KNVE

For the real-life channel 57 in Baytown, Texas, see KUBE-TV on Wikipedia.

KNVE
City	Baytown, Texas
Broadcast area	Greater Houston
Channels	Digital: 26 (UHF), shared with KALV Virtual 57
Branding	Pivot 57 Houston
Programming
Affiliations	57.1: Pivot 57.2: Telatino 57.3: Desperado
Ownership
Owner	GloboRB (Pivot Stations Group, Inc.)
Sister stations	KFRH
History
First air date	March 1, 1983 (as KBYT-TV)
Former callsigns	KBYT-TV (1983-2003) KMAS (2003-2021)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 57 (UHF, 1983-2009) Digital: 31 (UHF, 1999-2017)
Former affiliations	Independent (1983-2003) Mas TeVe/Mas Network (2003-2021) NU9VE/Nueve (2021-2024)
Callsign meaning	NueVE
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
ERP	410 kW

KNVE (Channel 57), is a television station licensed to Baytown, Texas, United States, serving as the Houston-area outlet for Pivot. It is owned and operated by GloboRB, alongside Houston-licensed Freenity flagship KFRH (Channel 39). The two stations maintain studios in Uptown Houston, while KNVE's transmitter is located near Missouri City, in northeastern Fort Bend County.

Since 2017, KNVE is under a channel sharing agreement with television station KALV following the sale of KNVE's over-the-air spectrum in the FCC's spectrum reallocation auction for $130.2 million.

History

Independent station KBYT

The station first signed on as independent KBYT in 1983, owned by Baytown Television Group. The company was founded by Rodney Forman, a native of Baytown, Texas, and was headquartered in Baytown as well, alongside the KBYT studios. In the first month on air, KBYT claimed eight percent of the viewing audience in the Greater Houston area, with its program lineup organized into thematic blocks.

In 1989, KBYT was purchased by Arlington, Texas-based Arlington Television Group (known as ATG) pairing with company flagship KADL in Dallas and KVDA in San Antonio, both independent stations. The joint ownership of the three stations had proven to be successful and well paid. ATG's aggressive programming, promotions strategy, and a favorable climate for independent stations nationally, made the three stations highly profitable and attracted major bidders in Texas.

By the mid-1990s, ATG had owned a total of 15 independent stations, including KBYT. Around that time, KBYT and its sisters adopted a local programming-infused format in which the station would have mixed locally produced programming, alongside first-run and off-network syndicated programs. KBYT aired two popular shows amongst the locals: Around AstroWorld, a family-oriented program showcasing currently popular rides and attractions in the Six Flags: AstroWorld amusement park (which was shut down in 2005) and Space City Saturdays, a talk program showcasing fun, informative, and interactive segments. This style of programming would remain by the early 2000's.

KBYT logo used until 2003.

While the stations received major success from this format, ATG's financial status would sharply decline in 1997 when they purchased the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, angering the shareholders who told upper management that it would be a “bad investment”. ATG sold the team in 1998, but the sale wasn't enough to recover its funds. ATG filed for bankruptcy that same year and was in the process of auctioning off its stations. Clear Channel Communications made a bid to acquire the group but was outbid by RB Media in 1999. Once the purchase was finalized in 2000, KBYT and its sisters maintained their independent formats, albeit cancelling and renaming their local programming.

Mas TeVe/Network flagship

In October 2001, RB Media relocated to Houston after its corporate offices were destroyed in New York City following the September 11th attacks. Around the same time the company planned to launch two new television networks the following year and use all of its stations as the nuclei for both networks. RB launched Freemont in 2002, replacing the ill-faded National Entertainment Network. The second network's launch was pushed back to 2003 in order to give Freemont leverage on viewership. Executives discussed the launch of a Spanish-language network to compete with the three then-nascent Spanish networks: Azteca America, mun2 (now Universo), and Telefutura (now UniMás), all of whom were launched in 2000, 2001, and 2002, respectively. RB Media launched "Mas TeVe" on September 15, 2003 (coinciding with the beginning of Hispanic Heritage Month), serving as the Spanish-language counterpart of Freemont. KBYT was selected as the network's flagship and changed its callsign to KMAS. Mas TeVe rebranded as Mas Network in 2012.

In 2016, KMAS was among the 80% of assets acquired by RB Media's successor Studio Networks, the forerunner of GloboRB.

NU9VE and Pivot era

KNVE logo from 2021 to 2023

Logo from 2023 to 2024

In 2021, following stagnant ratings, Mas Network and its stations were replaced by sister channel NU9VE on June 1, leading to KMAS changing its callsign to the current KNVE. On January 1, 2024, the NU9VE stations were replaced by Freemont/Freenity's new secondary network Pivot.