Honolulu ABC-network affiliate television station KITV is being sold to SJL Broadcast Management, a company that owned KHON-TV from late 2005 to 2007.

Terms were not disclosed but will become public record in the required license transfer application to be filed with the Federal Communications Commission.

New York-based Hearst has owned KITV and neighbor island sister-stations KMAU-TV on Maui and KHVO-TV on Hawaii island for 18 years, and as such is the longest-term owner of a major network affiliate in Hawaii.

Hearst "is proud of its ownership … and of our KITV colleagues," said Hearst spokesman Tom Campo in a statement.

Employees at KITV were told by Hearst President Jordan Wertlieb that the company will be focusing on larger-market stations.

All existing contracts will be honored by SJL, Wertlieb told the staff.

George Lilly, chairman of the company buying the station, applauded Wertlieb for announcing the sale to employees prior to filing the license transfer applications with the FCC, at which point they become public record.

"I think that’s a real tribute to Hearst, and to be honest, that’s the way we operate," Lilly said. "The first people that should know are your staff."

Asked how the sale came about, Lilly said "we were certainly looking, as we always are, to acquire stations."

Honolulu is a "small market for a big company like theirs, and it’s a perfect fit for us. We like mid to small markets," Lilly said.

Lilly’s sons lead SJL-related entities that are the licensees of WICU-TV and WSEE-TV in Erie, Pa., and WENY-TV in Elmira, N.Y. From Erie, the company also operates television programming for Puerto Rico and an online 24-hour weather service for South America, Lilly said. The One Caribbean weather service also has a strong presence in New York, Philadelphia and Boston, he said.

SJL purchased Honolulu FOX network affiliate KHON in late 2005 and rebranded to Montecito Broadcast Group LLC shortly thereafter.

Both KHON and KGMB-TV were owned by Emmis Communications Corp. beginning in 2000, under a long-extended waiver of FCC rules prohibiting a single company from owning two top-rated stations in the same market.

The KHON sale to SJL, as part of a $259 million, four-station deal, ended the so-called Emmis duopoly.

However, SJL-stated intentions to cut jobs and add more automation set off a cascading series of events that led eight of nine of KHON’s top management officials to tender their resignations by early February of 2006.

Rick Blangiardi, then senior vice president and general manager at KHON, resigned rather than carry out the job cuts and other plans by SJL/Montecito.

KHON news anchor Joe Moore was vocal in his opposition to the new ownership’s management of the station, and in expressing frustration over glitches caused by the new studio automation systems.

In 2007, SJL/Montecito sold KHON to New Vision Television, but it is now owned by LIN Television Corp.

A Look Back: KHON

2006