texas which currently uses the callsign formerly used by keye tv see kbvo tv . for other uses see keye . this article needs additional citations for verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . february 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message keye tv austin texas united states branding cbs austin general cbs austin news newscast telemundo austin dt2 slogan only keye tv only cbs general on your side newscasts channels digital 43 uhf virtual 42 psip subchannels 42.1 cbs 42.2 telemundo affiliations cbs since 1995 owner sinclair broadcast group san antonio television llc first air date december 4 1983 call letters meaning the cbs eye sister station s woai tv kabb kmys kvii kbtv tv kfdm kdbc kfox tv kgbt tv former callsigns kbvo tv 1983 1995 former channel number s analog 42 uhf 1983 2009 former affiliations independent 1983 1986 fox 1986 1995 dt2 rtn 2008 2009 transmitter power 1000 kw height 395 m facility id 33691 transmitter coordinates 30 19 19.3 n 97 48 12.6 w 30.322028 n 97.803500 w 30.322028 ; 97.803500 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website keyetv.com keye tv studios . keye tv virtual channel 42 uhf digital channel 43 is a cbs affiliated television station located in austin texas united states . the station is owned by the sinclair broadcast group . keye s studios are located on metric boulevard in north austin it is one of two area television stations whose studios are located in that section of town abc affiliate kvue channel 24 being the other and its transmitter is located on waymaker way on the west side of austin . contents 1 history 1.1 early years 1.2 from fox to cbs 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 3.1 nfl preseason coverage 4 news operation 4.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit early years edit the uhf channel 42 allocation in austin had originally been used by nbc affiliate khfi tv when that station signed on in february 1965 . that station moved to channel 36 in 1973 and is now kxan tv . keye tv signed on the air on channel 42 on december 4 1983 as kbvo tv ; the call letters came from the university of texas at austin s mascot bevo . it was austin s first independent station . the station was originally owned by steve beard an austin advertising executive and a small group of investors . on october 6 1986 the station became a charter affiliate of the upstart fox network and began branding itself as fox 42 on air in the late 1980s . in 1993 beard sold kbvo to granite broadcasting for 54 million a handsome return on his original investment . from fox to cbs edit in 1995 new world communications purchased ktbc which was included in a groupwide affiliation deal to switch most of new world s stations to fox which later purchased the new world holdings . on july 1 1995 ktbc and kbvo swapped affiliations with fox moving to ktbc and the cbs affiliation going to kbvo which changed its call letters to the current keye tv . the callsign refers to the iconic cbs eye logo as well as to the eyes of texas one of several songs associated with the university of texas . it branded itself as k eye 42 your eye on austin until 1999 when the branding was shortened to simply k eye on account of the fact that it was now available to all austin area cable subscribers on cable channel 5 . in 1999 granite put keye up for sale in order to meet debt obligations ; that april cbs agreed to buy the station for 160 million . 1 the sale closed that august 2 making keye the second owned and operated station of any major network in the market after ktbc . the next year viacom bought cbs ; at that time keye became part of a cluster of television stations in texas owned by viacom alongside fellow cbs station ktvt and then upn affiliate ktxa now an independent station in the dallas fort worth metroplex and houston upn station ktxh . the latter station was then swapped to fox alongside wdca in washington d.c. in 2001 in exchange for san francisco s kbhk . in 2005 the station rebranded again strangely enough to cbs42 k eye under the cbs mandate to reflect its cbs ownership and for cable subscribers to avoid confusion with san antonio s cbs outlet kens tv seen on vhf analog channel 5 . in 2006 the k eye branding was phased out in favor of referring itself as simply cbs42 except for a website address reference . keye logo used from august 2009 to august 1 2016 . on february 7 2007 cbs agreed to sell seven of its stations to cerberus capital management l.p. for 185 million . cerberus formed a new holding company for the stations four points media group which took over the operations of the stations through local marketing agreements in late june 2007 . 1 the sale to four points was consummated on january 10 2008 ; four points operated the stations outright until march 20 2009 when it entered into a three year local service agreement with the irving texas based nexstar broadcasting group . the latter company then took over the management of all of the four points stations including keye . in august 2009 the cbs42 branding was dropped in favor of keye tv and the station website address was changed to weareaustin.com . on september 8 2011 sinclair broadcast group announced its intent to purchase four points from cerberus capital management for 200 million ; sinclair began managing the stations including keye under local marketing agreements after receiving antitrust approval from the u.s. department of justice until the sale s closure . the sale made keye tv the third sinclair owned television property in texas as the group already owned fox affiliate kabb and cw affiliate kmys and has since acquired nbc affiliate woai tv in san antonio it has also since bought fox affiliate kfox tv 3 and cbs affiliate kdbc tv 4 in el paso . 