KLDT Lake Dallas/KNWS Houston owner files for bankruptcy

[arnoldevns]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/tv/6062952.html

If these two stations left the air, would anyone notice?

 

[cowboybud]

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/tv/6062952.html

If these two stations left the air, would anyone notice?

KNWS has become a non-entity in Houston. They've lost their sports properties (although they're still listed as carrying Big 12 basketball) and they have a horrible digital signal.

 

[tripinva]

Both stations have a deal with NBC that will give them big signals from the antennas of KTMD (for KNWS) and KXAS/KXTX (for KLDT) next year. So if nothing else, they will have signals with some value to 'em.

- Trip

 

[TexasTom]

Both stations have a deal with NBC that will give them big signals from the antennas of KTMD (for KNWS) and KXAS/KXTX (for KLDT) next year. So if nothing else, they will have signals with some value to 'em.

Yup, the signal will be about the only thing that has value, especially in the case of KLDT -- a station which has never even figured out how to program their PSIP data so that you can get sound on their channel without having to go into your tuner's menus to select the correct audio stream.

I wonder what the stick value of these stations is in today's economic environment?

 

[arnoldevns]

This begs a qood question: if you were to buy these two stations, what would you do with them?

For KLDT: I'd probably put America One on the main channel, .2 network on the secondary channel, then I'd sell off 2 more channels to whatever network or broadcasters wanted to program them.

KNWS would be more difficult since the first two networks I mentioned already have affiliation deals in Houston.
RTN would probably be my top choice for them.

I think it's very hard in a 500 channel universe to make much money just selling time for infomercials. You've got to have programming to draw viewers to the station first.

 

[tripinva]

KNWS should get an unlikely buyer--KUHT. Think about it, now that digital broadcasting allows for multiple subchannels, they could theoretically feed an additional 6 services. Non-commercial stations have a bunch of choices available to them:

PBS Create
PBS World
V-Me
PBS-X
MHz WorldView
Documentary Channel
Research Channel
Pentagon Channel

And that's just what I can think up off the top of my head. Granted, that assume KUHT would want to pay for it. I don't know what else you could program on that signal.

KERA sold KDTN so I doubt they'd turn around and want to buy anything, but it might be an option. Otherwise, I generally agree with you on KLDT.

- Trip

 

[fredcantu]

Daystar's upgrade to channel 2 was shortlived.
Come 2/17 they'll lose whatever advantage KDTN had over KMPX.
The digital coverage of the two stations is almost identical.

 

[arnoldevns]

Daystar's upgrade to channel 2 was shortlived.
Come 2/17 they'll lose whatever advantage KDTN had over KMPX.
The digital coverage of the two stations is almost identical.

I have never quite understood why KERA sold KDTN. It doesn't seem like it would be purely a money issue. They gave up a ton of revenue from schools when they dropped the instructional programming. By getting rid of 2 they also lost bandwidth they could have used to transmit many channels of programming that could have generated revenue.

 

[Slambang]

The KDNT sale was the dumbest move by any PBS entity in the nation....Why doesnt KERA buy back the station and use it for instructional/Digital tier PBS?? Maybe it has to do with Bill Young, who never appears to think things out and programs the station at his whim...

 

[stevenNOLA]

KNWS should get an unlikely buyer--KUHT. Think about it, now that digital broadcasting allows for multiple subchannels, they could theoretically feed an additional 6 services. Non-commercial stations have a bunch of choices available to them:

PBS Create
PBS World
V-Me
PBS-X
MHz WorldView
Documentary Channel
Research Channel
Pentagon Channel

And that's just what I can think up off the top of my head. Granted, that assume KUHT would want to pay for it. I don't know what else you could program on that signal.

KERA sold KDTN so I doubt they'd turn around and want to buy anything, but it might be an option. Otherwise, I generally agree with you on KLDT.

- Trip

PBS Create is an EXCELLENT channel! I wish we would have it in Houston.

 

[tripinva]

I have never had Create. Here at school we have MHz WorldView which I love (I like international newscasts) and at home we have PBS World (when it comes in) and I could just about live on it. I'd love to have Documentary Channel, assuming it doesn't repeat too often. I imagine it would be pretty wonderful as well.

WCNY-DT in Syracuse NY even has a 24/7 movie subchannel. Wouldn't that be awesome?

- Trip

 

[arnoldevns]

The KDNT sale was the dumbest move by any PBS entity in the nation....Why doesnt KERA buy back the station and use it for instructional/Digital tier PBS?? Maybe it has to do with Bill Young, who never appears to think things out and programs the station at his whim...

Stop right there. The decision to sell KDTN did not come from Bill Young. It came from the front office folks and the board of NTPB. Bill is very good at what he does. He's not perfect, no one is. But KERA has some of the strongest viewership of any PBS station in the country thanks to him.

