KSNV

KSNV

Las Vegas, Nevada United States
City	Las Vegas
Branding	Channel 3 (general) News 3 (newscasts)
Slogan	Southern Nevada's News Leader
Channels	Digital: 22 (UHF) Virtual: 3 (PSIP)
Subchannels	3.1 NBC 3.2 Estrella TV 3.3 GetTV
Affiliations	NBC (Secondary through 1956)
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group (KUPN Licensee, LLC)
First air date	January 23, 1955 (1955-01-23)
Call letters' meaning	Southern NeVada
Sister station(s)	KVCW
Former callsigns	KLRJ-TV (1955) KORK-TV (1955–1979) KVBC (1979–2009) KVBC-DT (2009–2010) KSNV-DT (2010–2014)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 2 (VHF, 1955–1967) 3 (VHF, 1967–2009) Digital: 2 (VHF, 1999–2014)
Former affiliations	Secondary: ABC (1955–1956)
Transmitter power	630 kW
Height	382.9 m
Class	None
Facility ID	10179
Transmitter coordinates	36°0′28″N 115°0′24″W / 36.00778°N 115.00667°W / 36.00778; -115.00667
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	news3lv.com

KSNV, virtual channel 3 and UHF digital channel 22, is the NBC–affiliated television station located in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. The station's studios are located on Foremaster Lane in Las Vegas (making it the only major television station whose operations are based inside the city limits), and its transmitter is located on Black Mountain, near Henderson (southwest of I-515 / US 93 / US 95).

It was the flagship station of the Intermountain West Communications Company—which was founded by the late James E. Rogers—until the gradual sale of its remaining stations that began in 2013. The Sinclair Broadcast Group, who own Las Vegas's MyNetworkTV and The CW affiliate KVCW (and formerly owned KVMY, now KHSV), had acquired its Reno sister station KRNV-DT and satellite KENV-DT in late-2013, and announced its purchase of KSNV on September 3, 2014. Due to restrictions preventing Sinclair from owning all three stations, the company elected to swap KVMY's license to Intermountain West for that of KSNV. On November 4, 2014, the KSNV call letter, virtual channel number, and intellectual unit moved to the channel 21 license that was previously used for KVMY, effectively putting the station under Sinclair ownership.

History

The station went on the air as KLRJ-TV on VHF channel 2 on January 23, 1955; it was originally licensed to Henderson and was owned by Southwestern Publishing Company along with the Las Vegas Review-Journal and KORK radio (920 AM, now KBAD; and 97.1 FM, now KXPT). In September 1955, it changed its calls to KORK-TV to match its radio sisters, and soon after moved its city of license and studio facilities to Las Vegas. It has always been an NBC affiliate, but shared ABC with KLAS-TV (channel 8) until KSHO-TV (channel 13, now KTNV-TV) signed on in 1956. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.^[1] In 1960, the Donrey Media Group (later Stephens Media LLC) bought the Review-Journal and the KORK stations.

In 1967, KORK-TV moved to channel 3 in order to operate from Potosi Mountain without being short-spaced to KNXT (now KCBS-TV) in Los Angeles, which also operated on channel 2.^[2] In 1971, a group of local residents led by Las Vegas attorney Jim Rogers began an effort to take control of channel 3. Rogers' group gained more support when Donrey began to heavily preempt NBC programming in order to sell more local advertising in the late 1970s. NBC was far less tolerant of programming preemptions than the other networks at the time. The most notable of these preemptions was the 1978 World Series, angering both NBC and several Las Vegas area viewers, some of whom filed complaints to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Facing pressure from both NBC and the FCC, Donrey was forced to sell the station to the Rogers group's holding company, Valley Broadcasting Company, in 1979. Donrey retained KORK radio and as a result on October 1, 1979, the station changed its callsign to KVBC, reflecting the new ownership.

In the late 1980s, KVBC's sign-on to sign-off ratings climbed to an all-time high, thanks in part to a strong primetime lineup by NBC.^[3]

Two major "events" aided KVBC's rise to the top. In May 1988, an explosion and fire rocked the Pacific Engineering and Production Company (Pepcon) in Henderson. KVBC was knocked off the air for a few minutes, because its transmitter facilities atop Black Mountain were positioned just above the blast site. Once KVBC was back on the air, it was the first local station to continuously broadcast its breaking news coverage of the explosion. Later that year, CBS produced 48 Hours in Las Vegas, a feature about Las Vegas that portrayed the city as full of gamblers and riddled by crime. In response, KVBC produced a one-hour documentary entitled Las Vegas, Beyond 48 Hours, which painted a more realistic picture of "Sin City" and its residents.

