The TEGNA Collection on Kurator: License Decades of American Local News Footage

The TEGNA Collection is available on the Kurator marketplace, giving filmmakers, broadcasters, documentarians, and ad agencies direct access to footage from 70+ TEGNA-owned U.S. local news stations spanning the 1930s through present day. The archive includes hundreds of thousands of hours of original news coverage — true crime cases, civil rights moments, political milestones, sports legends, Hollywood premieres, cultural icons, and everyday Americana from every corner of the country. Kurator is the licensing home for the TEGNA archive, with AI-assisted search, transparent pricing, and rapid clearance.

Browse the TEGNA Collection on Kurator →

What the TEGNA Collection Is

The TEGNA Collection is a vast video archive built from the local news output of 70+ television stations across the United States, owned and operated by TEGNA Inc. Together, these stations have documented American life — at the city, state, and regional level — for nearly a century.

Where national wire services capture the headlines, local news captures the texture: the press conference outside the courthouse, the high school highlight reel of a future Hall of Famer, the neighborhood interview after a hurricane, the morning show clip of a young actor before they were famous. That's what's in the TEGNA archive.

Kurator is the licensing home for the TEGNA Collection, making this footage searchable, clearable, and licensable in a single workflow.

Who Is TEGNA?

TEGNA Inc. is one of the largest local broadcast television groups in the United States. It operates 68 television stations across 54 markets, and was historically the largest owner of NBC-affiliated stations in the country, with major holdings in ABC and CBS affiliates as well.

A few facts that explain why the archive is so deep:

• TEGNA was created in 2015 when Gannett Company split its broadcast and digital divisions from its publishing business
• Many TEGNA stations have been on the air for decades, with footage libraries dating back to the 1930s
• The group includes legacy stations from Belo, Multimedia Inc., London Broadcasting, and Combined Communications — meaning the archive consolidates several generations of local news history
• Major-market stations in the collection include WFAA (Dallas), WTHR (Indianapolis), WBNS (Columbus), KARE (Minneapolis), WUSA (Washington D.C.), KING (Seattle), KHOU (Houston), KSDK (St. Louis), KPNX (Phoenix), KGW (Portland), and many more

When you license from the TEGNA Collection on Kurator, you're tapping into the original tape, film, and digital coverage from these newsrooms.

What's in the TEGNA Archive

The TEGNA Collection on Kurator covers nearly a century of American news, with particular depth in several categories.

True Crime

TEGNA stations covered some of the most notorious cases in modern American history at the local level — often with footage that never aired nationally. The archive includes original coverage of:

• The JonBenét Ramsey case, with reporting by Paula Woodward and others
• Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer — trial footage, witnesses, and crime scene material
• The Sandra Bland case
• Tupac Shakur's 1993 Atlanta shooting incident
• Cold cases potentially linked to the Zodiac Killer, including the 1962 Oceanside cab driver murder
• Police interrogations, courtroom footage, and investigative reports from local stations across the country

This makes the TEGNA Collection a primary source archive for true-crime documentaries, podcasts adapted for video, and investigative series.

Civil Rights and Political History

• Martin Luther King Jr. interviews, including footage from San Diego and Cleveland
• Civil rights protests, marches, and local political reactions across the South and Midwest
• Speeches, debates, interviews, and campaign events from U.S. politicians at every level
• Local coverage of 9/11, including American Airlines Flight 77 and the Pentagon attack

Sports Before the Fame

Local stations covered athletes long before they were household names. The TEGNA Collection includes:

• High school highlights of players who later became NFL, NBA, and MLB stars
• Early-career interviews and college footage
• Some of the earliest existing footage of Muhammad Ali, including moments outside the ring
• Local coverage of championship runs, draft days, and hometown receptions

Hollywood, Music, and Pop Culture

• Movie premieres with red carpet footage, celebrity interviews, and Hollywood debuts across decades
• Marilyn Monroe and other Golden Age icons
• Concert and tour footage, including the Rolling Stones in 1981
• Television aircheck footage from the 1980s and 1990s — period-accurate news graphics, anchor delivery, commercial breaks
• Toy fads, pop-culture trends, and commercials from past decades

Americana and Everyday Life

• 1960s–1980s suburban America: vintage neighborhoods, classic cars, mid-century lifestyles
• Local festivals, parades, county fairs, and community events
• Weather coverage, hurricanes, floods, wildfires, and disaster response
• Small-town news from every region of the U.S.

Breaking News and Historic Events

• Original local coverage of major U.S. events from the 1930s forward
• Press conferences, courthouse steps, scenes of crisis, and aftermath reporting
• The kind of regional context national networks rarely captured

Why License TEGNA Footage Through Kurator

Kurator is the official licensing home for the TEGNA Collection. Here's why that matters for buyers.

1. The Only Place to License the Full TEGNA Archive

Footage from 70+ TEGNA stations is consolidated in one searchable marketplace. Instead of contacting individual newsrooms — many of which don't have a public licensing process — you can search across all of them through Kurator.

2. AI-Assisted Search Through Decades of Tape

Local news archives are notoriously hard to search. A 30-minute newscast from 1987 might contain a single 12-second clip you need. Kurator uses AI transcripts and visual tagging to make this content searchable down to the spoken word, so you can find a specific quote, name, location, or event without manually scrubbing tapes.

3. Clip-Level Previews and Pre-Cleared Assets

Watermarked clip-level previews let you confirm the footage is right before you license. Many assets in the TEGNA Collection are already pre-cleared, which means faster turnaround for production deadlines.

4. Transparent, Use-Based Pricing

Editorial, rights-managed, and commercial licenses are priced based on use — audience, geography, duration, media type. No opaque enterprise quotes, no hidden fees. Kurator's licensing experts can also structure custom pricing for documentaries, series, ad campaigns, or unusual rights requests.

