KSFY-TV

The station debuted on July 31, 1960, as KSOO-TV, the second station in Sioux Falls. It was owned by the South Dakota Broadcasting Company along with KSOO radio and was an NBC affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. From 1960 to 1969, it operated as the flagship of a regional network with separately-owned KORN-TV in Mitchell (channel 5, now KDLT-TV on channel 46). KSOO-TV served the eastern portion of the market, while KORN-TV served the western portion. In 1969, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) forced the breakup of this network, and KSOO-TV became the sole NBC affiliate. In 1970, it bought KXAB-TV in Aberdeen to boost its coverage in northeastern South Dakota. As part of the sale, KXAB's calls changed to KCOO-TV.

South Dakota Broadcasting was liquidated in 1973; the television stations had not shown a profit since 1968.{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/54803879/|access-date=July 5, 2020|title=TV License OK'd For Fargo Company|date=November 27, 1973|agency=Associated Press|work=Bismarck Tribune|page=11}} The television stations were bought by Forum Publishing Company of Fargo, North Dakota in 1974 and switched their call letters respectively to the current KSFY and KABY. KPRY-TV in Pierre was added a year later in 1976. In September 1983, KSFY swapped affiliations with channel 5, then recently renamed KDLT and became an ABC affiliate. ABC was the top-rated network at the time and wanted to be on a stronger station. Additionally, KSFY had three full-power transmitters to KDLT's one, and Forum's flagship stations WDAY and WDAZ in the eastern part of North Dakota were also converting to ABC affiliations at the same time.

Forum sold the KSFY stations to AFLAC in 1985. In 1996, AFLAC sold its broadcasting division to Retirement Systems of Alabama, who merged it with Ellis Communications to form Raycom Media. In 2004, Raycom sold the KSFY stations to The Wicks Group of Companies.

Hoak Media bought KSFY and its satellite stations in July 2006, as well as KVLY-TV and KXJB-TV (LMA with Catamount Broadcasting) of Fargo and KFYR-TV of Bismarck, North Dakota and its satellite stations. The sale was approved by the FCC on November 17, 2006. On November 20, 2013, Hoak announced the sale of most of its stations, including KSFY and its satellites to Gray Television.{{cite news|title=Gray Buying Hoak, Prime Stations For $342.5M|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/72138/gray-buying-hoak-prime-stations-for-3425m|access-date=November 20, 2013|newspaper=TVNewsCheck|date=November 20, 2013}} The sale was completed on June 13, 2014.[http://rbr.com/gray-closes-hoak-deal-completes-refinancing/ Gray closes Hoak deal; completes refinancing.], rbr.com, Retrieved June 13, 2014.

On May 1, 2018; Gray announced it had agreed to buy KDLT from owner Red River Broadcasting for $32.5 million. The combined operation would be based at KSFY's studios; in its announcement of the KDLT purchase, Gray noted that the KSFY studio has enough space to house a second station's news and sales department.{{Cite web|url=https://gray.tv/uploads/documents/pressreleases/PressReleaseKDLTSiouxFalls.pdf|title=Press release announcing Gray's purchase of KDLT}} Gray needed to obtain a waiver in order to complete the deal, since the FCC normally does not allow one person to own two of the four highest-rated stations in a market. However, in its filing requesting such a waiver, Gray argued that KDLT would be in a stronger position to compete in the market if its resources were combined with those of KSFY. Gray contended that a KSFY/KDLT duopoly would fulfill "a dire need for an effective competitor" in the Sioux Falls market, where KELO-TV has been the far-and-away leader for as long as records have been kept.[https://licensing.fcc.gov/cdbs/CDBS_Attachment/getattachment.jsp?appn=101783554&qnum=5170©num=1&exhcnum=1 Request for FCC waiver] The sale was approved by the FCC on September 24, 2019,[https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-19-943A1.pdf "Memorandum Opinion and Order"], Federal Communications Commission, September 24, 2019, Retrieved September 25, 2019. and was completed the following day.{{cite web|url=https://www.ksfy.com/content/news/Gray-Television-completes-purchase-of-KDLT-TV-561335161.html|title=Gray Television completes purchase of KDLT-TV|work=KSFY.com|publisher=Gray Television|date=September 25, 2019|access-date=September 25, 2019}}[https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/business-journal/2019/09/25/ksfy-purchases-kdlt-gray-television-red-river-broadcasting/2441108001/ "Owner of KSFY-TV finalizes purchase of KDLT-TV"], Argus Leader, September 25, 2019, Retrieved September 25, 2019. Soon afterward, on January 13, 2020, KDLT moved its studios from South Westport Avenue to KSFY's studios on Courthouse Square.

