Gray TV Solidifies Upper Midwest Big 4 Ownership Lead

Gray TV and Allen Media’s acquisitions of stations in the Upper Midwest from Quincy Media have changed the landscape of regional TV holdings, with Gray now reaching more than half of the households in the region.

A tally of Nielsen Media-defined TV households shows Gray reaches 55.9% of the households in the region after the addition of several markets, with stations in 19 of 22 Upper Midwest markets. The only markets where Gray doesn’t have stations are the region’s three largest: Minneapolis, Milwaukee, and Des Moines.

Meanwhile, Allen has gone from one regional market to five, bringing it up to tenth among regional owners in terms of households reached, with stations in three Wisconsin markets and two Iowa markets.

When looking at ownership of ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC affiliates, Gray’s Upper Midwest TV household reach is followed by FOX at 37.9%, Tegna at 35.7%, Sinclair at 35.4%, Hubbard at 30.6%, and Nexstar at 30.0%. (If CW and ION affiliates without news departments are added in, Sinclair rises to 73.4% regional reach and Scripps rises to 61%).

Here is how the region stacks up by total households reached:

Owner	Upper Midwest TV Households reached by Big 4 affiliates
Gray	55.9%
FOX	37.9%
Tegna	35.7%
Sinclair	35.4%
Hubbard	30.6%
Nexstar	30.0%
CBS	25.5%
Hearst	24.6%
Scripps	24.5%
Allen	17.8%
Weigel	12.5%
Morgan Murphy	8.5%
Forum	5.9%
Red River	5.9%
Standard	3.9%
Rockfleet	2.4%
Rapid	1.4%
Marks	1.1%

For purposes of this report, markets with their largest cities in Iowa, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wisconsin are included in the Upper Midwest. The Denver, Traverse City, Quincy, and Cheyenne markets also serve parts of the above states but are not included in the household computation.

It’s important to note that some companies hold multiple major network affiliations in some markets.

So, who owns what affiliations? Here’s a full list for each Upper Midwest market:

Market	% of Upper Midwest Nielsen TV Households	ABC	CBS	FOX	NBC
Minneapolis	25.5%	Hubbard	CBS	FOX	Tegna
Milwaukee	12.5%	Hearst	Weigel	FOX	Scripps
Des Moines	6.2%	Tegna	Hearst	Sinclair	Nexstar
Green Bay	6.2%	Gray	Nexstar	Sinclair	Scripps
Omaha	5.9%	Hearst	Scripps	Sinclair	Gray
Madison	5.5%	Allen	Morgan Murphy	Sinclair	Gray
Cedar Rapids-Waterloo	4.8%	Gray	Sinclair	Sinclair	Allen
Quad Cities	4.0%	Tegna	Nexstar	Nexstar**	Gray
Lincoln-Tri Cities	3.9%	Sinclair &Standard***	Gray	Sinclair	Gray
Sioux Falls	3.7%	Gray	Nexstar	Gray	Gray
Fargo	3.5%	Forum	Gray	Red River	Gray
La Crosse-Eau Claire	2.9%	Allen	Morgan Murphy	Nexstar	Gray
Wausau-Rhinelander	2.4%	Allen	Gray	Gray	Rockfleet
Duluth	2.3%	Hubbard	Gray	Red River	Gray
Bismarck-Minot	2.3%	Forum	Nexstar	Gray	Gray
Sioux City	2.1%	Nexstar	Sinclair	Sinclair	Gray
Rochester-Mason City	2.0%	Hubbard	Allen	Gray**	Gray
Rapid City	1.4%	Gray	Nexstar	Gray	Rapid
Marquette	1.1%	Marks	Nexstar	Gray	Gray
Mankato	0.7%	Hubbard*	Gray	Gray	Gray
Ottumwa-Kirksville	0.6%	Sinclair	Sinclair	Gray	Gray
North Platte	0.2%	Sinclair*	Gray	Gray	Gray

Correction: A version of this article that appeared for several hours after its initial post had the incorrect household reach for FOX.