KOVR

The station's West Sacramento studio.

A local television station that is affiliated with the CBS network. Despite KOVR's main studios being in Sacramento, the station is actually licensed by the FCC for main operations in Stockton. KOVR was recently aquired by CBS Television Stations Group from Sinclair Broadcast Group (SBG). The purchase was announced in December of 2004, and was finalized on May 2, 2005. A television duopoly for CBS Television was thereby created; they also own CW 31. Both stations are now housed in KOVR's building.

KOVR is one of four TV stations in Sacramento owned and operated by the network with which it's affiliated. (The others are KMAX-TV, KUVS, and KTFK.) All other stations are owned by outside companies (for instance, KCRA and KQCA are owned by Hearst-Argyle and KXTV by Gannett). CBS Television felt that owning a station in "one of the fastest growing markets" would pull off in the end run. This purchase by CBS Television brings in big promise to both KOVR and its sister station KMAX-TV, including two television helicopters in the near future (currently, only KXTV and KCRA have television helicopters).

KOVR is Sacramento's oldest television station. KOVR receives its call letters because it "KOVR-s" (covers) the Sacramento area. KOVR's duopoly with station KMAX-TV is one of three duopolies in California. The other two are Bay Area stations KBCW and KPIX-TV, and Los Angeles stations KCAL-TV and KCBS-TV.

In 1995, KOVR station-swapped with KXTV and became the area's CBS affiliate. It stuck with KXTV's policy of not airing the soap-opera "Guiding Light" due to its poor ratings in the Sacramento area. KOVR also dropped its midnight viewing of "The Jerry Springer Show" following its merger with CBS Television in mid-2005 (Springer can still be seen in the area at 3PM until 2006).

In July 2006, KOVR resurrected it's weekday 4PM newscast. It is currently the only station in the Sacramento market to operate a newscast at 4PM.

SBG is notorious for its conservative lean in the political spectrum. SBG has often been criticized for requiring its local news stations to broadcast a nightly segment called "The Point," in which Mark Hyman from Sinclair's headquarters provides "commentary" on a variety of issues that may be of concern to the country—an often conservative commentary. For a more in-depth coverage of Sinclair and its conservative bias, see the WikiPedia article.

2005-05-10 23:11:23   So, what does the FCC do besides enforcing EBS testing, radio licensing, and keeping Janet from flashing America??? —AlphaDog

Considering UPN is owned by CBS, and UPN owns KMAX, wouldn't KMAX — as it is currently — be considered a network O&O television station?

• Not quite. CBS owns and operates a CBS station. Though UPN is owned by CBS, it's totally a different network. And even so, it's best to leave as is since in September, it really won't matter. CW will change the way people think about O&O to KMAX regardless, since CBS will only hold 50 percent of the CW share (the other 50 falling into the lap of Warner Bros.)
• From a branding and organizational perspective, that makes sense. I've seen some articles in Variety and Broadcasting & Cable, however, that take a different view, which I follow. If a local television station's parent company owns at least a 20% share in said station's affiliated network, said station was called a network O&O. By that logic, KMAX is a UPN O&O. (Begin the possibly annoying minute details part). The classic examples are KTLA in Los Angeles, WGN in Chicago, and WPIX in New York City. All are owned by Tribune Broadcasting and are currently WB affiliates. Although Tribune owns only a minority stake in The WB, they were all frequently referred to as WB O&O's. The Wikipedia article states that a CBS-owned CW affiliate (e.g. KMAX, KBCW-FKA-KBHK in San Francisco, and WPSG Philadelphia) could be referred to as a "CW O&O". My Network TV will make sure this fun argument goes on, since that network will be owned by Fox, and Fox happens to own KCOP in Los Angeles, WPWR in Chicago, and WWOR in New York City—all My Network affils. (Always those three cities—what gives?) How much time do you give the CW and My Network TV to live?
• KMAX "is" a UPN O&O. Source: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EIN/is_2000_May_24/ai_62286942, confirmed by CBS Corporation's 10-Q filing. The Eye owns UPN, The Eye owns KMAX, therefore...