KEYT-TV (channel 3) is a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the ear ...

licensed to

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coa ...

, United States, serving the Central Coast of California as an affiliate of ABC, CBS, and

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

. It is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) alongside

San Luis Obispo San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly h ...

-licensed low-power, Class A

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

affiliate

KKFX-CD KKFX-CD (channel 24) is a low-power, Class A television station licensed to San Luis Obispo, California, United States, serving the Central Coast of California as an affiliate of the Fox network. It is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Compa ...

(channel 24); NPG also provides certain services Santa Maria-licensed

Dabl Dabl () is an American lifestyle-oriented digital multicast television network owned by the CBS Media Ventures subsidiary of Paramount Global. The company's formerly-owned other subchannel network, Decades, through CBS News and Stations was ...

affiliate KCOY-TV (channel 12) through a

shared services Shared services is the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group, where that service had previously been found, in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and th ...

agreement (SSA) with VistaWest Media,

LLC A limited liability company (LLC for short) is the US-specific form of a private limited company. It is a business structure that can combine the pass-through taxation of a partnership or sole proprietorship with the limited liability of a ...

. KEYT-TV's studios are located on Miramonte Drive on TV Hill, overlooking downtown Santa Barbara; KCOY-TV and KKFX-CD share separate facilities at West McCoy Lane and Skyway Drive in Santa Maria north of Santa Maria Public Airport. KEYT-TV's transmitter is located atop Broadcast Peak, between Santa Barbara and Santa Ynez in the Santa Ynez Mountains.

History

Early years

KEYT-TV first

signed on Signing may refer to: * Using sign language * Signature, placing one's name on a document * Signature (disambiguation) * Manual communication, signing as a form of communication using the hands in place of the voice * Digital signature A dig ...

the air on May 31, 1953, after obtaining a

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building per ...

from the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisd ...

(FCC) on November 13, 1952. It was owned by the Santa Barbara Broadcasting & Television Corporation. Harry Butcher, who owned KIST (1340 AM), was a 14% owner of the new TV station. During the 1950s, the station ran programming from all four TV networks: ABC, CBS, NBC and the

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of bein ...

. Dumont discontinued operations in 1956. The original owners sold the station to Key Television in 1957. KEYT-TV lost its NBC affiliation in 1964 when KCOY-TV in nearby Santa Maria signed on. KEYT then shared CBS with KCOY until 1969, when the inclusion of San Luis Obispo County into the Santa Barbara—Santa Maria

media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also in ...

resulted in KEYT becoming exclusively affiliated with ABC. KCOY became the CBS affiliate, and

KSBY KSBY (channel 6) is a television station licensed to San Luis Obispo, California, United States, serving the Central Coast of California as an affiliate of NBC and The CW Plus. The station is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, and maintai ...

in San Luis Obispo became the region's NBC affiliate. KEYT was purchased by Shamrock Broadcasting in 1984.

Later developments

In September 1998, KEYT-TV owner Smith Broadcasting purchased radio station KTMS (1250 AM) for $1.6 million and launched an

all-news All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news. All-news radio is available in both local and syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news stations can run the ...

format with new call letters KEYT to match those of its new TV sister. "KEYT 1250" featured news reports from the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

and simulcasts of KEYT-TV newscasts. (The previous

news/talk Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...

format and call letters of KTMS moved to 990 AM upon the sale to Smith.) The radio operation was a financial drain on Smith Broadcasting from the beginning, losing $1 million over five years, and the station was sold to Lazer Broadcasting in October 2003. Between March and September 2007, as the station transitioned to a

high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...

signal, KEYT-HD was initially unavailable to cable subscribers in the Central Coast due to a carriage dispute with the local cable companies. KEYT eventually reached an agreement with Cox Communications in Santa Barbara,

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

in Santa Maria, and Charter Cable in San Luis Obispo to carry its HDTV signal. In 2012,

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

Ventura County Ventura County () is a County (United States), county in Southern California, the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 843,843. The largest city is Oxnard, California ...

began carrying the HDTV signal. On September 7, 2012, News-Press & Gazette Company announced that it had entered into an agreement to purchase KEYT-TV from Smith Media for $14.3 million. The transaction was approved by the FCC on November 6 and was completed on November 19, 2012. Smith Media had owned KEYT since 1987. On January 28, 2013, KEYT retired the longtime ''KEY News'' branding and, with the new owner's purchase, rebranded as ''NewsChannel 3''. The branding is similar to that of

Palm Springs Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by lan ...

sister station KESQ-TV. KEYT's newscasts and site now include a graphics package that is similar to all NPG stations and is operated by

Internet Broadcasting Streaming media is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content it ...

