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Gray shifts NBC and FOX to new channels in Nebraska and North Dakota

mvcg66b3r

mvcg66b3r

From northpine.com:

With increased FCC scrutiny of deals that allow one TV station to run another, Gray TV is trying a different method to add major network affiliations in central Nebraska and western North Dakota: It's moving the affiliations to stations it already owns.

In Nebraska, Hoak Media NBC affiliate KHAS-TV/5 (Hastings) announced Wednesday that beginning Friday, NBC and KHAS-TV newscasts will move to Gray's KSNB/4.1 (Superior). The programming will be simulcast on Gray's KOLN/10.2 (Lincoln) and KGIN/11.2 (Grand Island). KOLN/10.1 and KGIN/11.1 carry CBS.

KSNB, KOLN-DT2, and KGIN-DT2 currently carry Me-TV and My Network TV, which will continue on KSNB-DT2/4.2 only. KHAS-TV's announcement said it expected cable and satellite providers would continue carrying NBC and the Me-TV/MNT affiliations on their current channel numbers.

Meanwhile, in North Dakota, current FOX affiliates KNDX/26 (Bismarck) and KXND/24 (Minot) have announced that beginning Friday, the FOX lineup will move to KFYR/5.2 (Bismarck), KMOT/10.2 (Minot), KQCD/7.2 (Dickinson), and KUMV/8.2 (Williston). FOX will continue to be seen on KNDX-LD/38 (Dickinson) and KXND-LP/38 (Williston), which Gray bought from Prime Cities Broadcasting for $500,000.

Gray is in the process of buying KFYR-TV, KMOT, KQCD, and KUMV from Hoak Media in a deal that already has FCC approval. The stations carry NBC on their .1 channels. KFYR-TV's website says Me-TV, which currently airs on the .2 channels, will move to .3 on Friday.

The announcements did not say what would happen to KHAS-TV, KNDX, or KXND. KHAS-TV did say on its Facebook page that Cozi TV, currently seen on 5.2, would no longer be available, suggesting that channel 5 may go silent. (An earlier version of the announcement had said KHAS-TV would go silent.) KHAS-TV has been on the air since 1956 and the FCC just granted license renewal on Tuesday.

Late last year, Gray TV had announced plans to operate KHAS-TV, KNDX, and KXND through shared services agreements after Excalibur Broadcasting purchased the stations from Hoak (KHAS-TV) and Prime Cities Broadcasting (KXND/KNDX). Several months later, the FCC announced it would give extra scrutiny to such deals. Prime Cities withdrew its application to transfer the KNDX/KXND licenses, while the application to transfer KHAS-TV from Hoak to Excalibur remains pending.

Federal ownership rules do not allow atop-four TV station to directly buy another top-four station in the same market. Shared services agreements that allow one station to run another have become commonplace in small markets over the past decade, but the FCC has been cracking down on the practice both through increased scrutiny of sales and an order that companies end deals that allow one station to sell more than 15 percent of advertising on another. The moves have prompted a legal challenge from the National Association of Broadcasters.

Gray is also in the process of buying Hoak NBC affiliate KVLY-TV/11.1 (Fargo), which already operates Parker Broadcasting CBS affiliate KXJB/4.1 (Valley City-Fargo). Gray has said it would operate KXJB after a sale to Excalibur is completed. The KVLY sale has received FCC approval but the KXJB sale has not; no announcements about Fargo-market programming had been made as of Wednesday night.

The Nebraska move will mark the first time that an in-market NBC affiliate has been available over-the-air in Lincoln, where Omaha stations (first KMTV/3 and then WOWT/6) have served as the capital city's de facto NBC affiliates since the 1950's. WOWT is also owned by Gray.
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ftballfan said:
I would not be surprised if the KHAS call letters make their way to Channel 4.
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Maybe it could be possible in the not so distant future for KOLN/KGIN 10/11 to run 3 HDTV feeds all at once all at the same time with the main KOLN/KGIN 1011 News CBS station running 720 or 1080 in widescreen HDTV at 10.1/11.1, KHAS-TV News 5 NBC 5 running 720 or 1080 in widescreen HDTV at 10.2/11.2, and KSNB 4 MYNET/METV 1011 Central Nebraska News (the former MYTV branding) running 720 in widescreen HDTV or 480 in widescreen SDTV (standard def) at a possible 10.3/11.3 as a win-win solution for all TV viewers who love watching 10/11, KHAS, and KSNB.

