KSCW-DT

KSCW-DT, virtual channel 33 (VHF digital channel 12), is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Wichita, Kansas, United States. The station is owned by Gray Television, as part of a duopoly with Hutchinson-licensed CBS affiliate KWCH-DT (channel 12); Gray also operates Derby-licensed Univision affiliate KDCU-DT (channel 31) under joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with owner Entravision Communications. The three stations share studios on 37th Street in northeast Wichita; KSCW and KWCH share transmitter facilities in rural northeastern Reno County (south-southeast of Buhler). There is no separate website for KSCW; instead, it is integrated with that of sister station KWCH.

KSCW-DT
Wichita/Hutchinson, Kansas
United States
CityWichita, Kansas
ChannelsDigital: 12 (VHF)
Virtual: 33 (PSIP)
BrandingKSCW (general)
Eyewitness News (during KWCH-produced newscasts)
SloganDare to Defy (general)
Expect More (newscasts)
Programming
Affiliations33.1: The CW (2006–present)
33.2: Decades
33.3: Antenna TV
33.4: Start TV
33.5: Circle (O&O) (soon)
Ownership
OwnerGray Television
(Gray Television Licensee, LLC)
Sister stationsKWCH-DT, KDCU-DT, KBSH-DT, KBSD-DT, KBSL-DT
WIBW-TV
History
FoundedFebruary 11, 1999
First air dateAugust 5, 1999 (1999-08-05)
Former call signsKWCV (1999–2006)
KSCW (2006–2009)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 33 (UHF, 1999–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 31 (UHF, 2002–2009)
  • 19 (UHF, 2009)
Former affiliationsThe WB (1999–2006)
Call sign meaningKanSas CW
Technical information
Licensing authorityFCC
Facility ID72348
ERP66.4 kW (main signal)
15 kW (fill-in translator)
HAAT449.3 m (1,474 ft)
Transmitter coordinates38°3′37.9″N 97°45′49.8″W
Translator(s)33 (UHF) Wichita (city)
Links
Public license informationProfile
LMS
Websitewww.kwch.com/kscw/

KSCW also operates a low-power digital fill-in translator on UHF channel 33 (its previous analog signal allotment) from a transmitter in Bel Aire, Kansas, just north of the station's studio facility. On cable, the station is available on Cox Communications channel 5 in both standard and high definition, and on AT&T U-verse channels 5 (SD) and 1005 (HD).

History

The station first signed on the air on August 5, 1999 as KWCV. Founded by Banks Broadcasting and originally operating as a WB affiliate, it was branded on-air as "Kansas' WB". Prior to the station's launch, The WB's programming could only be viewed in the Wichita market through Chicago-based cable superstation WGN, which carried the network's programming nationwide from The WB's January 1995 launch until October 1999, or Denver's KWGN-TV on cable or satellite. The station's original transmitter was located on a tower near Colwich.

On January 24, 2006, the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced that the two companies would shut down The WB and UPN and combine the networks' respective programming onto a newly created "fifth" network called The CW.[1][2] One month later on February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced that it would launch another new network called MyNetworkTV.[3][4] On March 21, not long after it was announced that the station would become the market's CW affiliate, KWCV received approval from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to change its call letters to KSCW in order to reflect its upcoming affiliation change.[5] On September 5, former UPN affiliate KMTW became Wichita's MyNetworkTV affiliate when that network launched. KSCW became the CW outlet for the market when that network launched on September 18; the station also changed its branding to "Kansas CW" on that date.

In March 2007, Banks Broadcasting announced that it would sell the station to Schurz Communications, owner of CBS affiliate KWCH (channel 12).[6] The sale closed on July 20, 2007, after which the FCC granted Schurz a "failing station" waiver to acquire KSCW. This was necessary because the Wichita designated market area has only seven "unique" full-power television stations. The full-power stations operating outside the immediate metropolitan area all operate as satellites of each of Wichita's four major network affiliates (KWCH, KSNW (channel 3), KAKE (channel 10) and KSAS-TV (channel 24)), and the FCC considers the parent and all of its satellites together as one station. That number of unique full-power stations is normally not enough to legally support a duopoly, because Banks Broadcasting tried and failed to find a buyer for KSCW that did not need the "failing station" waiver.

Several months after Schurz closed on its purchase of this station, it launched a new website powered by the Local Media Network division of WorldNow, replacing Broadcast Interactive Media as the operator of the site. Schurz began the process of transitioning the websites of its media properties to the Tribune Interactive platform in Summer 2010 with KWCH and KSCW being the first two using the relaunched Tribune-run platform in late-June (as of 2013, the Schurz television station websites are now operated by Internet Broadcasting). In 2009, KSCW traded transmitter facilities, moving to KWCH's former tower near Buhler in Reno County.

