‘K5’ Alive On Hawai’i Thanks To Gray’s KSIX Pick

HAIKU, HAWAII — Gray Television gained a dominant presence in the state of Hawaii through its merger with Raycom Media. Today, it owns KGMB-5 in Honolulu, the CBS affiliate serving the state, and sibling KHNL-13, the NBC affiliate covering Hawaii. It also controls the “K5” brand, since January 2019 found on Channel 13.2.

As part of its Hawaiian operation, Gray owns several neighbor-island broadcast facilities relaying programming from Oah’u. Now, it is adding to that collection with a Hawai’i-based facility formerly known as KLEI-TV.

It puts into question the future of “Telemundo Honolulu.”

Being acquired by Gray from Mauna Kea Broadcasting Co. is KSIX-6, licensed to Kailua-Kona, on the northern side of the “Big Island” of Hawai’i.

Gray is paying $1 million for the broadcast facility, and has made a $250,000 advance payment to Mauna Kea, led by Dr. Christopher J. Racine.

On July 2, a Transition Services Agreement went into effect, and among the assets Gray is acquiring is the Telemundo affiliation agreement for KSIX. There’s also time-shifting equipment from NBC, and an Aldena UHF TV horizontal 8 panel, four-bay antenna with a “peanut pattern,”

Meanwhile, the station’s tower site is located in Kailua-Kona and is provided to KSIX at no charge through the Diocese of Honolulu. The current verbal agreement expires in “about one year,” and Gray will assume the lease under its pre-agreed terms.

The addition of KSIX could raise some questions regarding market concentration. But, as Gray correctly notes, the Commission’s multiple ownership rule, 73 C.F.R. § 73.3555, limits common ownership of television stations with overlapping contours in the same DMA. KSIX’s contour does not overlap the contours of either KHNL or KGMB, given the distance between Oah’u and Hawai’i. And, KHNL satellite KOGG-DT, with a transmitter on the south side of Haleakala, can’t reach Kailua-Kona from Maui.

That said, KHNL and KGMB are statewide entities. This explains Gray’s ownership of KFVE-13 in Hilo, with an 8kw transmitter located atop the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel. KFVE offers programming from both KHNL and KGMB. However, its signal cannot reach the northern part of Hawai’i due to the height of Mauna Kea.

Based on the contour maps and FCC regulations as viewed by Gray, the KSIX acquisition is permissible under 73 C.F.R. § 73.3555.

A Gray Television representative tells RBR+TVBR that KFVE will serve as a satellite of KHNL, while Telemundo Honolulu will continue broadcasting on the facility, via a digital multicast channel. Importantly, it brings “K5” programming — highly local event and scheduled fare — back to the Big Island on an over-the-air facility following its January 2019 shift from Channel 9, even if as a digital multicast offering.

That change transpired as a direct result of Gray’s acquisition of Raycom. To close the deal, KHNL or KGMB would need to be sold. Or, shared services partner KFVE-9, owned by American Spirit TV, would need to be sold and cease its relationship with Gray.

The latter transpired, with Nexstar Media Group grabbing KFVE-9 for $6.5 million in a deal announced November 2018 that closed in January 2019. While the facility became KHII-9, taking MyNetwork TV programming and becoming a sibling of KHON-2, Hawaii’s FOX affiliate, the “K5” intellectual programming was retained by Gray, moving to a digital multicast.

On the Big Island, KGMD-9 in Hilo began to simulcast KHII-9. This left K5 programming absent for over-the-air coverage on much of the Big Island.

In a statement distributed to Gray Television’s Hawaii staff, GM Katie Pickman said, “We are making this further investment in Hawaii to better serve our local communities by expanding the distribution of our programming, including and especially our K5 channel. In addition, we are working to secure a new long-term agreement with Telemundo that allows us to serve the growing number of Spanish-language speakers in Hawaii across our larger footprint.”

Thanks to immigration from the U.S. Southwest, Hispanics who prefer to use Spanish now top 14% statewide in Hawaii, Pickman noted.

Closing is anticipated in August, she added. “This is very exciting news for the future of local programming prominence in Hawaii and a testament to your commitment to serving our community with aloha and excellence,” Pickman said to Gray’s Hawaii staff.

As is the case across much of Hawaii, Charter Communications’ Spectrum is the major MVPD on the Big Island, thanks to Charter’s acquisition of Time Warner Communications. Spectrum was formerly Oceanic Time Warner. Hawaiian Telecom and AT&T-owned services are also available in parts of Kailua-Kona.

— Reporting by Ethan Hunt, on Maui. Editing by Adam Jacobson, in Boca Raton, Fla.