KET KY (on-air branding) KET Kentucky Channel (alternate)
Country
United States
Availability
Kentucky (statewide) southern Illinois(limited) southern Indiana Mississippi County, Missouri(OTA only) southwestern and south-central Ohio northern Tennessee(limited) southwestern Virginia Huntington, West Virginia area
Headquarters
Lexington, Kentucky
Owner
Kentucky Authority for Educational Television
Parent
Commonwealth of Kentucky
Launch date
January 2008; 14 years ago (2008-01)
Former names
KET Star Channel 703 (1988-2007) KET3 & Star Channel 703 (2002-2007) KET ED (2007-2008)
Affiliation(s)
Educationalindependent (primary, 2008-present) PBS (encores of select programs only)
Affiliates
List of affiliates
Former affiliations
PBS Kids (locally-programmed 24/7 channel, 2002) (secondary, 2008-2009) KET ED (2009-2012, overnights)
The Kentucky Channel, also known by its Program and System Information Protocol short name and on-screen logo bug as KET KY, is a full-time 24/7 statewide digital television programming service originating from PBS member state-network Kentucky Educational Television. The channel features programming related to the U.S. state of Kentucky (with some programming relevant to surrounding states such as Tennessee, Indiana or Virginia), as well as coverage of Kentucky General Assembly when it is in session.
It is carried on the third digital subchannel of all fifteen (15) of KET's main satellite stations, and on the second digital subchannel of Louisville-based KET2 station WKMJ-TV.[1][2] The channel is programmed and broadcast from the Telecommunications Center at 600 Cooper Drive in Lexington, Kentucky.
KET's Star Channels 703 and 704, the network's distance learning services that were launched in the late 1980s, predated the advent of digital over-the-air television broadcasting of any kind, and they were only available to schools and libraries throughout the state. The services were so successful in education centers, that in 1991, the network earned the Innovations Award from the Ford Foundation for the star channels.[3] In the mid 1990s, the Star Channels were converted from interactive television services to direct broadcast satellite services available to C-bandfree-to-airsatellite systems, one that provides PK-12 educational programming to public schools and libraries throughout the state, plus several other states, with the other providing Annenberg/CPB Project programming.
In early 2002, the statewide relaunch of WKMJ-TV’s KET2 signal from Louisville, along with two new digital services, KET3 and KET4, were launched over the air via digital signals of all fifteen principal KET satellites. KET3 began broadcasting as a locally programmed 24/7 PBS Kids channel programmed by KET, while KET4 began as a PBS digital sampler channel.[4] KET's second, third, and fourth subchannels, which were initially launched in May 2002, were the first ever digital subchannels in most, if not all, of the Kentucky-involved media markets (e.g. Paducah, Evansville (IN), Bowling Green, Louisville, Cincinnati (OH), Lexington, and Huntington (WV) markets), as commercial outlets typically never began to launch digital signals, let alone subchannels of their own until the mid-2000s. Beginning in August 2002, KET3 and KET4 became over-the-air relaunches of Star Channels 703 and 704 as both the then-new third and fourth subchannels began simulcasting the two respective star channels, making them available to tens of thousands of homes via the digital over-the-air signals, as well as cable television systems, which has provided a benefit to parents and teachers of home-schooled children and parochial schools (i.e. Christian and/or Catholic schools) in addition to teachers and students of public schools, as well as KET viewers that watch lifelong learning-oriented programming.[5][6][7] KET4 also carried programming during primetime hours.
The birth of the Kentucky Channel[]
From August 2007 to January 2008, the network's subchannels went through a major realignment. Beginning in August 2007, KET3 and KET4 merged to create the Education Channel, KET ED. KET ED and KET HD programming were simulcast on both the DT3 and DT4 subchannels of all 15 of the network's primary transmitters until January 1, 2008, when KET launched the then-new channel devoted to programming about Kentucky people, places, and/or events, in a schedule format similar to that of Twin Cities PBS’s Minnesota Channel.[8] Beginning on January 1, 2008, KET3 was re-branded as the Kentucky Channel, or identified by the network's voiceover announcer, The Kentucky Channel from KET.
