Hearst-Argyle Television Directors Elected at Annual Shareholders' Meeting

Hearst-Argyle Television Directors Elected at Annual Shareholders' Meeting

Board Declares Dividend

NEW YORK, May 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. (NYSE:HTV) announced today that shareholders elected one Class II Series A nominee and six Class II Series B nominees to the Board of Directors for a two-year term.

The Series A director, David Pulver, has been a director of Hearst-Argyle Television and a predecessor company, Argyle Television, Inc., since 1994. He is president of Cornerstone Capital, Inc., a private investment company. He also serves as a director of The William Carter Company and has served as chairman of Colby College's Investment Committee.

The Series B directors are: David J. Barrett, who is president and chief executive officer of Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.; Ken J. Elkins, a Hearst- Argyle director since March 1999 and former president and chief executive officer of Pulitzer Broadcasting Company; Victor F. Ganzi, who is chairman of the board of directors of Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. and president and chief executive officer of The Hearst Corporation, Hearst-Argyle's majority shareholder; William Randolph Hearst III, a Hearst-Argyle director since 1997 and a partner in the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers; Michael E. Pulitzer, a Hearst-Argyle director since March 1999 and the non-executive chairman of the board of directors of the newspaper publishing company Pulitzer, Inc.; and Virginia Hearst Randt, a director since 1997.

Shareholders also ratified the appointment by the Hearst-Argyle Board of Directors' Audit Committee of Deloitte & Touche LLP to serve as the Company's independent auditors for 2005.

At a meeting of the Board of Directors subsequent to the Annual Shareholders' Meeting, the Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.07 per share on its Series A and Series B Common Stock. The dividend is payable on July 15, 2005 to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 5, 2005.

At the Company's annual meeting, David J. Barrett, Hearst-Argyle president and chief executive officer, discussed the Company's activities in 2004 and early 2005. Barrett also noted that, since going public in 1997, Hearst- Argyle Television and its stations have earned an impressive roster of the highest broadcast journalism and community-service honors, including three Walter Cronkite Awards for excellence in television political journalism, from the University of Southern California; three George Foster Peabody Awards, from the University of Georgia; three Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards; three Sigma Delta Chi Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists; 17 national Edward R. Murrow Awards, from the Radio-Television News Directors Association; 60 National Headliner Awards, from the Press Club of Atlantic City; and, for community service, eight National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation (NABEF) Service to America Awards, including a just-announced award to the Company's Baltimore radio station, WBAL-AM, for its "Kids Campaign" initiative.

"Our stations have been serving their communities in an extraordinary way," Barrett said. "Local news and community service are the essence of what we do and they are job one for our company. How well we do local news and how well we are engaged within our communities defines success for Hearst-Argyle Television."

A replay of the audio Webcast of the meeting is available at the Company's Web site, http://www.hearstargyle.com/.

Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc. owns 25 television stations, and manages an additional three television and two radio stations, in geographically diverse U.S. markets. The Company's television stations reach approximately 18% of U.S. TV households, making it one of the largest U.S. television station groups. The Company owns 10 NBC affiliates, and is the second-largest NBC affiliate owner. Hearst-Argyle also owns 12 ABC affiliated stations, and manages an additional ABC station owned by The Hearst Corporation, and is the largest ABC affiliate group. The Company also owns two CBS affiliates and a WB affiliate, and manages a UPN affiliate and an independent station.

Hearst-Argyle also is a leader in the convergence of local broadcast television and the Internet through its partnership with Internet Broadcasting Systems, and in the application of digital broadcast spectrum for new local informational services through its Weather Plus partnership with NBC and various NBC affiliate groups.

Hearst-Argyle is majority owned by The Hearst Corporation. Hearst-Argyle Series A Common Stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HTV." HTV debt is rated investment grade by Moody's (Baa3), Standard & Poor's (BBB-) and Fitch (BBB-), each with a stable outlook. The company's Web address is http://www.hearstargyle.com/.

Source: Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc.

CONTACT: Thomas W. Campo, Hearst-Argyle Television, Inc., +1-212-887-6827, tcampo@hearst.com

Web site: http://www.hearstargyle.com/

------- Profile: Ent