KVBC was first to document the Mirage volcano explosion during its initial test in front of an unsuspecting nighttime audience.

With the digital transition completed, the station officially added the -DT suffix to its legal call sign on June 23, 2009.^[4]

Former logo used from July 9, 2010 to April 18, 2015. The "3" had been used since 1986.

On June 18, 2010, KVBC filed an application with the FCC to change the station's call letters to KSNV-DT, reflecting the renaming of Valley Broadcasting Company (which by this time, was a subsidiary of Sunbelt Communications Company that held the station's license) to Southern Nevada Communications, as well as better reflecting the station's relationship with sister stations KRNV-DT in Reno and KENV-DT in Elko.^[5] The change to KSNV-DT became official on July 9, 2010.^[4][6]

Jim Rogers died of cancer on June 14, 2014, at the age of 75.^[7]

Sale to Sinclair, license swap

On September 3, 2014, Intermountain West Communications announced that it would sell KSNV-DT to Sinclair Broadcast Group for $120 million. As Sinclair already owned a duopoly in Las Vegas, KVMY (channel 21) and KVCW (channel 33), the company planned to sell the license assets (though not the programming) of one of the three stations to comply with FCC ownership restrictions, with the divested station's programming being moved to the other stations.^[8] 80–85% of proceeds from the sale will go toward the formation of the Rogers Educational Foundation, which will support students and educators in Southern Nevada.^[9]

On November 1, 2014, KSNV began the process of swapping signals with KVMY; KVMY moved its MyNetworkTV programming to a subchannel of KVCW, which was replaced by a simulcast of KSNV-DT's programming. Additionally, the two stations swapped virtual channel numbers, which moved KVMY to channel 3, and KSNV to channel 21. On November 4, 2014, the call letters on KVMY's license were changed to KSNV, and the existing KSNV license changed its call letters to KVMY. These moves effectively put KSNV under Sinclair ownership using its existing channel 21 license. The previous channel 3 license was later sold to Howard Stirk Holdings.^[10][6] A similar swap occurred during Sinclair's acquisition of WCIV, in which its ABC programming and call sign were moved to another Sinclair-owned signal, and the previous WCIV channel 4 license (renamed WMMP) was sold to Howard Stirk Holdings, though the PSIP channel number was not swapped.^[11][12] Sinclair could not buy KSNV-DT outright because Las Vegas has only seven full-power stations--four too few to legally permit a duopoly. When the sale closes, Sinclair would control half of those stations. It would also create a situation in which a CW affiliate is the nominal senior partner in a duopoly involving an NBC affiliate and a "Big Four" station.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

KSNV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 2.^[14] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 3.

News operation

KSNV presently broadcasts a total of 44 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 7½ hours on weekdays and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in addition, the station produces one locally produced program: the sports highlight program (which airs on Sunday evenings after the 11:00 p.m. newscast at the 11:35 p.m. time slot.). A public affairs discussion program, which aired after the noon newscast each weekday was cancelled in November 2013 and replaced with What's Your Point? which was later cancelled.