In 2020, Gray acquired the non-license assets of area Fox affiliate KTTW and placed Fox programming on KDLT's second subchannel. This resulted in all of the network affiliations in eastern South Dakota being controlled by just two companies, Gray and KELO-TV owner Nexstar Media Group.

{{expand section|further information on KSFY-TV's news operation|date=December 2011}}

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File:Dakota News Now logo.svg

Currently, KSFY broadcasts a total of {{frac|19|1|2}} hours of local newscasts each week with {{frac|3|1|2}} hours on weekdays and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays. KSFY has been nominated for numerous Midwest Emmy Awards.

On August 1, 2011, KSFY became the first television station in the Sioux Falls market and in the state of South Dakota to begin producing its local newscasts in high definition from their studio only and not from the field; the station unveiled a new HD-ready set, dropped Action News from its newscast and station branding, and renamed its newscasts as KSFY News (which the station used from 2004 to 2008).

With the purchase of KDLT, KSFY and KDLT merged their news operations on January 13, 2020, rebranding as Dakota News Now.{{Cite web|url=https://www.aberdeennews.com/news/ksfy-kdlt-to-become-dakota-news-now/article_52b89592-33f3-11ea-a125-5358f7ca240c.html|title=KSFY, KDLT to become Dakota News Now|last=Anderson|first=Patrick |website=Argus Leader|language=en|access-date=January 13, 2020}}

The stations' signals are multiplexed, but not with the same programming. This is because KPRY-TV carries NBC and Fox programming on its second and third subchannels.

{{legend|#E6FFF7|Simulcast of subchannels of another station}}

On September 10, 2012, KSFY-TV added programming from The CW on a new second digital subchannel.[http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/59893/ksfy-sioux-falls-adding-cw-on-subchannel KSFY Sioux Falls Adding CW On Subchannel], TVNewsCheck, June 4, 2012. It was part of The CW Plus,{{Cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/search.php?request=psip_search&callsign=KSFY|title = RabbitEars.Info}} and replaced KWSD as Sioux Falls' CW affiliate. As of September 2015, MeTV moved to 13.3, which also moved from KWSD.

KSFY-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 29 to VHF channel 13 for post-transition operations.{{cite web|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds |access-date=March 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |archive-date=August 29, 2013 }}

KSFY is rebroadcast on a satellite station in central South Dakota:

KSFY was previously rebroadcast on a satellite station in northeastern South Dakota:

Notes:

• ¹ KABY-TV used the callsign KXAB-TV from its 1958 sign-on to 1970 and then KCOO-TV from 1970 to 1975. The station went silent on January 5, 2016, when its tower was taken down after failing an inspection, and again on January 12, 2017, after briefly broadcasting from a low-power facility.{{Cite web|url=http://www.northpine.com/broadcast/archive/news0117.html|title=Broadcasting News-January 2017|website=www.northpine.com}} KABY's license was returned to the FCC for cancellation on April 6, 2018; its call sign was transferred to a Gray-owned low-power station in Sioux Falls.

KSFY is rebroadcast on the following translator stations:

• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|28534|3=K36NW-D}} Aberdeen
• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|30578|3=K25OU-D}} Brookings
• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|28499|3=K14IO-D}} Pierre
• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|182599|3=KABY-LD}} Sioux Falls
• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|28533|3=K32DK-D}} Watertown
• {{FCC-LMS-Facility|28491|3=K18MO-D}} Worthington, MN

Until 2013, programming from KSFY was also rebroadcast on translator K07QL in Mitchell.

Some cable systems like CSI Cable in Jamestown, North Dakota discontinued carrying the service after January 1, 2009, due to duplication of networks already carried.

{{reflist}}

• {{Official website|https://www.dakotanewsnow.com/}}
• [https://www.yourcwtv.com/partners/siouxfalls/ CW Sioux Falls website]

{{Sioux Falls TV}}

{{TV Stations South Dakota}}

{{Minnesota TV}}

{{Iowa TV}}

{{Gray TV}}

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Category:1960 establishments in South Dakota

Category:American Broadcasting Company affiliates

Category:Gray Media

Category:Mass media in the Mitchell, South Dakota micropolitan area

Category:MeTV affiliates

Category:MeTV Toons affiliates

Category:Start TV affiliates

Category:Television channels and stations established in 1960

SFY-TV

Category:True Crime Network affiliates