Nebraska Television Network

Nebraska Television Network (NTV)

Kearney–Hastings–Grand Island and North Platte, Nebraska United States
City	Kearney, Nebraska
Channels	Virtual: 13, 6, 27
Programming
Subchannels	x.1: ABC 13.2/6.2: Fox 13.3/6.3: TBD
Ownership
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group (KHGI Licensee, LLC)
Sister stations	KFXL-TV
History
First air date	December 25, 1953 (70 years ago) (1953-12-25), with the launch of KHOL-TV (now KHGI-TV) in Kearney
Former affiliations	CBS (1953–1961) DuMont (secondary, 1953–1955/6) NBC (secondary, 1954–1955) ABC (secondary, 1954–1961) Fox (secondary, 1994–c. 1999)
Links
Website	nebraska.tv
For technical information, see § Stations.

The Nebraska Television Network (NTV) is the ABC affiliate for most of central and western Nebraska. It consists of two full-power stations—KHGI-TV (channel 13) in Kearney, with its transmitter near Lowell, and KWNB-TV (channel 6) in Hayes Center—as well as two low-power stations in McCook and North Platte. NTV is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, alongside Lincoln-licensed Fox affiliate KFXL-TV (channel 51), and operates from studios on Nebraska Highway 44 east of Axtell, about 14 miles (23 km) south of Kearney, with a secondary studio and news bureau at the Conestoga Mall in Grand Island.

NTV serves North Platte as well as the western half of the Lincoln–Hastings–Kearney market, though it has never been the ABC affiliate of record for Lincoln. Historically, Lincoln viewers watched Omaha stations; in 1996, KLKN (channel 8) was launched as a Lincoln-based ABC affiliate. Though KLKN and NTV generally focus on separate areas, satellite television providers Dish Network and DirecTV provide both stations across the entire market.^[1][2]

The first station in the network went on the air as KHOL-TV in December 1953. Owned by a group of businessmen from Holdrege, it was a primary affiliate of CBS and the first station in Nebraska outside of Lincoln or Omaha. To bring television to southwestern Nebraska, local residents contributed money to construct channel 6 at Hayes Center, originally designated KHPL-TV, which began broadcasting in February 1956. The stations became primary ABC affiliates in 1961. In the 1960s, two additional transmitters were built: KHQL-TV (channel 8) at Albion and KHTL-TV (channel 4) in Superior. The network was sold to NTV Enterprises in 1974; the stations adopted their present call signs. In 1983, the Albion station was separated from the network as the short-lived independent station KBGT-TV "Big 8"; the translators in McCook and North Platte were constructed in the late 1980s.

In 1994, NTV began managing KTVG-TV in Grand Island, which became a Fox affiliate; KSNB-TV was switched from ABC to Fox in 1996. NTV's owner in the 1990s and 2000s, Pappas Telecasting, started Lincoln's channel 51 in 2006; that station and subchannels of most of the NTV stations became Fox affiliates in 2009. Sinclair acquired NTV at bankruptcy auction in 2015. The station produces news programs focusing on southwestern Nebraska and the Tri-Cities area.