Conus Archive

What Conus Archive does

Conus Archive is a private video footage licensing business headquartered in Saint Paul, Minnesota, operating as a subsidiary of Hubbard Holdings, LLC. The company licenses historical and contemporary video content from an archive that spans from the late 1800s through present day, with a core collection of 20+ years of U.S. domestic news footage originally gathered during satellite newsgathering (SNG) operations conducted from the 1980s through the end of 2002. CONUS pioneered the satellite uplink truck technology in the 1980s, with the original CONUS-1 truck preserved as a major exhibit at the Newseum in recognition of this contribution to broadcast journalism.

The company serves media production companies across four primary use cases: True Crime series, news programming, documentaries, and caught-on-tape shows. Its distribution model combines a 24/7 self-service searchable database powered by Footage.net with personalized sales support from two dedicated account representatives. CONUS also operates as a licensing agent for third-party collections owned by sister news stations and other content holders, handling requests, legal documentation, collections, and delivery on their behalf. Additional services include digitizing analog and historical footage to expand the licensable content pool.

CONUS monetizes its archive through per-second licensing (starting at $40/sec with a 30-second minimum or $60/sec with a 10-second minimum for worldwide, all-media, in-perpetuity rights) and per-story/clip licensing with customized quotes, supplemented by a $50 master digital transfer fee per order. The company announced a $5/sec rate increase across all rights packages in 2026, the first since 2019, to maintain viability. The business is supported by a small team (11-50 employees) with sales, licensing, and archive operations concentrated in the Twin Cities, Minnesota area.

Name

Conus Archive

Legal name

Hubbard Holdings, LLC

Website

https://conus.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Conus Archive licenses historical and contemporary video footage from its U.S. news archive (late 1800s to present) to media production companies producing True Crime series, documentaries, news programming, and caught-on-tape shows, via Footage.net and direct sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Video Footage Licensing

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Distribution (51212), Motion Picture and Video Industries (5121)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Distribution (7822), Services-Allied To Motion Picture Distribution (7829)

akta.pro primary industry

Archive & Library Footage Licensing (News, Sports, Entertainment) (MPABANAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Clip/Short-Form & Archive Footage Syndication (Libraries/Stock) (MPABAMAL), Content Licensing (Film/TV, Clips, Stills) (MPADALAA)

Keywords

• Video footage licensing
• Historical news archive
• Broadcast stock footage
• Satellite newsgathering
• Footage rights licensing

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint Paul

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Video Footage Licensing: Primary revenue stream from licensing master footage on a per-second or per-story/clip basis. Customers pay for usage rights based on geographic scope, media type, and duration.
2. Collection Representation Services: CONUS acts as a licensing agent for third-party collections, handling requests, legal documentation, collections, and delivery. Makes collections searchable 24/7 and provides screeners through online database.
3. Digital Transfer Services: Master digital transfer fee of $50 per master order placed for delivering clean master footage to customers.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Conus Archive licenses historical and contemporary video footage from its extensive archive (spanning from the late 1800s through present day) to media production companies. Customers license master footage on a per-second or per-story/clip basis with customizable rights packages, primarily serving True Crime series, documentaries, news programming, and caught-on-tape shows. The company also represents third-party collections as a licensing agent and offers digitizing services for analog material.

Product overview

CONUS Archive operates as a unified video footage licensing platform offering multiple interconnected services. The core offering is the CONUS Archive itself—a comprehensive video archive spanning content from the late 1800s through contemporary footage, available for licensing to media productions. This core archive is supported by complementary services: footage licensing with customizable rights packages (by the second or by the story/clip), free research and screener services for content discovery, digitizing services for analog material, and collection representation where CONUS acts as a licensing agent for third-party collections. The platform distributes content through Footage.net's online database while also providing direct customer support through account representatives.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CONUS Archive Footage Licensing
• Collection Representation Services
• Digitizing Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Same-day screener and master order processing

Named customers4 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Footage.netcoreTechnology or IntegrationFootage.net provides the 24/7 searchable online database platform where CONUS Archive makes screeners available for registered users to access and download. This integration allows global accessibility to CONUS footage holdings.
• Sister News Stations and CollectionscoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorCONUS represents collections from sister news stations and other collections they represent, adding new content to their archive offerings and expanding their licensing business.
• NewseumminorOthersThe first SNG truck (CONUS-1) is preserved as a major exhibit at the Newseum, the national museum dedicated to news, recognizing CONUS's pioneering work in satellite newsgathering technology.
• Hubbard Holdings, LLCcoreOthersParent company Hubbard Holdings, LLC holds copyright of Conus Archive (2022), indicating corporate ownership and operational oversight.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Alamy: Stock photo and footage platform serving editorial and commercial markets. Overlaps with CONUS as a licensing intermediary for visual content but is much broader and more retail-oriented.
• Shutterstock Editorial: Broader stock media platform that, post-Pond5 acquisition, offers editorial footage licensing as part of a much larger image, video, and music catalog. Comparable to CONUS in footage-licensing category but with significantly greater scale and platform breadth.

Direct peers

• ITN Source: Licensing arm of ITN selling archival news and entertainment footage to global producers. Operates the same archival news-footage-licensing business model as CONUS with rights-managed pricing and historical depth.
• Getty Images: The largest commercial stock footage and editorial footage licensor globally. Directly comparable to CONUS as it provides licensed news, archival, and entertainment clip footage to producers under similar per-use pricing models with broader breadth and digital-first delivery.
• Pond5: Digital footage marketplace (now owned by Shutterstock) with hundreds of contributors and a deep catalog of editorial and historical clips. Comparable to CONUS as a footage-licensing destination for independent producers, with stronger self-service UX.
• Reuters Video Archive: Reuters operates a commercial archive licensing its news footage to production companies and broadcasters worldwide. Like CONUS, it monetizes a deep catalog of news and historical content for re-use in editorial productions.
• Storyful: Acquired by News Corp, Storyful licenses verified news and social video to broadcasters and producers. Competes with CONUS in serving documentary and news-programming customers with footage spanning historical and current events.
• AP Archive: Associated Press archive licensing arm selling licensed news footage, raw stories, and historical news clips. Overlaps directly with CONUS's U.S. domestic news archive positioning and serves the same documentary, news, and docuseries buyers.
• BBC Motion Gallery: Footage licensing arm of the BBC offering archival and entertainment footage including historic news content. Highly comparable to CONUS's archive depth and news/historical content mix.

Emerging players

• CriticalPast: Historical and archival footage specialist serving documentary producers with deep historic content. Closely comparable to CONUS's late-1800s-through-historic film positioning while smaller and more selective in catalog.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CONUSArchive
• Facebookfacebook.com/CONUSArchive
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/conus-communications

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

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 Conus Archive