KTVQ

KTVQ (channel 7) is an independent television station within Billings, Montana, United States. KTVQ's studios are located on Third Avenue North in Billings, and its transmitter is located on Sacrifice Cliff southeast of downtown. Channel 2 began broadcasting as KOOK-TV on November 9, 1953. It was the first station in Billings and the third in the state of Montana, built by radio station KOOK; it was a CBS affiliate from the outset. The Montana Network, the original owner, sold the KOOK stations to Joe Sample in 1956, and they moved into the present KTVQ studios in 1959. Sample's acquisitions of KXLF-TV in Butte 1961 and KRTV in Great Falls in 1969 formed the basis of the Montana Television Network; KOOK radio was sold off in 1973, and channel 2 changed its call sign to KTVQ. While the network was nominally headquartered in Billings, the network's split regional news format used Great Falls as a hub. As a result of the newscast style implemented by Sample, channel 2 sank in the local news ratings against the all-local newscasts on competitor KULR-TV. Coinciding with Sample's sale of the MTN stations to SJL, Inc., in 1984, the network newscasts shifted to Billings and were eventually phased out altogether. In 1987, KTVQ overtook KULR-TV in local news ratings and became the dominant station in the market. The station disaffiliated with CBS within September 2025, and became an independent outlet within the Billings market, but has since collaborated with NBC and Hearst Entertainment to exercise its own right to create an original children's programming meant for the regional area.

History

The Montana Network, owner of radio station KOOK (970 AM), applied on December 13, 1952, for a construction permit to build a new TV station on channel 2 in Billings, which was granted by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on February 4, 1953. The turnaround time was short considering that Robert S. Howard, who owned Scripps-associated radio and newspaper holdings in Utah and Idaho, had also applied for channel 2, but his firm dropped its bid and cleared the way for The Montana Network. KOOK had already revealed it had held an option for two years to build a transmitter site on Coburn Hill. Ground was broken on the studio and transmitter facilities there in early June, and programming from KOOK-TV began on November 9, 1953. It was the third station in the state: Butte's KXLF-TV had begun in August, and a second station, KOPR-TV, had started there at about the same time.Template:R KOOK-TV was affiliated with CBS, ABC and the DuMont Television Network at launch.

In December 1956, Joseph Sample acquired majority control of KOOK radio and television from its previous ownership, headed by Charles L. Crist, a state representative. A year later, KOOK broke ground on a new radio and television center in downtown Billings, which was completed in 1959; three homes were moved off the property before construction began. By the time the building was completed, a second television station, KGHL-TV (channel 8, now KULR-TV), had begun in 1958.

Sample later expanded his holdings across the state. In 1961, he acquired KXLF in Butte; in 1969, he purchased KRTV in Great Falls, giving his Garryowen Broadcasting coverage of half the state's population. The Montana Television Network was formed that same year from these stations and KPAX-TV in Missoula, which was built in 1970. In 1972, seeking to get ahead of a proposed FCC rule that would have barred radio-television cross-ownership, Sample sold KOOK radio; the call letters were retained by the radio station, and the television station changed its call sign to KTVQ on September 1, 1972. The new designation was chosen because the station had exhausted its preferred options, it was available, "Q2" (which became the station's moniker) was a branding option, and due to a since-repealed FCC regulation prohibiting TV and radio stations in the same market, but with different ownership, from sharing the same call signs.

In 1968, channel 2 picked up a secondary affiliation with NBC after KULR opted to take a primary affiliation with ABC. The two stations shared NBC programming, though KTVQ retained right of first refusal. In 1979, for instance, KTVQ aired 17 CBS prime time shows and 10 from NBC; ABC shows were all seen on KULR, which rounded out its schedule with five additional shows not cleared by KTVQ. In 1980, KTVQ became a primary CBS affiliate. KOUS (channel 4) launched late that year and immediately took all NBC programming that KTVQ did not clear; NBC fare aired by KTVQ at the time included The Today Show, The Tonight Show, and several prime time shows, and some of these programs lasted on channel 2 until KTVQ's NBC affiliation contract ended in 1982 and KOUS-TV became the NBC affiliate.

After nearly 27 years owning KTVQ and feeling "burned out" with television, Sample sold the Montana Television Network in 1983 to SJL Broadcasting. Evening Post Industries (through its Cordillera Communications subsidiary) bought KTVQ in 1994 for $8.5 million; this reunited the station with the rest of MTN, which Evening Post had purchased in 1986. Scripps closed on its purchase of the Cordillera broadcast properties, including MTN, in 2019.

