KIMT

KIMT


Mason City, Iowa-
Albert Lea/Rochester/Austin, Minnesota
United States
City Mason City
Branding KIMT 3 (general)
KIMT News 3 (newscasts)
Slogan Iowa, Minnesota, together.
Channels Digital: 42 (UHF)
Virtual: 3 (PSIP)
Subchannels 3.1 CBS
3.2 MyNetworkTV
3.3 ION
Affiliations CBS
Owner Media General
(sale to Nexstar Broadcasting Group pending)
(LIN License Company, LLC)
First air date May 15, 1954
Call letters' meaning Iowa/Minnesota Television
Former callsigns KGLO-TV (1954–1977)
Former channel number(s) 3 (VHF analog, 1954–2009)
Former affiliations DuMont (secondary, 1954–1955)
Transmitter power 800 kW
Height 463 m
Facility ID 66402
Transmitter coordinates 43°28′32″N 92°42′30″W / 43.47556°N 92.70833°W / 43.47556; -92.70833
Website kimt.com

KIMT is the CBS-affiliated television station for North Central Iowa and Southeastern Minnesota. Licensed to Mason City, Iowa, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 42 (virtual channel 3.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter near Meyer, Iowa (between Stacyville and McIntire) south of the Minnesota state line. The station can also be seen on Charter and Mediacom channel 3. There is a high definition feed offered on Charter digital channel 784 and Mediacom digital channel 803. Owned by Media General, the station has studios on North Pennsylvania Avenue in Downtown Mason City and a sales office on East William Street in Downtown Albert Lea, Minnesota. Syndicated programming on KIMT includes Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Dr. Phil, and The Dr. Oz Show among others.

Digital channels

Channel Video Aspect PSIP short name Programming
3.1 1080i 16:9 KIMTCBS Main KIMT programming / CBS
3.2 480i 4:3 KIMTMyN KIMT-DT2 / MyNetworkTV
3.3 ION Ion Television

The station operates the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate on a second digital subchannel. Known on-air as My 3.2, this can also be seen on Mediacom digital channel 15 and Charter digital channel 193. Syndicated programming on KIMT-DT2 includes How I Met Your Mother, My Name Is Earl, Everybody Hates Chris, TMZ and Star Trek: The Next Generation along with others.

KIMT-DT3 broadcasts Ion Television. Until November 18, 2015, it was a 24/7 weather loop.

History

The station signed-on for the first time on May 15, 1954 as KGLO-TV owned by Lee Enterprises along with the GLObe Gazette and KGLO radio (AM 1300 and FM 101.1). On the station's first day, reception of its analog signal on VHF channel 3 was reported as far away as Gary, Indiana. The original effective radiated power of 100,000 watts was the maximum amount permitted on the heritage allotment. It was affiliated with CBS owing to its radio sister's long affiliation with CBS Radio, but also carried a secondary relation with DuMont until 1956 when the latter ceased operations.

In August 1977, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that one company could not own all the media outlets in a city, forcing Lee Enterprises to break up its cluster in Mason City. As a result, KGLO-AM was sold to BY Communications in 1977 and the television station was renamed KIMT (standing for Iowa/Minnesota Television). In 1980, it was sold to the Shott family of Bluefield, West Virginia and their Daily Telegraph Printing Company. However, in 1984, they sold KIMT and WBTW in Florence, South Carolina to Spartan Radiocasting Company (later to become Spartan Communications).

Early in the morning on June 27, 1995, KIMT news anchor Jodi Huisentruit was abducted outside her apartment while on her way to work. She has not been found and the case remains unsolved to this day.

Spartan merged with Media General in 2000. KIMT's digital signal on UHF channel 42 launched in May 2002 and added high definition capabilities from the network during that summer. KIMT celebrated its 50th anniversary on May 15, 2004 with flashbacks and other special programming.

On April 6, 2006, Media General announced it would sell KIMT as part of the company's acquisition of four NBC owned-and-operated stations.[1] On August 2, New Vision Television made public it had bought KIMT and sister station WIAT in Birmingham, Alabama for $35 million. That company's acquisition of the two outlets was finalized on October 12, 2006.[2] As part of the analog to digital transition in 2009, the station opted to keep its analog channel on-air until the revised June 12 deadline.[3] After the transition (which occurred at 12:12 p.m.), KIMT planned to continue using digital channel 42 and filed paperwork with the FCC to eventually increase that signal's output power from 200 to 800 kW which would more effectively fill its coverage footprint.

On May 7, 2012, LIN TV Corporation announced that it would acquire the New Vision Television station group, including KIMT, for $330.4 million and the assumption of $12 million in debt.[4] On October 2, the FCC approved the proposed sale to LIN TV.[5] The transaction was finalized on October 12, 2012.

