Call letters' meaning K Chester Smith Owner | ||
Branding Telemundo 33 (general)
Noticiero Telemundo 33 (newscast) Channels Digital: 3 (VHF)
Virtual: 33 (PSIP) Affiliations .1: Telemundo
.3: TeleXitos Owner Serestar Communications Corporation First air date 1999; 18 years ago (1999) | ||
KCSO-LD, virtual channel 33 (VHF digital channel 3), is a Telemundo-affiliated television station located in Sacramento, California, United States. The station is owned by Serestar Communications Corporation. KCSO-LD maintains studio facilities located on Media Place in Sacramento, and its transmitter is located near San Andreas. Due to its low-powered broadcasting radius, KCSO's programming is simulcast on KSPX-TV digital channel 29.7 (displayed as channel 33.2) and on translator stations KMUM-CD and KMMW-LD in Sacramento and Stockton.
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KCSO-LD is also available locally on Comcast Xfinity channels 25 and 714 (HD), AT&T U-verse channels 25 and 1025 (HD), Consolidated Communications channel 25 and Wave Broadband channels 610 and 704 (HD) in Placer County and channels 15 and 715 (HD) in Yolo County. The station is also available on satellite television providers Dish Network and DirecTV channel 33 throughout the Sacramento market.
History
The station was founded by country-western performer Chester Smith and his company Sainte Partners II, L.P. and first signed on the air in 1999. It was the last station to be owned by his company. On August 8, 2008, Chester Smith died of heart failure at Stanford University Medical Center in Palo Alto, California. He is survived by his previous wife Naomi Smith and three daughters Laura, Lorna and Roxanne and 11 grandchildren. The station continued operating under the Sainte banner until it was sold to Serestar Communications Group in 2013. Sainte folded shortly thereafter.
Programming
KCSO airs programs from Telemundo.
News operation
KCSO launched a local news department (with newscasts branded as Noticiero 33) following its sign-on. The half-hour local evening news program every Monday through Friday at 6:00 pm had a small viewership and was cancelled after five years on the air. Later, it aired on-air news briefs online called Telemundo 33 Al Día on their website from their control room. In late 2014, it started airing morning news briefs called Noticias 33 Por la manana, which aired at :25s and :55s from 7:00 am to 9:00 am during Telemundo's Un Nuevo Dia morning news program.
On November 6, 2016, KCSO re-launched a weekday half-hour long newscast at 6:00 pm (branding as Noticiero Telemundo 33), 11 years after its initial newscast was cancelled. It is in direct competition with Univision owned-and-operated KUVS's long-established (and for several years, the Sacramento area's only) Spanish-language newscast.