. On April 1, 2013, KEYT began broadcasting its news in high definition. Until that point, KEYT aired network and syndicated programming in HD but the newscasts were still in standard definition.

Programming

Syndicated Syndication may refer to: * Broadcast syndication, where individual stations buy programs outside the network system * Print syndication, where individual newspapers or magazines license news articles, columns, or comic strips * Web syndication, ...

programming featured on KEYT includes '' Live with Kelly and Ryan'', '' Extra'', '' TMZ'' and ''

Access Hollywood ''Access Hollywood'', formerly known as ''Access'' from 2017 to 2019, is an American weekday television entertainment news program that premiered on September 9, 1996. It covers events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was create ...

'', while KEYT-DT2 syndicated programs include '' The Doctors'', ''

Dr. Phil Phillip Calvin McGraw (born September 1, 1950), better known as Dr. Phil, is an American television personality and author best known for hosting the talk show '' Dr. Phil''. He holds a doctorate in clinical psychology, though he ceased rene ...

'', ''

Judge Judy ''Judge Judy'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show presided over by former Manhattan Family Court Judge Judith Sheindlin. The show featured Sheindlin as she adjudicated real-life small-claims disputes within a simulated court ...

'', ''

Family Feud ''Family Feud'' is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson. It features two families who compete to name the most popular answers to survey questions in order to win cash and prizes. The show has had three separate runs, the ...

'', and '' Entertainment Tonight''.

News Now

When KEYT acquired the

affiliation in June 2006, it initially showed only MyNetworkTV programming, with a test pattern running outside of network programming hours. By the fall of 2007, the station had managed to obtain syndication broadcast rights to ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ...

'' and '' South Park'', and officially launched its second digital subchannel under the branding "MyNetworkTV Central Coast" in October 2007, replacing

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

-based MyNetworkTV affiliate KCOP on all cable systems in the Central Coast region. The subchannel initially ran a standard-definition simulcast of KEYT's primary channel outside of MyNetworkTV programming. On October 30, 2007, KEYT-DT2 added a secondary affiliation with the Luken Communications-owned Retro Television Network to RTV programming outside of MyNetworkTV

prime time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

program slots. The subchannel subsequently changed its branding to "My RTN" to coincide with the new affiliation, later changing to "My RTV" after the network modified its on-air acronym to "RTV", then finally "My Retro TV". On April 18, 2017, the 3.2 subchannel dropped Retro TV because station management was unsure of it continuing as a going concern with a declining affiliate base, along with contractual restrictions on using it as an overflow channel for breaking news. (Before that date, it was the only "Big Three" network affiliate nationwide left still carrying the network as a subchannel). In the interim, the station relaunched KEYT-DT2 as ''News Now'', airing simulcasts and rebroadcasts of newscasts from KEYT-TV and KKFX-CD, along with live rolling coverage of local political events, news coverage and other public affairs and local interest programming; the subchannel continues to carry MyNetworkTV programming in primetime. The News-Press & Gazette Company announced on October 10, 2018, that it was converting KSBB-CD to ATSC 3.0 operations, airing ''News Now'' in that format, with its own ATSC 1.0 signal and programming being moved to a subchannel of KEYT-TV. On January 1, 2021, CBS programming moved from sister station KCOY to KEYT-DT2, moving ''News Now'' and MyNetworkTV programming to a new third subchannel.

Notable former on-air staff

*Joey Buttitta and Kelsey Gerckens, reporters; winners of '' The Amazing Race 27'' * Christine Craft, anchor/reporter (1970s) * Giselle Fernández, reporter (circa 1983) * Michelle Franzen, reporter/fill-in anchor (1993–1994) * Edie Lambert, anchor/reporter (now at

KCRA-TV KCRA-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Sacramento, California, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Stockton-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KQCA (channel 58). Both stations share studios on Tel ...

in Sacramento) * Indra Petersons, reporter (now with

ABC News ABC News is the journalism, news division of the American broadcast network American Broadcasting Company, ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other progra ...

)

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

Analog-to-digital conversion

KEYT-TV shut down its analog signal, over

VHF Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves (radio waves) from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF ...

channel 3, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

channel 27. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's

virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver' ...

as its former VHF analog channel 3.

Translators

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keyt-Tv ABC network affiliates CBS network affiliates News-Press & Gazette Company EYT-TV Television channels and stations established in 1953 1953 establishments in California