed as he believes we should be.

“We don’t consider them hosts,” Slattery said. “They’re the people creating the shows, the executive producers. We really believe in finding people with a point of view who will tell it, rather than a network creating a show and casting a host for it. These are their passions.”

Those passions are meant to stir up millennials who have, through reams of research, professed concern and commitment for myriad social issues that are covered on many Viceland shows (a tie the network is banking on advertisers buying into). The format, which works to great success on HBO’s Emmy-winning Vice documentary show, harkens back to TV stalwarts such as 60 Minutes.

“It’s a more natural form of storytelling and it was always the hallmark of 60 Minutes, which got rid of the traditional imperious narrator and replaced it with highly idiosyncratic individuals, such as Mike Wallace, Morley Safer and Ed Bradley,” said Jon Klein, CEO and cofounder of digital network builder Tapp Media and former president of CNN/U.S., who also oversaw 60 Minutes for a time when he was at CBS. “In a sense, Vice continues the 60 Minutes tradition. Those are authentic voices and they found a way to capture that. That’s the lingua franca of journalism today.”

Whether or not that formula helps to bring in viewers and advertisers remains anybody’s guess — and it’s a difficult equation.

“It’s very early to be looking at any performance of a channel,” Klein said. “And I don’t know any successful launch of any channel. Traditional cable is a very tough road to hoe. But Vice has created a mystique around the brand and, what’s more, you can watch Viceland in any number of ways even if you don’t get cable.”

DECENT EXPOSURE

While Smith and Co. do their level best to maintain their media maverick cred, they’ve balanced it with expanded ties to other major outlets. A new pact will allow Vice to develop short-form shows for ESPN TV and digital properties, with a trade of some 30 for 30 segments airing on Viceland. Every bit of exposure will help the network.

Still, it’s another safe bet that the on-air and off -air attitude of Viceland won’t fall under the rubric of traditional television. When asked to recommend the right first Viceland show for this writer’s 21-year-old daughter, Slattery said, “Weediquette — most 21-yearolds like smoking weed, right?” While that may not be a Leslie Moonves-type answer, that seems to be the point — in an already disrupted TV world, maybe something more untraditional is needed to bring millennials in.

That appeared to be Smith’s attitude at the NewFront. When asked the same question, he suggested Gaycation or “some of our environmental stuff — we’ve got to change the world.”

If that’s really Smith’s goal — yet another lofty one — Viceland is his latest tool, and regardless of safe bets or long odds, it’s probably wise not to doubt his commitment to the game, regardless of when or how it may end.

“I believe in the future,” he said, as he was swept off into the NewFront crowd. “I don’t ever wanna be fully satisfied.”

Viceland: The Chief Assets

Key personnel: Shane Smith, CEO; Spike Jonze and Eddy Moretti, co-presidents

Premier advertisers: PLC, Bank of America Corp., Diageo, Shinola, Bushmills, Mailchimp, Samsung, T-Mobile USA, Toyota and Unilever

Blue-chip content:

Balls Deep: Thomas Morton hits the road — to a tent revival in Arkansas, to Michigan to spend Ramadan with a Muslim family, to Alaska to live off the land — to delve into humanity and what it all means.

Gaycation: Ellen Page and her BFF Ian Daniel find out how the world deals with LGBTQ issues; stops include Japan, Brazil, Jamaica and, infamously, Iowa, where they had a little chat with Ted Cruz.

Huang’s World: Eddie Huang eats tuna sperm in Italy, checks out panda porn in China and drinks poop-infused coffee in Shanghai in this travel, food, search-for-self series.

Noisey: Zach Goldbaum looks at the culture and chief figures in some of the world’s most fascinating music scenes. At the same time, he delves into anything from violence to drugs and gangs to Wayne Newton.

States of Undress: Hailey Gates explores global fashion and issues that go way beyond the runway, from China’s clothing manufacturing to cultures that insist on women wearing burkas.

Vice World of Sports: Selema Masekela covers boxing in Bukom (in Ghana), soccer in a Ugandan prison and baseball in Cuba.

Weediquette: Krishna Andavolu explores the new “pot paradigm,” looking at the marijuana business and culture from the Congo to Amsterdam, and California to Colorado.

July premieres on Viceland:

Black Market: Michael K. Williams looks at underground economies and folks finding ways to survive in the U.S. and around the world, from carjackers in N.J. to poachers in South Africa.

