View source for KEYU (TV)

{{Short description|Television station in Borger, Texas}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2024}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign               = KEYU
| city                   = [[Borger, Texas]]
| logo                   = File:KEYU logo 2019.png
| logo_size              = 150px
| branding               = {{ubl|{{lang|es|italic=no|Telemundo Amarillo}} ''(general)''|{{lang|es|Noticiero Telemundo Amarillo}} (news)}}
| digital                = 31 ([[UHF]])
| virtual                = 31
| subchannels            =
| translators            = [[KFDA-DT]] 10.3 ([[VHF]]) Amarillo
| affiliations           = {{ubl|'''31.1:''' [[Telemundo]]|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| founded                = February 6, 1998
| airdate                = {{start date and age|2004|11|02|p=y}}
| location               = [[Borger, Texas|Borger]]–[[Amarillo, Texas]]
| country                = United States
| callsign_meaning       = Equity Univision (original owner and affiliation)
| former_callsigns       = 
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 31 (UHF, 2004–2009)|'''Translators:'''|KEYU-LP 41 Amarillo|KEAT-LP 22 Amarillo}}
| owner                  = [[Gray Media]]
| licensee               = Gray Television Licensee, [[LLC]]
| former_affiliations    = {{ubl|[[Univision]] (2004–2010)}}
| sister_stations        = [[KFDA-TV]]
| erp                    = 700 [[kW]]
| haat                   = {{convert|305|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| class                  = 
| facility_id            = 83715
| coordinates            = {{coord|35|20|33.1|N|101|49|21.2|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority    = [[FCC]]
| website                = {{URL|www.telemundoamarillo.com}} 
}}

'''KEYU''' (channel 31) is a [[television station]] licensed to [[Borger, Texas]], United States, serving the [[Amarillo, Texas|Amarillo]] area as an affiliate of the Spanish-language network [[Telemundo]]. It is owned by [[Gray Media]] alongside [[CBS]] affiliate [[KFDA-TV]] (channel 10). The two stations share studios on Broadway Drive (just south of West Cherry Avenue) in northern Amarillo; KEYU's transmitter is located on Dumas Drive ([[U.S. Route 87 in Texas|US 87]]-[[U.S. Route 287 in Texas|287]]) and Reclamation Plant Road in rural [[unincorporated area#United States|unincorporated]] [[Potter County, Texas|Potter County]].

Despite its full-power status, the station's [[broadcast range|broadcasting radius]] does not reach the entire Amarillo market (covering a {{convert|55.2|mi|km|adj=mid|-wide|disp=sqbr}} area, compared to KFDA's {{convert|75.2|mi|km|adj=mid|-wide|disp=sqbr}} signal contour). To reach portions of the [[Texas Panhandle]] that do not receive KEYU's signal adequately, if at all, KEYU is [[simulcast]] in [[480i]] [[widescreen]] [[standard definition]] on KFDA's third subchannel (10.3) from a separate transmitter at the KEYU/KFDA studios.

==History==
The station first signed on the air on November 2, 2004; it was founded and owned by [[Little Rock]]–based Equity Broadcasting Corporation (later [[Equity Media Holdings]]). KEYU originally operated as an affiliate of [[Univision]], becoming the first Amarillo television station to have affiliated with the [[Spanish language in the United States|Spanish-language]] network. The station originally broadcast from studio facilities located on South Kentucky Street (behind [[Interstate 40 in Texas|I-40]]) on Amarillo's southwest side. Prior to the station's sign-on, Univision had previously been only receivable via local cable providers within the state (such as [[Cox Communications]] in Amarillo and [[Canyon, Texas|Canyon]]), which carried the Spanish language network's programming via its national feed; that feed was eventually replaced by a direct [[fiber optic]] feed of KEYU—whose schedule mirrored the national feed outside of local advertising, news inserts and occasional [[Infomercial|paid programming]] substitutions—from the station's studios.

[[File:KEYU.jpg|thumb|left|165px|Station ID, used from 2004 to 2007.]]
On June 25, 2008, Equity announced that it would sell KEYU and its low-power repeaters—along with Univision affiliates [[KUOK]] in [[Woodward, Oklahoma]] (and its [[Oklahoma City]] and [[Sulphur, Oklahoma|Sulphur]] translators), KUTW-LP/KWKO-LP in [[Waco, Texas]], [[WLZE-LP]]/[[WEVU-CA]] in [[Fort Myers, Florida]]; and [[WUMN-CA]] in [[Minneapolis–Saint Paul]]—to [[Luken Communications]] (owned by former Equity executive Henry Luken) for $25 million, with a contingency to reduce the sale price to $17.5 million if Luken closed its purchase on all of the stations simultaneously.<ref name="bc-saleluken">{{cite news|title=Equity Media Sells RTN to Ease Crunch|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/programming/equity-media-sells-rtn-ease-crunch/32632|first=Robert|last=Marich|periodical=[[Broadcasting & Cable]]|publisher=[[Reed Business Information]]|date=June 26, 2008|access-date=June 28, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Equity Media Sells RTN to Pay Off Debts|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/23524/equity-media-sells-rtn-to-pay-off-debts|first=Mark K.|last=Miller|website=TVNewsCheck|publisher=NewsCheck Media|date=June 26, 2008|access-date=July 7, 2017}}</ref> That December, Equity Media Holdings filed for [[Chapter 11 bankruptcy]] protection;<ref name="bloomberg-equitybankrupt">{{cite news|title=Equity Media, U.S. TV Station Owner, Seeks Bankruptcy|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&refer=home&sid=aDVf83geoJ3c|first=Erik|last=Larson|website=Bloomberg News|publisher=[[Bloomberg L.P.]]|date=December 8, 2008|access-date=December 9, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121023124749/https://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=email_en&refer=home&sid=aDVf83geoJ3c|archive-date=October 23, 2012}}</ref> offers by Luken Communications to acquire Equity-owned stations in six markets were later withdrawn.<ref>{{cite news|title=Equity's Management Cause of Downfall, Former CEO Asserts|url=http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=111746|first=Mark|last=Hengel|newspaper=Arkansas Business|date=February 2, 2009}}</ref> According to the [[Retro Television Network]] website, KEYU had at one point planned to add an RTN affiliate on DT3 sometime in the future. However, after Equity filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2008, Luken began to distance itself from Equity; its offers to acquire KEYU and other Equity stations were eventually withdrawn, and on January 4, 2009, RTN affiliation was removed from all Equity-owned or operated stations as a result of a commercial dispute with Luken.<ref>[http://www.arkansasbusiness.com/article.aspx?aID=111746 Equity's Management Cause of Downfall, Former CEO Asserts], Mark Hengel, Arkansas Business, February 2, 2009</ref>

[[File:KEYU-41.jpg|thumb|left|175px|Former KEYU logo, used from 2007 to 2009.]]
In 2009, KEYU and three Amarillo [[LPTV]] stations—[[Telefutura]] affiliate [[KAMT-LP]] and KEYU repeaters KEYU-LP and KEAT-LP—were put up for sale for $7.5 million, as part of a sell-off of all of Equity's stations.<ref name="tvbr-forsale">{{cite news|url=http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv_deals/14129.html|title=Equity stations still on the block|date=April 20, 2009|work=Television Business Report|access-date=April 28, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090502204648/http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv_deals/14129.html|archive-date=May 2, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>  A buyer was not found until October, when [[Drewry Communications]] announced that it would purchase the stations, with a failing station waiver being obtained to allow KEYU to be co-owned with KFDA. The station subsequently relocated its operations to KFDA's studios on Broadway Drive in northern Amarillo. (The former KEYU studio building is now occupied by the Mewbourne Oil Company.)<ref name="tvbr-saletodrewry">{{cite news|url=http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv_deals/17834.html|title=Amarillo acquisition requires waiver|date=October 16, 2009|work=Television Business Report|access-date=October 21, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091022104132/http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv_deals/17834.html|archive-date=October 22, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> Shortly after assuming control in 2010, Drewry dropped the station's affiliation with Univision and moved the programming of [[KTMO-LP]], including its Telemundo affiliation and local newscasts, to KEYU.

On August 10, 2015, [[Montgomery, Alabama]]–based [[Raycom Media]] announced that it would purchase Drewry Communications' eight television stations as well as radio stations [[KEYU-FM]] (102.9 FM) in Amarillo and [[KVLM|KTXC]] in [[Lamesa]] for $160 million. The sale was completed on December 1; as a result, KEYU became the first full-power Spanish-language television station to be owned by Raycom. (The remainder of the group's Telemundo-affiliated stations were low-power or subchannel-only outlets.)<ref name="TVNC Drewry Raycom">{{cite web|title=Raycom Buying Drewry For $160 Million|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/87548/raycom-buying-drewry-for-160-million|first=Harry A.|last=Jessell|website=TVNewsCheck|publisher=NewsCheck Media|date=August 10, 2015|access-date=August 12, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Raycom Acquires Drewry Stations for $160 Million|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/local-tv/raycom-acquires-drewry-stations-160-million/143460|first=Michael|last=Malone|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=NewBay Media|date=August 18, 2015|access-date=August 4, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Raycom Media Completes $160 Million Acquisition of Drewry Communications|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/local-tv/raycom-media-completes-160-million-acquisition-drewry-communications/146111|first=Jonathan|last=Kuperberg|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=NewBay Media|date=December 1, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Raycom Closes On Drewry TV-Radio Buy|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/90407/raycom-closes-on-drewry-tvradio-buy|website=TVNewsCheck|publisher=NewsCheck Media|date=December 1, 2015|access-date=June 23, 2018}}</ref>

