MeTV affiliate in Columbia, Louisiana
KMLU (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Columbia, Louisiana, United States, serving the Monroe, Louisiana–El Dorado, Arkansas market as an affiliate of MeTV. Owned by Legacy Broadcasting, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities north of Columbia off Seay Road near LA 847.
History
In 1987, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated VHF channel 11 to Columbia, Louisiana. Initially, several interests in the Monroe and Alexandria areas, including Lanford Telecasting (owner of KALB), Woods Communications (owner of KARD) and Gray Communications (owner of KTVE) sought an interest in the license in order to strengthen its broadcasting footprint in the region, either operating a station on channel 11 as a satellite of an existing station (in KALB or KTVE's case) or as a stronger signal (for KARD). Other companies, such as Love Television Partnership, William L. Cook, Columbia TV and Radio, Pears Broadcasting, Jimmie V. Giles, and Caldwell Broadcasting Limited Partnership all expressed an interest.[2] By late 1995, the license was granted to Monroe Broadcasting, which was owned by businessman Charles Chatelain, who owned Fox affiliate KADN-TV in Lafayette and several other small TV stations in south Louisiana.
KMLU signed on December 10, 1998, as ABC affiliate KAQY, returning that network to the market after its previous affiliate, KARD, became a Fox affiliate in April 1994. After KARD switched to Fox, cable providers began importing KLAX from Alexandria for ABC programming in Monroe proper and KTBS from Shreveport for parts of the western Monroe DMA, with certain programs carried by other stations based in Monroe being replaced due to syndex laws; satellite systems in the area piped in the national feed of the network via its two flagship stations. Monroe Broadcasting owned the station, and Communications Corporation of America managed and operated the station, similar to arrangements Chatelain had with KADN and WNTZ.
On June 23, 2008, original local owner Monroe Broadcasting filed an application with the FCC to sell KAQY to Parker Broadcasting for $10 million. Included in the application was a proposed local marketing agreement (LMA) to allow Hoak Media, then-owner of CBS affiliate KNOE-TV, to operate the station. The sale was completed on October 9, 2008. As a result, all four major network affiliates in the Ark-La-Miss became operated by two companies: Hoak Media and Nexstar Broadcasting Group. During its tenure as a standalone ABC affiliate, even after becoming a sister station to KNOE, the station served as a pass-through with ABC programming while airing syndicated programming in the off-hours. It did not air a newscast but carried weather forecasts from Edward St. Pé's WeatherVision service during commercial breaks.
On November 20, 2013, Gray Television announced it would purchase Hoak Media and Parker Broadcasting in a $335 million deal. KAQY was to be acquired by Excalibur Broadcasting, and remain under an LMA with KNOE's new owners.[3] However, upon the closing of the sale on June 13 and the FCC scrutinizing joint sales arrangements, Excalibur would later abandon its plans to acquire the station.[4] Gray would continue to operate KAQY in the interim, at which it would later move its programming to a subchannel of KNOE. KAQY would then be spun off to minority interests pending approval from the FCC, which under this arrangement would allow the station to continue operating on the conditions that it would continue to operate the station independently and not make any partnerships or sharing arrangements with other broadcasters.[5]
On August 27, 2014, Gray announced that it would sell KAQY's license, along with KHAS-TV in Hastings, Nebraska, KNDX in Bismarck, North Dakota, and KXND in Minot, North Dakota, to Legacy Broadcasting, a new broadcasting company controlled by Sherry Nelson and daughter Sara Jane Ingram.[6] A month later, KAQY signed off, and its programming was moved to KNOE-DT2. On November 28, 2014, the station's call letters were changed to KMLU.[7] The sale was completed on December 15.[8]
Channel 11 remained silent for approximately one year. On September 15, 2015, KMLU returned to the air as the new MeTV affiliate for the Monroe–El Dorado area, taking the affiliation from KWMS-LP, which subsequently affiliated with sister network Heroes & Icons for two years before ceasing operations in 2017. KMLU has also engaged in some community affairs programming recently by broadcasting brief segments during commercial breaks of various events around the Ark-La-Miss. During January 2018, KMLU brought Heroes & Icons programming back to the Ark-La-Miss by launching that network on its second subchannel. It also launched the network Movies! on its third subchannel at the same time.
