ksnt news newscasts ktmj on dt2 slogan we ve got your back general news always watching . always tracking . weather channels digital 27 uhf virtual 27 psip subchannels 27.1 nbc 27.2 fox 27.3 ion television owner media general sale to nexstar broadcasting group pending lin license company llc first air date december 28 1967 ; 48 years ago 1967 12 28 call letters meaning kansas state network topeka sister station s ktka tv ktmj cd ksnw former callsigns ktsb 1967 1982 former channel number s analog 27 uhf 1967 2009 digital 28 uhf 2004 2009 former affiliations secondary abc 1967 1983 dt2 the cw 2006 2008 transmitter power 77.9 kw height 320 m class dt facility id 67335 transmitter coordinates 39 5 34 n 95 47 4 w 39.09278 n 95.78444 w 39.09278 ; 95.78444 coordinates 39 5 34 n 95 47 4 w 39.09278 n 95.78444 w 39.09278 ; 95.78444 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website ksnt.com ksnt virtual and uhf digital channel 27 is an nbc affiliated television station located in topeka kansas united states . the station is owned by media general and is a sister station to fox affiliate ktmj cd channel 43 ; media general also operates abc affiliate ktka tv channel 49 under shared services and joint sales agreements with owner vaughan media llc . all three stations share studio facilities with ksnt and ktka also sharing transmitter facilities located on northwest 25th street us 24 near the kiro section of topeka . on cable ksnt is available in topeka on cox communications channel 7 in standard definition and digital channel 2007 in high definition and on at & t u verse channel 27 in standard definition and channel 1027 in high definition ; and in the lawrence area on wow channel 8 in standard definition and digital channel 208 in high definition and resnet channel 8 in standard definition . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 new vision television ownership acquisition of ktmj ca and lma with ktka tv 1.3 sale to lin media and then media general then nexstar 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 ksnt dt2 2.3 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 news operation 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit early history edit the station first signed on the air on december 28 1967 as ktsb . it was originally owned by ralph c. wilson jr. founding owner of the nfl football franchise the buffalo bills . it was the second commercial television station to sign on in the topeka market and the first full powered uhf station in kansas . the station has been an nbc affiliate from its debut . unlike most then two station markets ktsb did not take a formal secondary affiliation with abc however it did clear a few shows aired by that network . it had little need to air many abc programs as the network s two closest affiliates kmbc tv in kansas city and kqtv in st. joseph both provide over the air signals that decently cover topeka . after sharing abc programming with cbs affiliate wibw tv channel 13 for channel 27 s first 16 years of operation both stations lost the local rights to the network when kldh channel 49 now ktka tv signed on in june 1983 becoming the market s first full time abc affiliate . in 1982 george hatch owner of the kansas state network a chain of nbc affiliated stations originating at kard tv now ksnw in wichita purchased the station from wilson . later that year the station changed its call letters to ksnt as part of an effort to help viewers think of the ksn stations as part of one large network . over the next few years the station branded itself under the ksn name but only provided limited simulcasts with ksnw and its three full time satellite stations in western kansas ksng in garden city ksnc in great bend and ksnk in mccook nebraska ; as such ksnt essentially acted as a de facto semi satellite of ksnw . sjl communications owned by george lilly purchased the station along with ksnw from hatch in 1988 ; lilly eventually had part of the microwave system that linked the two stations dismantled in a cost cutting effort . in 1995 davenport iowa based lee enterprises acquired the kansas state network group as well as ksnt . on march 9 2000 lee enterprises announced that it would sell its 16 television station properties in order to focus on its newspaper and online businesses . 1 exactly two months later on may 9 2000 lee sold ksnt to indianapolis based emmis communications as part of a 562.5 million group deal involving ksnw and its satellite stations and cbs affiliate kmtv tv in omaha nebraska . 2 on may 15 2005 emmis communications announced that it would sell its 16 television stations in order to concentrate on its portfolio of radio stations . 3 on september 15 emmis sold ksnt ksnw and its satellites as well as cbs affiliate koin in portland oregon and fox affiliate khon tv in honolulu hawaii to the montecito broadcast group formerly sjl broadcast group for 259 million ; 4 5 the sale was finalized on january 27 2006 . 6 new vision television ownership acquisition of ktmj ca and lma with ktka tv edit on july 24 2007 montecito announced that it would sell all of its stations ksnt ksnw and its satellites as well as fox affiliate khon tv in honolulu and its satellites and cbs affiliate koin in portland oregon to new vision television . 7 the sale closed on november 1 of that year . subsequently on july 7 2008 new vision television announced its intention to buy fox affiliate ktmj ca channel 43 and its repeaters ktlj ca channel 6 in junction city kmjt lp channel 15 in ogden and ketm lp channel 17 in emporia from montgomery communications . 