Gray Media Group has launched “North Star Sports & Entertainment Network” on DTV subchannels in three Minnesota markets, carrying a mix of syndicated sports programming and regional play-by-play.
The service is carried on KBJR/6.3 (Superior-Duluth), KMNF-LD/7.3 (Mankato), KXLT/47.2 (Rochester). Syndicated programs include “Game Time with Boomer Esiason,” “World Poker Tour,” boxing, mixed martial arts, and automobile programming.
The Mankato station will also carry the St. Paul Saints, Minnesota State University Maverick Sports, Bethany Lutheran College athletics, and Minnesota State High School Tournaments. The Rochester station will carry “KTTC Gameday,” a program highlighting local high school teams. The Duluth station has already carried a wide range of local sports play-by-play.
Gray also has the rights to carry some MLB games in the three markets, but it’s not immediately clear from program listings if the games will run on “North Star Sports” or on other channels.
KBJR-DT3 continues to carry the two-hour “My Network TV” rerun block from 7 to 9 p.m., while listings indicate KMNF-LD3 runs MNT from 1 to 3 a.m.
KBJR-DT3 enjoys marketwide cable and satellite carriage on channel 9 due to its legacy dating back to the “UPN9” cable channel, which launched in 2002. The Mankato and Rochester stations have cable carriage but are not on satellite.
The launch also resulted in some channel changes in each market:
- In Duluth, H&I Network moved to a newly-launched channel 3.7 on KDLH. H&I had previously filled most of the schedule on KBJR-DT3.
- In Mankato, 365BLK moved to a newly-launched channel 12.6 of KEYC.
- In Rochester, MeTV moved from 47.2 to KTTC/10.3, H&I moved from 10.3 to 47.3, and MeTV Toons moved from 47.3 to 10.7. Also, Court TV and Grit swapped channels, with Grit moving to 10.4 and Court TV moving to 47.6.