KAYU-TV


KAYU-TV, virtual and UHF digital channel 28, is a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Spokane, Washington, United States and also serving Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The station is owned by Atlanta-based Cox Media Group. KAYU's studios are located on South Regal Street in Spokane, and its transmitter is on Krell Hill southeast of Spokane.
On cable and satellite, the station can be seen in high definition on Comcast Xfinity channel 103 in the Spokane area, Charter Spectrum channel 1206 in the Coeur d'Alene area and the Palouse, and channel 28 on Dish Network and DirecTV.
The station is also carried on cable systems in Calgary and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, both of which are double the size of KAYU's American coverage area. One result of this is that stations in Calgary and Edmonton air American shows on Pacific Time, even though Calgary and Edmonton are both on Mountain Time. It is one of five local Spokane area television stations seen in Canada on the Shaw Direct satellite service. It can also been seen on local cable systems in eastern British Columbia.

History

The station was founded in 1982 by Spokane native Robert Hamacher and his company, Salmon River Communications. It was Spokane's first independent station, as well as the first new commercial station to sign on in the area since KREM-TV hit the airwaves 28 years earlier. It is also the oldest non-Big Three station in the eastern part of the state. It joined Fox as a charter affiliate in 1986.
On October 1, 1989, KAYU-TV launched two low-power semi-satellites: K53CY in Yakima, and K66BW in the Tri-Cities. Both stations aired most of KAYU's programming, though with local commercials. K53CY was replaced in 1993 by K68EB, though it continued to go by "KCY" outside of station identifications. The station also operated a semi-satellite in Wenatchee known as KCWT channel 27 from 1986 until 1990.
Salmon River Communications sold KAYU-TV, along with K68EB, KBWU-LP, and KMVU in Medford, Oregon, to Northwest Broadcasting in 1995. KCYU and KBWU remained semi-satellites of KAYU until 1999, when sister station KFFX-TV signed on from Pendleton, Oregon and became their parent station; both stations continue to carry KFFX's programming to this day.
On December 17, 2019, Apollo Global Management acquired the entirety of Brian Brady's television portfolio, as part of a larger transaction that saw it also acquire Cox Media Group. While the company was initially to be known as Terrier Media, it had been announced in June 2019 that Apollo would also acquire Cox's radio and advertising businesses, and maintain the existing Cox Media Group name for the combined company. Brady holds an unspecified minority interest in the company, which gave KAYU an in-state sister station in Seattle's CBS affiliate KIRO-TV.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
28.1720pKAYU-HDMain KAYU-TV programming / Fox
28.2720pMyNetTVMyNetworkTV & Antenna TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

KAYU-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 28, 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. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 30 to channel 28.

KAYU-DT2 (My 28 Spokane)

KAYU-TV's 28.2 subchannel broadcasts MyNetworkTV in early primetime; the remainder of the subchannel's schedule consists of Antenna TV programming. Comcast Xfinity carries the subchannel on digital channel 117.
In November 2017, the 28.2 subchannel was upgraded to 720p HD; it had previously been offered in 480i standard definition.

Programming

Syndicated programming on KAYU-TV includes The Mel Robbins Show, Tamron Hall, Family Feud, 25 Words or Less, The Doctors, Two and a Half Men, Mike & Molly, The Goldbergs, Modern Family, Last Man Standing and The Big Bang Theory, among others. KAYU also carries Litton Entertainment's Go Time E/I block.

News operation

KAYU presently broadcasts 13½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week.
KAYU currently broadcasts a 10 p.m. newscast produced by NBC affiliate KHQ-TV, which airs for 35 minutes on weeknights and a half-hour on Saturdays and Sunday evenings. The station also airs a half-hour show called Washington's Most Wanted, a statewide version of the former Fox series America's Most Wanted, featuring profiles of wanted criminals in Washington state, hosted by KCPQ weeknight anchor David Rose and produced by KCPQ.
On April 8, 1991, KAYU began broadcasting a 10 p.m. newscast, produced by CBS affiliate KREM under a news share agreement. Lower-than-expected ratings caused KREM to drop out of the news share agreement in 1993, upon which KHQ-TV signed a news share agreement with KAYU. The KHQ-produced newscast ceased production April 14, 1995. In 1999, KAYU produced an in-house 10 p.m. newscast that ran until 2004. ABC affiliate KXLY assisted in content and talent for a short time. In 2004, KAYU partnered with KHQ for the second time to produce the newscast, which was renamed Fox First at Ten. On January 5, 2015, KAYU became the second news station in Spokane to air their news from 7:00–9:00 a.m. called Good Day Spokane, after KREM started aired their news on KSKN at that timeframe back in September 2014.

Translators

KAYU-TV is rebroadcast on the following translator stations: