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KIMT

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For the airport in Dickinson County, Michigan, assigned ICAO code KIMT, seeFord Airport (Iron Mountain).

KIMT
CityMason City, Iowa
Channels
BrandingKIMT 3;KIMT News 3
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
Cable:Bally Sports North,Bally Sports Wisconsin,Bally Sports Midwest
History
First air date
May 15, 1954(70 years ago)(1954-05-15)
Former call signs
KGLO-TV (1954−1977)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:3 (VHF,1954–2009)
  • Digital:42 (UHF, 2002–2019)
  • Both secondary:
  • DuMont(1954–1956)
  • UPN(1995−2006)
Call signmeaning
"Iowa Minnesota Television"
Technical information[2]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID66402
ERP472kW
HAAT465.7 m (1,528 ft)
Transmitter coordinates43°28′32″N92°42′30″W/ 43.47556°N 92.70833°W/43.47556; -92.70833
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.kimt

KIMT(channel 3) is atelevision stationlicensed toMason City, Iowa,United States, serving North Central Iowa andSoutheast Minnesotaas an affiliate ofCBSandMyNetworkTV.Owned byAllen Media Group,the station maintains studios on North Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Mason City, with a news bureau onHighway 52North inRochester, Minnesota,and a sales office on East William Street in downtownAlbert Lea, Minnesota.Its transmitter is located nearMeyer, Iowa(betweenStacyvilleandMcIntire) south of the Minnesota state line.

History[edit]

The station signed on for the first time on May 15, 1954, as KGLO-TV, owned byLee Enterprisesalong with theGlobe Gazetteand KGLO radio (1300 AMand 101.1 FM). On the station's first day, reception of its analog signal onVHFchannel 3 was reported as far away asGary, Indiana.The originaleffective radiated powerof 100,000wattswas 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 withDuMontuntil 1956, when that network ceased operations.

In August 1977, theFederal 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 radio was sold to BY Communications in 1977 and the television station was renamed KIMT (standing for "Iowa Minnesota Television" ) on August 1. In 1980, it was sold to the Shott family ofBluefield, West Virginia,and theirDaily TelegraphPrinting Company. However, in 1984, they sold KIMT andWBTWinFlorence, South Carolina,to Spartan Radiocasting Company (later to becomeSpartan Communications).

Early in the morning on June 27, 1995, KIMT news anchorJodi Huisentruitwas 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 withMedia Generalin 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 October 18, 2018, KIMT moved to channel 24 as part of the FCC repack.

On April 6, 2006, Media General announced it would sell KIMT as part of the company's acquisition of fourNBCowned-and-operated stations.[3]On August 2,New Vision Televisionmade public it had bought KIMT and sister stationWIATinBirmingham, Alabama,for $35 million. That company's acquisition of the two outlets was finalized on October 12, 2006.[4]As part of theanalog to digital transitionin 2009, the station opted to keep its analog channel on-air until the revised June 12 deadline.[5]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 800kWwhich would more effectively fill its coverage footprint.

On May 7, 2012,LIN TV Corporationannounced that it would acquire the New Vision Television station group, including KIMT, for $330.4 million and the assumption of $12 million in debt.[6]On October 2, the FCC approved the proposed sale to LIN TV.[7]The transaction was finalized on October 12, 2012.

On March 21, 2014, Media General announced that it would acquire LIN.[8]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.[9]

In September 2015, Media General announced the acquisition ofMeredith Corporationin a cash and stock deal valued at $2.4 billion.[10]Upon completion of the deal, KIMT, along withDavenportsister station and NBC affiliateKWQC-TV,would have become Meredith's first television stations in its home state of Iowa. However, on January 27, 2016, it was announced that theNexstar Broadcasting Groupwould buy Media General for $4.6 billion. KIMT would have become part of "Nexstar Media Group", joining a cluster of Nexstar stations serving Iowa including ABC affiliatesWOI-DTinDes MoinesandKCAU-TVinSioux City,and CBS affiliateWHBF-TVin theQuad Cities.[11]On June 13, 2016, Nexstar announced that it would sell KIMT and four other stations toHeartland Media,through its USA Television MidAmerica Holdingsjoint venturewith MSouth Equity Partners, for $115 million; the sale was required to allow Nexstar to comply with FCC ownership caps following the merger.[12]

July 2015 carriage dispute with Mediacom[edit]

On July 14, 2015, KIMT and itsdigital subchannelswere pulled from the North Iowa region'sMediacomcablesystems due to acarriage disputeoverretransmission consentfees between Mediacom and KIMT owner Media General.[13]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 threeFoxaffiliates owned by Media General were lost to Mediacom subscribers inHampton Roads, Virginia,Terre Haute, Indiana,andTopeka, Kansasjust before the start of the2015 Major League Baseball All-Star Game.[14]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.[15]

News operation[edit]

Since KIMT is the only major station licensed to the Iowa side of the market, its newscasts have traditionally focused on Iowa issues.[citation needed]On June 12, 2009, KIMT became the first outlet to upgrade newscasts to16:9enhanced definitionwidescreenwith some parts in full high definition. Although not truly HD, theaspect ratiomatches 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 asMy Morning News on My 3.2), a repeat of the thirty-minute weekday noon broadcast at 12:30 (calledKIMT News 3 Midday on My 3.2), and prime time newscast weeknights at 9 (known asMy Primetime News at 9). Eventually, the half-hour weeknight show was reduced to a five-minute cut-in featuring an updated weather forecast.

On March 20, 2011, rival NBC affiliateKTTC(channel 10) 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, airing2+1⁄2hours of news from 4:30 to 7 a.m. and an additional half hour,My Morning News on My 3.2,starting at 7 a.m. on KIMT-DT2.

Subchannels[edit]

The station's signal ismultiplexed:

Subchannels of KIMT[16]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
3.1 1080i 16:9 KIMTCBS CBS
3.2 480i KIMTMyN MyNetworkTV
3.3 KIMTION Ion Television
3.4 4:3 KIMTANT Antenna TV

References[edit]

  1. ^Miller, Mark K. (October 1, 2019)."Byron Allen Buying 11 Stations For $290M".TVNewsCheck.NewsCheckMedia.RetrievedOctober 1,2019.
  2. ^"Facility Technical Data for KIMT".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^"Media General to Acquire Four NBC Owned and Operated Television Stations"ArchivedMarch 5, 2016, at theWayback Machine,Media General, April 6, 2006
  4. ^"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
  5. ^"Analog Turn Off Delayed",KIMT News, February 9, 2009
  6. ^Malone, Michael (May 7, 2012)."LIN Acquiring New Vision Stations for $330 Million".Broadcasting & Cable.RetrievedMay 7,2012.
  7. ^http://licensing.fcc.gov/prod/cdbs/pubacc/Auth_Files/1499211.pdf[dead link]
  8. ^Ramakrishnan, Sruthi (March 21, 2014)."Media General to buy LIN Media for $1.6 billion".Reuters.RetrievedMarch 21,2014.
  9. ^Media General Completes Merger With LIN MediaArchivedDecember 19, 2014, at theWayback Machine,Press Release,Media General,Retrieved December 19, 2014
  10. ^"Media General to Buy Meredith Corp. for $2.4 Billion".The Wall Street Journal.September 8, 2015.RetrievedSeptember 8,2015.
  11. ^"Nexstar Broadcasting Group Enters into Definitive Agreement to Acquire Media General for $4.6 Billion in Accretive Cash and Stock Transaction".Archived fromthe originalon January 30, 2016.RetrievedJanuary 28,2016.
  12. ^"Prather Buys 5 TVs From Nexstar-Media Gen".TVNewsCheck.June 13, 2016.RetrievedJune 13,2016.
  13. ^Skipper, John (July 14, 2015)."Mediacom drops CBS in contract impasse".Mason City Globe Gazette.Lee Enterprises.RetrievedAugust 9,2015.
  14. ^Farrell, Mike (July 15, 2015)."Media General Stations Go Dark on Mediacom".Multichannel News.NewBay Media.RetrievedAugust 9,2015.
  15. ^Skipper, John (July 30, 2015)."Mediacom, Media General reach agreement; KIMT returns to Cable TV lineup".Mason City Globe Gazette.Lee Enterprises.RetrievedAugust 9,2015.
  16. ^"RabbitEars TV Query for KIMT".RabbitEars.info.

External links[edit]

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