KAKW-DT


KAKW-DT, virtual channel 62, is a Univision owned-and-operated television station serving Austin, Texas, United States that is licensed to Killeen. Owned by the Univision Local Media subsidiary of Univision Communications, it is sister to Austin-licensed low-powered, Class A UniMás owned-and-operated station KTFO-CD, which KAKW simulcasts on its second digital subchannel. The two stations share studios on North Loop Boulevard in Austin; KAKW's transmitter is located in unincorporated Williamson County. Although the station is licensed to a community in the Waco market, most of its local programming and advertising is targeted at the Austin market.

History

The station first signed on the air on May 31, 1996 as a primary affiliate of UPN and a secondary affiliate of The WB for the Waco–Killeen–Temple market; the station was originally owned by White Knight Broadcasting, with Communications Corporation of America, owner of Waco-based Fox affiliate KWKT and the station's Bryan-based satellite KYLE-TV, providing sales and other services to KAKW under a commercial inventory agreement. KAKW had secured the UPN affiliation in June 1995, prior to going on the air; the WB affiliation had previously been held by KYLE before its 1996 acquisition by ComCorp. Prior to the launch of Fredericksburg-based San Antonio station KBEJ in 2000, channel 62 doubled as an alternate UPN affiliate for the Austin television market, alongside K13VC ; the launch of KAKW's digital signal on channel 13 would subsequently result in the shutdown of K13VC on March 29, 2003.
In January 2001, KAKW became a primary WB affiliate, though UPN programming was retained on a secondary basis. That October, White Knight agreed to sell KAKW to Univision Communications in a $30 million deal, with the intention of converting it into a Univision station; the sale was opposed by The WB, who filed a lawsuit seeking to block the sale and the concurrent sale of El Paso sister station KKWB to Entravision Communications, as KAKW's contract with The WB was not slated to expire until January 15, 2008. On January 7, 2002, after Univision assumed control of KAKW, it dropped the WB and UPN affiliations and converted it to a Univision owned-and-operated station; it also expanded the station's market coverage to Austin. Univision also invested in creating a news department for KAKW and began producing daily Spanish-language local newscasts. The WB subsequently moved its programming in the Waco/Killeen/Temple market to a secondary clearance on ABC affiliate KXXV, while UPN signed a deal with Time Warner Cable to air its programming on a leased access channel that would later be replaced by KBTX-TV's second digital subchannel.
Until 2009, KAKW also operated a repeater in Austin, KAKW-CA. That year, the station switched its affiliation to Telefutura, and changed its call letters to KTFO-CD.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
62.11080iKAKW-DTMain KAKW-DT programming / Univision
62.21080iKTFO-CDSimulcast of KTFO-CD / UniMás
62.3480iGetTVgetTV
62.4480iEscapeCourt TV Mystery
62.5480iDABLDabl

Analog-to-digital conversion

KAKW shut down its analog signal on June 12, 2009, as part of the FCC-mandated transition to digital television for full-power stations. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 13, using PSIP to display KAKW's virtual channel as 62 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

News operation

KAKW-DT broadcasts five hours of locally produced newscasts each week, consisting of two half-hour evening newscasts shown at 5:00 and 10:00 p.m. on weekdays. Following its purchase by Univision Communications in 2002, the station invested in the development of a news department for KAKW and began producing daily Spanish language local newscasts each weeknight.
On March 27, 2015, KAKW-DT announced it would launch a regionalized morning newscast, shared with fellow Univision O&Os KXLN-DT in Houston, KUVN-DT in Dallas, and KWEX-DT in San Antonio. The newscast includes local weather and traffic cut-ins, which are also provided during Univision's Despierta America. The regionalized morning newscast uses the Noticias Texas branding.