On June 25, 2018, [[Atlanta]]-based [[Gray Television]] announced it had reached an agreement with Raycom to merge their respective broadcasting assets (consisting of Raycom's 63 existing owned-and/or-operated television stations, including KFDA-TV and KEYU as well as Lubbock sister station [[KCBD]], and Gray's 93 television stations) under the former's corporate umbrella. The cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion—in which Gray shareholders would acquire preferred stock currently held by Raycom—resulted in KFDA/KEYU gaining a new [[sister station]] in the [[Odessa, Texas|Odessa]]–[[Midland, Texas|Midland]] market as Gray plans to retain ownership of fellow CBS affiliate [[KOSA-TV]] in exchange for selling NBC affiliate [[KWES-TV]] (which was sold to an independent company to comply with FCC ownership rules prohibiting common ownership of two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market, instead KWES and [[WTOL]] in [[Toledo, Ohio]], would be sold to [[Tegna Inc.]]).<ref>{{cite press release|title=GRAY AND RAYCOM TO COMBINE IN A $3.6 BILLION TRANSACTION|url=https://www.raycommedia.com/gray-and-raycom-to-combine-in-a-3-6-billion-transaction/#amnewsers|website=[[Raycom Media]]|date=June 25, 2018|access-date=July 31, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625161249/https://www.raycommedia.com/gray-and-raycom-to-combine-in-a-3-6-billion-transaction/#amnewsers|archive-date=June 25, 2018|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="graycom">{{cite web|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/114556/gray-to-buy-raycom-for-36-billion|title=Gray To Buy Raycom For $3.6 Billion|last=Miller|first=Mark K.|work=TVNewsCheck|publisher=NewsCheckMedia|date=June 25, 2018|access-date=June 25, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Gray Buying Raycom for $3.6B|url=https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/gray-buying-raycom-for-3-6b|first=John|last=Eggerton|periodical=Broadcasting & Cable|publisher=NewBay Media|date=June 25, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Gray Acquiring Raycom For $3.65B, Forming No. 3 Local TV Group|url=https://deadline.com/2018/06/grey-acquiring-raycom-for-3-65-billion-forming-no-3-local-tv-group-1202416667/|first=Dade|last=Hayes|website=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|publisher=[[Penske Media Corporation]]|date=June 25, 2018}}</ref> The sale was approved on December 20,<ref>[https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/fcc-ok-with-gray-raycom-merger "FCC OK with Gray/Raycom Merger"], [[Broadcasting & Cable]], December 20, 2018, Retrieved December 20, 2018.</ref> and was completed on January 2, 2019.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/227754/gray-closes-3-6-billion-raycom-merger/|title=Gray Closes On $3.6 Billion Raycom Merger|work=TVNewsCheck|publisher=NewsCheckMedia|date=January 2, 2019|access-date=January 3, 2019|archive-date=January 3, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190103060110/https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/227754/gray-closes-3-6-billion-raycom-merger/|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In August 2018, the station dropped [[LATV]] programming on its second digital subchannel and opened a third subchannel affiliating with [[Ion Television]], returning the network's programming to the Amarillo market after low-power station K39HF ceased operations in 2014.

==Newscasts==
From 2005 until May 2008, Equity Broadcasting produced Spanish-language newscasts for KEYU, titled {{lang|es|Noticias Univision Amarillo}}. The twice-nightly newscasts – which aired at 5 and 10&nbsp;p.m. each weeknight – consisted of a single broadcast that was repeated later in the evening. While KEYU maintained its own locally based full-time reporters and photographers at its Amarillo facility, most of the newscast segments were produced out of studios located at Equity's headquarters in Little Rock, which served as a production hub for local newscasts aired by the group's Univision-affiliated stations. As with Equity's Univision newscasts elsewhere, the program consisted of nine minutes of local news and weather segments, accompanied by pre-recorded national and international news and sports segments produced for inclusion in all of the broadcasts. As a result of corporate cutbacks spurred by the company's financial issues, Equity discontinued the newscasts it produced for all six of its Univision affiliates (including KEYU) on June 6, 2008.<ref>{{cite news|title=Live From Arkansas, Utah News in Spanish|url=http://newsok.com/article/3078553|first=Jon|last=Gambrell|newspaper=[[The Oklahoman]]|publisher=Oklahoma Publishing Company|date=July 7, 2007|access-date=July 7, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Equity Says Adios to Spanish-Language News|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/23057/equity-says-adios-to-spanishlanguage-news|first=Harry A.|last=Jessell|website=TVNewsCheck|publisher=NewsCheck Media|date=June 10, 2008}}</ref><ref name="nwa-newsend">{{cite news|title=Equity ends newscasts; N.Y. station buy teeters |url=http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Business/228628/|first=Toby|last=Manthey|newspaper=[[Arkansas Democrat-Gazette]]|publisher=[[WEHCO Media]]|date=June 14, 2008|access-date=June 19, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090206235312/http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Business/228628/|archive-date=February 6, 2009}}</ref>

