WLKY

Local Broadcast Televisionwlky.com

WLKY is a Hearst Television-owned CBS-affiliated local broadcast station (Channel 32) serving Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Indiana, distributing local news, weather, sports, and original programming across broadcast, web, mobile, and streaming channels.

Company typePrivate
Founded1961
HeadquartersLouisville, United States
Headcount101–250
GTM typeB2C
OfferingServices

What WLKY does

WLKY is a local CBS-affiliated broadcast television station (Channel 32) headquartered at 1918 Mellwood Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky, operating since 1961 and serving the Louisville metropolitan area, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and Southern Indiana. Operated by Hearst Television, a division of the privately held Hearst Corporation, WLKY produces and distributes local news, weather forecasts, sports coverage (including University of Louisville athletics), traffic, and community-oriented programming, supplemented by investigative reporting and nationally syndicated CBS network content. The station maintains a multi-platform distribution footprint comprising over-the-air digital broadcast, cable and satellite carriage (DirecTV, DISH, local cable operators), the wlky.com website, the WLKY News and Weather mobile application on iOS and Android, email newsletters, active social media accounts, and the Very Local free streaming platform on Roku and Amazon Fire TV.

The business model is implicitly advertising-driven: WLKY monetizes audience reach through local and national spot advertising (sold via wlky.com/advertise), retransmission and carriage fees from pay-TV providers, and growing digital/OTT inventory through Very Local. Pricing for advertising and content licensing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. In 2025, WLKY's newsroom received two regional Edward R. Murrow Awards from the RTDNA, and the station is currently undergoing a leadership transition with the announced 2026 retirement of President and General Manager Glenn Haygood (in role since 2008). WLKY has no disclosed funding, no subsidiaries, no patent portfolio, and no AI/ML product capabilities in evidence; the underlying technology stack is conventional broadcast and digital media infrastructure integrated with Hearst Television's shared content and engineering platform.

WLKY firmographics

Firmographics

Name: WLKY
Legal name: Hearst Properties Inc.
Website: https://wlky.com
Company type: Private
Founded year: 1961
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 101–250 employees
Short description: WLKY is a Hearst Television-owned CBS-affiliated local broadcast station (Channel 32) serving Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Indiana, distributing local news, weather, sports, and original programming across broadcast, web, mobile, and streaming channels.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

WLKY industry classification

Industry

Product category: Local Broadcast Television
NAICS: Television Broadcasting Stations (516120)
SIC: Television Broadcasting Stations (4833)
akta.pro primary industry: Local News & Weather Stations (MPABACAJ)

Keywords

Broadcast television
Local news media
Weather broadcasting
Digital news content
Streaming news

Where WLKY is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Louisville
HQ country: United States
HQ region: North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

WLKY business model

Business model

GTM type: B2C
Offering type: Services
Cost components: Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

WLKY product offering

Product offering

Core offering

WLKY is a CBS-affiliated local broadcast television station (Channel 32) producing and distributing local news, weather, sports, and community content for the Louisville, Kentucky metropolitan area and southern Indiana. Its core commercial offering is advertising-supported broadcast and digital media inventory, augmented by the WLKY News and Weather mobile app and the Very Local streaming platform.

Product overview

WLKY operates as a local broadcast television station (Channel 32) and digital media company serving Louisville, Kentucky. The company offers a core broadcast television product supplemented by the WLKY News and Weather mobile application for iOS and Android. A key add-on offering is the Very Local streaming platform, which provides free on-demand access to WLKY's local content including original programming. Additionally, WLKY distributes the "Stitch" documentary series through Very Local, a Hearst Television original showcasing inspirational community stories.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

Very Local: A streaming channel that brings local content, original series, local weather, and on-demand news programming to viewers.

Products and services

WLKY Television Broadcast (Channel 32) CBS-affiliated local broadcast television station covering Louisville, Kentucky and southern Indiana, providing news, weather, sports, and community programming over the air on Channel 32.
WLKY News and Weather App Mobile application for iOS and Android providing real-time access to breaking news and weather alerts from the WLKY news team.
Very Local Streaming Platform Free streaming channel and app offering on-demand local content from WLKY and Hearst Television stations, including original series, weather coverage, and news programming available 24/7 on connected TV platforms.

Companies that use WLKY

Customer profile

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

WLKY technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

WLKY partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

WLKY competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Broad incumbents

WCVB: Hearst Television-owned ABC affiliate in Boston, MA. Sister station under the same parent company, sharing content pipelines, newsroom best practices, and group ad sales infrastructure with WLKY.
KCRA 3: Hearst Television-owned NBC affiliate in Sacramento, CA. Sister station with comparable mid-major-market local news operations and shared Very Local streaming distribution.
WTAE 4: Hearst Television-owned ABC affiliate in Pittsburgh, PA. Comparable Hearst local news operation with similar mid-market positioning and shared group resources.

Direct peers

WHAS11: ABC-affiliated local TV station serving Louisville and southern Indiana, owned by TEGNA. Competes head-to-head with WLKY for breaking news, weather, and political coverage audiences.
WDRB: Fox-affiliated local TV station in Louisville, owned by Block Communications. Direct competitor in the Louisville DMA across news, sports, and ad sales.
WAVE 3: NBC-affiliated local TV station in Louisville, KY, owned by Gray Television. Directly competes with WLKY for local news viewers, weather coverage, and advertisers in the same DMA.

Regional players

WKYT: CBS-affiliated TV station serving Lexington, KY and central/eastern Kentucky. Operates in an adjacent Kentucky market with overlapping state politics and University of Kentucky coverage, making it a regional content competitor.
WLWT: Hearst Television-owned NBC affiliate in Cincinnati, OH. Sister station in the adjacent Cincinnati DMA; competes for Kentucky/Ohio border audience and shared regional advertisers with WLKY.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

WLKY financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

WLKY leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

WLKY funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

WLKY M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about WLKY

What does WLKY do?

Is WLKY a public or private company?

WLKY is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.

When was WLKY founded?

WLKY was founded in 1961. It employs 101 to 250 people.

Where is WLKY based?

WLKY is headquartered in Louisville, United States, in the North America region.

Who are WLKY's main competitors?

Broad incumbents on record are WCVB, KCRA 3 and WTAE 4. Direct peers are WHAS11, WDRB and WAVE 3. Regional players are WKYT and WLWT.

Does WLKY have an API?

No public API is recorded for WLKY.

What industry is WLKY in?

WLKY's product category is Local Broadcast Television. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPABACAJ, Local News & Weather Stations. Its NAICS code is 516120 and its SIC code is 4833.