5 the deal was completed on january 3 2012 . 6 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 7 42.1 1080i 16 9 keye dt main keye programming cbs 42.2 480i 4 3 keye sd telemundo it was announced on march 29 2008 that keye would begin carrying the retro television network on a new digital subchannel 42.2 running a customized schedule for the austin market . 8 on october 1 2009 digital channel 42.2 switched its affiliation to telemundo and debuted locally produced spanish language newscasts at 5 and 10 p.m. weeknights displacing rtv . 9 it was the second sinclair property upon their purchase associated with a spanish language network after west palm beach sister station wwhb ca with azteca america . analog to digital conversion edit keye tv shut down its analog signal in november 2008 . 10 the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 43 using psip to display keye tv s virtual channel as 42 on digital television receivers . programming edit syndicated programming seen on keye includes who wants to be a millionaire dr. phil the 700 club the queen latifah show two and a half men and csi miami among others . the latter two also air first run episodes . nfl preseason coverage edit from 2002 to 2008 keye held local broadcast rights to houston texans pre season games in addition to airing cbs coverage of nfl games from the texans home conference the american football conference . on april 3 2006 the station signed a deal to become the official home of the dallas cowboys in austin ; keye airs pre season games as well as several cowboys related shows during the nfl season . 11 some controversy exists over keye s selection of tennessee titans football games capitalizing on former university of texas quarterback vince young s popularity in austin over those of the texans . news operation edit keye tv news newscast title card used until the introduction of sinclair mandated graphics . before it switched to cbs keye then kbvo had no newscasts with the exception of nightly three minute updates aired during fox prime time programming from a small closet studio . after the affiliation swap on july 3 1995 keye immediately launched a full slate of newscasts . since that time the first newscast to be dropped was the noon newscast . the station has also added and since dropped three hours of newscasts on weekend mornings . keye originally used the eyewitness news format titled k eyewitness news which was used until 2000 the newscast title was shorted to keye news in late 1998 which was used until the cbs mandate was put in place and the title became cbs 42 k eye news and then simply cbs 42 news . keye tv presently broadcasts 19 hours of locally produced newscasts each week with 3 hours on weekdays and one hour each on saturdays and sundays ; unlike most cbs stations in the central time zone keye does not carry a midday newscast on weekdays . in addition the station produces five hours of newscasts each week consisting of 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts on weeknights which are broadcast in spanish for its telemundo affiliated digital subchannel . keye became the first television station in the austin market and the first station in the four points media group to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition on november 1 2007 . 2 however while the in studio video is in high definition most of the field video remains in pillarboxed 4 3 standard definition . the station canceled its 5 p.m. newscast in september 2009 replacing it with we are austin live an hour long 4 p.m. lifestyle show anchored by michelle valles and jason wheeler . a few weeks later the weekday morning newscast was cancelled and later replaced with a simulcast of j.b. and sandy morning show from kamx 94.7 fm ; which was formerly owned alongside keye during its cbs ownership until cbs radio sold kamx kkmj kxbt and kjce to entercom communications in august 2006 ; this left keye with only the 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts and a 5 30 p.m. newscast on sunday evenings . 12 on june 30 2011 the simulcast of the j.b. and sandy morning show was replaced by the in house newscast we are austin mornings a morning extension of we are austin live that was similar in format to that of the national network morning news programs ; the replacement was due in part to keye and entercom owned kamx being unable to reach a renewal agreement for channel 42 to continue airing the jb and sandy morning show simulcast . 13 on may 31 2012 keye tv announced the reversal of its september 2009 late afternoon news programming changes with cancellation of we are austin live effective june 15 which was replaced by the insider and who wants to be a millionaire ; the 5 p.m. newscast also returned to the schedule on june 18 2012 . 14 in contrast to former fox stations on uhf that are now cbs abc or nbc stations which often have had little to no success against their better established news competitors resulting in some stations even shutting down their news departments outright keye s news department has made a very good account of itself in the two decades since the switch . it has benefited from cbs pouring significant resources