Slogan We've Got Your Back Affiliations NBC | Subchannels 6.1 NBC | |
Branding KSN (general)
KSN News Salina (local news)
KSN News (state news) Channels Digital: 47 (UHF)
Virtual: 6 (PSIP) Owner Nexstar Media Group
(Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.) | ||
KSNL-LD, UHF digital channel 47 (virtual channel 6), is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Salina, Kansas, United States. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group. KSNL-LD maintains studio facilities located on North Santa Fe Avenue in downtown Salina, and its transmitter is located on State Street and Halsted Road in unincorporated Saline County (west of the Salina city limits).
KSNL-LD is part of the Kansas State Network (KSN), a regional network of four stations relaying programming from Wichita, Kansas NBC affiliate KSNW across central and western Kansas; KSNL incorporates local advertising and news inserts aimed at areas of central Kansas within the Wichita-Hutchinson Plus television market. On cable, KSNL is available on Cox Communications channel 3, and in high-definition on digital channel 2003.
History
KSNL traces its history to the sign-on on K06LZ in May 1970. From 1989 to 2008, K06LZ's audio feed was receivable in the Salina area on radio over 87.7 FM; television stations broadcasting on VHF channel 6 were audible over this frequency during the analog television era, due to a quirk in the FM bandplan that correlated television channel 6 with the radio frequency; however in May 2008, K06LZ shut down and flash cut its digital signal into operation on UHF channel 47 as KSNL-LD. As a result, the station is no longer audible due to the transition, even for stations that broadcast their digital signals on channel 6.
On May 7, 2012, the LIN TV Corporation announced that it would acquire the New Vision Television station group, including KSNW and its four satellite stations, for $330.4 million and the assumption of $12 million in debt; the sale – which was approved by the FCC on October 2 and was completed 1½ weeks later on October 12 – marked a re-entry to Kansas for LIN, which briefly owned the licenses of K51GC (channel 51, now KHDS-LD), a low-power repeater of Wichita ABC affiliate KAKE-TV (channel 10), in 2000, before selling them to Benedek Broadcasting shortly after the purchase was finalized.
On March 21, 2014, Media General announced that it would purchase LIN Media and its stations, including the KSN stations, in a $1.6 billion merger. The deal will result in Media General's re-entry into the market, as it previously owned KBSH-TV (channel 7), a satellite of Wichita CBS affiliate KWCH-TV (channel 12), from 2000 to 2006. The merger was completed on December 19. On September 28, 2015, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced it had offered to purchase Media General and its stations, including KSNW and its satellites. If approved this would mark Nexstar's first entry in the Wichita Market. On January 27, 2016, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General. The acquisition of KSNL and its other satellites by Nexstar will reunite with former satellite KSNF, whose ownership was split from the rest of the Kansas State Network in 1986. The deal was approved by the FCC on January 11, 2017.