8 the purchase was completed on september 1 . as a result ktmj relocated its operations into ksnt s facilities on northwest 25th street . on february 4 2011 free state communications announced that it would sell ktka to los angeles based pbc broadcasting for 1.5 million . 9 as part of the deal new vision television then owner of ksnt and which already maintained shared services and local marketing agreements with pbc owned stations in youngstown ohio and savannah georgia would operate ktka tv under a local marketing agreement . despite objections to the sale by the american cable association that alleged the sale could give the virtual triopoly involving ksnt ktka and fox affiliate ktmj ca channel 43 too much leverage in negotiations for retransmission consent agreements the federal communications commission fcc approved the sale on july 21 2011 . 10 pbc officially consummated on the purchase one week later on july 28 . two days later on july 30 ktka relocated from its existing studio facility on 21st street and chelsea drive in southwestern topeka and merged its operations with ksnt and ktmj ca at the two stations facilities on northwest 25th street . sale to lin media and then media general then nexstar edit on may 7 2012 lin tv corporation announced that it would acquire the new vision television station group including ksnt and ktmj cd for 330.4 million and the assumption of 12 million in debt . along with the outright ownership of ksnt and ktmj the agreement included the acquisition of new vision s shared services agreement with pbc broadcasting giving lin operational control of ktka tv . 11 12 lin and vaughan media which concurrently purchased the pbc stations also entered into a joint sales agreement to provide advertising services for ktka . 13 the sale of new vision to lin media and ktka s purchase by vaughan media was approved by the fcc on october 2 14 with the transaction closing on october 12 2012 . 15 the deal marked a re entry into kansas for lin who briefly owned the licenses of wichita abc affiliate kake and its satellites in 2000 but never held operational control of the stations . on march 21 2014 media general announced that it would purchase the lin media stations including ksnt ktmj cd and the ssa jsa with ktka tv in a 1.6 billion merger . 16 the fcc approved the merger on december 12 2014 with the deal being consummated on december 19 ; 17 however as a condition of the sale s approval media general was originally required to terminate the joint sales agreement between ktka tv and ksnt within two years due to the fcc s ban on agreement involving the sale of advertising encompassing more than 15 % of a separately owned station s airtime . 18 on september 28 2015 nexstar broadcasting group announced it had offered to purchase media general and its stations including ksnt & ktmj . 19 if approved this would mark nexstar s first entry in the topeka market and would reunite ksnt with former sister station ksnf . on january 27 2016 nexstar announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire media general . 20 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 21 27.1 1080i 16 9 ksnt dt main ksnt programming nbc 27.2 480i 4 3 ktmj fo sd simulcast of ktmj cd 27.3 480i 4 3 ksntion ion television ksnt dt2 edit main articles ktmj cd and ktka tv ktka dt3 on april 10 2006 montecito broadcast group signed an affiliation agreement with the cw in which ksnt dt2 would serve as the network s topeka affiliate . 22 on september 18 2006 montecito took over the operations of northeast kansas cw 5 the channel number referencing its primary cable position in the market on cox communications which originated as a cable only affiliate of the wb 100 station group a national feed of the wb intended for smaller markets when it launched on september 18 1998 under the fictional call letters wbks branded on air as wb5 . programming on ksnt dt2 as a cw affiliate was received through the cw s small market national feed the cw plus ; as the cw handles programming responsibilities for its cw plus affiliates during non network time periods ksnt only provided local advertising services for the subchannel . on november 1 2008 ksnt dt2 disaffiliated from the cw plus which moved to the third digital subchannel of abc affiliate ktka tv replacing it with a standard definition simulcast of fox affiliate ktmj ca to provide a digital signal for the low power station and to extend its programming to the far northern and eastern fringes of the topeka market . analog to digital conversion edit ksnt shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 27 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 28 to channel 27 . 23 24 programming edit ksnt carries the entire nbc programming schedule ; however the station airs days of our lives one to two hours earlier than most nbc affiliates . the station also airs nbc s overnight lineup consisting of a rebroadcast of the fourth hour of today and the cnbc series mad money on weekdays ; 1st look and open house nyc on saturdays ; and an encore of dateline nbc on sundays on tape delay opting to air infomercials and syndicated drama and unscripted series in the programs network recommended timeslots . syndicated programs broadcast on ksnt as of august 2015 update include dr. phil live with kelly and michael the dr. oz show the ellen degeneres show inside edition and