On March 21, 2014, Media General announced that it would acquire LIN.[6] The merger was completed on December 19, making KIMT a Media General property once again, and marking the third ownership change for the station in less than a decade.[7]

In September 2015, Media General announced the acquisition of Meredith Corporation in a cash and stock deal valued at $2.4 billion.[8] Upon completion of the deal, KIMT, along with Davenport sister station and NBC affiliate KWQC, would have become Meredith's first television stations in its home state of Iowa. However, on January 27, 2016, it was announced that the Nexstar Broadcasting Group would buy Media General for $4.6 billion. KIMT will become part of "Nexstar Media Group", and would join a cluster of Nexstar stations serving Iowa including ABC affiliates WOI-DT in Des Moines and KCAU-TV in Sioux City, and either KWQC or CBS affiliate WHBF-TV in the Quad Cities.[9]

July 2015 carriage dispute with Mediacom

On July 14, 2015, KIMT and its digital subchannels were pulled from the North Iowa region's Mediacom cable systems due to a carriage dispute over retransmission consent fees between Mediacom and KIMT owner Media General.[10] This carriage dispute was part of an ongoing disagreement nationwide between Mediacom and Media General, which saw Media General stations in 14 television markets in the United States pulled from Mediacom cable systems and even three Fox affiliates owned by Media General were lost to Mediacom subscribers in Hampton Roads, Virginia, Terre Haute, Indiana, and Topeka, Kansas just before the start of the 2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.[11] On July 30, 2015, Mediacom and Media General reached a new agreement, thereby restoring KIMT and its digital subchannels to North Iowa area Mediacom subscribers.[12]

News operation

Since KIMT is the only major station licensed to the Iowa side of the market, its newscasts have traditionally focused on Iowa issues. On June 12, 2009, KIMT became the first outlet to upgrade newscasts to 16x9 enhanced definition widescreen with some parts in full high definition. Although not truly HD, the aspect ratio matches that of high definition television screens.

Also at some point that year, KIMT added three newscasts to its MyNetworkTV-affiliated subchannel. This included a half-hour extension to its weekday morning show at 7 (known as My Morning News on My 3.2), a repeat of the thirty-minute weekday noon broadcast at 12:30 (called KIMT News 3 Midday on My 3.2), and prime time newscast weeknights at 9 (known as My Primetime News at 9). Eventually, the half-hour weeknight show was reduced to a five-minute cut-in featuring an updated weather forecast.

In late-2010, KIMT-DT3 launched as a full-time 24-hour local weather channel. Previously, KIMT-DT2 had carried this service during overnight sign-off periods. On March 20, 2011, rival NBC affiliate KTTC in Rochester upgraded its local news to full high definition becoming the first outlet to do so. KIMT has expanded its weekday morning news show, airing two and a half hours of news from 4:30 AM thru 7:00 AM and an additional half hour, My Morning News on My 3.2, starting at 7:00 AM on the KIMT-DT2.

In November 2015, KIMT-DT3 began airing the ION Television Network 24 hours a day.

References

  1. ↑ "Media General to Acquire Four NBC Owned and Operated Television Stations", Media General, April 6, 2006
  2. ↑ "Media General Completes Sale of WIAT-TV in Birmingham, Ala., and KIMT-TV in Mason City, Iowa, to New Vision Television", Media General, October 12, 2006
  3. ↑ "Analog Turn Off Delayed", KIMT News, February 9, 2009
  4. ↑ Malone, Michael (May 7, 2012). "LIN Acquiring New Vision Stations for $330 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved May 7, 2012.
  5. ↑ http://licensing.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/Auth_Files/1499211.pdf
  6. ↑ Sruthi Ramakrishnan (21 March 2014). "Media General to buy LIN Media for $1.6 billion". Reuters. Retrieved 21 March 2014.
  7. ↑ Media General Completes Merger With LIN Media, Press Release, Media General, Retrieved 19 December 2014
  8. ↑ "Media General to Buy Meredith Corp. for $2.4 Billion". The Wall Street Journal. September 8, 2015. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  9. ↑ http://www.mediageneral.com/press/2016/jan27_2016nexs.html
  10. ↑ Skipper, John (2015-07-14). "Mediacom drops CBS in contract impasse". Mason City Globe Gazette (Lee Enterprises). Retrieved 2015-08-09.
  11. ↑ Farrell, Mike (2015-07-15). "Media General Stations Go Dark on Mediacom". Multichannel News (NewBay Media). Retrieved 2015-08-09.
  12. ↑ Skipper, John (2015-07-30). "Mediacom, Media General reach agreement; KIMT returns to Cable TV lineup". Mason City Globe Gazette (Lee Enterprises). Retrieved 2015-08-09.

External links

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