Hawaii News Now
News website | |
Available in |
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Founded | October 26, 2009 |
Headquarters | Honolulu, Hawaii, US |
Owner | Gray Television |
Created by | |
URL | hawaiinewsnow |
Commercial | Yes |
Registration | No |
Hawaii News Now (also abbreviated as HNN) is a news department shared by three television stations in Honolulu, Hawaii: CBS affiliate KGMB (channel 5), NBC affiliate KHNL (channel 13), and Telemundo affiliate KFVE (channel 6). The newscasts are produced by Gray Television, which owns KGMB, KHNL, and KFVE. It also has a partnership with KBFD, which uses KGMB's taped-on-the-field stories during KBFD's 11 p.m. Korean-language newscast with Korean language subtitles, and a radio partnership with KHKA.
Background
KGMB's news department started shortly after it signed on the air in 1952, and had the highest-rated of the Honolulu market's newscasts for most of its first 25 years; after
The origins of the three stations sharing their resources stemmed from the August 18, 2009, announcement that MCG Capital Corporation (then-owner of KGMB) and Raycom Media (owner of KHNL and, at the time, KFVE) had entered into a shared services agreement with Raycom as the senior partner. The combined operation was based at the KHNL/KFVE studios on Waiakamilo Road in Honolulu; KGMB vacated its longtime home on Kapiolani Boulevard. Though non-news programming would remain in place, the three stations would have a single news department dominated by former KGMB personalities. The arrangement also saw a channel swap, with the KGMB intellectual unit (call letters, CBS affiliation and programming) moving from PSIP channel 9 (UHF digital channel 23) to channel 5 (UHF digital channel 22) and the KFVE intellectual unit (including its MyNetworkTV affiliation) moving from 5 to 9.[1]
The swap was structured so that the KFVE callsign was reassigned to the license held by MCG Capital for KGMB and the KGMB callsign was reassigned to the license held by Raycom for KFVE. In effect, Raycom swapped KFVE to MCG Capital in return for KGMB. In most cases, it would not be possible for one company to own two "big three" stations, since the Federal Communications Commission's duopoly rules do not allow common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in a market. However, the FCC only recognizes the ownership of facility ID's and not intellectual units; the overall viewership of KFVE, while on channel 5, fell outside the criteria defined by the FCC that would have otherwise barred a duopoly between KHNL and KGMB if facility IDs were traded as well.[1]
The new unified newscasts, titled Hawaii News Now, launched on October 26, 2009. On that date, the two stations began to jointly produce and simulcast weeknight 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts, while KHNL moved its 6 p.m. newscast to 5:30. KGMB continues to air a separate weeknight 6 p.m. newscast. The only times when KGMB and KHNL do not simulcast news programming are on weekdays during the 7 a.m. hour when KHNL airs NBC's
In 2011, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser formed a partnership with Hawaii News Now to combine stories, investigative reporting, political news researching and polling of issues that affects Hawaiians.
In May 2020,
Controversy
The shared services agreement resulted in the termination of all but four members of KHNL's on-air staff and all of the technicians for KHNL's morning show when its newsroom merged with KGMB and the two began
The combined merger, especially the newscasts in general, drew complaints from local media watchdog groups, who cite Raycom for trying to monopolize the market by operating three stations at once and limiting the editorial independence and viewer choices for news programming. This prompted several groups opposed to the merger such as Media Council Hawaii to file petitions with the Federal Communications Commission to end the arrangement.[1]
Paul McTear, president of Raycom Media, has staunchly defended the SSA, stating it would "preserve three stations that provide important and valuable local, national and international programming to viewers in Hawaii."
Notable current on-air staff
- Augie T. – Host
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Execs explain TV swap, but some see it as blurry"[permanent dead link], from Honolulu Star-Bulletin, August 20, 2009.
- ^ "Hawaii News Now expanding with the launch of midday newscast 'This is Now' on KHNL". www.hawaiinewsnow.com.
- ^ "Article about Monsanto was 'right thing to do'". December 26, 2015. Archived from the original on October 24, 2009. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
- ^ "Raycom to Manage Honolulu CBS", from broadcastingcable.com, August 18, 2009
- ^ "Form 10-Q". www.sec.gov. Retrieved October 16, 2018.
- ^ "TV deal includes payment of $22M", from Honolulu Star-Bulletin, November 7, 2009
- ^ "FCC Wants More Info From Raycom On Honolulu Shared Service Agreement", from broadcastingcable.com, November 10, 2009
External links
- Media related to Hawaii News Now at Wikimedia Commons
- Official website