KATC (channel 3) is a television station in Lafayette, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with ABC and The CW Plus. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station has studios on Eraste Landry Road in Lafayette, and its transmitter is located near Branch, Louisiana. History The station began operations on September 19, 1962, and was locally owned by Acadian Television Company. Conventional wisdom suggested it should have signed on as an NBC affiliate, but instead it took the ABC affiliation full-time. Previously, ABC had been limited to off-hours clearances on CBS affiliate KLFY-TV (channel 10). This was a very unusual move for a then two-station market, especially one of Lafayette's size. Usually, ABC, as the smallest and weakest network, was relegated to secondary status on one or both of the existing stations. However, most of the region could view the full NBC schedule on Lake Charles' KPLC-TV and Baton Rouge's WBRZ-TV (the latter now a fellow ABC affiliate), both of which provided at least grade B coverage to much of the market. In contrast, no ABC affiliate even put a grade B signal into the area. Acadian Television apparently figured that if it linked up with ABC, it would not get much local competition. KATC coined the term "Acadiana" in the early 1960s and popularized it throughout south Louisiana. In early 1963, the ABC affiliate received an invoice erroneously addressed to the Acadiana Television Corp.; someone had typed an extra "a" at the end of the word "Acadian." The station started using it to describe the region covered by its broadcast signal. Acadian Television sold the station to Loyola University New Orleans in 1982, making it a sister station to New Orleans' CBS affiliate, WWL-TV. In the late 1980s, Loyola divested their broadcast properties, with WWL-TV going to a group of station employees (Rampart Operating Partnership) in 1990 and KATC going to investment firm Merrill Lynch in 1986. In 1993, the station joined other ABC affiliates, including WBRZ in not airing the pilot to NYPD Blue. In 1995, The Evening Post Publishing Company purchased the station through its subsidiary Cordillera Communications. In 2003, the station started broadcasting in stereo. KATC continued to use its transmitter for its analog signal located south of Crowley, Louisiana until the mandated digital date of June 12, 2009. KATC is also an alternate ABC affiliate for Lake Charles and Southwest Louisiana. That area did not