CBS-TV will change channels in western North Dakota and South Dakota on Aug. 1, leaving its longtime affiliates in the region amid a small national shakeup.
Forum Communications says it will begin carrying CBS on its stations in the Bismarck/Minot and Rapid City markets, which include KBMY (Bismarck), KMCY (Minot), and (KNBN Rapid City).
“The transaction further expands Forum’s commitment to providing local news, weather, sports and information coverage to communities in the Dakotas,” Forum said in a news release issued to competitors on July 21. “Forum intends to enhance the award-winning broadcast operations into the markets of Bismarck and Rapid City further,” it stated.
The announcement did not state whether CBS will be carried on subchannels. KBMY/KMCY is an ABC affiliate while KNBN carries NBC. Online TV listings do not yet reflect any changes.
CBS’ current affiliates in the region are Nexstar’s KXMB/12.1 (Bismarck), KXMC/13.1 (Minot), KXMD/11.1 (Williston), KXMA-TV/2.2 (Dickinson), and KCLO/15.1 (Rapid City).
The Desk and Deadline report that the Forum deal comes as Hearst has also reached a deal to begin carrying CBS in four markets, all outside the Upper Midwest. The reports say Nexstar is keeping the CBS affiliation in 36 other markets.
Deadline reports KXMB and KCLO will become primary affiliates of the CW network, which is currently carried on subchannels of those stations as well as KXMA-TV/2.1. The CW is owned by Nexstar.
KXMB and its satellite stations, as well as KCLO, have carried CBS for their entire histories.
The switch may result in an unintentional test of how a small-market TV station can perform without a major network affiliation. CBS currently offers ten hours per day of original entertainment and news programming as well as sports coverage including NFL football, NCAA basketball, and PGA golf.
The CW offers a two-hour prime time block, with sports programming including college football, wrestling, and auto racing. A CW+ feed for small markets rounds out the schedule with reruns and other syndicated programming. Some Nexstar stations also simulcast some news programming from the company’s NewsNation cable channel.
Nexstar previously owned a station in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula that switched from CBS to MyNetworkTV in 2022; that station was sold and merged with another station two years later. No such plans have been announced for Bismarck or Rapid City.
KXMB has a full news operation and currently produces six hours of local news each weekday, plus an hour-long lifestyle program. KCLO simulcasts newscasts from KELO-TV (Sioux Falls) with a news bureau in Rapid City. There is no indication of KELO-TV being affected by the changes.
The other major TV station in the Bismarck market is Gray NBC/FOX affiliate KFYR-TV and its satellites, while the other major TV operation in Rapid City is Gray ABC/FOX stations KOTA-TV/KEVN-LD.
KNBN, which Forum purchased in 2024, has a full news operation. KBMY does not have a news department and relays newscasts from Forum’s WDAY-TV/6 (Fargo).
As of the evening of July 23, it does not appear that KXMB, KCLO, KBMY, or KNBN has reported on the upcoming change.
Disclosure: Jon Ellis is an employee of Gray Media Group. The statements and views expressed in this posting are his own and do not reflect those of Gray Media Group.