CASPER, Wyo. — Wyoming TV stations KCWY in Casper and KGWN in Cheyenne are part of a station swap that involve Gray Television Inc. stations in Wyoming and Nebraska.
According to a release from Gray issued on Thursday, the company has made an agreement with Marquee Broadcasting Inc. to swap its stations in exchange for Marquee’s FCC permit authorizing construction of a new and currently unbuilt TV station KCBU in Salt Lake City.
In exchange for its KCBU license, Marquee will get ownership of Gray’s Wyoming stations, as well as its two Nebraska stations, KSTF in Scottsbluff and KNEP in Sidney.
“Marquee is excited to acquire Gray’s leading stations in Wyoming and Western Nebraska. We are looking forward to building on the legacy there,” said Marquee CEO Patricia Lane in the release.
Atlanta-based Gray Television owns stations in 113 television markets that reach 36% of US TV households, according to their release.
On its website, Marquee Broadcasting describes itself as a family-owned and women-led group of local stations. According to its LinkedIn page, Marquee Broadcasting is based in Brookeville, Maryland, and was founded in 2007. After the FCC approval for the new stations, the company will own 15 stations in 10 states.
“Our focus is on the smaller markets, where our community involvement can mean the most and make the biggest difference,” Marquee states.
KCWY-TV signed on in Casper in fall 2003 after winning the NBC network affiliation from longtime holder KTWO-TV, which eventually picked up the ABC affiliation after several months as an independent.
In April 2019, KCWY replaced its Casper-based local news broadcasts with a simulcast of its KGWN newscasts in Cheyenne. A small team of Casper journalists were kept to feed stories to the KGWN broadcasts.
