WTOK-TV

What WTOK-TV does

WTOK-TV is an NBC-affiliated local broadcast television station headquartered at 815 23rd Ave in Meridian, Mississippi, operating within the Lauderdale County DMA and serving East Mississippi viewers. It is owned by Gray Local Media, Inc., a subsidiary of publicly traded Gray Television, Inc. (NYSE: GTN), which operates 114 stations across 65 U.S. markets. The station delivers hyperlocal news, weather, and sports coverage through over-the-air digital broadcast (including NextGen TV/ATSC 3.0), live streaming on wtok.com, native iOS and Android applications, the WTOK E-News daily email newsletter, and social media channels. Core editorial products include the daily local news broadcasts, the First Alert Weather service with regional radar and severe-weather alerting, Football Friday high school football coverage, CrimeNet, SEC Football and Braves/Pelicans sports programming, and Color the Weather educational segments.

The station's technology stack combines OTA transmission with a camera network spanning Meridian Regional Airport, downtown Meridian, Philadelphia, the East Mississippi Community College in Decatur, the University of West Alabama in Livingston, and select traffic locations, plus dedicated radar and river-level monitoring for severe-weather and hurricane tracking across the Atlantic Basin. Content operations are integrated with Gray Television's corporate resources, sharing advertising infrastructure, syndicated national ad inventory, and cross-station content distribution across the 65-market Gray network. A complementary Gray Digital Media offering (gdmmeridian.com) is cross-promoted through station navigation, extending the addressable service surface beyond traditional broadcast into local digital marketing services.

WTOK-TV generates revenue almost exclusively through advertising — local television spot sales targeting Meridian-area businesses, Gray-syndicated national advertising, and digital advertising on WTOK.com and mobile platforms. Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed; the station operates under Gray Television's Standard Terms and Conditions with multi-year contract cadence. Customer segmentation is geographic: local viewers (free) and local/regional advertisers (paying). The GTM motion is sales-led, with a direct advertising sales team reachable via [email protected]. Operating status is active, with content publishing observed as of July 2026. Leadership transitioned in November 2025 with the appointment of Jon Pollard as General Manager, bringing approximately twenty years of broadcast television industry experience.

Name

WTOK-TV

Legal name

Gray Local Media, Inc.

Website

https://wtok.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

WTOK-TV is an NBC-affiliated local broadcast television station in Meridian, Mississippi, owned by Gray Television. It delivers local news, First Alert weather, and sports coverage to East Mississippi viewers via over-the-air broadcast, streaming, mobile apps, and email newsletters, monetizing through local and regional advertising.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Broadcast Television

NAICS

Television Broadcasting Stations (51612)

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 industry

Local News & Weather Stations (MPABACAJ)

Keywords

• Local television broadcasting
• Broadcast news programming
• Weather forecasting services
• Local sports coverage
• Community news content

Headquarters

HQ city

Meridian

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, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Broadcast Television Advertising: WTOK-TV generates revenue through the sale of advertising spots during news programming, weather segments, sports broadcasts, and other television content. Local businesses in Meridian and Lauderdale County purchase airtime to reach the station's viewer base. The station also carries national advertising distributed through Gray Television's network relationships.
2. Digital Advertising: Revenue from digital advertising on the WTOK.com website including display ads, sponsored content, and programmatic advertising placements on the station's digital properties and mobile applications.
3. Advertising Sales Services: The station operates under Gray Television's advertising infrastructure, with all advertising subject to Gray's Standard Terms and Conditions. Inquiries managed through [email protected] for local advertising sales.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

WTOK-TV is a local NBC affiliate television station serving Meridian, Mississippi and the surrounding Lauderdale County area. The station delivers local news broadcasts, weather forecasting (First Alert Weather), sports coverage, and community programming via over-the-air digital broadcast, website live streaming, and mobile applications, supported by Gray Television's network resources.

