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  • 21 Aug, 2019

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KUNS-DT2
KUNS-TV (channel 51) is a television station licensed to Bellevue, Washington, United States, serving the Seattle area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside ABC affiliate KOMO-TV (channel 4). The two stations share studios within KOMO Plaza (formerly Fisher Plaza) in the Lower Queen Anne section of Seattle; KUNS-TV's transmitter is located in the city's Queen Anne neighborhood.

History

KUNS's logo from January 29, 2019, through December 31, 2023

On February 10, 1988, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a construction permit for television station KBEH. However, channel 51 did not begin its broadcasting operation until August 8, 1999, transmitting programs from the ValueVision network, which became ShopNBC in 2001 after NBC (now part of Comcast) acquired a 37% ownership stake in that network. In December 2000, the station changed its call letters to KWOG. Previously locally owned and operated and at one point being minority owned, the station was sold to Fisher Communications on September 29, 2006.

On October 31, 2006, the station changed its call letters one more time, this time to the current KUNS-TV. On January 1, 2007, it rang in the year by going from broadcasting home shopping programs to broadcasting Hispanic programming as a Univision affiliate almost instantly, providing viewers with programs such as Sabado Gigante, Despierta América and El Gordo y La Flaca, in addition to an assortment of telenovelas, along with many other programs. The station also started its own local newscast, Noticias Noroeste with Jaime Méndez and Roxy de la Torre. The newscast originates from a studio at KOMO Plaza (formerly Fisher Plaza) in Seattle.

On August 21, 2012, Fisher Communications signed an affiliation agreement with MundoFox, a Spanish-language competitor to Univision that is owned as a joint venture between Fox International Channels and Colombian broadcaster RCN TV, for KUNS and Portland sister station KUNP to be carried on both stations as digital subchannels starting in late September. On April 11, 2013, Fisher announced that it would sell its properties, including KUNS-TV, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group. The deal was completed on August 8, 2013.

On May 8, 2017, Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into an agreement to acquire Tribune Media—owner of Fox affiliate KCPQ (channel 13) and MyNetworkTV affiliate KZJO (channel 22)—for $3.9 billion, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in debt held by Tribune, pending regulatory approval by the FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division; the merger would have required divestitures in the Seattle market, as broadcasters are not currently allowed to legally own more than two full-power television stations in a single market. On April 24, 2018, Sinclair disclosed that it would buy KZJO and sell KUNS-TV to Howard Stirk Holdings, while continuing to provide services to the station; KCPQ would concurrently be sold to Fox Television Stations, which would make KCPQ a Fox owned-and-operated station.

Three weeks after the FCC's July 18 vote to have the deal reviewed by an administrative law judge amid "serious concerns" about Sinclair's forthrightness in its applications to sell certain conflict properties, on August 9, 2018, Tribune announced it would terminate the Sinclair deal, intending to seek other M&A opportunities. Tribune also filed a breach of contract lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court, alleging that Sinclair engaged in protracted negotiations with the FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division over regulatory issues, refused to sell stations in markets where it already had properties, and proposed divestitures to parties with ties to Sinclair executive chair David D. Smith that were rejected or highly subject to rejection to maintain control over stations it was required to sell. The termination of the Sinclair sale agreement places uncertainty for the future of Fox's purchases of KCPQ and the other six Tribune stations included in that deal, which were predicated on the closure of the Sinclair–Tribune merger.

On October 11, 2023, it was reported that KUNS-TV would become the Seattle market's new affiliate of The CW effective January 1, 2024, replacing KOMO-DT2, which reverted to a full-time affiliation with the Sinclair-owned diginet Comet. The move was controversial within the local Hispanic community as it implied the discontinuation of the only local Spanish-language newscast in Western Washington; Sinclair did not confirm the discontinuation of Spanish-language content in general on KUNS until nearly a month later, having offered Univision a subchannel position that the network declined. KUNS aired its last such newscast on December 31, with Bellingham-based KVOS-TV (channel 12) assuming the Univision affiliation the following day; former co-anchor Jaime Méndez started streaming his own newscast from his Lynnwood home on January 5, 2024, in response to the move.

When it switched to The CW, rather than any associated CW branding, Sinclair instead rebranded the station as "arc Seattle", with "ARC" standing for "authentic, relatable, community". Alongside the rebranding, the station also launched a lifestyle-oriented morning news program also titled arc Seattle.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on the multiplexed signals of other Seattle television stations:

Subchannels provided by KUNS-TV (ATSC 1.0)
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming ATSC 1.0 host
51.1 1080i 16:9 KUNS The CW KOMO-TV
51.2 480i TBD TBD/Rip City Television Network KIRO-TV
51.3 TheNest The Nest

On September 23, 2024, the Portland Trail Blazers announced an agreement with Sinclair to launch Rip City Television Network, which will syndicate games over-the-air. Games in Seattle will air on KUNS-TV's second subchannel.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KUNS-TV shut down 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 remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 50, using virtual channel 51.

