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KYAZ

Katy–Houston, Texas United States
City	Katy, Texas
Channels	Digital: 25 (UHF) Virtual: 51
Branding	MeTV Houston
Programming
Affiliations	51.1: MeTV for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Weigel Broadcasting (KYAZ-TV LLC)
History
First air date	November 3, 1993 (31 years ago) (1993-11-03)
Former call signs	KNWS-TV (1993–2010)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 51 (UHF, 1993–2009) Digital: 52 (UHF, 2002–2009), 47 (UHF, 2009–2019) Translators: KTJA-LP 51 Victoria KYAZ-LP 41 Midland–Odessa
Former affiliations	Independent (1993–2010) Azteca América (2010–2021)
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	31870
ERP	1,000 kW
HAAT	595 m (1,952 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	29°33′45.2″N 95°30′35.9″W / 29.562556°N 95.509972°W / 29.562556; -95.509972
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	metv.com/kyaz

KYAZ (channel 51) is a television station licensed to Katy, Texas, United States, serving as the Houston area outlet for the classic television network MeTV. Owned and operated by Weigel Broadcasting, the station maintains studios at One Arena Place on Bissonnet Street on Houston's southwest side, and its transmitter is located near Missouri City, Texas.

History

Early history

The station first signed on the air on November 3, 1993, as KNWS-TV, a 24-hour all-news station that was owned by Johnson Broadcasting. The all-news format featured special segments, and pre-recorded newscasts that were looped, then updated, throughout the day. During 1995, KNWS simulcast live coverage of the O. J. Simpson murder trial from KTLA in Los Angeles.

KNWS began cutting back on its news programming in November 1996; following a canceled sale to home shopping operator Global Broadcasting Systems in 1997, the station abandoned its all-news format entirely on January 1, 1998, and became a traditional independent station, broadcasting syndicated classic television series and movies, as well as Houston Astros baseball games (many of the games were also simulcast on sister station KLDT in Lake Dallas, Texas). It also maintained local news updates, using the remains of the station's old newsroom. During this time, the station adopted the slogan "TV 51 Has The Shows You Know". By 2000, however, some of the programming had been dropped in favor of infomercials, a trend that would continue over the next decade. The Astros remained on KNWS until 2008, when the team's game telecasts moved to KTXH (channel 20).

Some NBC shows that KPRC-TV (channel 2) declined to air also aired on KNWS. Two such NBC programs were the daytime talk show Leeza, which briefly aired on KNWS in 1998, and the soap opera Passions, which also briefly aired on the station in 2001. In 1996, KNWS carried NBC Sports coverage of Notre Dame football home games as well as the Breeders' Cup. In 2000, KNWS carried Game 6 of the American League Championship Series (coincidentally, the last MLB game aired by NBC to date).

During the non-stop coverage of 2005's Hurricane Rita on Houston's news-producing stations, KNWS carried CBS network programs, on behalf of its local affiliate, KHOU (channel 11), which preempted them in order to run special coverage of the storm. KNWS repeated this pattern during Hurricane Ike.

Sale to Una Vez Más

Johnson Broadcasting filed for bankruptcy protection in October 2008. One year later, impatient creditors asked the bankruptcy court to allow the sale of KNWS and KLDT. Una Vez Más Holdings, LLC emerged as the leading bidder. The sale to Una Vez Más was approved by the bankruptcy court on December 29, 2009, and finally received FCC approval on September 27, 2010, after the Commission rejected a petition to deny the sale made by Spanish Broadcasting System. The new owners reserved the KAZH call letters, but changed them instead to KYAZ.

Prior to the sale to Una Vez Más, KNWS had made plans to add the Retro Television Network on a digital subchannel, but due to the bankruptcy filing, that plan was scrapped. Instead, reflecting the pending sale to Una Vez Más, an Azteca América subchannel was added to the station's digital signal as channel 51.2 on April 25, 2010. RTV ended up on KUVM-CD, a Mako Communications station, and the previous affiliate of Azteca América in Houston.

KYAZ began simulcasting Azteca América on subchannels 51.1 and 51.2 on December 29, 2010, the same day its new call letters were approved. Cold Case Files was acquired by KUBE-TV (channel 57), and weekly episodes of Cheaters moved to KIAH (channel 39). The weekly Heart of the Nation Catholic Mass also moved to KUBE-TV. It is unknown if more of channel 51's former meager programming inventory relocated to other stations.

In 2014, Una Vez Mas' TV assets (including KYAZ) were then sold to Northstar Media, LLC. In turn, HC2 Holdings acquired Northstar Media in addition to Azteca América on November 29, 2017, making KYAZ an Azteca owned-and-operated station.

Sale to Weigel Broadcasting

On September 14, 2020, Weigel Broadcasting announced that it would buy three of HC2's TV properties (including KYAZ and its longtime Dallas sister KAZD) as well as a low-powered station. The sale was consummated on December 29, making this the fourth ownership change in 11 years. KYAZ and KAZD became MeTV owned-and-operated stations on March 29, 2021.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

KYAZ-TV (as KNWS) discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 51, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 52, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition, to UHF channel 47, using virtual channel 51.

See also

• KAZD (Lake Dallas, Texas)

References

1. "Station Search Details". Federal Communications Commission. June 16, 2009. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
2. "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. October 30, 2020. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
3. ^ Hodges, Ann (November 3, 1993). "City gets local news TV station". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
4. ^ "Call Sign History". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved October 21, 2011.
5. "Facility Technical Data for KYAZ". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
6. ^ "TV Query Results". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved August 12, 2017.
7. Digital TV Market Listing for KYAZ
8. McDaniel, Mike (April 24, 1997). "Channel 51 to be sold for $40 million". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
9. McDaniel, Mike (May 22, 1997). "Channel 51 may not be sold after all". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
10. McDaniel, Mike (November 18, 1997). "Channel 51 plans to change format". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved August 31, 2012.
11. "Creditors pushing sale of Houston TV station". Houston Chronicle. October 21, 2009.
12. ^ Barron, David (December 31, 2010). "Houston's Channel 51 switches to Spanish format". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved December 31, 2010.
13. "Court Approves KNWS, KLDT Sale: Johnson Broadcasting stations sold to Una Vez Mas Holdings". Broadcasting & Cable. December 29, 2009.
14. "FCC approves challenged Texas TV transaction". Radio Business Report/Television Business Report. September 27, 2010. Archived from the original on December 24, 2010. Retrieved September 27, 2010.
15. "Media Bureau Call Sign Actions". Federal Communications Commission. October 6, 2010. Retrieved October 12, 2010.
16. "RTN Adds KLDT Dallas; U.S. Clearance Tops 65%". TV Newscheck. May 4, 2009.
17. Azteca America Acquired by HC2 Holdings Unit - Broadcasting & Cable (accessed March 19, 2018)
18. "Consummation Notice", CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, December 31, 2020, Retrieved August 23, 2021.
19. Weigel Captures Four Properties From HC2 - Radio & Television Business Report (published November 2, 2020)
20. "Digital TV Market Listing for KYAZ". RabbitEars.info. Retrieved May 4, 2023.
21. List of Digital Full-Power Stations Archived August 29, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
22. CDBS Print
23. Consumer Watch: Stations have more DTV work to do, Houston Chronicle, February 6, 2009.

External links

• MeTV official website

• 1993 establishments in Texas
• Katy, Texas
• MeTV affiliates
• Spanish-language television stations in Texas
• Story Television affiliates
• Television channels and stations established in 1993
• Television stations in Houston
• Weigel Broadcasting