Product overview

WTOK-TV operates as a local broadcast television station serving Meridian, Mississippi with a multi-platform content distribution strategy. The core offering consists of local news broadcasts (including Good Morning Meridian and News 11 at 6) and First Alert Weather services. Additional programming includes high school sports coverage through Football Friday, crime reporting via CrimeNet, and community content. The station distributes content across traditional broadcast, live streaming via the WTOK Livestream, mobile applications for iOS and Android, email newsletters, and NextGen TV technology. The products function as an integrated local media ecosystem providing news, weather, sports, and community information to viewers in Lauderdale County and surrounding Mississippi regions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• WTOK-TV News Broadcast Daily local news programming delivering regional news coverage to Meridian, Mississippi and surrounding East Mississippi areas through regular newscasts.
• First Alert Weather Comprehensive weather forecasting service featuring radar maps, current conditions, 7-day forecasts, severe weather alerts, river level monitoring, and tropical weather tracking for the Meridian and East Mississippi region.
• WTOK Live Streaming Over-the-top live streaming service allowing viewers to watch live newscasts and weather coverage online via the wtok.com website.
• WTOK Mobile Applications Native iOS and Android applications providing on-demand access to news content, weather radar, live video streams, and push notifications for breaking news and severe weather alerts.
• Football Friday High school football coverage program featuring weekly game highlights, scores, Friday night tailgate segments, and an extensive video library during football season.
• WTOK E-News Newsletter Daily email newsletter service delivering top headlines, weather updates, and breaking news alerts to subscriber inboxes.
• CrimeNet Dedicated crime-related news and arrest report coverage providing local law enforcement updates, crime statistics, and arrest reports to viewers in the Meridian area.
• NextGen TV Advanced television broadcasting technology utilizing ATSC 3.0 to provide enhanced digital television signals with interactive features for viewers.

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• WTVA: WTVA is the NBC affiliate serving Tupelo, Mississippi, also owned by Gray Television. It is the most directly comparable peer given the same network affiliation, same parent company, similar Mississippi market size, and comparable local news/weather/sports programming model.
• WLBT: WLBT is the NBC affiliate serving Jackson, Mississippi. It is a direct peer given identical NBC network affiliation, overlapping state geography, and similar local news/weather/sports broadcasting operations in the Mississippi market.
• WAPT: WAPT is the ABC affiliate serving Jackson, Mississippi (owned by Hearst Television). It competes directly with WLBT in the Jackson DMA and is comparable to WTOK as a network-affiliated local broadcast station operating in Mississippi with a similar local news/weather/sports format.
• WMDN: WMDN is a local CBS-affiliated television station serving the Meridian, Mississippi market. It is a direct in-market competitor to WTOK-TV, competing for the same local viewers, advertisers, and news/weather/sports coverage in Lauderdale County.

Broad incumbents

• Tegna: Tegna is a major US television broadcasting company owning stations in mid-sized markets. It is comparable to WTOK/Gray given shared local broadcast television business model and concentration in markets similar in size to Meridian.
• Cox Media Group: Cox Media Group operates television stations and radio stations across the US. It is a broad incumbent peer given its ownership of local broadcast television stations with similar local advertising-driven business models to WTOK/Gray.
• Sinclair Broadcast Group: Sinclair owns and/or operates a large portfolio of local broadcast television stations across the US. It is a broad incumbent peer to WTOK/Gray given similar network-affiliate station ownership model, advertising-based revenue, and exposure to local TV market dynamics.
• Nexstar Media Group: Nexstar is the largest US television broadcaster, owning approximately 200 stations across 100+ markets. It is a broad incumbent peer to Gray/WTOK given overlapping network-affiliate station ownership, similar advertising-driven business model, and comparable exposure to retransmission fees and linear TV dynamics.
• Gray Television, Inc. Gray Television (NYSE: GTN) is the parent company of WTOK-TV and the largest US owner of Big Four network affiliates, operating 114 stations across 65 markets. It is the parent/incumbent context for WTOK and is comparable at the corporate/portfolio level even though WTOK is one of its individual stations.
• Hearst Television: Hearst Television owns a portfolio of network-affiliated local broadcast TV stations across the US. It is a broad incumbent peer given comparable network-affiliate station ownership and advertising-driven local media operations.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/WTOK
• Xx.com/WTOKTV

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 WTOK-TV