Cyberwar: Ben Makuch introduces us to hackers, dissidents, government officials and others involved in the confusing and frightening world of cyberwarfare.

Dead Set on Life: Canadian chef Matty Matheson serves up everything from a $6 gas station sub to the culinary wonders of Winnipeg’s Filipino community — and lots in between.

Party Legends: Lance Bangs brings us — through art and animation — to some parties we all wish we could have attended, courtesy of Fred Armisen, Margaret Cho, Dennis Rodman, Bobcat Goldthwait and many more.

Vice Does America: Abdullah Saeed, Wilbert L. Cooper and Martina De Alba take us up close and personal to the voting public during this most insanely weird election.

The Shane Smith Empire: Vice Media at a Glance

Key personnel: Shane Smith, CEO; Eddy Morretti, chief creative officer; Spike Jonze, creative director

Valuation: $4.2 billion-$4.5 billion

Key Investors: 21st Century Fox, Disney, Technology Crossover Ventures

Multiplatform Outlets:

Vice(HBO series): Emmy-winning newsmagazine exec produced by Bill Maher

Vice Books: Featuring collections of works and photos tied into the magazine

Vice Films: Outlet for feature-length documentary releases

The Vice Guide to Everything: MTV series featuring Vice Films releases and other documentary-based episodes.

Vicemagazine: Founded in 1994, focuses on art, culture, news

Vice Music: Company has released product from a variety of artists, including Snoop Dogg

VBS.tv: Company’s web-only video channel; launched in deal with MTV Networks and Logo Group.

Verticals: Six new ones launched, bringing total to 17

Worldwide channels: Plans to launch 20 more worldwide

SOURCE: Vice Media

Taking aim at millennials and new consumption patterns, Verizon and Hearst have formed a joint venture to create digital video programming targeted to mobile platforms and younger audiences.

They said the New York-based JV, to be called Verizon Hearst Media Partners, following the completion of Verizon’s investment, will team Verizon’s technology and Hearst’s digital video content and production capabilities.

Initially, the 50/50 JV will collaborate on the anticipated spring launch of two new digital channels – RatedRed.com and Seriously.TV – that will be distributed on Go90, AOL, and via other distribution platforms. They’ll also be offered through third-party networks and licensors.

RatedRed.com will be a multiplatform digital video channel for millennials focused on news, documentaries, and scripted and nonscripted series covering topics such as music, food, outdoor life, military affairs, politics and faith. Seriously.TV will provide daily  “comedic news updates”  delivered at times “when younger viewers are turning to their phones instead of late-night programming for their take on world events," the JV said. 

Both OTT channels are expected to launch in time for the NewFronts. 

The Verizon-Hearst JV is forming about two years after AT&T and The Chernin Group collaborated on the creation of an OTT-focused venture now called Otter Media. 

More to come… 

The Paley Center for Media hosts its International Council Summit Thursday and Friday (Nov. 19-20) in New York, where top media and entertainment company executives will convene to discuss the transactions that "are moving the needle and changing the face of the global media landscape."

The summit, programmed around the theme "Deals & Dealmaking: Capitalizing on the Media Revolution," opens at 9 a.m. Thursday with an interesting pairing when Discovery Commuications president/CEO David Zaslav interviews James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox.

The event's other keynote speakers are Tim Armstrong, CEO of AOL, and Marni Walden, EVP and president of product innovcation and new business at Verizon, who close out the day at 4:30 p.m. with "40/40 — Going All In on Mobile," during which they promise to open up about their “40-40 opportunity — $40 billion going to mobile and $40 billion going to video." Chris Pantoya, the NBA's SVP of mobile strategy, will moderate.

Among the featured speakers is Hearst executive vice chairman Frank A. Bennack, Jr., who is also chairman of the Paley Center. He and Steve Swartz, Hearst president and CEO, will join Multichannel News editorial director Mark Robichaux at 2:45 p.m. for "Masters of the Game," a half-hour conversation about the executives' game plan for building and reinvigorating a global media powerhouse through the strategic acquisition of content, technologies and multiple platforms. 

