KEGS (TV) - Digital Television

Digital Television

Because it was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997, the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, at the end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations, KEGS would have been required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal (called a "flash-cut").

The station's owner, Equity Media Holdings, declared bankruptcy in 2008 and was unable to construct digital facilities, leaving the station to go dark in 2009. According to the station's DTV status report, "On December 8, 2008, the licensee's parent corporation filed a petition for bankruptcy relief under chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code... This station must obtain post-petition financing and court approval before digital facilities may be constructed. The station must cease analogue broadcasting on February 17, 2009, regardless of whether digital facilities are operational by that date. The station will file authority to remain silent if so required by the FCC."

While the DTV Delay Act extended this deadline to June 12, 2009, Equity had applied for an extension of the digital construction permit in order to retain the broadcast license after the station became silent. Equity Broadcasting also held a construction permit to construct a digital companion station to KEGS-LP on channel 24 in Las Vegas; that station, as a low-power broadcasting operation, was not required to cease analogue transmission due to DTV transition in 2009.

While the majority of Equity's assets were sold in a 2009 liquidation; neither the digital KEGS transmitter nor the new Las Vegas station were ever constructed.