KSWL-LD


KSWL-LD, virtual channel 17, is a low-powered CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States. Owned by Waypoint Media, it is a sister station to low-powered primary MyNetworkTV and secondary MeTV affiliate KWWE-LD. The two stations share studios on West Prien Lake Road in Lake Charles and transmitter facilities at the KTSR tower in Westlake.
On cable, KSWL-LD is available on Suddenlink channel 10.
The station is unusual among CBS affiliates in that it carries no local news.

History

In 2011, the FCC awarded the construction permit for the station, with the call sign of K17KH-D. The current KSWL-LD calls were adopted on February 10, 2017. Five days later, the station went on the air as the Lake Charles area's CBS affiliate.
KSWL-LD is the area's first CBS affiliate since the shutdown of its original CBS affiliate, KTAG-TV, in August 1961. Between that time, KLFY-TV in Lafayette served as the default CBS affiliate via cable for Southwestern Louisiana, while Beaumont affiliate KFDM was carried by a few cable providers in some areas of the market. Between KSWL-LD's sign-on as part of CBS, sister station KWWE-LD's sign on as a MyNetworkTV affiliate, and Fox affiliate KVHP launching ABC programming on its DT2 subchannel, the year 2017 marks the first time that the Lake Charles area has received over-the-air service from every major television network, having previously relied on cable television to supply network affiliates from Lafayette and Beaumont for CBS, ABC, MyNetwork TV, and until 2009, The CW.

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
17.11080iKSWLCBSMain KSWL-LD programming / CBS
17.2480iEscapeCourt TV Mystery
17.3480iCourtTVCourt TV
17.4480iLaffLaff