WMAQ-TV

Name

WMAQ-TV

Legal name

NBCUniversal Media, LLC

Website

https://nbcchicago.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1948

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Broadcast Television

NAICS

Television Broadcasting Stations (51612), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210)

SIC

Television Broadcasting Stations (4833)

akta.pro primary industry

Network-Affiliated Local TV Stations (ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX/CW/Telemundo/Univision, etc.) (MPABACAE)

akta.pro secondary industries

Local TV Station Groups (Owned & Operated/Station Chains) (MPABACAA), Aggregator/Platform Channels & Marketplace Bundles (Channel Stores, Super-Aggregators) (MPABAHAM)

Keywords

• Local television broadcasting
• Broadcast news station
• Investigative journalism
• Weather forecasting services
• Television retransmission

Headquarters

HQ city

Albany

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Television Advertising: NBC 5 Chicago generates revenue primarily through the sale of television commercial airtime to local and national advertisers. The station sells advertising slots during news broadcasts, live programming, and streaming content.
2. Digital/Streaming Advertising: Revenue from digital advertising on nbcchicago.com, streaming video content, and mobile app placements.
3. Retransmission Fees: Fees paid by cable and satellite television providers for the right to broadcast NBC 5 content to their subscribers in the Chicago market.

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

WMAQ-TV (NBC 5 Chicago) operates a local broadcast television station on channel 5 serving the Chicago Designated Market Area with local news, weather, breaking news, sports, and investigative journalism. The station distributes its programming over-the-air and through cable, satellite, and digital streaming platforms including its own website, mobile apps, smart TV apps, and a 24/7 streaming news channel on Peacock, Samsung, Roku, and Xumo. Revenue is generated primarily through the sale of local and national television advertising airtime, digital advertising, and retransmission fees from pay-TV providers.

Product overview

WMAQ-TV (NBC 5 Chicago) operates as a local television news station with a multi-platform digital offering. The core product is the NBC 5 Chicago website (nbcchicago.com) delivering local news, weather, breaking news, investigations, and sports. This is complemented by iOS and Android mobile news apps featuring live radar, location-based alerts, and personalized notifications. The NBC 5 Chicago News 24/7 streaming channel provides continuous local news coverage available through Peacock, Samsung, Roku, and Xumo streaming platforms. Fire TV and Roku TV apps extend the content to smart TV viewers.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration5 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• NBCUniversal Media (Parent Company)coreOthersWMAQ-TV is wholly owned and operated by NBCUniversal Media, LLC, a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation. As an NBC owned-and-operated station (O&O), WMAQ-TV operates under the NBC brand, has access to NBC network programming, and benefits from NBCUniversal's technology platforms, streaming services (Peacock), and corporate resources including investigative journalism teams and breaking news infrastructure.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Sinclair Broadcast Group: Large US local-TV station owner with comparable broadcast + digital advertising, retransmission, and multi-platform distribution economics.
• Hearst Television: Owns and operates network-affiliated local TV stations in mid- and large US markets; shares the O&O operating model with NBCUniversal's local stations.
• Nexstar Media Group: Largest US TV station operator owning dozens of network-affiliated and CW affiliates; comparable O&O-style broadcast operations, ad sales and retransmission revenue streams, though at portfolio scale.
• Tegna: Multi-market local TV station operator with similar advertising and retransmission revenue model across network affiliations and connected-TV distribution.
• Gray Television: Broadcast TV station group with comparable local news operations, advertising sales, and retransmission fee economics across multiple US markets.

Direct peers

• WBBM-TV (CBS 2 Chicago): Direct in-market competitor — CBS-owned station serving Chicago with local news, weather and sports; comparable O&O model and advertising-driven revenue mix.
• WGN-TV: Chicago CW-affiliated local station with independent-style news programming; competes for the same local-news audience and ad budgets as WMAQ-TV.
• WLS-TV (ABC 7 Chicago): Direct in-market competitor — ABC-owned station providing parallel local news, weather, and broadcast distribution in the Chicago DMA.
• WFLD (FOX 32 Chicago): FOX-affiliated local station competing head-to-head in the Chicago DMA across news, weather and broadcast advertising slots.

Regional players

• WTTW (Chicago PBS station): Non-commercial Chicago local broadcaster producing news and original programming; competes for audience attention and a portion of local advertiser and underwriting dollars in the same DMA.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/nbcchicago
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@NBCChicago
• Facebookfacebook.com/nbcchicago
• Instagraminstagram.com/nbcchicago
• TikToktiktok.com/@nbcchicago

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about WMAQ-TV