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| City | Omaha, Nebraska |
| Channels | |
| Branding | KMTV 3;KMTV 3 News Now |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
First air date | September 1, 1949 (75 years ago) (1949-09-01) |
Former call signs | KMTV (1949–2009) |
Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | May Television(original licensee, of no relation toParamount Global–ownedMusic Television) |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 35190 |
| ERP | 652kW |
| HAAT | 411.1 m (1,349 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°18′24.6″N96°1′37.7″W / 41.306833°N 96.027139°W /41.306833; -96.027139 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KMTV-TV (channel 3) is atelevision station inOmaha, Nebraska, United States, affiliated withCBS. Owned by theE. W. Scripps Company, the station has studios on Mockingbird Drive in southwest Omaha, and its transmitter is located on a "tower farm" near North 72nd Street and Crown Point Avenue in north-central Omaha. It also doubles as a secondary CBS station in thePlatte Purchase area (northern portions of theSt. Joseph, Missouri,television market) alongside local affiliateKCJO-LD.
KMTV began broadcasting on September 1, 1949, as the second oldest television station in Nebraska. It operated as a CBS affiliate, but carried secondary affiliations withABC and theDuMont Television Network.[3] The station's call letters were originally intended to be KMA-TV, reflecting its first owner,Shenandoah, Iowa–based May Broadcasting, which ownedKMA (960 AM) in that community. However, this violatedFederal Communications Commission (FCC) rules, which at the time required stations have the same or adjacentcity of license in order to share a base call sign.[4] The station originally operated from studios located at 2615 Farnam Street in downtown Omaha, seven blocks east of WOW-TV (channel 6, nowWOWT, at 3501 Farnam).
KMTV briefly dropped ABC programming whenKFOR-TV signed on fromLincoln in 1953. The network returned to KMTV when the FCC separated Lincoln to form its own market a year later. In 1956, KMTV switched affiliations with WOW-TV and became anNBC affiliate. This was part of CBS' multi-year, five-station affiliation deal withMeredith Corporation, as a compensation for Phoenix sister stationKPHO to lose affiliation with network (KCMO-AM-FM-TV also switched to the network several months earlier).[5] It also lost DuMont programming that same year when that network ceased operations. In September 1957, KMTV dropped its secondary ABC affiliation whenKETV signed on as an exclusive affiliate of the network, from studios on Douglas Street just north of channel 3's facility. A sister station agreement withTV Shizuoka fromJapan was signed in 1974.[6]: 59
In 1978, KMTV relocated to its current studio facilities near 108th and Mockingbird Drive; the station's auxiliary transmitter remains at the station's former studio location. In 1986, KMTV and WOWT entered into an agreement which allowed them to return to their original affiliations; as a result, KMTV rejoined CBS after 30 years with NBC on June 29, 1986. A few months after returning to CBS, May sold both of its television stations—KMTV andKGUN-TV inTucson, Arizona—toLee Enterprises after over 37 years of ownership. Lee sold its entire broadcasting division, including KMTV, toEmmis Communications in October 2000. In 2005, Emmis announced its exit from television station ownership to concentrate on its radio station properties, selling most non-license assets of KMTV as well as outright ownership of KGUN to theJournal Broadcast Group. The sale closed in late December of that year. At that point, Journal took over control of KMTV through atime brokerage agreement.
In late January 2007, Journal announced the sale of radio stationKOMJ (1490 AM) to Cochise Broadcasting LLC,[7] in order to purchase KMTV outright. The sale of KOMJ was necessary because Journal already owned the maximum number of broadcasting properties in the Omaha media market as designated by the FCC. The transactions were completed on March 27, 2007.[8]
As of July 2013 within a month-long dispute between Journal andTime Warner Cable, KMTV was removed from the Time Warner system in Lincoln and replaced byGSN, and KOLN was solidified as the only CBS affiliate on that system.[9]
On July 30, 2014, it was announced that TheE. W. Scripps Company would acquire Journal Communications in an all-stock transaction. The combined firm will retain their broadcast properties, including KMTV, and spin off their print assets as Journal Media Group.[10] The FCC approved the deal on December 12, 2014. It was approved by shareholders on March 11, 2015. The merger was completed on April 1, 2015.[11][12]
KMTV formerly served as the Omaha "Love Network" affiliate of theMDA Labor Day Telethon, until the organization's 2013 move from a syndicated broadcast to a network telecast on ABC.
Jeopardy! andWheel of Fortune both formerly ran on KMTV, which respectively carried the game shows at 4:30 and 6:30 p.m. weekdays untilJeopardy! moved to WOWT andWheel moved to KETV, both in September 1994 (Jeopardy! initially ran on KETV from 1984 to 1986, when it moved to KMTV; it began airingWheel in January 1984).Live! with Kelly also aired on KMTV (as far back as theRegis and Kathie Lee era) until 2012, when the show moved toFox affiliateKPTM.[citation needed]
The station also ran a long-runningchildren'sreligious show that debuted in 1961 calledMs. Jean's Storytime, which ended in September 2011 after a 50-year run.