After becoming a sister station to KFDA-TV, KEYU restored full-scale news programming to its schedule in September 2009; the station assumed production responsibilities for its newscasts, launching weeknight-only newscasts at 5 and 10&nbsp;p.m. produced at the Broadway Drive studios.

==Technical information==

===Subchannels===
The station's signal is [[Multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of KEYU<ref>{{cite web|title=RabbitEars TV Query for KEYU|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KEYU#station|website=[[RabbitEars]]|access-date=August 6, 2018}}</ref>
! scope="col" | [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! scope="col" | [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! scope="col" | [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! scope="col" | Short name
! scope="col" | Programming
|-
! scope="row" | 31.1 
| [[1080i]] || rowspan="7" |[[16:9]] || KEYU || [[Telemundo]]
|-
! scope="row" | 31.2 
| rowspan="6"|[[480i]] || H&I || [[Heroes & Icons]]
|-
! scope="row" | 31.3 
| KEYUOUT || [[Free TV Networks|Outlaw]]
|-
! scope="row" | 31.4 
| ION || [[Ion Television|Ion]]
|-
! scope="row" |31.5
|DABL
|[[Dabl]]
|-
! scope="row" |31.6
|StartTV
|[[Start TV]]
|-
! scope="row" |31.7
|DEFY
|[[Defy TV]]
|-
|}

===Analog-to-digital transition===
As the station's original [[construction permit]] was granted after the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) finalized the [[digital terrestrial television|DTV]] allotment plan on April 21, 1997,<ref>{{cite web|title=Final Digital TV (DTV) Channel Plan from FCC97-115|url=http://www.transmitter.com/FCC97115/chanplan.html|first=H. Douglas|last=Lung|website=Transmitter.com|date=May 28, 1997}}</ref> the station did not receive a companion channel for its [[Digital signal (broadcasting)|digital signal]]. Instead, at the end of the digital conversion period for full-service television stations, KEYU would have been required to turn off its [[analog signal]] and turn on its digital signal (called a "[[flash-cut]]").

As a result of then-KEYU-owner Equity Media Holdings filing a bankruptcy relief petition under Chapter 11 of the [[Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure|federal bankruptcy]] code on December 8, 2008, the station was required to obtain post-petition financing and court approval before digital facilities were to be constructed, and had to cease its [[NTSC-M|analog signal]] on [[Digital television transition in the United States|February 17, 2009]], regardless of whether digital facilities were operational by that date. The station filed an authority to remain [[dark (broadcasting)|silent]] if required by the FCC. While the [[DTV Delay Act]] extended this deadline to June 12, 2009, Equity had applied for an extension of the digital construction permit in order to retain the [[broadcast license]] after the station went dark. In 2011, the main KEYU signal was later added as a [[digital subchannel]] of CBS-affiliated sister station KFDA-TV for viewers in Amarillo with an over-the-air digital receiver.

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.telemundoamarillo.com/|name=www.telemundoamarillo.com}} - KEYU official website

{{Amarillo TV}}
{{Telemundo Texas}}
{{ION Texas}}
{{New Mexico Spanish TV}}
{{New Mexico English TV}}
{{Oklahoma TV}}
{{Gray TV}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Keyu}}
[[Category:2004 establishments in Texas]]
[[Category:Dabl affiliates]]
[[Category:Ion Plus affiliates]]
[[Category:Gray Media]]
[[Category:Heroes & Icons affiliates]]
[[Category:Ion Television affiliates]]
[[Category:Spanish-language television stations in Texas]]
[[Category:Start TV affiliates]]
[[Category:Telemundo affiliates]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 2004]]
[[Category:Television stations in Amarillo, Texas|EYU (TV)]]
[[Category:TeleXitos affiliates]]