| News 9 Now / News on 6 Now | |
|---|---|
| Launched | December 3, 1996 (as News Now 53) April 1, 2011 (relaunch; as News 9 Now / News on 6 Now) |
| Owned by | Griffin Communications |
| Picture format | 480p (EDTV) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | American English |
| Broadcast area | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Tulsa, Oklahoma |
| Headquarters | Oklahoma City, Oklahoma |
| Formerly called | News Now 53 (1996-2011) |
| Website | www.news9.com |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Oklahoma City | KWTV-DT 9.2 |
| Tulsa | KOTV-DT 6.3 |
| Cable | |
| Cox Communications | Channel 53 (both cities) |
News 9 Now and News on 6 Now are digital broadcast television networks owned and operated by Griffin Communications, owner of CBS affiliates KWTV-DT (channel 9) in Oklahoma City and KOTV-DT (channel 6) in Tulsa serving the two largest media markets in Oklahoma. The services were developed out of News Now 53, a regional cable news channel that operated from December 1996 to April 2011, exclusively on Cox Communications systems (who operated the channel in a partnership with Griffin Communications).
News 9 Now is broadcast on Cox cable channel 53 in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, while News on 6 Now is broadcast on Cox cable channel 53 in the Tulsa metropolitan area. The channels carry news rebroadcasts from both Griffin-owned CBS affiliates as well as live simulcasts of the two station's newscasts in their respective markets.
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The concept of the channel dates back to a retransmission consent agreement extension made between KWTV and Oklahoma City area cable providers Cox Cable and Multimedia Cablevision to continue to carry the station's signal in August 1993, in which KWTV also announced that it would create a locally-originated cable channel providing news, sports and weather information for the two providers.[1]
News Now 53 first launched on December 3, 1996 in Oklahoma City airing newscasts from KWTV, running that station's morning, weekday midday, and nightly evening newscasts. In 2000, following KOTV's sale to Griffin from Belo Corporation, News Now 53 launched on Cox's Tulsa system carrying KOTV's newscasts weekday morning and midday, and nightly evening newscasts.
Until the mid-2000s, News Now 53 would carry live telecasts of KWTV and later KOTV's newscasts whenever one of the evening newscasts on those stations was scheduled to be preempted by CBS sports programming. In 2008, the channel underwent a graphical revamp, with a new logo and the creation of a new "L" bar that displays the forecast for the next five days, supplied by either KOTV or KWTV, and included banner advertisements for local area businesses and for Cox Communications. This "L" bar only appears during rebroadcasts of KWTV/KOTV newscasts and is removed for commercial breaks and live broadcasts, though for unknown reasons it does not appear during some news rebroadcasts.
On April 1, 2011 Griffin Communications took over the operations of News Now 53 from Cox Communications, and both the Oklahoma City and Tulsa area feeds of News Now 53 were reformatted into two separate services: News 9 Now and The News on 6 Now; both feeds were also broadcast for the first time over-the-air as multicast channels of KWTV and KOTV's digital signals, in addition to cable television, allowing other cable operators in the state to carry the channel. In the Tulsa area, the launch of News on 6 Now on KOTV digital channel 6.3, resulted in This TV, a digital broadcast network carrying movies and some classic television series and children's programming, to be relocated to digital channel 19.2 of KOTV's sister station and primary CW affiliate KQCW. KWTV and KOTV may also use the channels to provide additional coverage during severe weather emergencies, though this has yet to occur; the services, however, have served as backup CBS affiliates, carrying CBS network programming normally seen on the main channel during breaking news and severe weather emergencies.[2]
The channels broadcast KOTV and KWTV's newscasts in 16:9 widescreen, as both KWTV and KOTV broadcast their newscasts in that format (KOTV broadcasts its newscasts in widescreen enhanced definition, while newscasts on KWTV are broadcast in high definition); however, news rebroadcasts on News 9 Now (which for both channels are broadcast in a smaller widescreen format to allow current weather and forecasts for individual cities in the respective station's viewing area, and advertisements for local businesses on the bottom quarter of the screen) are shown in a streched center cut 4:3 portion to fit the widescreen box.
Effective April 12, 2011, Cox discontinued access to the channels via analog-only cable; customers in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa markets with analog-only cable service are required to rent a CableCARD or digital cable converter, or purchase a TV set with a digital cable-ready QAM tuner to continue to receive News 9 Now and News on 6 Now programming. Although News 9 and News on 6 Now are intended as news rebroadcast channels, the two channels also carry a three-hour block of E/I children's programs on Saturday mornings (for News 9 Now, the block runs following the live simulcast of the Saturday edition of KWTV's morning newscast), in order to comply with FCC E/I rules requiring digital subchannels to carry additional educational children's programming, regardless of the subchannel's intended programming format.
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