InAugust 2012, the station began carryingGreen Bay Packers preseason football games, as part the team's "official broadcaster" deal with Journal, which in addition to owning KMTV and WTMJ, also ownsGreen Bay'sWGBA-TV, a deal which continues under Scripps ownership.[13]
KMTV presently broadcasts 29 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with five hours each weekday and two hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). For most of the time since the early 1960s, KMTV has been the third rated station in the Omaha market.
Over the years, KMTV underwent many identity changes to keep up with broadcasting trends, as well to keep up in the local ratings race. The station's newscasts were once known asKMTV News;NewsCenter 3;Channel 3 News;KMTV News 3;KM3 News; and most recently asAction 3 News; today, the station's newscasts are known as3 News Now. FormerNBC News anchorTom Brokaw worked at the station as a reporter from 1962 to 1965.[14]
In 2002, KMTV discontinued its 6 p.m. newscast and replaced it with syndicatedtabloid programs. That same year, sports segments were dropped from the 10 p.m. newscast, and were replaced with a nightly commentary segment called "For What It's Worth" that was presented by then-sports director Travis Justice. In late 2005, KMTV discontinued "For What It's Worth", returning to the traditional sports segment.
KMTV returned a newscast to the 6 p.m. timeslot on September 5, 2006, coinciding withKatie Couric's debut as anchor of theCBS Evening News. The station has also taken on the glossy imaging and graphics packages seen on most other Journal stations, though with differing fonts and colors. On December 22, 2006, the station announced it would not be renewing the contracts of evening news anchors Deborah Ward and Greg Peterson; the two were replaced by Carol Wang and Carlo Cecchetto on January 22, 2007.
On July 11, 2009, KMTV became the first commercial television station in Omaha, and the second commercial station in the state of Nebraska (after KOLN andPBSmember stationNET, both in Lincoln) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in16:9widescreenstandard definition. In October 2013, KMTV became the third commercial station in Omaha (after WOWT and KPTM) to broadcast its newscasts in high definition.
In late 2013 and early 2014, KMTV added one and one-half hours worth of new news programming. On July 15, 2013, KMTV announced that it would launch a weekday half-hour 4 p.m. newscast; the program made its debut September 23, 2013, the newscast was then expanded to an hour.[15] In January 2014 KMTV began broadcasting an early morning show focused on weather.Early Riser runs from 4:30 a.m. to 5 a.m. and features Ryan McPike covering the weather for the upcoming day. The station's 4 p.m. newscast becameUpfront at 4 with the 2015–16 season, its first full season under Scripps ownership.
On March 8, 2017, KMTV introduced a new virtual set and re-branded its newscasts as3 News Now. The station also switched to the standard Scripps graphics package and Stephen Arnold's "Inergy" music package to match other Scripps sister stations.
In January 2019, KMTV slashed at least half of its newscast schedule. The noon newscast was dropped to make way forRight This Minute, one of Scripps' original co-productions; the hour-long 4 p.m. newscast was also dropped to make way forThe List andEntertainment Tonight; the 5 p.m. newscast became a mix of local and national stories and was renamedThe NOW Omaha; the weeknight 6 p.m. newscast was expanded to a full hour; and the early-evening weekend half-hour newscasts on Saturdays at 6 p.m. and on Sundays at 5:30 p.m. were discontinued in favor of syndicated programming. As of May 2020, a traditional newscast has returned to the weekday 5 p.m. slot and the half-hour noon newscast has been reinstated.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | KMTV-TV | Main KMTV-TV programming /CBS |
| 3.2 | 720p | GRIT | Grit | |
| 3.3 | 480i | LAFF-TV | Laff | |
| 3.4 | Mystery | Ion Mystery | ||
| 3.5 | CourtTV | Court TV | ||
| 15.2 | 480i | 16:9 | TheNest | The Nest (KXVO-DT2) |
KMTV was the last television station in the market to begin carrying adigital subchannel; digital subchannel 3.2 was originally affiliated withTheCoolTV starting in late 2010 or early 2011, but dropped the network on October 1, 2011, in favor ofLive Well Network as part of a compensation dispute between Journal Broadcast Group and TheCoolTV's parent company Cool Music Network, LLC. In turn, Antenna TV took LWN's place on December 29, 2014.
In late 2021, Grit and Court TV switched places at 3.2 and 3.5.
KMTV shut down its analog signal, overVHF channel 3, on June 12, 2009, as part of thefederally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[17] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transitionUHF channel 45,[18] usingvirtual channel 3. Although KMTV never had a "-TV" suffix affixed to its call sign from the beginning, it (along with other Journal-owned television stations which previously did not have a "-TV" suffix in their calls) officially added one to the callsign on June 19.
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofIowa | ||
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| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| MyNetworkTV | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Iowa PBS |
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| Defunct |
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