KEYE-TV

KEYE-TV

Austin, Texas
Branding	KEYE-TV (general) KEYE-TV News (newscasts) Telemundo Austin
Slogan	Only KEYE-TV, Only CBS (general) On Your Side
Channels	Digital: 43 (UHF) Virtual: 42 (PSIP)
Subchannels	42.1 CBS 42.2 Telemundo
Affiliations	CBS
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group (KEYE Licensee, LLC)
First air date	December 4, 1983
Call letters' meaning	The CBS EYE
Former callsigns	KBVO-TV (1983-1995)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 42 (UHF, 1983-2009)
Former affiliations	Independent (1983–1986) Fox (1986–1995) DT2: RTN (2008-2009)
Transmitter power	1000 kW
Height	395 m
Facility ID	33691
Transmitter coordinates	30°19′19.3″N 97°48′12.6″W
Website	www.weareaustin.com

KEYE-TV studio

KEYE-TV, digital channel 43 (virtual channel 42), is the CBS affiliate in Austin, Texas. It is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Its studios are located on Metric Boulevard in North Austin (as one of two stations in this part of town; KVUE is other), and its transmitter is located in the city.

Digital television

Digital channels

Channel	Video	Aspect	Name	Programming
42.1	1080i	16:9	KEYE-DT	Main KEYE programming / CBS
42.2	480i	4:3	KEYE-DT2	Telemundo

KEYE started producing newscasts in high definition on November 1, 2007. The transition made KEYE the first station in the Austin market — and the first station in the Four Points Media Group — to produce and air newscasts in HD.[2] However, while the in-studio video is in high definition, most of the field video remains in pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition. It was announced on March 29, 2008 that 42.2 was being turned on and would soon broadcast the Retro Television Network with a customized schedule for the Austin market.

On February 17, 2009, KEYE ceased analog broadcasts. Its digital signal remains on channel 43 using PSIP to display "42" as its virtual channel number. As of October 1, 2009, 42.2 carries Telemundo as well as locally produced Spanish-language newscasts weeknights at 5 and 10 p.m., displacing the RTV affiliation. Outside of an Azteca America affiliation on West Palm Beach sister station WWHB-CA (which was also acquired by Sinclair), those stations are the only Sinclair operations to carry a Spanish language network.

KEYE was one of only eight Nexstar-owned or managed stations before the Sinclair acquisition of the station to broadcast local newscasts in high definition or 16:9 widescreen (five of the others are KUTV, KARK-TV, KARZ-TV, KOZL-TV and KOLR — all of which, like KEYE, also broadcast in partial high definition). WFRV-TV and satellite station WJMN-TV made the upgrade to high-definition newscasts in late June 2011, just prior to Nexstar's completion of the purchases of the two stations.

History

Early years

Channel 42 had been the original home of NBC affiliate KHFI-TV, when it signed on in 1965. That station moved to channel 36 in 1973 and is now KXAN-TV. For nine years, channel 42 was dark.

On December 4, 1983, KBVO-TV signed on as Austin's first independent station. The calls came from the University of Texas at Austin's mascot, Bevo. It was originally owned by Steve Beard, an Austin advertising executive, and a small group of investors. In 1987, it became affiliated with the upstart Fox network and began calling itself "Fox 42" on-air in the late 1980s. In 1993, Beard sold the station to Granite Broadcasting for $54 million—a handsome return on his original investment.

From Fox to CBS

In 1995, New World Communications purchased KTBC, which was included in a group deal to switch most of New World's stations to Fox (which later purchased the New World holdings). On July 1, 1995, KTBC and KBVO swapped affiliations, with the CBS affiliation going to KBVO, which changed its calls to the current KEYE. The callsign refers to the famous CBS Eye Logo, as well as to The Eyes of Texas, one of several songs associated with the aforementioned university.

It called itself "K-EYE 42, Your Eye on Austin" until 1999, branding was shortened to simply "K-EYE," on account of the fact that it was now available to all Austin area cable subscribers on cable channel 5. In 1999, Granite put KEYE up for sale in order to raise money to pay off debt.

