Hearst Purchases Locally-Focused Houston Community Newspapers & Media Group

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - July 29, 2016) - Hearst today announced that it has acquired the Houston Community Newspapers & Media Group from 1013 Star Communications. The announcement was made by Hearst President and CEO Steven R. Swartz and Hearst Newspapers President Mark Aldam.

Houston Community Newspapers is a media group serving more than 25 local communities surrounding Houston's greater metropolitan area with a total weekly print distribution of more than 520,000 and a digital reach of over 4 million per month to suburban Houston's most appealing residential and business markets.

The acquisition furthers Hearst Newspapers' reach into the Houston suburbs, strengthening the ties already established by the award-winning Houston Chronicle.

"We are very excited to add the Houston Community Newspapers to our local media group across Houston," Aldam said. "This collection of print editions and regional digital assets will strengthen our community coverage of the sprawling suburban ring in the outer loop of Houston, allowing us to better serve both consumers and advertisers."

"Bringing together the deep local community news content of HCN with the robust print and digital distribution potential of the Houston Chronicle will be a big benefit to both readers and advertisers," said John McKeon, president and publisher of the Houston Chronicle.

The Houston Community Newspapers serves residents in Conroe, The Woodlands, Magnolia, Tomball, Spring, Cypress, Humble, Kingwood, Atascocita, Lake Houston, Cleveland, Dayton, Friendswood, Pearland, Pasadena, the Bay Area, Deer Park, Memorial, River Oaks, Bellaire, Katy and Sugar Land, among other communities in those areas.

Included in the acquisition are the Conroe Courier (daily) and the following 23 weeklies:

About Hearst Newspapers

Hearst Newspapers is the operating group responsible for Hearst's newspapers, local digital marketing services businesses and directories. With more than 4,000 employees across the nation, Hearst Newspapers publishes 17 dailies and 57 weeklies reaching more than 30 million unique visitors across the U.S. with related mobile websites and digital products. Hearst Newspapers' properties include the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle, San Antonio Express-News and Albany Times Union. It also operates digital marketing services and directories businesses under the LocalEdge brand.

About Hearst

Hearst is one of the nation's largest diversified media, information and services companies with more than 360 businesses. Its major interests include ownership in cable television networks such as A&E, HISTORY, Lifetime and ESPN; majority ownership of global ratings agency Fitch Group; Hearst Health, a group of medical information and services businesses; 30 television stations such as WCVB-TV in Boston and KCRA-TV in Sacramento, Calif., which reach a combined 19 percent of U.S. viewers; newspapers such as the Houston Chronicle, San Francisco Chronicle and Albany Times Union, more than 300 magazines around the world including Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper's BAZAAR and Car and Driver; digital services businesses such as iCrossing and KUBRA; and investments in emerging digital and video companies such as BuzzFeed, VICE and AwesomenessTV. Follow us on Twitter @HearstCorp and subscribe to Hearstlink.