Subchannels 3.1 silent First air date 1984 | Affiliations silent | |
Channels Digital: 23 (UHF)
Virtual: 3 (PSIP) Owner Marquee Broadcasting
(Marquee Broadcasting Colorado, Inc.) Call letters' meaning KREX Glenwood Springs
(former satellite of KREX) | ||
KREG-TV, virtual channel 3 (digital channel 23), is a television station located in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. The station is owned by Marquee Broadcasting.
Contents
History
KREG-TV was launched in 1984 by a group of investors as independent station KCWS. It promised the best selection of off-network and first-run syndicated programming available; plus an aggressive regional news operation that pioneered the first long-form morning newscast on Western Slope television. Due to poor demand by the local viewers (it took several months to get the signal on cable in Grand Junction, the largest community in the Western Slope) and non-existent ratings, advertising dollars were scarce. It didn't help matters that KWGN-TV in Denver had been available on cable for decades in the area. News was eventually eliminated and, ultimately KCWS went silent following a Taxi rerun on a summer day in 1985. It returned it to the air in 1987 as a satellite of KREX-TV, the CBS affiliate in Grand Junction. As a satellite of KREX, KREG had no local news inserts but did have a small office in Carbondale, near Glenwood Springs.
On December 19, 2013, Gray Television, who acquired the station's owner Hoak Media, sold KREG and its sister stations in Grand Junction (as part of Gray's divestment to comply with FCC rules because it was the owner of KKCO and operator of KJCT in Grand Junction market) to Nexstar Broadcasting Group for $33.5 million. The sale was completed on June 13, 2014.
Sale to Marquee Broadcasting
On May 10, 2016, Nexstar agreed to sell KREG-TV to Marquee Broadcasting for $350,000; the sale is part of a series of divestitures required following Nexstar's acquisition of Media General due to Federal Communications Commission ownership caps. Following the sale, KREG, which is considered to be part of the Denver market, ceased to be a sateliite of KREX. KREG went dark on January 5, 2017, saying that ice and snow accumulation and the risk of avalanches had rendered the station's transmitter inaccessible, preventing repairs.