| ATSC 3.0 station | |
|---|---|
 | |
| |
| City | Albuquerque, New Mexico |
| Channels | |
| Branding | New Mexico 50 |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | Mission Broadcasting, Inc. |
| Operator | Nexstar Media Group |
| KRQE,KWBQ | |
| History | |
| Founded | July 13, 1993 |
First air date | October 6, 1995 (30 years ago) (1995-10-06) |
Former channel numbers |
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| |
Call sign meaning | Used by103.3 FM at the time Ramar started the station |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 55049 |
| ERP | 205kW |
| HAAT | 1,278 m (4,193 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 35°12′49.8″N106°27′3.3″W / 35.213833°N 106.450917°W /35.213833; -106.450917 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KASY-TV (channel 50) is atelevision station inAlbuquerque, New Mexico, United States, affiliated withMyNetworkTV. It is owned byMission Broadcasting alongsideSanta Fe–licensedCW outletKWBQ (channel 19) and itsRoswell-basedsatellite, KRWB-TV (channel 21). The two stations share studios with dualCBS/Fox affiliateKRQE (channel 13) on Broadcast Plaza in Albuquerque; KASY-TV's transmitter is located atopSandia Crest.
Nexstar Media Group, which owns KRQE and holds a majority stake in The CW, providesmaster control, technical, engineering and accounting services for KASY-TV and KWBQ through ashared services agreement (SSA), though the two stations are otherwise operated separately from KRQE as Mission handles programming, advertising sales andretransmission consent negotiations.
KASY-TV first signed on the air on October 6, 1995, owned by Ramar Communications and managed byLee Enterprises (then-owners of CBS affiliate KRQE) under alocal marketing agreement (LMA). The station was primarily aUPN affiliate, but had a secondary affiliation withThe WB; this was easy to do as neither network had more than a couple nights a week of programming at that time. Initially, KASY rancartoons, oldmovies,talk shows, and classic and recent off-network sitcoms. In fall 1997, KASY dropped WB programming and became an exclusive UPN affiliate; The WB would return to the market when upstart KWBQ signed on in March 1999 with a similar general entertainment format. In the interim, WB programming was brought in out-of-market fromKTLA inLos Angeles orChicago-basedsuperstation WGN on Albuquerque area cable providers.
In June 1999,ACME Communications, KWBQ's owner, bought KASY from Ramar and terminated the local marketing agreement with Lee Enterprises, resulting in the creation of the first majortelevision duopoly in the Albuquerque market. Most of the programming inventory airing on KASY was also acquired by ACME, while some of the shows that aired on KASY under the LMA remained with Lee to be broadcast on KRQE. After the sale to ACME was completed, KASY stopped rebroadcasting certain local newscasts from KRQE.
That fall, KASY dropped its UPN affiliation due to contract disputes between the network and ACME Communications (which was closely associated with UPN's rival The WB) and became anindependent station. In the interim, UPN programming was brought in out-of-market fromKCOP in Los Angeles on Albuquerque area cable providers, while over-the-air viewers were unable to view UPN programming. While the station was an independent (during which it was branded as "Superstation 50"), KASY broadcast movies and syndicated programming during prime time hours to replace UPN programs. By February 2000, the UPN affiliation was returned to KASY, rebranding as "UPN 50;" KCOP was then pulled from area cable systems at KASY's request.
On January 24, 2006,Time Warner andCBS Corporation announced that The WB and UPN would merge to createThe CW Television Network.[2] One month later on February 22, 2006,News Corporation announced the creation ofMyNetworkTV.[3]
KASY affiliated with MyNetworkTV on September 5, 2006, with KWBQ joining The CW two weeks later on September 18; the station was also rebranded as "My50TV" (KASY was the only ACME-owned station that was not affiliated with The CW; ACME was the third company, afterCapitol Broadcasting Company andWeigel Broadcasting, to own both CW and MyNetworkTV affiliates in the same market).