Beginning with the debut of the then-new Kentucky Channel, about 20 hours of Kentucky-related programming was broadcast on the service. Outside of the 20 hours, the service aired the KET HD evening programming service (national PBS HD schedule) in primetime hours from 8 p.m. to 12 Midnight Eastern time (7-11 p.m. Central time),[9] which was previously aired on KET4 outside of that service's 20 hours of Annenberg/CPB channel programming,[10] hence the PSIP readers displaying the channel name as KETKYHD during the 2008-09 television season.[11] The Kentucky Channel also replaced the now-discontinued KET5 and KET6 part-time services as the broadcasters of the Kentucky General Assembly. Coverage of both the state House of Representatives and the state Senate is still available in the Frankfort area, overlapping C-SPAN3 and NASA TV on channels 16 and 17, respectively, on the Frankfort Plant Board cable system.[12]
As a full-time service[]
Beginning with the 2009-10 television season, the Kentucky Channel expanded to a 24-hour programming schedule after all HD programming schedules began to be handled by the network, and moved onto the flagship service, the main channel of the fifteen principal satellite stations. An increase of fees for the usage of the national PBSHD channel feed caused the network to program PBS HD programming by itself on the main channel. After the KET ED linear service permanently signed off the DT4 subchannels of KET's principal signals and WKMJ-DT3, some of its former programming aired overnights on the Kentucky Channel from 1 to 6 a.m. Eastern (12 midnight to 5 a.m. Central) until that block was canceled in 2012, making the Kentucky Channel truly full-time. KET ED still existed as an on-demand video service available on the network's website, offering a limited selection of the service's former programming as late as the mid-2010s.[13] Also in 2009, the Kentucky Channel began broadcasting over WKMJ-DT2/Louisville.
Programming[]
See also: List of programs broadcast by Kentucky Educational Television § Local programming
Since the inception of the Kentucky Channel, it has been broadcasting an extensive programming schedule involving dozens of programs and documentaries about Kentucky-related issues, heritage, history, people and culture from KET's vast library of original programming. The channel's programming schedule also includes encore presentations of most of the current lineup of popular local programs, including the most recent episodes of the network's most watched programs, including several reruns of Kentucky Life, including the most recent episodes, along with that program's ever-popular telethon specials that aired from 1998 through the 2000s during the network's annual telethons. The channel also airs any PBS program that has any relevancy to Kentucky as well. Original programming from KET's archives broadcast on the Kentucky Channel include several in-house productions of documentaries hosted by several Kentucky authors and media personalities. The channel also airs select archived episodes of original series such as Bywords, Distinguished Kentuckian, Run That By Me Again, and From The Ground Up, among others.
The channel also features programs and films produced by locally based independent production companies and film makers. Other television stations also produces some programs for the Kentucky Channel. For instance, in late Spring, and around the 4th of July holiday season, the channel airs some Thunder Over Louisville coverage from that city's local stations such as Fox affiliate WDRB, with the KET rebroadcast of the coverage presented commercial-free. Lexington CBS affiliate WKYT-TV even produced a documentary about former University of Kentucky basketball coach Adolph Rupp that semi-regularly rebroadcast on the channel as well.
Outside of KET's archives and independent production companies, some documentaries and short programs on the channel are also produced by the mass media divisions of some Kentucky colleges and universities. Following a similar format of public, , and/or Government access television stations, in addition to colleges, universities, and independent production companies, some programming is produced by Kentucky-based government agencies and non-profit organizations within the state, who can submit their programs for broadcast on the channel.[1][9]
Availability[]
The Kentucky Channel is broadcast over the third digital subchannel of all of KET's fifteen (15) principal broadcast relay stations, and on WKMJ-DT2. The channels is also available to several cable television systems throughout and within the state, including Mediacom, Charter/Spectrum, Comcast/Xfinity, , Suddenlink Communications and a few dozen locally owned cable companies in the state. A few out-of-state cable television systems also carry the Kentucky Channel, along with the flagship KET service, especially those who are based out-of-state, but also serves certain Kentucky communities along its boundaries, most notably including the cable systems of CincinnatiBell and the Lafayette, Tennessee-based North Central Telephone Cooperative.[14] Some select videos of KET's original programming (recent or archived) can also be viewed on the network's website.
Broadcast television in Southeast Missouri, Southern Illinois, Western Kentucky and Northwest Tennessee, including Paducah, Cape Girardeau and Harrisburg
Reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable or satellite television
W14EE-D (14.1 Rel.Ind. → NBC, 14.2 Lighthouse TV → Mystery, 14.3 Right Now TV → Cozi, 14.4 Fun Roads TV → Court TV, 14.5 Silent → Circle – to relay WSMV-TV)
United States