KNOP-TV (channel 2) is a television station in North Platte, Nebraska, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Media alongside two low-power stations: CBS affiliate KNPL-LD (channel 10) and Class A Fox 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.
History KNOP-TV was founded by local investors headed by attorney Rush Clarke and went on-air December 15, 1958.
In 1968, it was purchased by Richard F. Shively, Harold O. Shively and Ulysses Carlini Sr. Richard died on December 4, 2003.Application for Consent to Assign Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License, or to Transfer Control of Entity Holding Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License - Federal Communications Commission In 1997, Shively and Carlini bought KHAS-TV in Hastings, 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.KNOP may get new owners - The North Platte Telegraph
KNOP started rebroadcasting NBC programming in high definition, and carrying K11TW's Fox programming on its second digital subchannel, in March 2011.New Broadcasting Qualities - KNOP News 2
KNOP gained national attention in February 2012 for being the only station in the country to air a Will Ferrell-produced Super Bowl commercial for Old Milwaukee beer.
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. 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. The whole sale was completed on June 13.Gray closes Hoak deal; completes refinancing., rbr.com, Retrieved June 13, 2014. (KHAS was ultimately sold to Legacy Broadcasting, the call letters were changed to KNHL, and it returned to the air in June 2015 as a SonLife Broadcasting Network affiliate.
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. Gray planned to convert KDUH into a semi-satellite of KNOP-TV,Gray Television unveils some changes for Scottsbluff station. KOTA-TV, February 17, 2016, Retrieved February 23, 2016. 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).KOTA Territory News to bring more statewide coverage., Scottsbluff Star-Herald, February 19, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2016. The sale approved by the FCC on February 12, 2016,FCC Approves Gray-Schurz TV Station Deal. Broadcasting & Cable, February 12, 2016, Retrieved February 13, 2016 and was completed on February 16.Gray Closes Schurz Acquisition, Related Transactions, And Incremental Term Loan Facility Press Release, Gray Television, Retrieved February 16, 2016. The FCC approved the change of station's city of license on May 16.Report and Order, Federal Communications Commission, May 16, 2016. Retrieved May 16, 2016. 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. The station formerly aired KOTA-TV programming on its DT1 channel until 2020.May 2016 - Upper Midwest Broadcasting The station was traded, along with KGWN-TV and KCWY-DT to Marquee Broadcasting in 2024 in exchange for the construction permit of KCBU in Salt Lake City.
Newscasts KNOP-TV presently broadcasts 20 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 3 hours, 35 minutes each weekday; one hour on Saturdays; and 1 hour, 5 minutes on Sundays). The station previously produced hours of weekly news programming each for CBS and Fox affiliated sister stations KIIT-CD and KNPL-LD. KNOP-TV is the only television station in the North Platte market that offers local news.
Technical information Subchannels The station's signal is multiplexed:
+Subchannels of KNOP-TV Channel Res. Short name Programming 2.1 1080i KNOP NBC 2.2 720p KIIT Fox (KIIT-CD) 2.3 480i ION TV Ion 2.4 OUT Outlaw 10.1 1080i KNPL CBS (KNPL-LD) 10.2 480i MeTV MeTV (KSNB-TV)
Analog-to-digital conversion KNOP-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 2, on February 10, 2009.Notification of Suspension of Operations - Federal Communications Commission The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 22 to VHF channel 2 for post-transition operations.
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