Tegna said its Quest digital multicast network is launching a streaming app that will give viewers access to science, history and engineering programming on demand.

The move follows a similar launch last year of a streaming app for Tegna’s True Crime Network.

Digital multicast networks have grown as viewers have cut the cord and installed antennas to watch over-the-air channels. In addition to Tegna, the E.W. Scripps Co., Nexstar and Sinclair Broadcast Group have multiple multicast networks. The connected TV market is hot now as as well with the number of streaming ad-supported linear channels multiplying.

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Tegna acquired 85% of digital networks Quest and Justice from Cooper Media for $77 million in 2019. Quest had launched in 2018. The Justice Network was relaunched at True Crime in 2020. 

Being both over-the-air and on CTV gives brands like Quest two chances to reach viewers and collect ad dollars.

“We feel that the future of these networks is converging,” said Brian Weiss, VP of entertainment programming and multicast networks at Tegna. 

Weiss sees continued growth opportunities in both over-the-air and connected TV delivery. 

“We want to make sure that we’re offering both and while we think the future of television is linear, we feel we have to have a connected TV option for those who are transitioning to on demand,” he said.

An OTT version of Twist, a multicast channel aimed at women Tegna launched in April “could be coming down the road” as well, he said.

Weiss said Tegna is well positioned to grow brands like Quest and Twist. It can use the promotion of both its stations and its digital networks to attract viewers

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Tegna also has Premion, its advanced advertising sales unit. 

“That is a piece that I would not undersell,” Weiss said. “A lot of people are trying to make money in the streaming wars, but monetization is really difficult so having an in-house partner like Premion allows us to sell a lot of inventory and make sure we’re serving ads to our users. It really gives us a good chance to succeed.”

When Tegna added a streaming VOD app to its True Crime network, viewing was a fraction of what the over-the-air network was generating. But the number of viewers, the hours viewed and the percentage of ad inventory fill has grown steadily.

“We need to focus on getting more users more quickly. It’s happening and so we will focus next year on more marketing support. We’re already beginning to use some of our station inventory, specifically where our stations are airing true crime shows.

Tegna got the streaming rights to some of the shows on the over-the-air networks as an add on to the over-the-air rights. It got other programming under revenue share deals more common in streaming. 

Tegna could wind up adding linear channels to its streaming apps, but Weiss warns that it takes a lot of programming to maintain a 24 hour, seven day a week channel. He adds that the over-the-air channels now generate much more revenue than streaming does. “Before we start creating a competing linear channel, we want to make sure we’re making the investment at the appropriate time.”

The Quest streaming app will offer programming including The Aviators, Scrap Kings, Mayday, Huge Moves, Monster Moves, Giant Lobster Hunters, Chasing Monsters and Aussie Gold Hunters. More series will be added in the coming months.

The app will also feature Farpoint Film’s Ice Vikings. For the second season premiering on Quest and streaming in October 2021, Tegna will serve as a co-production partner for season two of the series. The Quest streaming app will also feature documentary originals from Tegna stations, including  Road Trip: Climate Truth from WFAA-TV, Dallas.

Multicast net Quest has greenlit a third season of Shed & Buried. Formerly a Travel Channel show, Shed & Buried is produced by HCA Entertainment. It follows Henry Cole and Sam Lovegrove as they discover vintage vehicles. 

The new season airs in 2021. Discovery commissioned the season. 

Season three sees Cole and Lovegrove traipse the UK countryside rummaging for “motoring treasure,” said Discovery, including cars, motorbikes, yachts and tractors. Cole has an eye for valuable stuff and Lovegrove has a knack for fixing vintage gear.  

Quest said it will air a fourth season of Outback Opal Hunters, about Australia’s toughest miners as they search for riches. 

“We’re excited to reboot the hugely popular series Shed & Buried for Quest. Our restoration shows are more popular than ever, and Henry and Sam’s passion for transforming vintage items into profit making pieces will be sure to capture their imaginations,” Simon Downing, senior VP, head of factual and sport, Discovery UK said. “After a record-breaking run for the last season of Outback Opal Hunters, we’re also delighted to bring our Quest audience some new exciting storylines in one of the most brutal mining destinations.”

Tegna owns Quest, which is described as a network “that entertains and informs its viewers with exhilarating adventure programming about nature’s greatest dangers, history’s greatest mysteries and man’s greatest achievements.”

Tegna said Monday that it has agreed to purchase the remaining interests in multicast networks Justice and Quest it does not already own for $77 million in cash from Cooper Media.

The deal values the networks at about $91 million. Tegna had previously owned about 15% of the channels. Cooper Media parent Cooper Holdings held the rest. Justice was launched in 2015 and focuses on true crime, mystery and investigation programming. Quest was launched last year and concentrates on science, history, engineering and adventure-reality series. 

“Consumer viewing habits are shifting toward over-the-air consumption supplemented by inexpensive over-the-top services,” Tegna CEO Dave Lougee said in a press release. “Justice and Quest allow us to fully capitalize on the growth in over-the-air television audiences, which has increased by more than 48% over the past eight years.”

Tegna said it will finance the deal, expected to close in the second quarter, with available cash and borrowings from its existing credit facility. In addition, Cooper Media president and general manager Brian Weiss will join Tegna and will continue to run Atlanta-based Justice and Quest. 

“It has been an honor to work with Tegna to build Justice Network and Quest from the ground up, while informing and entertaining the growing over-the-air audience,” Cooper Holdings chairman Lonnie Cooper in a press release. “The timing is right for Cooper Holdings to focus on its core agency businesses, while cheering on the networks’ continued success as part of the Tegna family.”

Nixon Peabody LLP is acting as legal counsel to Tegna in connection with the proposed deal.