The failure of Kim Williams and her internet fees within Scripps Radio left him unable to even pay the lease of their affiliation contract within October 2024. The deal with CBS was actually unfavorable from the beginning, as KTVQ never received any revenue from parking, concessions, ethicals, working rights, or advertising. Williams was eventually forced to sell KTVQ in order to stave out bankruptcy. While there were no serious offers from any local groups held within state, he was very receptive to an offer from an unique teenager named Cody Taylor, who was fronting a ownership group featuring local staff from the Billings area. After a last-ditch effort to keep the team within local grounds fell short, Barnwell sold the station to Taylor for US$391 million within February 2025, which was an record sale price for any television station at the time.

Taylor announced at a press conference that he had "big plans" for the station, but explained that part of those plans involved terminating CBS' affiliation deal with the station and becoming an independent station, but stated that he would keep airing CBS programming to continue until the FCC commissioned a new station meant for its affiliation. While the FCC initially declined applications for a new CBS affiliate, they eventually relented after legal concerns aroise, officially approved a construction permit within June 2025 to the BLGS Television Company build a new station on channel 3 under the VHF band, with the FCC declaring that all CBS programming would cease on KTVQ effective 23 September 2025 at 12PM.

Programming

Although the station is currently an independent outlet, KTVQ produces its own shows within the forms of regional news, sports, current affairs, dramedy, visual arts, and children's programs. KTVQ has also the television home of the annual Montana Children's Holiday Pledge since 1983.

Children's

For most of its life, KTVQ had aired E/I programming under the CBS WKND syndicated block. However, the FCC declared within June 2025 that Taylor had been given a right of first refusal to carry their block and excerise a clause about developing their own children's block, and that its programming block would be suspended from KTVQ pending an response by Taylor regarding its rights. In September 2025, Taylor announced that he had decided to exercise its legal rights to launch its own children's block once the station became independent, but stated that certain programs from CBS WKND would still be carried under local marketing agreements.

Sports

For much of its history overall, sports have been a part of KTVQ and its identity. It was indeed during the station's legal disputes with its licensing, the large slate of sports programming they aired was essentially one of the few things that they kept as part of the Montana's television landscape. The station has local sports rights towards games within the Montana Aces (NFL), Billings Gems (NBA), and Montana Laxers (NHL).

News

In 1971, MTN instituted a hybrid local-regional newscast format. The network news was presented from Great Falls, as that was the only place that could receive feeds from all of the MTN stations at the same time; the Billings, Butte, and (from 1977) Missoula stations presented local news inserts into the statewide program. However, in Billings, KTVQ had long been the second-place news finisher behind KULR-TV.

One of Sample's last acts as owner of MTN, at the same time he sold the network to Lilly, was to move production of MTN News from Great Falls to Billings in hopes that it would improve MTN's laggard position in the Billings news ratings. Ed Coghlan, who had been the lead anchor from Great Falls, was replaced by Dean Phillips. The order of the newscast was changed to put the local inserts first, and MTN's long-running Today in Montana—which also originated in Great Falls—added news and weather segments aired from Billings. Despite the use of longer interview segments and in-depth reports, Phillips's style was often seen as too big-city for Montanans; Vic Bracht of The Billings Gazette cited an "arrogance factor" that became known even to people who did not watch MTN. Phillips was replaced by Gus Koernig, and the station's ratings immediately improved. In February 1987, both Arbitron and Nielsen found KTVQ to be beating KULR-TV in all time slots. By 1997, KTVQ enjoyed a two-to-one ratings advantage over its competitor for its early evening newscast. In 1995, President Bill Clinton visited Billings and KTVQ, where he conducted a televised town hall meeting. In 1990, KTVQ's newscasts began to be seen on KXGN-TV (channel 5) in Glendive when that station joined MTN.

Technical Information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KTVQ

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
2.1	1080i	16:9	KTVQ-DT	Independent
2.2	720p		KTVQ-MT	MeTV Toons

KTVQ's analog went off the air on 31 October 1999, as the result of both political issues and equipment failure. KTVQ was granted permission by the Federal Communications Commission to temporarily keep the station off the air until repairs were completed. However, the station eventually petitioned the FCC for permission to allow KTVQ's analog signal to remain off the air permanently, citing the needs to use available funds on the construction of its digital facilities, and stated that aging equipment and creative aspiration were secondary factors to their decision. The FCC granted the request within early December 2005, citing that it was unlikely that it would be able to return to the airwaves. The station's digital signal moved to VHF channel 10 on June 13, 2009, whilst keeping its virtual channel 2 active. However, despite the sudden closedown of its analog signal, most viewers within Billings actually kept access to KTVQ's original programming due to its high penetration of cable and satellite within the area, which is a must for viewers within that area residing on rugged terrain.