It became the second O&O of any major network in the market when CBS, which was in the middle of a merger with former subsidiary Viacom, bought the station in 1999. At that time, KEYE became part of a cluster of television stations in Texas owned by Viacom, alongside Metroplex stations KTVT (also a CBS affiliate) and KTXA (affiliated with UPN), and Houston UPN station KTXH. The latter station was then swapped to Fox (alongside WDCA in Washington, D.C.) in 2001 for KBHK in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In 2005 it was rebranded again, strangely enough, to "CBS42 K-EYE" (under the "CBS Mandate") to reflect CBS ownership and for cable subscribers to avoid confusion with San Antonio's CBS outlet KENS-TV, seen on VHF analog channel 5. As of 2006, the K-EYE branding was phased out in favor of simply CBS42 (except for a website address reference).

On February 7, 2007, CBS agreed to sell seven of its stations to Cerberus Capital Management, L.P., for $185 million. Cerberus formed a new holding company for the stations, Four Points Media Group, who took over the operation of the stations through local marketing agreements in late-June 2007.[3]

January 10, 2008, Four Points officially became the owner of the stations. Four Points operated the stations outright until March 20, 2009 when it entered into a three-year local service agreement (LSA) with the Irving, Texas-based Nexstar Broadcasting Group. The latter company then took over the management of all of the Four Points stations including KEYE. In August 2009, the "CBS42" branding was dropped in favor of "KEYE-TV", and the station website address was changed to weareaustin.com.

On September 8, 2011, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced its intent to purchase Four Points from Cerberus Capital Management for $200 million; Sinclair will begin managing the stations, including KEYE, under local marketing agreements following antitrust approval, until the close of the sale, which is expected in early 2012. The sale to Sinclair will make KEYE-TV the third Sinclair-owned television property in central Texas, as the group already owns Fox affiliate KABB and CW affiliate KMYS in San Antonio. The deal was completed on January 3, 2012.

Programming

Syndicated programming on KEYE includes: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, Dr. Phil, and The 700 Club.

NFL preseason coverage

From 2002 to 2008, KEYE was the Austin home for pre-season games of the Houston Texans, in addition to airing CBS' coverage of the AFC package of NFL games. As of April 3, 2006, the station is the official home of the Dallas Cowboys in Austin and airs pre-season games as well as several Cowboys-related shows during the NFL season. Some controversy exists over KEYE's selection of Tennessee Titans football games (capitalizing on former University of Texas quarterback Vince Young's popularity in Austin) over those of the Texans.

News operation

Before switching networks to CBS, KEYE (then KBVO) had no newscasts with the exception of nightly, three-minute updates aired during Fox prime time from a small closet studio. After the affiliation swap, on July 3, 1995, KEYE immediately launched a full slate of newscasts. Since that time, the first newscast to be dropped was the noon show, the station has also added and since dropped three new hours of weekend morning newscasts. KEYE started out with an Eyewitness News format (titled K-EYEwitness News), which was used until 2000 (the newscast title was shorted to KEYE News in late 1998, which was used until the "CBS Mandate" was put in place and the title became CBS 42 K-EYE News and then simply CBS 42 News).

The station canceled its 5 p.m. newscast in September 2009, replacing it with We Are Austin LIVE, an hour-long 4 p.m. lifestyle show anchored by Michelle Valles and Jason Wheeler. A few weeks later, the morning newscast was canceled and later replaced with a simulcast of the "J.B. and Sandy Morning Show" on KAMX Mix 94.7 FM; this left KEYE with only the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts and a 5:30 p.m. newscast on Sunday evenings. On June 30, 2011, the simulcast of the J.B. and Sandy Morning Show was replaced by We Are Austin Mornings, an extension of We Are Austin LIVE, the first in-house produced morning newscast on KEYE-TV since October 2009; the change was due in part to KEYE and Entercom-owned KAMX being unable to reach a renewal agreement for Channel 42 to continue airing the JB and Sandy Morning Show simulcast. The program's format is similar to that of national morning news programs like Today, Good Morning America and The Early Show.

