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User:HangingCurve/KSVI

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KSVI
CityBillings
Channels
BrandingABC 6
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
KHMT
History
First air date
November 26, 1980
(44 years ago) (1980-11-26)[a]
Former call signs
KOUS-TV (1980-1993)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 4 (VHF, 1980-1993)
    6 (VHF, 1993–2009)
  • Primary: NBC (1980-1987)
    Secondary:
  • Fox (1994–1995)
  • UPN (1995–2006)
Call sign meaning
"Six", "VI" is the Roman numeral for 6
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID5243
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT227.5 m (746 ft)
Transmitter coordinates45°48′27″N 108°20′27.8″W / 45.80750°N 108.341056°W / 45.80750; -108.341056
Translator(s)See § Translators
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.yourbigsky.com

KSVI (channel 6) is a television station in Billings, Montana, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to Hardin-licensed Fox affiliate KHMT (channel 4) under joint sales and shared services agreements with Mission Broadcasting. Both stations share studios on South 24th Street West in Billings, while KSVI's transmitter is located on Old Hardin Road east-northeast of the city. Its programming is relayed on translator station K25BP-D (channel 25) in Billings, in areas where KSVI's signal is poor. It can also be seen in Miles City on K16DH-D (channel 16), and in Howard on K32MN-D (channel 32).

KSVI traces its roots to Billings' third commercial television station, KOUS-TV, which signed on in 1980 on channel 4 in Hardin. It was originally an NBC affiliate, joining ABC in 1987. It spent most of the 1980s plagued by marginal coverage in Billings itself. In 1993, the station's owners won a construction permit for channel 6 in Billings proper and essentially moved there under new calls, KSVI. It subsequently reactivated channel 4 as Fox affiliate KHMT.

History

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The station signed on November 26, 1980, as KOUS-TV,[2] owned by a company that shared two stockholders with KYUS-TV (channel 3) in Miles City.[3] In 1982, KOUS became a primary NBC affiliate, which Billings lacked at the time; while the station already carried some NBC programming, it had primarily been an independent station.[4] Since 1968, NBC had largely been relegated to secondary clearances on CBS affiliate KTVQ (channel 2) and ABC affiliate KULR-TV (channel 8)—as was PBS until 1984. Billings was one of the last markets in the nation to receive full service from all three networks. In 1984, the ownership of KOUS and KYUS was formally consolidated when KOUS' owners bought KYUS for $200,000; afterward, KYUS, which had been a separate station, became a satellite of KOUS.[5] This created an instance of a satellite station older than its parent, as KYUS signed on in 1969.

In 1987, NBC chose to move its affiliation from KOUS-TV to KULR-TV (which had been a primary affiliate of the network from 1958 to 1968) effective that August;[6] at that time, the stations swapped affiliations, and channel 4 picked up KULR's former ABC affiliation.[7] That September, KOUS' programming began to be simulcast in Bozeman on new station KCTZ.[8] Shortly afterward, the station's owner changed its name from KOUS-TV, Inc. to Big Horn Communications.[8]

KOUS-TV's tower was located 18 miles (29 km) east of Billings, which resulted in difficult reception in portions of the city;[9][10] as a result, in 1987,[11] the station established a translator, K25BP channel 25, in Billings.[9] Big Horn subsequently obtained a construction permit for channel 6 in Billings (a channel that was originally intended to be used on a noncommercial basis in Miles City before being reallocated to Billings).[9] On January 8, 1993, KOUS-TV signed off from channel 4, and the KOUS intellectual unit moved to channel 6 as KSVI, which inherited KOUS' ABC affiliation.[10]

KOUS signed off for the last time on January 8,[10] and later that day the KOUS intellectual unit—including the ABC affiliation—moved to KSVI on channel 6.[12] KOUS' satellite stations, KYUS-TV and KCTZ, immediately became satellites of KSVI;[13][14] translator K25BP also began to carry channel 6's programming.[9] (KYUS is now a satellite of KULR-TV, while KCTZ is now KBZK, a satellite of KXLF-TV in Butte.)

KSVI added a secondary affiliation with Fox in April 1994; this was primarily to carry the network's NFL coverage,[15] but 15 hours a week of other Fox programs, such as Married... with Children and The Simpsons, were aired in overnight and weekend timeslots not programmed by ABC.[16] Following this deal, cable systems in the Billings area removed Foxnet from their lineups.[17] The secondary Fox affiliation ended when channel 4 returned to the air in August 1995 as Fox affiliate KHMT under a local marketing agreement with KSVI.[18] Also in June 1995, channel 6 added a secondary affiliation with UPN (it had carried the first season of the network's Star Trek: Voyager on a standalone basis before signing as a formal secondary affiliate that June).[19] this affiliation, which was eventually shared with KHMT,[20] continued[21] until UPN closed down in 2006.