Schurz announced on September 14, 2015 that it would exit broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations, including KSCW-DT, KWCH-DT, and the JSA with KDCU-DT, to Gray Television for $442.5 million. Gray already owns KAKE in Wichita; however, it will sell that station and keep KSCW and KWCH.[7][8] The FCC approved the Schurz sale on February 12, 2016, and the sale was finalized on February 16.[9]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[10]
33.11080i16:9KSCW-DTMain KSCW-DT programming / The CW
33.2480iDecadesDecades[11]
33.3AntennaAntenna TV
33.4StartTVStart TV
33.5Circle (soon)

Analog-to-digital conversion

Because it was granted an original construction permit after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finalized the digital television allotment plan on April 21, 1997,[12] the station did not receive a companion channel for its digital signal. Instead, at the end of the digital conversion period for full-power television stations, KSCW was required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal (an action called a "flash-cut").

The station shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 33, on February 17 of that year, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were federally mandated to transition from analog to digital broadcasts (which was later pushed back to June 12).[13] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 33.

Programming

KSCW carries the entire CW network schedule and airs it mostly in pattern.

Newscasts

KWCH presently produces 20½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week for sister station KSCW (with 3½ hours on weekdays and 1½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in addition, the station airs the agricultural news program AG AM in Kansas, which airs weekday mornings at 6:00 a.m.

In 2008, KWCH began producing a two-hour extension of its weekday morning newscast for KSCW, titled Eyewitness News This Morning on KSCW; the program competes against the national morning news programs seen on the "Big Three" networks. In October 2008, KWCH became the first television station in the Wichita market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition; the KSCW broadcast was included in the upgrade. Although not initially included in the change, KWCH upgraded its weather forecast segments to HD in March 2009. In 2010, that station added a half-hour Sunday evening newscast at 7:00 p.m. to KSCW, titled Eyewitness News Weekend.

On September 12, 2011, KWCH began producing half-hour newscasts at 4:00 p.m. weekdays and seven nights a week at 9:00 p.m. for KSCW; the latter production directly competed temporarily with another half-hour nightly newscast on Fox affiliate KSAS-TV that KWCH also produced since January 2004 through a separate news share agreement, which expired on December 31.[14] In theory, KWCH could have simultaneously broadcast two 9:00 p.m. newscasts until the expiration of the agreement, because KSAS' newscast originated from a secondary set (designed by FX Group) at KWCH's studio facility; however on October 5, 2011, KSAS filed a lawsuit against KWCH in Sedgwick County District Court claiming that in violation of the news share agreement, KWCH began taping the KSAS newscasts in advance, while KWCH produced its newscast for KSCW live; District Judge Jeff Goering signed an order requiring KWCH to restore the live newscast on KSAS while the suit was pending.[15]

After KWCH's agreement with KSAS ended, NBC affiliate KSNW took over the production of the KSAS newscasts (the station had previously produced a 9:00 p.m. newscast for KSAS from 1997 to 1999).[16] The addition of the 4:00 p.m. newscast made KSCW one of the few CW affiliates not owned by Tribune Broadcasting to carry a late afternoon newscast, and was the only newscast in that timeslot in the Wichita market from September 2011 to September 2013, after ABC affiliate KAKE discontinued its own 4:00 p.m. newscast that same month. In September 2013, KSCW began airing a two-hour Sunday morning newscast, which airs on the station in lieu of KWCH (which carries a Saturday morning newscast).

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References
  1. 'Gilmore Girls' meet 'Smackdown'; CW Network to combine WB, UPN in CBS-Warner venture beginning in September, CNNMoney.com, January 24, 2006.
  2. UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network, The New York Times, January 24, 2006.
  3. "News Corp. to launch new mini-network for UPN stations". USA Today. February 22, 2006. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  4. News Corp. Unveils MyNetworkTV, Broadcasting & Cable, February 22, 2006.
  5. New call letters, new network on tap for KWCV, Wichita Business Journal, March 21, 2006.
  6. Banks Broadcasting sells CW affiliate, Wichita Business Journal, March 27, 2007.
  7. "Schurz Communications to sell WSBT and other TV, radio stations". South Bend Tribune. September 14, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  8. Kuperberg, Jonathan (September 14, 2015). "Gray Acquiring TV, Radio Stations from Schurz for $442.5 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  9. FCC Approves Gray-Schurz TV Station Deal. Broadcasting & Cable, February 12, 2016, Retrieved February 13, 2016.
  10. RabbitEars TV Query for KSCW
  11. "Decades Joins Sunflower Broadcasting, Inc. Television Family". Archived from the original on May 25, 2015. Retrieved May 25, 2015.
  12. Final Digital TV (DTV) Channel Plan from FCC97-115
  13. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
  14. KWCH To Debut 4 & 9 P.M. News On KSCW, TVNewsCheck, July 18, 2011.
  15. Fox Kansas sues KWCH over 9 p.m. news broadcast, Wichita Business Journal, October 5, 2011.
  16. Eyewitness News Launches 4 & 9 p.m. Newscasts on KSCW, KWCH.com, July 15, 2011.
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