Profile: Belo Corp. (BLC.N)

Belo Corp. (Belo) is a pure-play television company. The Company has a diversified group of television broadcasting operations, including interactive media and cable news operations. The Company owns and operates 20 television stations reaching more than 14% of United States television households, including ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW and MyNetwork TV (MNTV) affiliates, and their associated Websites, in 15 markets across the United States. Belo manages one television station through a local marketing agreement (LMA). In addition it owns two local and two regional cable news channels and holds ownership interests in two other cable news channels. On February 8, 2008, the Company completed the spin-off of its former newspaper businesses and related assets, into a separate public company, A. H. Belo Corporation (A. H. Belo).

As of June 6, 2008, the Company had no further ownership interest in A. H. Belo or in any newspaper or related businesses, and A. H. Belo had no ownership interest in the Company or in any television station or related businesses. Belo’s relationship with A. H. Belo is governed by a separation and distribution agreement between the two companies, a services agreement and certain other agreements between the two companies or their respective subsidiaries. Belo and A. H. Belo also co-own certain downtown Dallas, Texas real estate.

Belo also manages one station through a LMA and has joint marketing and shared services agreements with the owner and operator of KFWD-TV licensed to Fort Worth, Texas. Belo’s stations are concentrated primarily in three regions: Texas, the Northwest and the Southwest. Six of the Company’s stations are located in the four metropolitan areas in the United States, including ABC affiliate WFAA-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth; CBS affiliate KHOU-TV in Houston; NBC affiliate KING-TV and independent KONG-TV in Seattle/Tacoma, and Independent KTVK and The CW Network (CW) affiliate KING-TV in Phoenix.

The principal source of revenue for Belo’s television stations is the sale of airtime to local, regional and national advertisers. Generally, rates for national and local spot advertising sold by the Company are determined by each station, and the station receives all of the revenues, net of agency commissions, for that advertising. Websites of each of the Company’s television stations provide consumers with timely news and information, as well as a variety of other products and services. Belo obtains immediate feedback through online communication with its audience. The Company has a balanced portfolio of broadcast network-affiliated stations, with four American Broadcasting Company (ABC) affiliates, four National Broadcasting Company (NBC) affiliates and five Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) affiliates, and at least one large-market station associated with each network. Belo also owns two independent (IND) stations, two CW affiliates, two MNTV affiliates and one FOX affiliate, and operates one additional CW affiliate through an LMA.

The Company has network affiliation agreements with ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, CW and MNTV. The Company’s network affiliation agreements generally provide the station with the exclusive right to broadcast over the air in its local service area all programs transmitted by the network, with which the station is affiliated. In return, the network has the right to sell most of the advertising time during such broadcasts. In connection with these network affiliation agreements, the Company’s stations may receive network compensation for broadcasting network programming.

The Company owns two regional cable news operations, Texas Cable News (TXCN) in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, and Northwest Cable News (NWCN) in Seattle, Washington, and two local cable news operations, 24/7 NewsChannel (24/7) in Boise, Idaho and NewsWatch on Channel 15 in New Orleans, Louisiana. These operations provide news coverage in a comprehensive 24-hour a day format using the news resources of the Company’s television stations in Texas, Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Louisiana. The Company also operates, through joint ventures, two cable news channels in partnership with Cox Communications and other parties that provide local news coverage in Phoenix, Arizona (Arizona NewsChannel) and Hampton/Norfolk, Virginia (Local News on Cable). These cable news channels use the news resources of the television stations owned by the Company in those markets.