KNVA - History

History

According to an Austin American-Statesman article and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) records, 54 Broadcasting applied for the license to the channel in 1989 and was to have the KCFP calls but it could not economically start up a channel until signing a LMA with LIN TV some five years later. KNVA was launched on August 31, 1994 as a 24-hour feed of KXAN's live weather network and Doppler weather radar. It became an independent station for a short time before affiliating with The WB as a charter station the following year. During this time, the station was branded "KNVA 54" and carried off-network sitcoms, dramas, and cartoons.

In 2001, the station was rebranded "Austin's WB 54" before finally settling on "Austin's WB". On January 24, 2006, executives of CBS and TimeWarner made the decision to merge The WB and UPN to form The CW. On February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced another new service named MyNetworkTV.

At first, those moves put KNVA's future in doubt, as UPN affiliate KCWX was announced as the affiliate of The CW network. That station is considered part of the San Antonio market, and had been supplying the Austin area with UPN programming. Viewers were left speculating that KNVA's only options would be to take up MyNetworkTV or revert to independent status. But in a surprise move on April 18, LIN TV announced that KNVA would join The CW. KCWX now no longer serves Austin and CW programming on that station began to be blocked out by Time Warner Cable effective October 1, 2006. KCWX's syndicated programming continued to be shown on Time Warner Cable until April 3, 2007 when the system officially dropped the station from its Austin channel lineup.

Over a week later on April 26, 2006, it was announced that KNVA would also carry MyNetworkTV as a secondary affiliation. To date, KNVA was one of two stations in the country carrying both The CW and MyNetworkTV (the other being KWKB in Iowa City, Iowa, which would also drop MyNetworkTV and become a sole CW affiliate in September 2011). On August 1, a video posted to the KNVA/KXAN shared website revealed this station would be officially known as "The CW Austin" and the secondary affiliation would be known as "MyNetworkTV on The CW Austin". On October 21, 2009, sister station KBVO picked up the MyNetworkTV affiliation for Austin leaving KNVA with The CW affiliation. That station had been serving as a semi-satellite of KXAN. Vaughan Media acquired a majority stake in 54 Broadcasting, Inc. on July 27, 2009 from an ownership group that included KEYE-TV news anchor Ron Oliveira, who sold off his share of the station as part of the deal. LIN TV continues to hold a small (4.5 percent) stake in the station.