What WAND-TV does

WAND-TV is a local television station headquartered in Decatur, Illinois, serving Central Illinois communities including Decatur, Champaign, Springfield, Charleston, and surrounding counties. The station operates as a subsidiary of Gray Media, Inc., a private broadcasting conglomerate. WAND-TV distributes news, weather, sports, and community content across over-the-air broadcast, its website (wandtv.com powered by BLOX Digital's Content Management System), mobile applications for iOS and Android, live streaming, and social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.

The station's core product is hyperlocal journalism and weather coverage, supplemented by editorial franchises such as WAND Investigates, Friday Frenzy sports coverage, Athlete of the Week, Tupper's Take commentary, STEM Minute, Medical Minute, Agribusiness Today, and the Happy Tails pet adoption segment produced in partnership with the Decatur & Macon County Animal Shelter Foundation. Content is sourced from a local journalism team supplemented by Associated Press wire feeds for national and international coverage.

WAND-TV's revenue model is advertising-led, with all core news content provided free to consumers. Secondary revenue streams include recurring newsletter subscriptions (Breaking News, WAND Insider, Weekly Best Of) and a transactional video request service for archived news footage operated through NewsPowerOnline. The station employs between 51 and 100 people and has operated continuously since its founding in 1953.

Name

WAND-TV

Legal name

Gray Media, Inc.

Website

https://wandtv.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1953

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

WAND-TV is a local television station in Decatur, Illinois, serving Central Illinois communities with news, weather, sports, and feature content distributed via over-the-air broadcast, website, mobile apps, and social media. The station is owned by Gray Media, Inc. and monetizes primarily through advertising.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Television Broadcasting & News Media

NAICS

Television Broadcasting Stations (516120)

SIC

Television Broadcasting Stations (4833)

akta.pro primary industry

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

Keywords

• Local television broadcasting
• Local news coverage
• Weather forecasting services
• Digital news streaming
• Community media content

Headquarters

HQ city

Decatur

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Advertising: Free news content monetized through advertising revenue from broadcast and digital placements
2. Video Request Service: Charges for copies of news stories on DVD, CD, or VHS formats through NewsPowerOnline
3. Newsletter Subscriptions: Breaking news and curated email newsletters distributed to subscribers

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

WAND-TV is a local television news station that produces and distributes hyperlocal news, weather forecasts, sports coverage, and community feature content for Central Illinois audiences. Its core offering is free, advertising-supported broadcast and digital news content delivered via over-the-air television, the wandtv.com website, mobile applications, and live streaming. The station also monetizes archived news footage through a paid video request service and distributes recurring email newsletters to subscribers.

Product overview

WAND-TV is a local television news station serving Decatur, Illinois and surrounding Central Illinois communities. The station offers a traditional broadcast television service with local news, weather, sports, and feature content distributed across multiple platforms including over-the-air broadcast, live streaming, mobile applications (WAND Apps), and email newsletters. The station operates as a single news operation without a modular product portfolio, providing breaking news alerts, weather forecasts, sports coverage, and community features as core content services.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• WAND Mobile Apps Free mobile applications for iOS and Android that provide Central Illinois residents with on-the-go access to local news, weather forecasts, live streaming, and on-demand video content from WAND-TV.
• Watch Now Live Streaming Free live streaming of WAND-TV's broadcast programming delivered through the wandtv.com website and mobile apps, enabling Central Illinois viewers to watch local news and content online.
• WAND-TV Email Newsletters Free email newsletter subscriptions providing Central Illinois subscribers with breaking news alerts, weekday morning news digests (WAND Insider), and curated weekly content roundups (Weekly Best Of).
• Video Request Service Transaction-based service that charges customers for copies of WAND-TV news stories delivered on DVD, CD, or VHS, fulfilled through NewsPowerOnline (contact: 615-256-4714, [email protected]).

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Gray Media, Inc.coreOthersWAND-TV is owned and operated by Gray Media, Inc., a television broadcasting company providing local news, sports, weather, and entertainment content across multiple markets. Gray Media's Privacy Policy governs WAND-TV's data practices.
• BLOX DigitalcoreTechnology or IntegrationBLOX Digital provides the BLOX Content Management System powering wandtv.com, enabling digital content management, publishing, and website operations for the station
• NewsPowerOnlineminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerNewsPowerOnline handles video request services for WAND-TV, providing DVD, CD, and VHS copies of news stories. Contact: 615-256-4714, [email protected]
• Associated Press (AP)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerWAND-TV distributes Associated Press wire content including national and international news stories, supplementing local coverage with wire reports
• Decatur & Macon County Animal Shelter Foundation (DMCASF)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWAND partners with the Decatur & Macon County Animal Shelter Foundation for the Happy Tails segment, featuring animals from the shelter every Wednesday to promote pet adoption

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• WICS/WICD (Sinclair Broadcast Group): Network-affiliated local broadcast TV stations serving Springfield and Champaign, Illinois under Sinclair, directly competing with WAND-TV for the same Central Illinois news, weather, and sports audience and advertisers.
• WCIA (Nexstar Media Group): CBS-affiliated local TV station serving Champaign/Urbana and Central Illinois, owned by Nexstar, competing head-to-head with WAND-TV for local viewers and regional ad budgets in the same DMA.
• WTHR (TEGNA): NBC-affiliated local broadcast station in Indianapolis owned by TEGNA, comparable as a mid-major market network affiliate running a multi-platform news, weather, and sports operation similar to WAND-TV.
• WHO-TV (Gray Media): NBC-affiliated local station in Des Moines also owned by Gray Media, directly comparable to WAND-TV as a sister network-affiliate station with similar mid-sized-market hyperlocal news operations and shared corporate services.
• KSDK (TEGNA): NBC-owned local broadcast station in St. Louis operated by TEGNA, sharing the NBC network affiliation and a similar multi-platform news/weather model used by WAND-TV.
• WMTV (Gray Media): NBC-affiliated local station in Madison, Wisconsin also owned by Gray Media, the closest 'sister station' peer to WAND-TV given common ownership and comparable mid-size-market operating profile.

Regional players

• WMBD/WEEK (Sinclair Broadcast Group): CBS and NBC affiliate local TV station in Peoria, Illinois, part of the same broader Illinois regional broadcast market and competing for overlapping Central Illinois audiences and advertisers.

Broad incumbents

• Sinclair Broadcast Group: One of the largest U.S. local broadcast station operators; competes broadly in the same local-TV advertising and content-distribution space as WAND-TV through dozens of network-affiliated stations across the country.
• Nexstar Media Group: The largest U.S. owner of local TV stations and a parent of direct in-market competitor WCIA; competes with Gray Media/WAND-TV at the group level for advertisers, retransmission fees, and political ad spend.
• TEGNA: Major U.S. local broadcast group operating NBC, CBS, ABC and FOX affiliates (e.g., WTHR, KSDK), serving the same broad local-TV advertising market as Gray Media/WAND-TV across multiple DMAs.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/wandtvnews
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UC4kejuOjkMeDpZWeRdBoa-Q
• Facebookfacebook.com/wandtv
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/wand-television
• Instagraminstagram.com/wandtv
• TikToktiktok.com/@wand.news

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 WAND-TV