KNEP

KNEP, virtual channel 4 (VHF digital channel 7), is an NBC-affiliated television station serving Scottsbluff, Nebraska, United States that is licensed to Sidney. Owned by Gray Television, it is a sister station to Scottsbluff-licensed CBS affiliate KSTF (channel 10). KNEP's studios are located on 1st Avenue in Scottsbluff, and its transmitter is located in Angora, Nebraska.

Although identifying as a separate station in its own right, KNEP is considered a semi-satellite of KNOP-TV (channel 2) in North Platte. The station also simulcasts programming from KOTA-TV in Rapid City, South Dakota on its main channel.

History
The station signed on for the first time on March 5, 1958 as KDUH-TV, broadcasting from Hay Springs, Nebraska. The station was owned by Helen Duhamel, whose last name formed the basis of the callsign. In 1981, operations were moved from Hay Springs to Scottsbluff. In 1988, KDUH consolidated its operations at Rapid City-based KOTA-TV.

On September 24, 2002, the station's mast in Hemingford, which was built in the 1960s, collapsed during an installation of a digital transmitter. Two workers were killed and other three were injured. A new tower was located in Angora was built in 2003 as a replacement the collapsed transmitter. The full signal was restored on September 19, 2003. During the construction of the tower, KDUH reached viewers on cable systems in the area and Duhamel-owned translators K02NT in Scottsbluff, and K02NY in Chadron.

Bill Duhamel announced on October 31, 2013 that KOTA-TV and its satellites (including KDUH-TV) would be sold to Schurz Communications' subsidiary Rushmore Media Company, pending FCC approval. The FCC granted the sale on March 31, 2014; and it was completed on April 28, 2014.

On September 14, 2015, Schurz announced that it would exit broadcasting and sell its television and radio stations, including KDUH-TV, to Gray Television for $442.5 million. In its original filing with the FCC, Gray said that KDUH would be converted to a satellite of KNOP-TV, a Gray-owned NBC affiliate in North Platte. In a subsequent filing with the FCC, Gray requested change the KDUH-TV call letters to KNEP following its conversion to a KNOP-TV satellite. It also sought to change KDUH/KNEP's city of license to Sidney. By changing its city of license, KNEP was now officially reckoned as part of the Denver market rather than the Cheyenne–Scottsbluff market, eliminating an ownership conflict with KSTF in Scottsbluff, a semi-satellite of KGWN-TV in Cheyenne, Wyoming. The FCC does not allow one company to own two of the four highest-rated stations in the market. Additionally, the Cheyenne–Scottsbluff market had only five full-power stations (KGWN and KSTF are counted as one station for ratings and regulatory purposes), which was three stations too few to legally permit a duopoly in any case.

The sale was approved by the FCC on February 12, 2016, and was completed on February 16. The FCC approved the change of station's city of license on May 16, making KDUH/KNEP a Denver DMA station. For all intents and purposes, however, it remained a Scottsbluff station.

On May 5, 2016, the station officially became the NBC affiliate for the Nebraska Panhandle. Despite officially becoming a semi-satellite of KNOP-TV, the station is still airing KOTA programming on channel 4.1; initially, "NBC Nebraska Scottsbluff" was aired on channel 4.2. , NBC programming is seen on channel 2.1, with KOTA programming remaining on 4.1.

Digital television

Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion
KNEP (as KDUH-TV) shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 4, 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). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 7. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 4.

Newscasts
KNEP presently broadcasts 8½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 1½ hours each weekday and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).

As KDUH, the station produced full-length newscasts focused on the Nebraska Panhandle for years. However, due to cutbacks in later years, KDUH's newscasts were reduced to inserts in KOTA's weeknight newscasts with a few personalities locally based in Scottsbluff.

On May 5, 2016, KNEP's full-length localized newscasts in Scottsbluff were reinstated, upon the launch of NBC Nebraska Scottsbluff.

The station is still simulcasting KOTA's newscasts on its 4.1 subchannel.

References

External links

KOTA Territory

Category:Television channels and stations established in 1958
Category:1958 establishments in Nebraska
Category:ABC network affiliates
Category:NBC network affiliates
Category:Gray Television
Category:Television stations in Nebraska