I think this is equivalent to the situation they have in Denver, where their networks got booted thanks to Scripps, Nexstar and Tegna, so they bought KREG to make sure their networks had a place in the market, while keeping MeTV on KCNC. Hearst (and ViacomCBS) is a big Weigel advocate and outside the ShopLC, Estrella, Cozi and True Crime Network deals sprinkled throughout the chain, isn't going into the subchannel business themselves and are happy to take the DRTV split.
Likely this is more about getting H&I, Start and Movies! a constant home in the market, since outside Hearst, the rest of the market is Scripps/Nexstar/Tegna and their networks, and the days of them giving space to Weigel are sadly over (same in Salt Lake with Nexstar/Sinclair/Scripps, thus the purchase of KCSG). MeTV will stay on KCCI, but both Weigel and Hearst don't want to bit-starve stations to get the sister networks on the air, in turn.