Gray Media, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company is the third-largest television station operator in the United States by number of stations, owning or operating 180 stations across the United States in 113 markets. Its station base consists of media markets ranging from as large as Atlanta to one of the smallest markets, North Platte, Nebraska.
In terms of quantity and numerical total, Gray Media is the largest group owner and operator of NBC-affiliated stations (with a total of 64 affiliates), ahead of Nexstar Media Group and Tegna Inc., and the second-largest group owner and operator of ABC affiliates, behind Sinclair Broadcast Group.
Contents
History
James H. Gray started his communication business in Albany, Georgia with the purchase of The Herald Publishing Company (a company founded in 1897 to promote The Albany Herald, a newspaper that started publication in 1891), in 1946 after he returned from World War II. The purchase included WALB radio. Gray launched WALB-TV in 1954. In 1960, Gray purchased WJHG-TV in Panama City, Florida, and followed it later in the decade with KTVE serving Monroe, Louisiana and southern Arkansas.
In 1986, Gray died, leaving his 50.5% share of the stock in a trust for his children with stipulation that they run the business together, sell their stock with each other or sell out together. It caused difficulties as two of the three wanted to sell, but the third was against the purchase. In 1991, to break the stalemate, the board of directors had the company purchase 25% of their shares.
Gray Communication Systems
The company was then taken public on NASDAQ's small-cap market in the 2nd quarter 1992. The price per share dropped to $8. The company put itself, or any part, up for sale by the end of 1992. While the board of directors received about 40 offers, Bull Run Corporation eventually stepped in and purchased the remaining shares of the Gray siblings, who as part of the deal resigned from the board.
New management took over all three TV stations. Bull Run Corporation, primarily owned by J. Mack Robinson, decided to make Gray a Southeast regional media company, expanding its focus beyond the state of Georgia. Gray purchased two TV stations (WKYT-TV and WYMT-TV) from the failed and government-seized Kentucky Central Insurance Company in September 1994 after a court challenge to the sale by Kentucky Central builder Garvice Kincaid.
In 1994 and 1995, Gray purchased two newspapers, the Rockdale Citizen (acquired May 31, 1994) and Gwinnett Post-Tribune (acquired January 1995; quickly renamed Gwinnett Daily Post) and seven advertising weeklies. In 1995, the company moved its stock listing to the New York Stock Exchange. By this time, Robinson, directly or through Bull Run, owned 44% of the company's stock. Gray had started to focus on its TV station segment over the newspaper holding while TV produced more income and the newspapers' income were declining. Just months after doubling the Daily Post's staff, one third were laid off and a quarter of The Albany Herald's staff followed in January 1996. Newspaper leaders resigned during this period, from the corporate president in late 1995 to the Citizen's editor and publisher.
In 1996, Gray added additional TV stations while entering additional communication industry segments. In 1996, Fortune considered the company the nation's 81st fastest growing company, with a 48% growth rate, and as if to prove the point, Gray purchased WRDW-TV in January 1996. In September of the same year, a basket purchase from First American Media, Inc. earned the company two more TV stations, (WCTV and WVLT-TV), Satellite and Production Business Services, which was renamed Lynqx Communications and PortaPhone paging business.
In August and September 1996, Gray raised additional operating funds by various means. On August 20, KTVE was sold for cash and accounts receivable. The company issued and sold Class B common stock (through a public offering), senior subordinated notes and preferred stock in September. Also, a new bank credit facility was arranged. This brought the company total to $534.5 million in available funds with $409.5 million directly available.
Gray Television
In 2006, the company spun off its five daily newspapers and wireless messaging business into the newly formed Triple Crown Media, later (in 2010) renamed Southern Community Newspapers. A new strategy of purchasing stations in college towns or capitals was put into place.
The company had overpaid for a pair of stations and was over leveraged like many other station groups entering the Great Recession. Advertising revenues dropped. The twin problems caused its shares to trade at its lowest at 16 cents in 2008, thus the NYSE indicated they might delist the company. Loan covenants could have forced the company into default. Robinson stepped down with Howell replacing him in 2008.
On July 30, 2009, Gray was awarded a contract to manage seven Young Broadcasting-owned stations. Through December 31, 2012, Gray would earn $2.2 million and an opportunity to earn additional specified incentive fees if certain performance targets were exceeded.
