KBMT-TV
  
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Beaumont/Port Arthur/Orange, Texas Lake Charles, Louisiana United States |
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| Branding | 12 KBMT ABC (general) 12 News HD (newscasts) K-JAC: Your NBC (on DT2) |
| Slogan | Expect More |
| Channels |
Digital: 12 (VHF) Virtual: 12 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | On Main RF12 12.1 ABC 12.2 NBC 12.3 Cozi TV 12.4 MeTV On Lower Power channels 27,36,43 and 44 12.5 MyNetworkTV 12.6 Ion Television |
| Translators | KVHP-LD 44 Jasper, TX K27JJ 27 Warren, Texas |
| Affiliations | ABC |
| Owner |
Tegna Media (LSB Broadcasting, Inc.) |
| First air date | June 18, 1961 |
| Call letters' meaning | BeauMonT |
| Sister station(s) | KUIL-LD, KVHP-LD, WFAA, KHOU, KVUE, KENS, KCEN-TV, KAGS-LD, KYTX, KIII, KIDY, KXVA |
| Former channel number(s) |
Analog: 12 (VHF, 1961–2009) Digital: 50 (UHF, until 2009) |
| Transmitter power | 18 kW ERP |
| Height | 301 meters (988 ft) |
| Facility ID | 10150 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 30°11′26″N 93°53′8″W / 30.19056°N 93.88556°W |
| Licensing authority | FCC |
| Public license information: |
Profile CDBS |
| Website | 12newsnow.com |
KBMT is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Golden Triangle area of southeast Texas, licensed to Beaumont. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter in Mauriceville. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 5 and in high definition on digital channel 875. Owned by Tegna, Inc., KBMT has studios along I-10/U.S. 69/U.S. 96/U.S. 287 in Beaumont.
The callsign KBMT originally transmitted on UHF channel 31, beginning on May 9, 1954, as the first television station to broadcast in the Golden Triangle. It carried ABC, CBS and NBC, but lost CBS when KFDM-TV went on the air in 1955. Since the FCC did not mandate television sets to have UHF included until 1964, KBMT 31 went off the air on August 1, 1956. Its original tower still stands (though only 250 feet instead of 500 feet tall) west of Vidor south of U.S. Route 90.
KBMT's owners subsequently applied for the later allocation on channel 12 and, after winning the allocation from the FCC, began broadcasting on its new assigned channel using the KBMT callsign on June 18, 1961 as an ABC affiliate. Before 1961, ABC had been relegated to limited clearances on KPAC-TV (now KBTV-TV) and KFDM-TV. The original owners were N.D. "Doug" Williams and Randolph Reed. The original tower site for the transmitter and antenna was Sabine Pass, south of Port Arthur (this due to KSLA in Shreveport). The transmitter and antenna were later moved to its current site near Mauriceville in the early 1960s with the antenna modified for a "directional" signal to prevent interference to KSLA's coverage area. The station was later sold to Cowles Broadcasting in 1965, H&C Communications in 1980, McKinnon Broadcasting in 1991, and London Broadcasting in 2009. On January 1, 2009, KBMT added NBC programming on digital subchannel 12.2. This came after KBTV, which previously held the affiliation, switched to Fox. This in turn caused former FOX affiliate KUIL-LP (now KUIL-LD) to go independent. In a ten-year deal with London Broadcasting, KBMT began to manage the programming of that station. On July 6, 2010, the station launched Azteca América on a new 4th digital subchannel, becoming the first Spanish-language television station offered in the Golden Triangle. That channel was dropped in early 2013 in favor of MundoFOX (now MundoMax). Due to a realignment, four digital channels are carried on the main 12 signal while the other two (12.5 MyTX and 12.6 MundoFOX) are carried via the lowpower stations, KUIL-LD on 43 SW of Beaumont and K36ID-LD on 36 in Orange. In Jasper, KVHP-LD on 44 and in Warren, K27JJ-LD on 27 carry the main RF12 signal with ABC, NBC, COZI and MeTV.
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