10/11 and Gray Television could do what West Virginia Media does with WTRF in Wheeling West Virginia by airing 3 HDTV feeds all at once all at the same time with CBS in 1080 at 7.1, FOX in 720 at 7.2, and ABC in 720 at 7.3 and I'm sure Gray could afford to buy equipment to air 10/11, KHAS, and 10/11 Central Nebraska all in HDTV within 10/11 digital spectrum with 10/11 as the main digital channel, with KHAS and 10/11 Central Nebraska as digital sub channels being available on 10/11.1, 10/11.2, and 10/11.3.
 
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KSNB has now been associated with all four networks, directly or indirectly:

-It signed on as a satellite of KHGI, the ABC affiliate.
-It then became one of two stations carrying the Fox affiliate (parallel with KTVG).
-Gray then began operating it as "10/11 Central Nebraska", as the MyNetworkTV affiliate. This station carried KOLN/KGIN-produced newscasts.
-And now it's absorbing KHAS, the NBC affiliate.

The potential of this change is larger than it seems because it actually brings NBC into Lincoln from its own market. Gray owns WOWT as well and could nudge Lincoln cable providers to transition over to KSNB/KHAS for NBC.

Gray will need to start a translator in the Kearney/Lexington/Holdrege area to replace the lost NBC service.

This puts even more pressure on Citadel to go market-wide. The Pappas station operation — KHGI/KWNB and KFXL — is a must-buy at this point for Citadel, and I can easily see the two ABC affiliates be integrated possibly with separate newscasts. I'm surprised Pappas still has not sold in Nebraska.
 
I would be shell shocked if Harry Pappas through his Pappas Telecasting under trustee David Stapleton would ever allow Mark Nalbone (Wyomedia), Brian W Brady (Stainless, bought KSWT from Pappas), Sinclair Broadcast Group with David Smith, Barry Faber, David Amy in charge, or Cordillera or even Bob Prather through Heartland Media or Nexstar ever pursue NTV/KFXL instead of allowing Philip Lombardo through his Citadel Communications acquire KHGI-KWNB and KFXL to tie it up with KLKN mainly for reasons at keeping retransmission consent revenue money. Not so sure if Mark Nalbone or Brian W Brady could afford to purchase NTV/KFXL themselves due to high asking prices for NTV alone and also dealing with owning CBS stations with CBS now demanding their affiliates to have subscribers pay $.90 cents per month just to be affiliated with CBS(Mark Nalbone with KGWC-KGWL-KGWR and Brian W Brady with KVTV and KSWT). NTV could be a reason for Brian W Brady to purchase mainly for the FOX affiliation on NTV DT2 digital subchannel and was chairman of the FOX affiliate board. Nexstar would buy NTV and KFXL mainly to purchase KCWI and KDMI to tie it up with WOI plus KDMI RF channel 19 could get used for WOI 5 to air their programming instead of continuing to air their programming at RF channel 5 and KDMI MYNET/This TV programming would move over to KCWI DT2 digital subchannel with KCWI keeping CW on their DT1 digital channel at RF channel 23.

