. please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . november 2010 kyes tv anchorage alaska united states branding my kyes 5 channels digital 5 vhf virtual 5 psip subchannels 5.1 mynetworktv 5.2 antenna tv 5.3 this tv 5.4 france24 5.50 .51 .52 audio translators k17hc juneau 14 uhf anchorage kyex lp 18 anchorage k22hn d 22 anchorage k06mf 6 kenai k09xo d 9 homer affiliations mynetworktv 2006 present owner gray television gray television licensee llc first air date january 21 1990 ; 26 years ago 1990 01 21 call letters meaning yes tv sister station s ktuu tv former callsigns kyes 1990 2007 former channel number s analog 5 vhf 1990 2009 digital 6 vhf until 2009 former affiliations independent 1990 1993 pten 1993 1995 upn 1995 2006 the wb secondary 1995 1998 hdnet rtn wealth tv transmitter power 15 kw height 277 m facility id 21488 transmitter coordinates 61 20 8.9 n 149 30 55.9 w 61.335806 n 149.515528 w 61.335806 ; 149.515528 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.ktuu.com station kyes kyes tv is a mynetworktv affiliated television station for anchorage alaska united states . the station is owned by gray television as part of a duopoly with nbc affiliate ktuu tv channel 2 . the station broadcasts a standard definition digital signal on vhf channel 5 from a transmitter located in the city s eagle river district . kyes maintains studios located on woodland avenue in anchorage southwest of downtown . contents 1 history 2 news presentation 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.2 analog to digital conversion 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit kyes signed on the air in 1990 as an independent before joining upn in 1995 . it also had a secondary affiliation with the wb until that network launched the wb 100 station group in 1998 in order to shift to cable only distribution in smaller markets . in january 2006 it was announced that the wb and upn were to merge operations in september 2006 to form the cw . the station was expected to become a cw affiliate but on april 24 it was announced that the cw would be carried on a digital subchannel on abc s anchorage affiliate kimo . kyes instead became an affiliate of mynetwork tv and one of only two in alaska sister station k17hc 17 in juneau is the other ; kfxf the fox affiliate in fairbanks declined an offer to run it as their secondary network . on october 1 2015 gray television announced that it would acquire kyes and four of its five translators for 500.000 and apply for a failing station waiver from the fcc so it can form a duopoly between kyes and nbc affiliate ktuu which gray is acquiring as part of a separate transaction with schurz communications . 1 2 gray stated that it planned to invest in improving the quality of the station s services and programming . 3 the acquisition was opposed by gci owner of ktva who filed a complaint to the fcc in december 2015 . the company argued that the consolidation of ktuu and kyes would harm the ability for other stations to compete . attorney general craig w. richards also objected to the purchase stating that such a consolidation would have the potential for significant negative effects on competition in the small anchorage dma . gray objected to gci s claims arguing that it was ironic for a monopoly utility company to allege anti competitive harms and serious threats to its impressive bottom line from the combination of ktuu a strong station with an undisputed record of serving local communities with kyes a weak station that has no local news that hardly registers in ratings and that gci concedes has less than 5 % of the local broadcast television advertising market and that gci may need to increase its investments in ktva to prevail in the marketplace over a new competitor in kyes tv . investments and competitive responses are precisely the types of benefits that the commission and the public want to see from broadcasters . 3 4 on june 17 2016 the federal communications commission approved the sale of the station gray with a condition that the station will not enter during two years post consummation into an affiliation agreement with a television network that would convert kyes into one of the top four stations in audience share . 5 the sale was completed on june 27 2016 . 6 prior to the sale kyes was one of the few stand alone locally owned television stations left in the united states . news presentation edit in 1990 the station broadcast news from the u.s.s.r. translated into english . it also hosted valley news an independent production from wasilla alaska anchored by long time mat su valley broadcaster fred james . it runs democracy now live which in alaska is at 4 00 a.m. and carries france24 on dtv 4 but does not and never has had the financial strength to launch its own news department . digital television edit kyes s digital signal on channel 22 signed on with 20 watts of power on august 25 2003 the first television station in the anchorage market to have a digital signal and the first in alaska to offer high definition television . the means of getting the digital signal out however was extraordinary kyes used a ttc 100 watt analog translator and a k tec digital exciter purchased on ebay along with a temporary 30 foot 9.1 m tower originally used for an analog lptv translator on the roof of the hillside home of kyes s president and chief engineer manager jeremy lansman . at only 5000 to construct it was sufficient enough to transmit a viewable digital signal throughout most of anchorage 7 with the exception of the road to the town dump . 