Ratings

In contrast to former Fox stations on UHF that are now CBS, ABC or NBC stations — which often have had no success against their better-established news competitors, resulting in several cancellations — KEYE has been successful with their newscasts in a mostly-UHF market, competing with KTBC, KVUE, and KXAN-TV, thus making it one of the fastest growing stations in Central Texas. KEYE consistently trades second and third place in the Austin Nielsens with KXAN and occasionally first over long standing leader KVUE.

News/station presentation

Newscast titles

• K-EYEwitness News (1995–1998)
• K-EYE News (1998–2005)
• CBS42 K-EYE News (2005–2006)
• CBS42 News (2006–2009)
• CBS42 News in HD (2007–2009)
• KEYE-TV News (2009–present)

Station slogans

• "Channel 42, Austin's Superstation" (1983–1986)
• "Don't Let Fox 42 Weekends Pass You By" (1987–1988; localized version of Fox ad campaign)
• "Your Eye On Austin" (1995–2003)
• "Coverage You Can Count On" (2003–2007, dropped as ownership transferred from CBS)
• "CBS 42 is Always On" (2005–2008)
• "We Are Austin" (2008–present)
• "Only KEYE-TV, Only CBS" (2009-present; localized version of CBS ad campaign)

News team

Current on-air staff (as of October 2011)

Anchors

• Fred Cantu - weekday mornings We Are Austin Mornings (5-7 a.m.)
• Bettie Cross - We Are Austin LIVE (weekdays at 4 p.m.)
• Karla Leal - weeknights at 5 and 10 p.m. (on Telemundo Austin)
• Judy Maggio - weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
• Ron Oliveira - weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
• Katherine Stolp - Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10 p.m.
• Jason Wheeler - We Are Austin LIVE (weekdays at 4 p.m.)

StormTracker Weather Team

• Troy Kimmel (AMS Certified Broadcast Meteorologist and NWA Seals of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
• Allison Miller (AMS, NWA member) - meteorologist; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10 p.m.
• Kelly Slifka - meteorologist; weekday mornings We Are Austin Mornings (5-7 a.m.)

Sports team

• Bob Ballou - sports director; weeknights at 6 and 10 p.m.
• Courtney Timmons - sports anchor; Saturdays at 6, Sundays at 5:30 and weekends at 10 p.m.
• Adam Winkler - sports reporter

Reporters

• Chris Coffey - general assignment reporter
• Hunter Ellis - We Are Austin LIVE reporter
• Ryan Loyd - general assignment reporter
• Julie Musgrave - general assignment reporter
• Lydia Pantazes - general assignment reporter
• Sarykarmen Rivera - general assignment reporter

Notable former on-air staff

• Shaun Robinson - 5 p.m. anchor (1995-?; now at Access Hollywood)

Former Austin CBS cluster

When KEYE was owned by CBS, the Austin CBS Radio (previously Infinity Radio) cluster (consisting of KAMX, KKMJ, KXBT and KJCE at the time) were housed in a separate facility in South Austin. CBS Radio sold the cluster to Entercom Communications in August 2006, with the group deal closing on November 30, 2007. The broadcasting antennas are on a 369.1 metres tall guyed TV tower at 30°19′19.3″N, 97°48′12.6″W.

References

• "Dallas Cowboys align with KEYE" Austin Business Journal, April 3, 2006
• "KVUE, KXAN hold on in latest ratings" Austin Business Journal, August 30, 1996
• "KVUE sweeps up competition in November" Austin Business Journal, December 20, 1996

External links

• KEYE-TV's Website
• KEYE TV listings & schedule
• Austin's RTN Website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KEYE
• Query TV Fool's coverage map for KEYE
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KEYE-TV
• AustinTVNews.com :: KEYE