BTW, FYI, Honestly feel the only station in Nebraska that has the greatest risk of going off the air and going dark is the KFXL station in Lincoln as part of being within the NTV Network chain of stations. The channel repacking, channel sharing, and spectrum auction would force the KFXL station to go dark. If NTV wanted to continue to have their FOX station in the Lincoln area if the KFXL station in Lincoln shuts down by itself, it would have to make a channel sharing deal with KLKN in Lincoln and Citadel whereas KLKN would continue to run their own ABC affiliated station on their main DT1 channel with KFXL FOX Nebraska being on KLKN DT 2 channel in order for NTV and Pappas to better compete with the now Sinclair controlled KPTM from Omaha whose over the air signal reaches Lincoln at times. If Philip Lombardo and his Citadel Communication got control of NTV and KFXL or make a full total deal with NTV with Philip Lombardo and his Citadel Communications having KLKN with ABC and Harry Pappas and his Pappas Telecasting plus it would result in KLKN from Lincoln being ABC on it's DT1 digital channel while NTV as KHGI and KWNB from Kearney and Hayes Center being FOX on it's DT1 digital channel but still be able to carry both KLKN as ABC and NTV as KHGI/KWNB as FOX in full 16:9 widescreen HDTV on both stations. KLKN would relay NTV as a FOX station on it's DT2 digital channel while NTV as KHGI and KWNB would relay KLKN as a ABC station on it's DT2 digital channel. The downside to that is that what is the best of KFXL would get folded into their senior partner parent station in the LMA NTV as KHGI and KWNB with while what is left of KFXL possibly being picked up by 10/11 to air on their sister station KSNB 10/11 Central Nebraska and KNOP would have to shut down their own FOX station in order for NTV to still serve the North Platte area and as the FOX station in that area with KNOP being able to fully transmit 10/11 North Platte on it's DT2 digital channel with Gray taking control of KNOP and KNPL LD 10/11 North Platte with K11TW being known as KIIT going dark to make room for NTV carrying KHGI/KWNB FOX and KLKN ABC over on KHGI CD in North Platte.

In reality, it would actually cost a grand total of $3.50 per subscriber per month for both for Pappas to keep the ABC and FOX affiliations with local and syndicated programming on NTV at $2 while for Citadel to keep the ABC affiliation with local and syndicated programming on KLKN at $1.50 for pay TV subscribers per month on separate stations altogether. NTV would be better off shutting down KFXL FOX Nebraska as a separate station by itself and fold much of KFXL FOX Nebraska into NTV and is affiliated with FOX and make a deal with KLKN to give the ABC affiliation to them with subscribers paying $3 per month for pay TV subscribers with KLKN just being ABC and NTV just being FOX within the entire Lincoln-Grand Island-Hastings-Kearney and North Platte TV DMAs combined.
 
ftballfan said:
I would not be surprised if the KHAS call letters make their way to Channel 4.
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The 'turning off the transmitter' video package said they're keeping 4 as KSNB, and as an NBC affiliate, keeping calls with 'NB' in them is probably appropriate, though I'd hope they preserve the KHAS calls on one of their translators in a class A change.

mvcg66b3r said:
Gray Retains Minority Media and Telecommunications Council As Exclusive Broker for Transfer of Former Shared Services Stations
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AKA, they're just delaying the inevitable. Very few of the TBN translators they gave to the MMTC exist any longer, and only a few of them got a different affiliation, or in most cases, are affiliated with Luken networks on the edge of financial collapse.
 
correct (from northpine)

The CBS-TV affiliation in Fargo will move to a subchannel, Gray TV announced Friday, matching moves made in two other markets.

The announcement came as Gray closed on its purchase of NBC affiliate KVLY-TV/11.1 (Fargo), along with several other stations in the Dakotas and Nebraska, from Hoak Media. Gray said it would assume Hoak's agreement to operate Parker Broadcasting CBS affiliate KXJB/4.1 (Valley City-Fargo), but that the CBS affiliation would move to a KVLY subchannel within the next few months, pending network approval.

KXJB will then go silent and Gray will work with the Minority Media and Telecommunications Council to find a minority-owned, female-owned, or non-profit organization to buy KXJB.
 