8 kyes s initial digital programming included high definition programming from hdnet and wealth tv along with an in house audio music channel rebroadcasts of kudo am keul fm and the republic broadcasting network and a standard definition kyes broadcast . 9 kyes briefly included retro television network in its digital lineup beginning in 2008 . however this was discontinued when the network was acquired by luken communications . no explanation has been given by kyes as to why the programming was discontinued . however the reasons are likely technical . under equity broadcasting rtn was uplinked from galaxy 18 at 123 west . when luken acquired the network it was moved to amc 9 at 83 west an orbital location that is below the horizon from anchorage . the channel 22 signal is now licensed as k22hn and operates at 2.8 kw erp . kyes is authorized by the fcc to broadcast digital signals via vhf channel 5 broadcasting up to 45 kw . thus it has duplicate vhf and uhf signals . in a dtv transition status report fcc form 387 filed by the station on october 7 2008 jeremy lansman of kyes describes the station s digital readiness the form asks licensee permittee has other needs that must be addressed before it can fully construct and operate its post transition facility . if checked explain . 1 . reliability and quality of using 1970 s harris transmitting gear is unknown . 2 . no equipment is available to accurately measure dtv or aclr power . 3 . the 8vsb signal will originate at k22hn . reliability of reception of the 8vsb signal is unknown though it seems to work in spite of two path terrain obstacles . 4 . electricity supplies are unreliable at both sites ; hillside where k22hn will originate 8vsb signals for the region and eagle river where kyes dt will translate those signals . both sites are subject to winds in excess of 100 mph . serial retransmission will compound the probability of off air time . the station needs back up generators but has no money for one no less two . public safety will be compromised after the analog signal is switched off due to lack of back up power . for example power at k22hn failed last night oct 10 2008 shortly after 4.30 am . it is still off as of this time 6 pm . as a result kyes has had no dtv signal at all for over 12 hours . this will not be a unique experience . the analog signal originates from a ups protected studio . the 8vsb signal is encoded at k22hn . the fcc form asks what is needed . the answer funds from the spectrum auction as made possible by this conversion to dtv said funds to be applied to equipment that may be needed especially by stations in financial distress . dumpster diving may result in an 8vsb signal but the result will be less than ideal . 10 the document then goes on to cite a local newspaper article 11 explaining that a storm and 100 mph winds had knocked out power in the area taking k22hn dark . effectively kyes dt files its fcc digital television status reports by candlelight . fireweed communications llc has now requested fcc authorization to operate kyes dt post transition from multiple transmitter sites . the existing uhf 22 dtv facility would continue operation and multiple transmitters would rebroadcast the signal onto the former analog channel 5 using existing kyes low power television facilities . while the cash strapped station expects this will allow rapid and less costly construction and provide replication of analog service this technically is not a request for a dtx distributed transmission system . the transmitters may not be synchronized and therefore could interfere with each other in certain narrow geographical areas . the affected locations are all currently unpopulated . 12 digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 13 5.1 480i 4 3 my tv5 main kyes tv programming mynetworktv 5.2 uwtv antenna tv 5.3 this tv this tv 5.4 16 9 f 24 france24 5.50 keul fm keul fm 5.51 music uncommon music 5.52 testing testing tbd analog to digital conversion edit kyes tv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 5 on june 13 2009 . the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition vhf channel 6 to channel 5 . 14 15 see also edit knik lp references edit gray television sells some buys some . tvnewscheck . october 1 2015 . retrieved october 1 2015 . application for consent to assignment of broadcast station construction permit or license . cdbs public access . federal communications commission . october 13 2015 . retrieved october 13 2015 . a b gray fighting complaint over kyes purchase . tvnewscheck . retrieved 12 december 2015 . gci asks fcc to block gray tv purchase . multichannel news . retrieved 12 december 2015 . da 16 692 federal communications commission consummation notice . cdbs public access . federal communications commission . june 27 2016 . retrieved june 28 2016 . broadcasting anchorage alaska s first dtv broadcast engineering august 23 kyes faq kyes.info kyes dt digital transition status report fcc form 387 october 2008 thousands of storm victims still without power megan holland and craig medred anchorage daily news october 10th 2008 kyes dt request for fcc sta for co channel operation from multiple low power transmitters rabbitears tv query for kyes dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . jeremy lansman on air call in show 12 june 2009 kyes tv5 . external links edit official website query the fcc s tv station database for kyes query the fcc s tv station database for kyex query the fcc s tv station database for k22hn d query the fcc s tv station