What WHAS-TV does

WHAS-TV, operating under the WHAS11 brand, is a local broadcast television station headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky that serves the Louisville metropolitan area and the surrounding Kentuckiana region spanning Kentucky and southern Indiana. Founded in 1950, the station distributes local news, weather forecasting, traffic updates, sports coverage, investigative journalism, and community-oriented programming through a multi-platform distribution architecture that includes over-the-air broadcast transmission, cable and satellite carriage, a WHAS11+ over-the-top (OTT) streaming service available on Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV, native iOS and Android mobile applications, and the whas11.com web platform. The product portfolio is anchored by flagship programs including Good Morning Kentuckiana, Great Day Live, the FOCUS Investigations unit, the Weather Impact Forecast service, the annual WHAS Crusade for Children telethon, and the ExCEL Awards teacher recognition program.

The station's underlying technology consists of a traditional broadcast infrastructure augmented by a proprietary OTT streaming layer (WHAS11+) that enables 24/7 free local content delivery to connected TV devices, complemented by push-notification-enabled mobile applications and a content-rich web platform. The company does not disclose a public API or developer-facing integrations and no AI/ML capabilities are documented in the available material. WHAS-TV became a subsidiary of Nexstar Media Group following Nexstar's $6.2 billion acquisition of TEGNA Inc., completed on March 20, 2026, with Lisa Columbia serving as President and General Manager.

WHAS-TV generates revenue primarily through television advertising, monetizing commercial airtime sold to local and national advertisers during news, sports, and entertainment programming. Pricing details for advertising packages are not publicly disclosed. The station's customer base is geographically segmented: its audience comprises local residents of the Kentuckiana region consuming news, weather, and community information, while its paying customers are advertisers and retransmission partners. The organization employs between 101 and 250 people, reflecting the scale of a mid-to-large market local broadcaster operating across multiple distribution channels.

Name

WHAS-TV

Legal name

WHAS-TV

Website

https://whas11.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1950

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

WHAS-TV (WHAS11) is a Louisville, Kentucky-based local broadcast television station founded in 1950, delivering local news, weather, sports, and community programming across broadcast, OTT streaming, mobile, and web platforms to Kentuckiana region viewers and advertisers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Broadcast Television

NAICS

Television Broadcasting Stations (516120), Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations (5161), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (516210), Broadcasting and Content Providers (516)

SIC

Television Broadcasting Stations (4833), Cable & Other Pay Television Services (4841)

akta.pro primary industry

News OTT & Live News Streaming Channels (MPABAHAK)

Keywords

• Local broadcast television
• Local news coverage
• Weather forecasting services
• Investigative journalism
• OTT streaming media

Headquarters

HQ city

Louisville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Television Advertising: Revenue generated from local and national advertisers purchasing commercial airtime during news broadcasts, sports coverage, and entertainment programming.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

WHAS-TV (WHAS11) is a local broadcast television station that produces and distributes local news, weather forecasts, sports coverage, traffic updates, investigative journalism, and community-focused programming to viewers in the Louisville, Kentucky metropolitan area and Kentuckiana region (Kentucky and southern Indiana). The station distributes its content across over-the-air broadcast, cable/satellite carriage, the WHAS11+ OTT streaming service, native mobile apps, and its whas11.com website, monetizing primarily through television advertising sold to local and national advertisers.

Product overview

WHAS-TV (WHAS11) is a local broadcast television station serving Louisville, Kentucky and southern Indiana. The station operates as a multi-platform news and entertainment organization offering its content through a traditional broadcast signal, the WHAS11+ over-the-top (OTT) streaming service available on Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV, native mobile applications for iOS and Android, and its primary web platform at whas11.com. The station's product portfolio centers on local news coverage supplemented by specialized programming including the FOCUS investigative unit, Weather Impact forecasting service, the ExCEL teacher recognition awards program, and the annual WHAS Crusade for Children telethon. Together, these offerings deliver comprehensive local journalism, weather forecasting, sports coverage, and community-focused programming across broadcast, streaming, mobile, and web channels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• FOCUS Investigations: WHAS11's investigative journalism unit covering local and regional issues
• WHAS Crusade for Children
• ExCEL Awards
• Good Morning Kentuckiana
• Great Day Live

Products and services

• WHAS11+ OTT Streaming Service A free over-the-top (OTT) streaming service that delivers 24/7 local programming to Roku, Fire TV, and Apple TV devices, allowing viewers to access WHAS11 content on connected TV platforms without requiring a cable subscription.
• WHAS11 Mobile Application

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• WAVE-TV: WAVE-TV is the NBC affiliate serving the Louisville, Kentucky DMA. It is a direct competitor to WHAS-TV in the same Louisville market, competing for local viewers, advertisers, and news audience share across broadcast, web, and mobile.
• WDRB-TV: WDRB-TV is the Fox-affiliated local broadcaster in Louisville. It competes head-to-head with WHAS11 for local news viewership and regional advertising revenue in the same Louisville/Kentuckiana market.
• WLKY-TV: WLKY-TV is Hearst's CBS affiliate in Louisville. It is a direct competitor to WHAS-TV for local news audiences, political advertising, and broadcast/streaming distribution in the overlapping Louisville DMA.

Regional players

• WKYT-TV: WKYT is the CBS affiliate serving Lexington, Kentucky and overlapping into adjacent Kentucky markets. It is comparable to WHAS-TV as a Kentucky-based local broadcaster with similar news, weather, and digital operations, though operating in a different geographic market.
• WLEX-TV: WLEX is the NBC affiliate in Lexington, Kentucky. It is comparable to WHAS-TV as a network-affiliated local news broadcaster with broadcast and digital operations in Kentucky, though serving a different primary DMA.

Broad incumbents

• Nexstar Media Group: Nexstar Media Group (NASDAQ: NXST) is WHAS-TV's parent company following the 2026 TEGNA acquisition. It is the largest US local TV broadcaster and a broad incumbent across the entire US local-TV landscape, operating more than 200 stations nationwide.
• TEGNA Inc. TEGNA was WHAS-TV's former parent company prior to Nexstar's acquisition in March 2026. As a national broadcaster operating dozens of local stations, TEGNA is a broad incumbent with overlapping local-news, OTT, and digital ad capabilities comparable to WHAS11's operations.
• Sinclair Broadcast Group: Sinclair is one of the largest US local TV broadcasters and a broad incumbent in the same industry as WHAS-TV/Nexstar. Its stations use similar local-news, OTT, and digital ad inventory models to monetize broadcast audiences.
• Gray Television: Gray Television operates a large portfolio of local TV stations across the US, comparable to WHAS-TV's operating model under Nexstar. It is a broad incumbent in local broadcast news, weather, and digital video advertising.
• E.W. Scripps Company: E.W. Scripps operates local TV stations and national networks across the US. It is a broad incumbent comparable to WHAS-TV's parent in local broadcast news and digital video distribution to local audiences.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/whas11
• Facebookfacebook.com/whas11
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/whas-tv

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 WHAS-TV