Prather left the company in 2013 and Howell took over the president title. On November 4, 2013, Gray announced that it would purchase Yellowstone Holdings for $23 million, adding local stations: KGNS-TV, KGWN, KCWY and KCHY-LP. Three weeks later, on November 20, Gray announced it would purchase Hoak Media and Parker Broadcasting for $335 million, and North Dakota's Fox affiliate KNDX/KXND for $7.5 million. As part of the deal, stations KAQY, KHAS-TV and KXJB, were proposed to be sold to Excalibur Broadcasting and operated by Gray under a "local marketing agreements". On December 19, it was announced that stations KREX-TV and WMBB would be sold to Nexstar Broadcasting Group, while KFQX would be sold to Mission Broadcasting. On March 25, 2014, Prime Cities Broadcasting, owner of KNDX/KXND, requested that the FCC dismiss the sale of KNDX/KXND to Excalibur.
The sale was completed on June 13, 2014. However, some stations were forced to go off the air and their programming was moved to a multicast stream on adjacent channels, due to some stations being unable to receive regulatory approval, after the FCC's ruling on joint sales agreements. Those silent stations would then be sold off to minority interest, pending FCC approval.
On July 24, 2014, SJL Broadcasting announced that it would sell WJRT-TV and WTVG to Gray, for $128 million. The sale was completed on September 15.
Gray Media
On December 30, 2024, the Board of Directors at Gray Television formally approved changing the name of the company to "Gray Media," after years of referring to the company internally and externally by that informal name.
On January 14, 2025, Gray announced its acquisition of KXLT-TV from SagamoreHill Broadcasting. Gray had already operated the station under a SSA. The FCC approved the purchase on March 11 under a failing station waiver. The sale was completed on March 21.
On July 7, 2025, Gray and The E.W. Scripps Company announced they were engaging in a station swap. Gray will get WSYM-TV and KATC whereas Scripps will get KKTV, KKCO, KJCT-LP, KMVT, and KSVT-LD. The FCC approved the multi-market exchange on April 28, 2026, and was completed on May 15.
On July 31, 2025, Gray announced that it would acquire WLTZ and KJTV-TV from SagamoreHill. Gray also managed these stations through a shared services agreement. Gray is hoping to obtain failing station waivers from the FCC and is aiming to have the deal done by the fourth quarter of 2025. The sale was approved by the FCC on May 6, 2026, including authority for Gray to own three TV station licenses in the Lubbock market, and completed two days later.
On August 1, 2025, Gray announced its acquisition of the stations owned by Block Communications for $80 million. Once again, Gray is hoping the deal is done by the fourth quarter of 2025. The sale was completed on May 6, 2026.
On August 8, 2025, Gray announced its intent to acquire stations in 10 markets from Allen Media Group for $171 million. WLFI-TV in Lafayette, Indiana; WTHI-TV in Terre Haute, Indiana; and WTVA in Columbus–Tupelo, Mississippi are in new markets for Gray. In the other seven markets, there will be duopolies with existing Gray-owned stations: WAAY-TV in Huntsville, Alabama (alongside Gray's WAFF); WCOV-TV in Montgomery, Alabama (alongside Gray's WSFA); WSIL-TV/KPOB-TV in Harrisburg, Illinois/Poplar Bluff, Missouri (alongside Gray's KFVS-TV in Cape Girardeau, Missouri); WREX in Rockford, Illinois (alongside Gray's WIFR-LD); WEVV-TV/WEEV-LD in Evansville, Indiana (alongside Gray's WFIE); WFFT-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana (alongside Gray's WPTA and WISE-TV, forming a triopoly); and KADN-TV/KLAF-LD in Lafayette, Louisiana (alongside Gray's pending ownership of KATC). Gray expects the deal to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2025. On March 23, 2026, the FCC approved the transfer of WLFI-TV, WTHI-TV, and WTVA from Allen. The sale of WTHI, WLFI, & WTVA was completed on March 27, 2026, while the sale in the other seven markets was completed on May 1, 2026.
Staff
Under the direction of executive chairman and CEO Hilton Howell, Gray Television was one of the first broadcasters to implement a COVID-19 vaccination mandate. He has said he is "proud" of the corporate culture he has helped create. Howell says he supports media consolidation and opposes an FCC cap on ownership. In their 2022 environmental, social, and governance (ESG) report, Howell noted he was committed to "improving our gender and racial diversity in leadership, our business ethics and compliance policies, our training and development, and our responsible energy use". According to the report, under Howell's leadership, the company aired a six-month series on health and wellness in Appalachia, known as "Bridging the Great Health Divide", expanded their relationship with Telemundo to provide additional Spanish-language content in the United States, highlighted stories about historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), aired and produced content about Pride Month and Hispanic Heritage Month in local markets, and aired and produced two climate change series, Troubled Water, a documentary about the water crisis, and Coast & Climate, a series about the impact of climate change in Louisiana. Howell is a donor to the Republican Party.
