KNOP-TV (channel 2) is a television stationinNorth Platte, Nebraska, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Television alongside two low-power stations: CBS affiliate KNPL-LD (channel 10) and Class AFox affiliate KIIT-CD (channel 11). The three stations share studios on South Dewey Street in downtown North Platte; master control and some internal operations are based at the facilities of sister station KOLN on North 40th Street in Lincoln. KNOP-TV's transmitter is located at the site of its former studio on US Route 83 north of North Platte.
KNOP-TV was founded by local investors headed by attorney Rush Clarke and went on-air December 15, 1958.[2]
In 1968, it was purchased by Richard F. Shively, Harold O. Shively and Ulysses Carlini Sr.[3] Richard died on December 4, 2003.[4] In 1997, Shively and Carlini bought KHAS-TVinHastings, and formed Greater Nebraska Television as a holding company for their television interests.
In 2005, Greater Nebraska Television sold its stations (including KNOP-TV) to Hoak Media.[5]
On November 20, 2013, Hoak announced the sale of most of its stations, including KNOP-TV and K11TW, to Gray Television. The sale made them sister stations to North Platte CBS affiliate KNPL-LD, a semi-satellite of Gray's KOLN/KGIN; it would have also partially separated KNOP from KHAS-TV, which was planned to be sold to Excalibur Broadcasting but be operated by Gray's KOLN/KGIN and KSNB-TV through a shared services agreement.[9] However, in the wake of heightened FCC scrutiny about local marketing agreements, on June 11, 2014, KHAS-TV announced it would leave the air at midnight on June 13 and NBC programming would be moved to KSNB-TV and the digital subcarrier of KOLN/KGIN.[10] The whole sale was completed on June 13.[11] (KHAS was ultimately sold to Legacy Broadcasting,[12] the call letters were changed to KNHL,[13] and it returned to the air in June 2015 as a SonLife Broadcasting Network affiliate.[14]
On September 14, 2015, Gray announced that it would purchase the television and radio stations owned by Schurz Communications, including Scottsbluff, Nebraska based KDUH-TV (a satellite of Rapid City's ABC-affiliated KOTA-TV) for $442.5 million.[15][16][17] Gray planned to convert KDUH into a semi-satellite of KNOP-TV,[18][19] change the station's call letters to KNEP, and also change KDUH/KNEP's city of license to Sidney, Nebraska (which will move it from the Cheyenne–Scottsbluff market to the Denver market, eliminating an ownership conflict with KSTF, a Gray-owned, Scottsbluff-based semi-satellite of Cheyenne, Wyoming-based CBS affiliate KGWN-TV).[20][21][22] The sale approved by the FCC on February 12, 2016,[23] and was completed on February 16.[24] The FCC approved the change of station's city of license on May 16.[25] KNEP's NBC feed for the Nebraska Panhandle (which is branded as "NBC Nebraska Scottsbluff" and produces its own newscasts) signed on May 5, 2016.[26] The station formerly aired KOTA-TV programming on its DT1 channel until 2020.[27]
KNOP-TV presently broadcasts 17 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with three hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station also produces 2+1⁄2 hours of weekly news programming each for CBS and Fox affiliated sister stations KIIT-CD and KNPL-LD. Between the three stations, the news operation produces about 22 hours of news programming each week.
KNOP-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on February 10, 2009.[29][30] The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 22 to VHF channel 2 for post-transition operations.[31]