Non-profit could mean religious or PBS. Apparently Gray doesn't care about destroying heritage. The ownership rules should be different for small markets (markets with under 1,000,000 residents). In those markets, SSAs between Big Four stations should remain legal, as long as all Big Four affiliates aren't under one roof.
 
ftballfan said:
The ownership rules should be different for small markets (markets with under 1,000,000 residents). In those markets, SSAs between Big Four stations should remain legal, as long as all Big Four affiliates aren't under one roof.
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The FCC ownership rules are intended to do the opposite: there are more SSAs in small markets than large ones because there are more rules against duopolies that apply. (Indeed, I'm not sure if the number of SSAs in markets big enough for them to be proscribed under your proposal reaches double digits.) The idea is to preserve localism, but we all know how alive and well localism is even in big markets.

Larger markets can better afford to have more owners, so duopolies are less necessary, and may actually be more damaging when you consider the ripple effects they have on a national scale (paging the CW, MyNet, UniMas). That's why I like my dynamic cap idea where each additional station a company owns or controls in a market counts as a certain fraction of the market's size towards the national cap, but the only other restrictions are on local market share.
 
Morgan Wick said:
The FCC ownership rules are intended to do the opposite: there are more SSAs in small markets than large ones because there are more rules against duopolies that apply. (Indeed, I'm not sure if the number of SSAs in markets big enough for them to be proscribed under your proposal reaches double digits.) The idea is to preserve localism, but we all know how alive and well localism is even in big markets.

Larger markets can better afford to have more owners, so duopolies are less necessary, and may actually be more damaging when you consider the ripple effects they have on a national scale (paging the CW, MyNet, UniMas). That's why I like my dynamic cap idea where each additional station a company owns or controls in a market counts as a certain fraction of the market's size towards the national cap, but the only other restrictions are on local market share.
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I can think of several just off the top of my head:
Traverse City has two of these: WPBN/WGTU and WWTV/WFQX (all four stations involved also have a full-power satellite)
Lansing: WLNS/WLAJ
Flint-Saginaw: WEYI/WSMH/WBSF
Duluth: KBJR/KDLH
Any market with Nexstar/Mission or Sinclair/Cunningham duos involving Big Four stations.

I wouldn't be surprised if some use "failed station" waivers to legally bring a partner in-house without surrendering a license or selling to an outside group
 
KTCA or KAWE would like to take over that KXJB license I bet. "TPT 4"? If not, it will turn into another TBN or Daystar, just like what the latter did to KDTN-2 in Denton/Dallas after dropping PBS.

-crainbebo
 
TBN's been withdrawing from OTA in most cases though; even with a full power station, there's too few homes in F/GF (plus the CRTC would block them out of Winnipeg) to make a TBN OTA station financially viable. Daystar's iffy too. At this point I pretty much consider the license as good as gone unless Red River Broadcasting decides to buy KXJB for more than the MMTC would offer and move KVRR there just for the channel number and Grand Forks coverage via UHF. Considering MMTC's TBN troubles I just don't see anything but that, or a PBS member purchase as working out.
 
crainbebo said:
KTCA or KAWE would like to take over that KXJB license I bet. "TPT 4"? If not, it will turn into another TBN or Daystar, just like what the latter did to KDTN-2 in Denton/Dallas after dropping PBS.

-crainbebo
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There is already a PBS in Fargo so no way TPT or LPTV goes into Fargo
 
ftballfan said:
I can think of several just off the top of my head:
Traverse City has two of these: WPBN/WGTU and WWTV/WFQX (all four stations involved also have a full-power satellite)
Lansing: WLNS/WLAJ
Flint-Saginaw: WEYI/WSMH/WBSF
Duluth: KBJR/KDLH
Any market with Nexstar/Mission or Sinclair/Cunningham duos involving Big Four stations.
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I'm not sure how you took "markets big enough for them to be proscribed" and interpreted it to mean you should cite a bunch of markets under a million, even if you don't know what "proscribed" means. Admittedly I should have slipped a "still" in there...
 
2 PBS stations in the NYC market.
2 PBS stations in the Seattle market.
2 PBS stations in the Atlanta market.
I think a 2nd PBS would work just fine. And hey, more donation dollars for TPT or Lakeland Public TV! They can start pledging "Fargo-Moorhead viewers" for money.

-crainbebo
 
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