Assets
Current
Raycom Sports
PowerNation Studios
PowerNation (automotive hobby programming for syndication across many of Gray's affiliates, RSNs, and FAST streaming)
Circle Country (FAST streaming channel; joint venture with Opry Entertainment Group)
Tupelo Honey (production company)
Zeam (FAST streaming channel; joint venture with the National Association of Broadcasters and streaming technology company Syncbak; a service comprising about 300 local TV stations from Gray, CBS, Hearst and others that emphasizes local news coverage, which launched February 14, 2024)
Gray Television has an investment in broadcasting company Sarkes Tarzian, Inc.
Management of Young Broadcasting stations
On July 22, 2009, a New York bankruptcy judge approved a plan transferring ownership of Young Broadcasting and its stations to the company's secured lenders. The plan included Gray Television coming in as an outside party to advise on the operations of Young-owned stations in seven markets through December 2012. The new Young Broadcasting still held the final say on overall operations for their stations, including programming and personnel.
The former Young-owned stations managed by Gray Television include:
WKRN-TV in Nashville, Tennessee
WTEN in Albany, New York; repeater WCDC-TV in Adams, Massachusetts; and an SSA with WXXA-TV
WRIC-TV in Richmond, Virginia
WBAY-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin
KWQC-TV in Davenport, Iowa
KELO-TV in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and its translators throughout South Dakota
KLFY-TV in Lafayette, Louisiana
Young Broadcasting would retain ownership of all its stations, including three stations that Gray would not operate: KRON-TV in San Francisco, California, WATE-TV in Knoxville, Tennessee, and WLNS-TV in Lansing, Michigan, the last two due to Gray already owning stations in those markets. Gray considered the possibility of purchasing the Young stations if the group went on the market.
The agreement ended without any further extensions on December 31, 2012, and Young agreed to a merger with Media General in mid-2013. Gray would eventually purchase KWQC and WBAY outright when Nexstar Broadcasting Group acquired Media General in 2017, as Nexstar already owned WHBF-TV and WFRV-TV in each market. At that time, Gray had already acquired Sioux Falls rival station KSFY. Gray would also re-enter the Richmond market when it bought WWBT in 2019, following its merger with Raycom Media, and would also re-enter the Nashville market in 2021 with WSMV-TV after acquiring the television assets of Meredith Corporation.
Washington News Bureau
By January 20, 2016, Gray had set up their Washington news bureau by Jacqueline Policastro to enable stations to get interviews with U.S. Senators and Representatives serving their communities. The bureau cooperates with Lilly Broadcasting's Washington bureau, previously started by Policastro, and is located at the NBC News Capitol Hill bureau, 400 N. Capitol Street. In February 2019, Gray announced that journalist Greta Van Susteren joined the company as its Chief National Political Analyst. Gray then announced in April 2019 Greta Van Susteren as host of a Sunday morning syndicated show, Full Court Press with Greta Van Susteren, which was launched in September 2019. Van Susteren departed the company for Newsmax TV in late 2022.
Local News Live
Originating from Gray's Washington bureau is Local News Live, a hosted service of live breaking news and events from the 113 Gray television markets across the country, similar to LiveNow from Fox (produced by Fox Television Stations) and The National Desk (produced by Sinclair Broadcast Group). The channel operates from 7 a.m. to midnight Eastern (with paid programming vacating their spots), features live newscasts at 7 a.m., 2 p.m., and 8 p.m. Eastern time, and repeats throughout the day when no breaking news is occurring. In addition to live events, the anchors interview reporters and use footage not otherwise seen on broadcast. Local News Live airs on Gray television live streams between local newscasts and as a separate option on Gray station websites. The network is also available through some cable providers, including Spectrum, though under a slightly different name, as Local Look Today, as of August 2025.
Sports programming
Since 2023, Gray has created several over-the-air regional sports networks; including Arizona's Family Sports, Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network, Matrix Midwest, Palmetto Sports & Entertainment, Peachtree Sports Network, Rock Entertainment Sports Network (a joint venture with Rock Entertainment Group), Tennessee Valley Sports Entertainment Network and Silver State Sports & Entertainment Network.
Nationally, Gray holds the rights to the American Association of Professional Baseball, the National Collegiate Hockey Conference, and Fight Sports.