KSNV debuted a 3 p.m. newscast, News 3 Live at 3, on August 19, 2013; to accommodate this newscast, the station dropped Days of Our Lives, which moved to KVCW.^[15] On September 16, 2013, KSNV added an hour-long 7 p.m. newscast, which after its contract to carry Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune expired which later moved to KLAS-TV. The station also dropped Dr. Phil in September 2014 which later moved to KLAS-TV; its two remaining syndicated programs, Rachael Ray and The Doctors, were to be dropped in the fall of 2015 and were originally going to be replaced with newscasts as well, if both shows are not canceled before then. These changes were part of an increased emphasis on KSNV's news department; under this plan, the station's weekday lineup outside of NBC prime time programming were consist entirely of local newscasts.^[16][17] Due to these changes, anchor lineups will also be shuffled.^[18] With the sale to Sinclair, it is probable that these plans might not proceed further. Access Hollywood was added to the schedule at 7:30 p.m. weeknights in September 2014 after the sale to Sinclair was announced. The discussion program Ralston Reports (6:30–7:00 p.m.) ended on December 12, 2014 and was replaced with an hour-long extension of the 6:00 p.m. newscast along with KRNV-DT on December 15, 2014. On December 29, 2014, Days of our Lives was reinstated on the station at 1:00 p.m. weekdays. after NBC objected to the change made by Jim Rogers. The hour-long 11:00 a.m. newscast and the discussion program What's Your Point? (12:30–1:00 p.m.) hosted by Jeff Gillan ended on December 26, 2014 and was replaced by Rachael Ray and an hour-long extension of the noon newscast on December 29, 2014, leaving KTNV-TV as the only hour-long 11:00 a.m. newscast. The hour-long 4:00 p.m. newscast ended on January 2, 2015, leaving KLAS-TV as the only hour-long 4:00 p.m. newscast and was replaced by Family Feud on January 5, 2015. The hour-long 3:00 p.m. newscast is currently not affected by the change and still competes with KTNV-TV. It seems that Sinclair will not move the station to an all news daytime format, as originally intended by Jim Rogers but the station seems committed to large amounts of news still. However, Sinclair is considering to bring back the hour-long 11:00 a.m., 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. newscasts and What's Your Point? hosted by Jeff Gillan at 12:30 p.m. The Doctors and Access Hollywood will be dropped in September 2016 in which they will move to KVCW at the same time. Entertainment Tonight (which used to air on KLAS-TV) will be added to the schedule in September 2016 as well replacing Access Hollywood, and Harry Connick Jr.'s new talk show will replace the Doctors at the same time.

Since August 17, 2015, the station relaunched newscasts for sister station KVCW. "Wake Up With The CW Las Vegas", airs at 7:00 a.m. as an extension to its morning newscast and "The CW Las Vegas News at Ten", airs at 10:00 p.m. Both newscasts compete with KVVU's 7:00 a.m. segment of Fox 5 News This Morning and the 10:00 p.m. airing of Fox 5 News at Ten.

Notable current on-air staff

• Reed Cowan – anchor and general assignment reporter
• Jeff Gillan – political reporter
• Steve Handelsman – national political correspondent for NBC News' Washington D.C. Bureau
• Mark Hyman – national political commentator for Sinclair Broadcast Group's Behind the Headlines
• Jim Snyder – anchor

Notable former on-air staff

• Terry Care – reporter (now retired)
• Sophia Choi – anchor and reporter (2007–2010); now with WSB-TV
• Colin Cowherd – sports anchor and reporter (1988–1996); later with ESPN; now with Fox Sports
• Trace Gallagher – reporter (now with Fox News Channel)
• Sue Manteris – anchor and reporter (1989–2011); now with 10e Media
• Jessica Moore – anchor and reporter (2010–2016); now with WCBS-TV
• Rory Reid – Democratic political pundit on What's Your Point?; now President and COO, The Rogers Foundation
• Jim Rogers – station owner and founder of the Intermountain West Communications Company (1979–2014); now deceased
• Jack Williams - anchor; later with WBZ-TV in Boston (retired in 2015)

Translators

KSNV's signal is rebroadcast across southern Nevada and portions of Utah (with rebroadcaster KVBT channel 41 for the Saint George, Utah area) on the following translators:

KSNV (as KVBC) also previously maintained two full-power satellite stations: KVNV (channel 3) in Ely served as a KVBC satellite from its sign-on in 2001 until it was sold to PMCM TV, LLC in 2008, while KMCC (channel 34) in Laughlin was a KVBC satellite from its sign-on in 2003 until it was sold to Cranston II, LLC in 2005. Additionally, the signal for KVBC was to have been relayed over KBMO-TV (channel 9) in Tonopah, Nevada, but construction of this station was not completed before the FCC construction permit expired in 2002.

KSNV is available on over-air channel 9 in Baker, California, their only translator in California.

Heliport

KSNV Sky 3 Heliport – (FAA LID: NVH4)

References

External links

• Official website
• Antenna TV website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KSNV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KSNV-DT