KSVI


KSVI, virtual channel 6, is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Billings, Montana, United States. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also operates Hardin-licensed Fox affiliate KHMT under joint sales and shared services agreements with owner Mission Broadcasting. The two stations share studios on South 24th Street West in Billings; KSVI's transmitter is located on Old Hardin Road east-northeast of the city. On cable, the station is available on Charter Spectrum channel 10 in both standard and high definition.
KSVI's programming is relayed on translator station K25BP in Billings, in areas where KSVI's signal is poor. It can also be seen in Miles City on K16DH.

History

KSVI went on the air January 8, 1993 under the ownership of Big Horn Communications. Big Horn had previously signed on KOUS-TV in 1980. However, for most of its existence, KOUS was plagued by marginal reception in some parts of Billings, since its transmitter was located east of the city in order to ensure city-grade coverage of its city of license, Hardin. In hopes of getting better reception in Billings, Big Horn won a construction permit for channel 6 after the allocation was moved from Miles City.
KOUS signed off for the last time on January 8, and later that day the KOUS intellectual unit—including the ABC affiliation—moved to KSVI on channel 6. At the outset, channel 6's programming was also seen on KYUS-TV in Miles City and KCTZ in Bozeman, both of which had previously served as satellites of KOUS. KCTZ was sold to Cordillera Communications several months later to become a satellite of KXLF-TV in Butte, while KYUS was sold to Stephan Marks in 1995. Following the sale of KCTZ, KSVI's programming was carried on translators K26DE in Bozeman and K43DU in Butte; this ended when KWYB signed on in 1996. Channel 6 also, at its sign-on, inherited Billings translator station K25BP, which was originally intended to improve KOUS' signal in Billings.
KSVI added a secondary affiliation with Fox in April 1994; this was primarily to carry the network's NFL coverage, but 15 hours a week of other Fox programs, such as Married... with Children and The Simpsons, were aired in overnight and weekend timeslots not programmed by ABC. Following this deal, cable systems in the Billings area removed Foxnet from their lineups. The secondary Fox affiliation ended when channel 4 returned to the air in August 1995 as Fox affiliate KHMT under a local marketing agreement with KSVI. Also in June 1995, channel 6 added a secondary affiliation with UPN. this affiliation, which was eventually shared with KHMT, continued until UPN closed down in 2006.
Big Horn Communications sold KSVI to Great Trails Broadcasting Corporation for $17.37 million in 1997. The following year, Great Trails exited broadcasting and sold the station, along with WHAG-TV in Hagerstown, Maryland and WFFT-TV in Fort Wayne, Indiana, to Quorum Broadcasting Company for $65 million. Nexstar Broadcasting Group acquired Quorum for $230 million in December 2003.

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP short nameProgramming
6.1720pKSVI-DTMain KSVI programming / ABC
6.2480iCourt TV Mystery
6.3480iBounce TV

News operation

KSVI launched a news operation, shared with sister station KHMT, on April 18, 2002. After 18 months, the newscasts were canceled in September 2003, following Nexstar taking control of the stations in advance of its purchase of Quorum. Though the news operation had won Montana Broadcasters Association and Associated Press awards during its run, it was not successful in the ratings, as KSVI's newscasts trailed KTVQ and KULR-TV by a substantial margin. Nexstar said that shutting down the news operation was necessary to keep the stations profitable.