ATSC 3.0

Subchannels of KUNS-TV (ATSC 3.0)
Channel Video Aspect Short name Programming
4.1 720p 16:9 KOMO ABC (KOMO-TV)
7.1 1080p KIRO CBS (KIRO-TV)
51.1 KUNS The CW

References

  1. ^ "Digital Television". Northwest Broadcasters. Retrieved November 23, 2017.
  2. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KUNS-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. ^ "FisherCommunications - News". phx.corporate-ir.net. Archived from the original on February 21, 2013. Retrieved February 2, 2022.
  4. ^ Fisher Adds MundoFox In Seattle, Portland, TVNewsCheck, August 21, 2012.
  5. ^ Malone, Michael (April 11, 2013). "Sinclair to Acquire Fisher Stations for $373 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
  6. ^ "Sinclair Broadcast Group Closes On Fisher Communications Acquisition". All Access. August 8, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  7. ^ Battaglio, Stephen (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast Group to buy Tribune Media for $3.9 billion plus debt". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  8. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast Group Sets $3.9 Billion Deal to Acquire Tribune Media". Variety. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  9. ^ Frankel, Todd (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast to buy Tribune Media for $3.9 billion, giving it control over 215 local TV stations". The Washington Post. Nash Holdings, LLC. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  10. ^ Baker, Liana; Toonkel, Jessica (May 7, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast nears deal for Tribune Media". Reuters. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  11. ^ Jessell, Harry A.; Miller, Mark K. (May 8, 2017). "The New Sinclair: 72% Coverage + WGNA". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media.
  12. ^ Gates, Dominic (May 9, 2017). "Current FCC rules bar Sinclair from owning both KOMO and KCPQ — but that could change". The Seattle Times. The Seattle Times Company. Retrieved June 7, 2017.
  13. ^ "Sinclair Enters Into Agreements To Sell TV Stations Related To Closing Tribune Media Acquisition".
  14. ^ "Sinclair Revises TV Spinoff Plans For Tribune Deal, Announces Deals For Several Stations". All Access. April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  15. ^ Hayes, Dade (May 9, 2018). "21st Century Fox Buys Seven Local TV Stations From Sinclair For $910 Million". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  16. ^ Shields, Todd (July 16, 2018). "Sinclair and Tribune Fall as FCC Slams TV Station Sale Plan". Bloomberg News. Retrieved July 19, 2018.
  17. ^ Neidig, Harper (July 16, 2018). "FCC chair rejects Sinclair-Tribune merger". The Hill. Capitol Hill Publishing Corp. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  18. ^ Feder, Robert (July 16, 2018). "FCC throws Sinclair/Tribune deal in doubt". RobertFeder.com. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
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  21. ^ Mirabella, Lorraine (July 18, 2018). "FCC orders hearing even as Sinclair changes plans to sell TV stations to address concerns about Tribune deal". Baltimore Sun. Tronc. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  22. ^ "Tribune Terminates $3.9 Billion Sinclair Merger, Sues Broadcast Rival". The Wall Street Journal. News Corp. August 9, 2018.
  23. ^ Miller, Mark K. (August 9, 2018). "Tribune Kills Sinclair Merger, Files Suit". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Archived from the original on March 29, 2022. Retrieved September 13, 2018.
  24. ^ Dinsmore, Christopher (August 9, 2018). "Tribune Media pulls out of Sinclair Broadcast merger". Baltimore Sun. Tronc.
  25. ^ Lee, Edmund; Tsang, Amie (August 9, 2018). "Tribune Ends Deal With Sinclair, Dashing Plan for Conservative TV Behemoth". The New York Times.
  26. ^ Lafayette, Jon (August 9, 2018). "Tribune Ends Deal with Sinclair, Files Breach of Contract Suit". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media.
  27. ^ Fung, Brian; Romm, Tony (August 9, 2018). "Tribune withdraws from Sinclair merger, saying it will sue for 'breach of contract'". The Washington Post. Nash Holdings LLC.
  28. ^ "This Lynnwood-born star will appear on two reality dating shows at once". The Seattle Times. October 11, 2023. Retrieved November 12, 2023.
  29. ^ Shapiro, Nina (November 13, 2023). "Sinclair nixes Univision affiliation, ending local Spanish broadcasts". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
  30. ^ Shapiro, Nina (January 9, 2024). "WA anchor launches his own Spanish newscast to fill a new void". The Seattle Times. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
  31. ^ Denkmann, Libby; Gasca, Noel (January 11, 2024). "With Univision Seattle gone, this former anchor is filling the Spanish-language news gap". KUOW. Retrieved April 20, 2024.
  32. ^ Staff, KOMO News (February 14, 2024). "Welcome to ARC Seattle: A new type of show on the CW channel". KOMO. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  33. ^ "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
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  35. ^ "Portland Trail Blazers Announce Future Of Trail Blazers Broadcasting". Portland Trail Blazers. September 23, 2024. Retrieved September 23, 2024.
  36. ^ "What digital TV delay means to North Olympic Peninsula viewers". Peninsula Daily News.
  37. ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations Archived August 29, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  38. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for KUNS". www.rabbitears.info.
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