5. Decades of Newsroom Relationships

Kurator's team has direct relationships with TEGNA station archivists and clearance teams, built over years of work in this space. For complex requests — exclusivity, talent considerations, footage that needs additional verification — those relationships translate to faster, smoother clearance.

6. One Marketplace, Multiple Premier Collections

The TEGNA Collection sits alongside the AFP Collection (global wire news), the Framepool Collection (premium nature and stock), and the Nimia Collection (Kurator's contributor archive). A documentary that needs both U.S. local news context (TEGNA) and international wire coverage (AFP) can source both in one place, on one contract, with one workflow.

"Kurator made the TEGNA archive accessible again — fair prices, quick responses, and impeccable service." — Verified Kurator client testimonial

Who Should License TEGNA Footage

True Crime Documentaries and Series

TEGNA's local crime coverage is some of the most sought-after primary-source footage in the genre. The archive includes original reporting on cases that defined modern true crime — most of it shot by the very stations covering the story as it unfolded.

Documentary Filmmakers

For docs about American history, civil rights, sports, music, or culture, TEGNA's local lens captures moments that national networks missed. This is where you find the high school footage, the small-town reaction, the regional context.

Sports Productions

ESPN-style "30 for 30" productions, league documentaries, retirement tributes, and Hall of Fame profiles often need pre-fame footage. TEGNA stations covered future stars in their hometowns and college towns.

News and Broadcast Producers

Anniversaries, retrospectives, obituaries, and explainer segments benefit from authentic period footage — including the look and feel of the broadcasts themselves.

Advertising and Branded Content

Brand campaigns leaning on nostalgia, regional identity, or retro Americana can license commercial-cleared assets through Kurator's commercial licensing tier.

Streaming Platforms and Educational Publishers

Long-form digital series, educational courses, and history-focused streaming shows can license TEGNA material under a range of license types.

How to License TEGNA Footage on Kurator

The process is built for production workflows:

1. Search. Visit the TEGNA Collection on Kurator and search by keyword, person, place, event, station, or date range.
2. Preview. Review watermarked previews, transcripts, metadata, and clearance status for each asset.
3. Build a license request. Add the clips you want, specify your project's intended use, and submit.
4. Get a quote. Receive transparent, use-based pricing — editorial, documentary, or commercial.
5. Clear and pay. Sign in-platform, pay through Kurator, and receive secure delivery of broadcast-quality files.

For complex projects, exclusivity requests, or hard-to-find footage, you can contact Kurator's licensing team directly. The team also handles footage research requests — if you can't find what you need, they'll search the underlying station archives on your behalf.

About Kurator

Kurator is a media licensing and rights-management platform built for the editorial and creative media industry. Founded in 2011 under the brand Nimia, the company evolved into Kurator to offer a modern, cloud-based system for buying, selling, and tracking digital licenses for video and photography.

Kurator is headquartered in Bozeman, Montana, with offices in Seattle, New York, and London. The platform combines AI-assisted asset management, white-label storefronts for content owners, and a curated marketplace for licensees — all backed by a team of human licensing and clearance experts with decades of newsroom and rights-clearance experience.

Kurator's marketplace currently includes the TEGNA Collection, the AFP Collection, the Framepool Collection, and the Nimia Collection, with over 2 million stock footage assets available across all collections combined.

Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I license footage from TEGNA news stations?

You can license footage from any of TEGNA's 70+ U.S. news stations directly through the Kurator marketplace at tegna.kurator.com. Kurator is the official licensing home for the TEGNA Collection.

How far back does the TEGNA archive go?

The TEGNA Collection includes footage from the 1930s through present day. Many stations have continuous archives going back decades, with content on film, tape, and digital formats — all searchable through Kurator's AI-assisted platform.

Can I license TEGNA footage for true crime documentaries?

Yes. The TEGNA Collection is one of the most comprehensive sources of original U.S. local news coverage of true crime cases, including trial footage, investigations, interviews, and crime scene reporting. It's widely used by true crime documentaries, podcasts, and series.

Is TEGNA footage available for commercial use?

Yes. Footage in the TEGNA Collection is available under editorial, rights-managed, and commercial licenses depending on the asset and intended use. Kurator's licensing team can structure the appropriate license for advertising, branded content, documentaries, news, or corporate productions.

How much does it cost to license TEGNA footage?

Pricing for TEGNA footage on Kurator is use-based, factoring in audience size, geography, license duration, and media type. You can request a transparent quote directly through the marketplace, and Kurator offers competitive rates with simple, easy-to-understand rights packages.

What if I can't find the specific footage I need?

Kurator offers a footage request service. If a specific moment, person, or event isn't surfaced in the marketplace search, the licensing team can search the underlying TEGNA station archives directly on your behalf.

What other collections are available on Kurator?

Beyond TEGNA, Kurator represents the AFP Collection (global wire news), the Framepool Collection (premium stock and nature footage), and the Nimia Collection (Kurator's contributor archive). All are searchable through a single marketplace.

How do I get started?

You can create a free Kurator account to browse the TEGNA Collection, save assets, request quotes, and license footage. For active production projects, contact Kurator's licensing team directly for hands-on support.

Start Searching the TEGNA Collection

The TEGNA Collection is live on Kurator now. Whether you're producing a true crime series, a sports documentary, a brand campaign rooted in Americana, or a news segment that needs authentic local context, you can search, preview, and license footage from 70+ U.S. news stations in the same workflow you already use for your other licensed content.

Search the TEGNA Collection on Kurator →

For custom licensing, footage research, or production support, contact Kurator's licensing team.

Kurator is the licensing home for the TEGNA Collection, AFP, Framepool, Nimia, and other premier media archives. Find it. Clear it. License it.