KCEB

KCEB

Longview/Tyler, Texas
City of license	Longview, Texas
Branding	Me-TV East Texas
Channels	Digital: 51 (UHF) Virtual: 54.1 (PSIP)
Affiliations	Me-TV
Owner	London Broadcasting Company (KCEB License Company, LLC)
First air date	July 27, 2003
Sister station(s)	KYTX
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 54 (UHF, 2003-2009)
Former affiliations	UPN (2003–2005; as a satellite of KTPN-LP/KLPN-LP) The WB (2005–2006) The CW (via The CW Plus; 2006–2012)
Transmitter power	500 kW (digital)
Height	379 m (digital)
Facility ID	83913
Transmitter coordinates	32°15′36″N 94°57′2″W / 32.26000°N 94.95056°W / 32.26000; -94.95056

KCEB is the Me-TV affiliated television station serving East Texas that is licensed to Longview. Known on-air as Me-TV East Texas, it broadcasts a standard-definition digital signal on UHF channel 51 (or virtual channel 54.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter near Overton. Owned by London Broadcasting Company, KCEB is sister to CBS affiliate KYTX and both stations share studios near Loop 323 in the southeastern portion of Tyler. The station can also be seen on Suddenlink Communications channel 2, and Longview Cable Television channel 10.

History

KCEB first signed on the air on July 27, 2003 as an affiliate of UPN that was broadcast on UHF channel 54. It originally operated as the full-power satellite station of low-powered outlets KTPN-LP in Tyler and KLPN-LP in Longview. As a UPN affiliate, the station used the on-air branding "UPN 58/54/48". The station's original analog transmitter facilities were located northwest of Longview, at the intersection of State Highway 300 and FM1844, near the town of East Mountain.

On January 1, 2006, KCEB, KLPN-LP and KTPN-LP lost the UPN affiliation to CBS affiliate KYTX (which carried the network on its second digital subchannel). The station immediately switched its affiliation to The WB, effectively replacing "KWTL", a cable-only WB outlet that was part of The WB 100+ Station Group, a similar service to The CW Plus that was created to expand national coverage of The WB primarily through cable-only outlets in smaller media markets which were managed locally by cable providers (since it was cable-exclusive, the channel used the "KWTL" callsign in a fictional manner). During the transition, KTPN and KLPN became independent stations.

Former KCEB logo, used from 2008 to 2012.

Shortly after receiving the affiliation, on January 24, 2006, The WB and CBS Corporation-owned UPN announced that the two networks would cease broadcasting and merge into a new broadcast network aimed at young adults between the ages of 18 and 34 called The CW. On February 22 of that year, News Corporation announced it would launch a new network of its own called MyNetworkTV, a sister network to Fox that is operated by Fox Television Stations and the Twentieth Television syndication division of News Corporation (MyNetworkTV was created as a competitor for The CW in order to give UPN- and WB-affiliated stations that would not become charter affiliates of the network another option besides becoming an independent station). KCEB affiliated with The CW upon its September 18, 2006 launch (affiliated with the network through The WB 100+ Station Group's successor The CW Plus), while KLPN and KTPN chose to join MyNetworkTV.

In 2008, KCEB changed its on-air branding from "CW 54" to "CW 54/5", adding the station's cable channel assignment on Suddenlink Communications in the Tyler area. On November 6, 2009, the station was sold to London Broadcasting Company (owner of KYTX). London initially operated the station under a sales and management agreement, pending FCC approval for an acquisition of the license assets.^[1] The sale was finalized on August 31, 2010.^[2] In May 2012, KCEB swapped affiliations with KYTX digital subchannel 19.2, taking that subchannel's Me-TV affiliation as the subchannel took The CW Plus programming formerly seen on KCEB.

Beginning with the 2012 football season, KCEB will be part of the Southland Conference Television Network, which includes games from nearby Stephen F. Austin State University.

Digital television

Because it was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997,^[3] the station did not originally receive a companion channel for a digital television station. In May 2007, they were granted a CP by the FCC to contstruct a digital facility on channel 38, and move their transmitter to the KFXK tower near New London. In May 2008, they submitted an application to the FCC to move their digital allotment from channel 38 to channel 51, in order to utilize the KFXK channel 51 antenna that would be effectively abandoned by KFXK when they turned off the analog signal. In January 2009, the application was approved, and a CP MOD was granted for channel 51 at 1000 kW.

On June 12, 2009, KCEB turned off its analog signal on channel 54, and KFXK turned off its analog signal on channel 51. KCEB then turned on its digital signal on channel 51 using the KFXK antenna and a temporary 70 kW transmitter under authority of the FCC using a Special Temporary Authorization. KCEB at this point was under severe financial hardship, and could not afford to build the station out to its maximum authorization. On December 12, 2009, KCEB was issued a construction permit to install a 500 kW transmitter.

References

External links

• KYTX "CBS 19"
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KCEB
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KCEB-TV