Austin’s KEYE-TV Transitions to HD Local News

KEYE-TV said it became the first local broadcaster in Austin, Texas, to transition to HD local news this month, as the CBS affiliate continues to grow its daily HD content. Austin, a major high-tech and university-oriented region, is Nielsen DMA no. 51.

According to KEYE’s Web site, the station invested more than $16 million to upgrade to digital facilities—an infrastructure changeover that began several years ago with gradual upgrades to floor and field cameras, lighting and servers, stringing more than 19 miles of cable, and construction of a new production control room.

The broadcaster tells viewers online that “the best picture” in HD is available the old fashioned way terrestrially via a home antenna on Channel 42. Its HD content is now available on multiple platforms, including Time Warner Cable (Ch. 1531); Grande Cable (Ch. 305); SuddenLink (Ch. 710); Northland Cable (pending, on Ch. 404); and DirecTV (Ch. 910).