The thing is, KERA could have continued KDTN's programming on 13.2 if they had wanted to. They used to call KDTN "KERA 2." It would have been an easy transfer. For some reason, they just wanted to bring an end to that second channel of programming. It seems illogical to me, but I'm sure someone down there could explain the reasoning behind it. Maybe the amount of cash they got from Daystar was enough to let them financially stabilize the rest of the operation down there for years to come. Who knows.

 

[Lancer]

I think it's very hard in a 500 channel universe to make much money just selling time for infomercials. You've got to have programming to draw viewers to the station first.

That's a good point. If I want to hear Billy Mays scream at me in commercials, I can see that on the other 499.

Before I angrily switch away as quickly as possible.

 

[Slambang]

The KDNT sale was the dumbest move by any PBS entity in the nation....Why doesnt KERA buy back the station and use it for instructional/Digital tier PBS?? Maybe it has to do with Bill Young, who never appears to think things out and programs the station at his whim...

Stop right there. The decision to sell KDTN did not come from Bill Young. It came from the front office folks and the board of NTPB. Bill is very good at what he does. He's not perfect, no one is. But KERA has some of the strongest viewership of any PBS station in the country thanks to him.

The thing is, KERA could have continued KDTN's programming on 13.2 if they had wanted to. They used to call KDTN "KERA 2." It would have been an easy transfer. For some reason, they just wanted to bring an end to that second channel of programming. It seems illogical to me, but I'm sure someone down there could explain the reasoning behind it. Maybe the amount of cash they got from Daystar was enough to let them financially stabilize the rest of the operation down there for years to come. Who knows.

Nevertheless, it was one of the dumber business moves ive seen in public broadcasting history...We had an opportunity to run two channels, both with digital subtiers, instead, we get a crooked group of TV preachers...Thats Dallas for ya...

 

[X-Man]

The KDNT sale was the dumbest move by any PBS entity in the nation....Why doesnt KERA buy back the station and use it for instructional/Digital tier PBS?? Maybe it has to do with Bill Young, who never appears to think things out and programs the station at his whim...

Stop right there. The decision to sell KDTN did not come from Bill Young. It came from the front office folks and the board of NTPB. Bill is very good at what he does. He's not perfect, no one is. But KERA has some of the strongest viewership of any PBS station in the country thanks to him.

The thing is, KERA could have continued KDTN's programming on 13.2 if they had wanted to. They used to call KDTN "KERA 2." It would have been an easy transfer. For some reason, they just wanted to bring an end to that second channel of programming. It seems illogical to me, but I'm sure someone down there could explain the reasoning behind it. Maybe the amount of cash they got from Daystar was enough to let them financially stabilize the rest of the operation down there for years to come. Who knows.

I was wondering why KERA didn't move KDTN's programming to it's sub channel on 13.2 when they sold Ch.2 to Daystar, it seems like most of the PBS stations in different cities have extra PBS channels on their sub channels but KERA doesn't. Seems like they need to get on the ball with that.

 

[newsmark]

Didn't KERA keep the right to program digital subchannels on channel 2 after they sold?

That said, KLDT's gonna have a tough time. I agree with others who say Infomercials can't compete with all the cable channels. I don't think any "network" is gonna work. It would take a lot of money to create new local programs, but that's what the station will need to thrive.

 

[w9wi]

I'd love to have Documentary Channel, assuming it doesn't repeat too often. I imagine it would be pretty wonderful as well.

We have Doc in Nashville (most of the time) on WNPT 8.2.

There is a fair amount of repetition, but most of what they run is worth watching more than once

Seriously, it *is* a very good channel.

 

[arnoldevns]

Didn't KERA keep the right to program digital subchannels on channel 2 after they sold?

Yes. That's what was published in the papers. The reality is that they have NEVER used that bandwidth.
Like I say, I don't understand what KERA is doing. Maybe they're waiting for the digital switch when they figure a lot of their viewers will have access to digital sub-channels. Who knows.

 

[eskipper411]

See why can't they just leave everything alone? If anything, they should put The Weather Channel on KNWS and KLDT. ;D

 

[Mediafrog+]

I'm surprised the current owners have held on to KNWS for so long. There was a failed attempt to sell the station about ten years ago to a home shopping programmer (the prospective owner ran into its own financial problems which scuttled the deal) but since then I've heard nothing about any serious moves for the station.

You would think KPRC, KHOU, or KTRK might want a duopoly partner, but we might have a tug-of-war between a fire sale price and the credit crunch which might give buyers second thoughts about putting in a bid.

I believe KNWS will getting the current Channel 47 analog transmitter for KTMD (which presumably is digital ready) after the 2/17/09 switchover.