NEW YORK and DALLAS, Sept. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Time Warner Cable and Belo (NYSE: BLC - news) announced today the formation of a series of news partnerships and distribution agreements. The agreements call for the creation of 24-hour local cable news channels in Houston and San Antonio, Texas; distribution of Belo's Texas Cable News (TXCN), a statewide cable news service; and retransmission consent of Belo's television stations in Time Warner Cable franchise areas. The relationship combines the resources of Belo, the state's oldest and largest media company, with those of Time Warner Cable, Texas' largest cable operator.

The companies announced a 20-year partnership to produce and distribute 24-hour local news programming to Time Warner Cable customers in the Houston and San Antonio markets. Time Warner Cable and Belo will jointly own and operate the services. Each local cable news operation will have its own management and newsgathering staff, as well as the ability to access the newsgathering resources of Belo's KHOU-TV (CBS) in Houston and KENS-TV (CBS) in San Antonio. The Houston 24-hour local cable news channel is expected to launch in early 2002 followed by the launch of the San Antonio service in mid- 2002.

The companies also announced that Time Warner Cable will provide distribution of Texas Cable News to 550,000 Time Warner Cable customers throughout the state of Texas. TXCN will be available to Time Warner Cable customers on the digital tier in Houston, San Antonio and Austin and on the analog tier to customers in other parts of the state including Waco, El Paso, the Rio Grande Valley, Wichita Falls, Laredo and Port Arthur/Beaumont. Subject to channel availability, Time Warner plans to extend carriage of TXCN to all systems that it owns or operates in the state of Texas, which comprise more than 1.5 million subscribers.

The agreement for distribution of TXCN runs for ten years. TXCN launched in January 1999 and currently serves approximately 600,000 homes in North Texas.

In making the announcement, Robert W. Decherd, Belo's chairman, president and chief executive officer, said, ``Belo is pleased to be a partner with Time Warner in our home state of Texas. Each company has significant business interests in various markets throughout Texas, and this partnership allows both companies to combine their extensive newsgathering and distribution resources to provide quality local and regional programming to viewers throughout the state. We look forward to a long and productive association with Time Warner over the next 20 years, and expect that our relationship will grow as we explore other opportunities to work together.''

Joe Collins, Time Warner Cable's chairman, noted, ``We are committed to provide local news channels to as many of our subscribers as possible. We are delighted to be able to bring TXCN to our viewers, as well as to join with Belo in creating two new services in Houston and San Antonio.Belo's long tradition of journalism and extensive knowledge of Texas and its communities make them an ideal partner for these ventures.''

Leading the industry in programming local and regional cable news channels, Belo and Time Warner Cable each owns and operates five existing local or regional cable news channels. In addition to Texas Cable News, Belo also owns and operates NorthWest Cable News, serving two million viewers in the Northwest, and is a partner with Cox Cable in three other local cable news operations in Phoenix, Arizona; Norfolk, Virginia; and New Orleans, Louisiana. Time Warner Cable owns and operates News 8 in Austin, Texas, launched in 1999; New York 1, covering the five boroughs of New York; and local channels in Tampa and Orlando, Florida, and Rochester, New York. The Orlando channel is a partnership with Tribune Company.

The companies also announced ten-year agreements for analog and digital retransmission carriage of Belo's television stations by Time Warner Cable, including the signals of KHOU, KENS, KVUE-TV (ABC) in Austin and WFAA-TV (ABC) in Dallas/Fort Worth, and three-year agreements for analog and digital carriage for Belo's non-Texas television stations located in Time Warner Cable franchise areas.

Belo is the oldest continuously operating business in the state of Texas. In addition to its four television stations in the state's four largest markets, Belo operates KBEJ-TV, serving the San Antonio and Austin markets, under a local marketing agreement. These properties, combined with The Dallas Morning News, Belo's flagship newspaper, and Texas Cable News (TXCN) reach 67 percent of the Texas market. Belo also operates 17 Web sites within the state of Texas.

Time Warner Cable owns and manages the world's most advanced, best- clustered cable television operations, with 90 percent of its 12.6 million customers in systems of 100,000 subscribers or more. It is a division of Time Warner Entertainment, which is a division of Time Warner, Inc. (NYSE: TWX - news).

Belo (www.belo.com) is one of the nation's largest media companies with a diversified group of television broadcasting, newspaper publishing, cable news and electronic media assets. The Company's Television Group consists of 18 stations reaching 14 percent of U.S. television households. Belo owns six stations in four of the top 17 television markets: WFAA-TV (ABC) in Dallas/Fort Worth; KHOU-TV (CBS) in Houston; KING-TV (NBC) and KONG-TV (IND) in Seattle/Tacoma; and KTVK-TV (IND) and KASW-TV (WB) in Phoenix. In addition, the Company owns five local or regional cable news channels and manages three television stations through local marketing agreements.

Belo's Publishing Division consists of eight daily newspapers, led by The Dallas Morning News, which has the country's seventh largest Sunday circulation and ninth largest daily circulation; The Providence Journal in Providence, Rhode Island; and The Press Enterprise in Riverside, California.

Belo Interactive, Inc., Belo's Internet subsidiary, includes the Web site operations of Belo's television stations and newspapers, interactive alliances and partnerships, and a broad range of Internet-based products and services.

Contact Info:
Mike Luftman (Time Warner Cable)
203-328-0613 502516