Other sessions of note on Thursday include:

--"It’s a Disneyfied World!" at 11:05 a.m., with Andy Bird, chairman of Walt Disney International, and Claudio Chiaromonte, EVP and managing director, The Walt Disney Co. Latin America, on their approach to building Disney’s global network, linking all of its businesses;

--"Breaking the Backend," at 11:35 a.m., with United Talent Agency's Peter Benedek, Discovery's Rich Ross and Leftfield Entertainment's Brent Montgomery, on the new economics of programming, production, content investment and talent deal structures; and

--"Media Myths & Consumer Trends: Separating Fact from Fiction," at 2:30 p.m., a 15-minute talk by Nielsen global president Steve Hasker on Nielsen's progress toward measuring the "Total Audience" for all content across all platforms and consumer trends the media measurement company foresees in 2020.

The conference continues on Friday (Nov. 20) through 1:30 p.m. with six additional sessions. For more information, visit the Paley IC 2015 website.

In one of the shortest retransmission consent blackouts in recent memory, Dish Network said it had reached an agreement with Hearst Television a mere 14 hours after the broadcaster’s 29 channels went dark to Dish customers in 25 markets.

Hearst stations went dark to Dish customers at about 9 p.m. central time April 8, after the two could not reach an agreement. In statements, Hearst accused Dish of seeking terms that ere “radically off-market,” while Dish said the broadcaster’s “unreasonable demands” prevented a deal. Apparently they worked out their differences.

In a brief statement released around noon Eastern Time on April 9, Dish said that it had reached an agreement with Hearst. The deal affected ABC, NBC, CBS, The CW, My Network TV and independent stations in the following markets: Albuquerque, N.M.; Baltimore; Boston; Burlington, Vt.; Cincinnati; Des Moines, Iowa; Ft. Smith-Fayetteville, Ark.; Greensboro, N.C.; Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Honolulu; Jackson, Miss.; Kansas City, Mo.; Louisville, Ky.; Milwaukee; Monterey-Salinas, Calif.; New Orleans; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Omaha, Neb.; Orlando, Fla.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Portland-Auburn, Maine; Sacramento, Calif.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.

About 29 Hearst Television stations in 25 markets across the country went dark to Dish Network subscribers Tuesday night after the parties failed to reach a retransmission consent agreement by the 9 p.m. Central Time deadline.

But the parties appear to differ on the reason for the blackout – Hearst says it’s not over money (which is typically at the heart of these disputes.)

"It appears that Dish does not have a problem with the rates we are seeking," said Dan Joerres, president and general manager of Hearst’s Baltimore station WBAL-TV, in a statement. "But the Dish negotiating team is seeking other terms that we don't have in our deals with any other cable or satellite distributor or telco, nor do we have them in our current deal with Dish. Frankly, we are scratching our heads as to why Dish would hold their own customers and our viewers hostage for terms that are radically off-market."

WBAL did not elaborate.

Dish was equally vague in its own statement, saying Hearst is using the blackout to make demands the satellite giant apparently is reluctant to identify.

 “Hearst blacked out its channels to use viewers as bargaining chips as it makes unreasonable demands on Dish and its customers,” Dish executive vice president and chief commercial officer Dave Shull said in a statement. “We offered to keep the channels on while we try to reach a deal, but Hearst refuses to put viewers first.”

Hearst noted that it has a history of successfully negotiating retrans deals with no disruptions of service. And it insisted it did not black out its station – its programming is available over the air as well as via other distributors.

Dish said it had offered a short-term contract extension to Hearst while it worked on a compromise, but Hearst declined. The two parties continue to negotiate.

 “We are actively working to negotiate an agreement that promptly returns this content to DISH’s programming lineup,” added Shull in his statement.

Dish spokesman John Hall declined to elaborate.

The impasse comes about a month after Dish worked out a landmark carriage and retrans deal with The Walt Disney Co., that included extensive digital rights and the opportunity for Dish to use content from five Disney cable channels and its ABC broadcast network stations for a future over the top Internet video service. Many analysts believed that deal would be a template for future deals for the satellite giant.

The Hearst action includes ABC, NBC, CBS, The CW, My Network TV and independent stations in the following markets: Albuquerque, N.M.; Baltimore; Boston; Burlington, Vt.; Cincinnati; Des Moines, Iowa; Ft. Smith-Fayetteville, Ark.; Greensboro, N.C.; Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C.; Harrisburg, Pa.; Honolulu; Jackson, Miss.; Kansas City, Mo.; Louisville, Ky.; Milwaukee; Monterey-Salinas, Calif.; New Orleans; Oklahoma City, Okla.; Omaha, Neb.; Orlando, Fla.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Portland-Auburn, Maine; Sacramento, Calif.; West Palm Beach, Fla.; and Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla.