KSBW-DT2

KSBW-DT2

Salinas/Monterey, California United States
City	Salinas
Branding	Central Coast ABC (general) Action News 8 (newscasts)
Slogan	Discover Central Coast ABC (general) Coverage You Can Count On (news)
Channels	Digital: 8.2 (VHF)
Affiliations	ABC (2011–present)
Owner	Hearst Television, Inc. (Hearst Stations, Inc.)
First air date	2005 (2005)
Call letters' meaning	see KSBW
Former affiliations	NBC Weather Plus (2005–2011) KSBW Prime Plus+ (2010–2011)
Transmitter power	20.6 kW
Height	760 m
Facility ID	19653
Transmitter coordinates	36°45′21.9″N 121°30′9.4″W / 36.756083°N 121.502611°W / 36.756083; -121.502611
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	Central Coast ABC

KSBW-DT2, branded as Central Coast ABC, is the second digital subchannel of NBC affiliate KSBW, which is owned by Hearst Television. The second digital subchannel is the ABC affiliate for the Salinas–Monterey–Santa Cruz, California market, which began transmission on April 18, 2011. This channel had been used for NBC Weather Plus, along with additional local newscasts, and was also used for an alternate set of prime time programming.

History

Localized version of NBC Weather Plus

In early 2005, KSBW debuted its localized version of NBC Weather Plus, branded as KSBW Weather Plus. Its only local preemption was their debut of a 10 pm newscast on the station to compete with KION's 10 pm show airing on Fox affiliate KCBA. KSBW first offered Weather Plus on its digital channel (on KSBW-DT2), and on Comcast cable. NBC's national Weather Plus operations were shut down on December 1, 2008, after the network's parent company, NBC Universal, purchased The Weather Channel, but the station continued to use the L-bar graphics while changing the local forecast frequency to eight times per hour.

Its 10 pm newscasts continued to run even after the shutdown, and were replaced with background music. Additionally, although KSBW anchors Dan Green and/or Erin Clark claims that its 10 p.m. newscasts are offered on its website, on its second digital subchannel, and on Comcast, it also ran KSBW Weather Plus on its website.^[1]

On August 2, 2010, KSBW started broadcasting an alternative set of primetime programming on its second digital subchannel, branded as KSBW Prime Plus, although it was broadcast Monday through Friday nights.^[2] Programming included a rebroadcast of its 5 pm newscast at 7 pm, Access Hollywood, reruns of Dr. Phil and Oprah during prime time, and KSBW's 10 pm newscast. KSBW Weather Plus continued to air on the subchannel during the time that Prime Plus was not on the air.^[3] KSBW's logo on its second digital subchannel was branded as "8.2", with the ".2" logo replacing the "peacock" logo and was used only during syndicated programming and its newscasts. (Its nearby Hearst station KCRA also does the same, though it is branded as "moreTV Sacramento".) Although KSBW does not use the localized version of the "moreTV" branding, the subchannel uses the "moreTV" concept that had been used by its sister station in Tampa, WMOR-TV.

The beginning of Central Coast ABC

The Monterey-Salinas market has not had a local ABC station since July 2000 when KNTV disaffiliated from the network due to KGO-TV asserting market exclusivity for ABC within San Jose, though to the disadvantage of the more southern Monterey-Salinas area. KNTV became the NBC affiliate in January 2002 for the San Francisco Bay Area market and eventually, owned and operated by NBC. Viewers who wanted to view ABC programming had to rely mainly on "ABC 7", a localized version of San Francisco's KGO-TV for ABC programming which was exclusively cable and satellite-only. Other ABC affiliates that also piped in were either KABC in Los Angeles or KEYT in Santa Barbara. While KSBW will continue to offer NBC programming on its main channel (8.1), the station announced that KSBW will offer ABC programming over on its second digital subchannel, which will take over programming that had been occupied by KSBW Weather Plus.^[4] This will mark Hearst's 14th television station affiliated with ABC.

The station began to remind viewers two days prior to the shutdown on January 31, 2011 that those who are turning in to KSBW Weather Plus over on its second digital subchannel that the station is shutting down temporarily, however, Weather Plus' branding is kept and will continue to operate it on its website. This is due to the station receiving equipment that will capable of transmitting ABC programming, as well as on cable and satellite. The shutdown became effective on the morning of February 1, 2011, and began to mirror 8.1 at that time.

On February 11, 2011, KSBW announced that beginning in April, KSBW will debut ABC programming known as "Central Coast ABC", with a simulcast of local news at 5 a.m., 6 a.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m. on weekdays,^[5] however, no schedule has been released for the weekends. Simulcast of local news does not include the noon newscast, which will continue to air on the main channel (8.1).

In mid-March 2011, to promote the channel, Dancing with the Stars/America's Funniest Home Videos host Tom Bergeron appeared at a local business leaders meeting hosted by KSBW in order to establish advertiser relationships with the new station.^[6]

On April 1, 2011, KSBW-DT2 began using a test pattern in preparations for Central Coast ABC, which will transmit in ABC's default 720p format, one of the first instances of NBC (which uses the 1080i format) and ABC both being transmitted in HD over the same signal. This channel setup is similar to that of dual NBC/ABC affiliate WALB in Albany, Georgia, which launched on April 27, however, the signal for WALB-DT2 only broadcasts ABC programming in 4:3 standard definition. WKBN in Youngstown, Ohio uses the same channel setup with their main CBS signal in 1080i and secondary Fox subchannel in 720p, while a split 720p Fox/ABC setup appears on Macon, Georgia's WGXA. To prepare for the new ABC affiliation, on April 6, 2011, KSBW introduced a neutral logo without network affiliation mention, retaining the current "8" character, but placing it within a television-shaped box (the same shape as that of the Central Coast ABC logo illustrated within the infobox) with the calls placed below, similar to the logo of sister station KCRA, but with a dark blue coloring.

The station would run a separate sales division apart from KSBW upon the launch of the new ABC affiliation in order to advance marketing messages to local viewers. The addition of ABC cost over $1.4 million; most of which includes several key upgrades such as the master control center expansion and purchasing of new satellites to replace old ones.^[7]

The ABC affiliation on KSBW-DT2 began on April 18, 2011 at 3:03 a.m. During their morning newscasts, the station took a tour of their new control room. Promos aired on KSBW-DT2 uses elements from ABC, although the station also uses updated Hearst graphics for local news promos. This is similar to those aired on KSBW, although KSBW itself uses promos from NBC using NBC elements. This is the third station to serve Monterey Bay as an ABC affiliate, and the first ABC affiliate based from within the immediate region.

Logo and Digital programming

The weekday schedule and new logo for Central Coast ABC debuted on March 5, 2011.^[8] The new logo uses a television-shaped box, which the logo itself mirrors that of the Bixby Creek Bridge with a sky blue background and the "ABC" logo inserted below the bridge.

Upon the launch of the new channel, additional syndicated programming on KSBW-DT2 was unveiled at the same time the new logo was launched, and includes Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Extra, Dr. Phil, The Doctors, and Anderson; the latter three airing at different times just before the official launch^[9] in order to not simulcast the same syndicated programming from KSBW. The current lineup includes FABLife, The Real, Access Hollywood (plus it's live counterpart), The Doctors, and Extra.

Availability

With the availability of ABC programming in the market, and in addition to over-the-air (8.2) in HD, KSBW began transmission via Comcast on April 18, 2011, followed later by Dish Network on April 20. On Comcast cable, ABC programming is carried on channel 7, which replaced KGO on area cable systems in the market, while Dish Network carries it on channel 16. Between February 2006 and April 2011, ABC programming locally was not available on Dish due to a 2006 court order that forced Dish to cease offering ABC programming, and those that wished to see ABC programming had to rely on All American Direct, a Dish Network reseller, in order to receive programming. AT&T U-verse began ABC programming on July 26, while Charter cable started transmitting ABC programming on September 13, both of which are carried on channel 7. The station finally had full market coverage when DirecTV started broadcasting the channel on October 12, 2011 (channel 9), which KSBW president and general manager, Joseph W. Heston, confirmed in an editorial two days later.^[10]

News operation

KSBW-DT2 simulcasts the majority of the newscasts produced by KSBW, branded as "Action News 8". Local newscast at noon only airs on KSBW's primary subchannel (8.1). Weekday morning newscasts consist of Dale Julin, Brittany Nielsen, traffic anchor Michelle Allen, and meteorologist Art Jarrett, while the evening newscasts consists of Dan Green, Erin Clark, sports director Dennis Lenhen, and chief meteorologist Lee Solomon. All weekend newscasts are simulcasted on both KSBW and KSBW-DT2, and are subject to preemption or delay under network obligations on either channel. Weekend newscasts consist of Brynne Whittaker and meteorologist Fernidad Hollum in the morning, with Lauren Seaver and meteorologist Fernidad Hollum in the evenings. While the weekend evening anchor also handles the sports segment, if a major sporting event is held, or if there are lots of sporting events, a sports anchor would do the sports segment instead of the weekend anchor. In most cases, because of the primary NBC affiliation, however, KSBW uses either NBC, CNN, or other Hearst stations for video footage and/or their national reporting. A number of reporters and additional news personnel are used; see the KSBW article for more.

As in the case of KSBW, the newscasts is in HD (although not mentioned), however, the newscasts on this subchannel is shot in 1080i format, then downconverted to 720p in the control room for broadcast. During newscasts, most local commercial inserts are simulcasted on both KSBW and KSBW-DT2, except that promos from NBC airs on KSBW, and ABC on KSBW-DT2.

References

• 'Dancing With the Stars' host helps launch Central Coast ABC affiliate Off 68, The Salinas Californian.

External links

• Central Coast ABC
• KSBW