Big Horn Communications sold KSVI to Great Trails Broadcasting Corporation for $17.37 million in 1997.[22] The following year, Great Trails exited broadcasting and sold the station (and its LMA with KHMT), along with WHAG-TV in Hagerstown, Maryland, and WFFT-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Quorum Broadcasting Company for $65 million.[23] Nexstar Broadcasting Group acquired Quorum for $230 million in December 2003.[24]

Due to the manner in which the move from channel 4 to channel 6 was structured legally, the FCC reckons KSVI's current facility on channel 6 as a new license dating from 1993, while KHMT operates under KOUS' former license and facility in Hardin.

News operation

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Unlike the other Big Three affiliates in Billings, KOUS/KSVI has never had much success operating a news department. As KOUS, it first started a news operation in 1982; this newscast was short-lived and was eventually canceled.[10] KSVI launched a news operation, shared with sister station KHMT, on April 18, 2002.[25] After 18 months, the newscasts were canceled in September 2003, following Nexstar taking control of the stations in advance of its purchase of Quorum.[26] Though the news operation had won Montana Broadcasters Association and Associated Press awards during its run, it was not successful in the ratings, as KSVI's newscasts trailed KTVQ (channel 2) and KULR-TV (channel 8) by a substantial margin.[27] Nexstar said that shutting down the news operation was necessary to keep the stations profitable.[26][27]

Technical information

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Subchannels

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The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KSVI[28]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
6.1 720p 16:9 KSVI-DT Main KSVI programming / ABC
6.2 480i Mystery Ion Mystery
6.3 Bounce Bounce TV
6.4 4:3 Antenna Antenna TV

Translators

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Notes

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  1. ^ Current license on channel 6 came into use on January 8, 1993, replacing the old license on channel 4.

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KSVI". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1982 (PDF). 1982. p. B-113. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  3. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 29, 1979. p. 75. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  4. ^ "In Brief" (PDF). Broadcasting. April 26, 1982. p. 112. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  5. ^ "David, Ella Rivenes". Great Falls Tribune. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  6. ^ "In Brief" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 9, 1987. p. 145. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  7. ^ Broadcasting/Cablecasting Yearbook 1988 (PDF). 1988. p. C-41. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  8. ^ a b Felker, Alex D. (July 15, 1988). "In re Applications of BEE BROADCASTING ASSOCIATES, A Limited Partnership … Station KCTZ(TV), Bozeman, Montana". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
  9. ^ a b c d Smith, Doug (December 1993). "TV News" (PDF). VHF-UHF Digest. p. 7. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  10. ^ a b c d Johnson, John C. "Montana Radio and TV Photos". John in Arizona. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  11. ^ "Application Search Details (K25BP)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  12. ^ Broadcasting & Cable Yearbook 1994 (PDF). 1994. p. C-41. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  13. ^ Smith, Doug (August 1993). "TV News" (PDF). VHF-UHF Digest. p. 6. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  14. ^ Caton, William F. (September 17, 1993). "In Re Application of BIG HORN COMMUNICATIONS, INC. (Assignor) and KCTZ COMMUNICATIONS, INC. (Assignee) For Consent to Assign the License for Station KCTZ(TV), Channel 7, Bozeman, Montana". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved September 20, 2015. We note that KCTZ(TV) has primarily rebroadcast the programming of commonly owned KSVI(TV), Billings, Montana…
  15. ^ "Fox's growing family" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. April 18, 1994. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
  16. ^ Smith, Doug (December 1994). "TV News" (PDF). VHF-UHF Digest. p. 6. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  17. ^ Smith, Doug (July 1994). "TV News" (PDF). VHF-UHF Digest. pp. 5–6. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  18. ^ "Re: MM Docket Nos. 91-211, 87-8, 94-150, 92-51 and 87-154" (PDF). Electronic Comment Filing System. Federal Communications Commission. July 8, 1997. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  19. ^ Flint, Joe (June 26, 1995). "UPN extends affil reach". Variety. Archived from the original on July 9, 2021. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  20. ^ "UPN Affiliate Stations (Montana)". UPN.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 1999. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  21. ^ "UPN Affiliate Stations (Montana)". UPN.com. Archived from the original on August 19, 2006. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  22. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. June 23, 1997. p. 48. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  23. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. November 16, 1998. p. 65. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 27, 2015. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  24. ^ "Nexstar completes $230M buy of Quorum Broadcast". Dallas Business Journal. December 31, 2003. Archived from the original on November 2, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  25. ^ "Falstad Column: Kmart, Penske will close 550 tire centers". Billings Gazette. April 13, 2002. Archived from the original on June 5, 2018. Retrieved September 24, 2015. KSVI, the Billings ABC affiliate, and KHMT, the Fox Television affiliate licensed in Hardin, are teaming up on a local newscast which starts Thursday evening…
  26. ^ a b Falstad, Jan (September 30, 2003). "KULR sold; ABC-6/Fox-4 drop local news". Billings Gazette. Archived from the original on January 1, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2015.
  27. ^ a b Eggerton, John (October 5, 2003). "Nexstar Nixes Newscasts". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved September 21, 2015.
  28. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for KSVI". Archived from the original on August 20, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
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