KASY-TV broadcast games from theColorado Rockies during the 2008Major League Baseball season. Starting in the fall of 2008, KASY-TV began broadcasting severalUniversity of New Mexico Lobosmen's basketball games; the contract was renewed for the 2009–10 and 2010–11 basketball seasons. On April 30, 2008, KASY-TV broadcast their first program in truehigh definition, the MyNetworkTV sitcomUnder One Roof. On June 4, 2010, ACME Communications announced that it would enter into ashared services agreement withLIN Media; as a result, LIN's own duopoly ofKASA-TV andKRQE would provide technical, engineering and accounting services for KWBQ and KASY, with the mutual operating costs shared in order to help reduce overall costs for ACME.[4]
On September 10, 2012, ACME announced a proposed sale of KASY-TV as well as KWBQ (and itsRoswell repeater, KRWB-TV) to Tamer Media, a company founded by broadcast industry veteran John S. Viall, Jr. The $17.3 million sale, which theFCC approved on November 21,[5] and was completed on December 11, gives Tamer Media its first TV properties, while ACME makes its exit from the station ownership business (the three stations were the last portions of ACME's TV station portfolio). The stations' shared services agreement with LIN Media continued with new ownership.[6][7] On March 21, 2014,Media General announced that it would purchase LIN Media and its stations, including KRQE, KASA-TV, and the SSA with KASY-TV and KWBQ/KRWB-TV, in a $1.6 billion merger.[8] The merger was completed on December 19.[9] Just over a year later, on January 27, 2016, it was announced that theNexstar Broadcasting Group would buy Media General for $4.6 billion.[10] The sale was completed on January 17, 2017.[11]
On August 7, 2020, it was announced that Mission Broadcasting would acquire KASY and KWBQ (and its satellites) from Tamer Media.[12][13] The sale was completed on November 16.[14]
The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on themultiplexed signals of other Albuquerque–Santa Fe television stations:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming | ATSC 1.0 host |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50.1 | 720p | 16:9 | KASY-TV | MyNetworkTV | KWBQ |
| 50.2 | 480i | Mystery | Ion Mystery | ||
| 50.3 | Get TV | getTV | KRQE | ||
| 50.4 | Court | Court TV | |||
| 50.5 | 4:3 | Antenna | Antenna TV | KOAT-TV |
KASY has not carried any subchannels in past years but on January 11, 2016, the station added the suspense channelEscape fromKatz Broadcasting.[16] KASY further added onGetTV to 50.3 on January 14, 2017, and addedCozi TV to 50.4 on January 18, 2017, all as a result of the January 2017 sale of KASA-TV to Ramar Communications, as well as the switch inFox affiliation over to KRQE.[17] In mid-December 2021, Cozi TV was replaced by Court TV on channel 50.4 after Cozi TV returned to KASA following the purchase by parent company NBCU. Court TV is also aired locally on KLUZ 14.4.
KASY-TV shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 50, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 45,[18] usingvirtual channel 50.
As part of theSAFER Act,[19] KASY-TV kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through the loop ofpublic service announcements from theNational Association of Broadcasters.
KASY switched to ATSC 3.0 broadcasts on December 13, 2022, hosting KRQE, KWBQ and KOAT in addition to KASY.[20]
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.1 | 720p | 16:9 | KOAT-TV | ABC (KOAT-TV) |
| 13.1 | 1080p | KRQE | CBS (KRQE) | |
| 13.2 | 720p | FoxNM | Fox (KRQE-DT2) | |
| 19.1 | 1080p | KWBQ-TV | The CW (KWBQ) | |
| 50.1 | 720p | KASY TV | MyNetworkTV |
Includes English-language stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of New Mexico | ||
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Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofColorado | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Colorado | ||
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Includes English-language stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Arizona | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
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** Owned by third parties but operated by Nexstar through various agreements. | ||
