KAUT-TV (channel 43) is an independent television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside NBC affiliate KFOR-TV (channel 4). Both stations share studios in Oklahoma City's McCourry Heights section, while KAUT-TV's transmitter is located on the city's northeast side. History Early history The UHF channel 43 allocation in Oklahoma City was originally assigned to Christian Broadcasting of Oklahoma Inc. – a religious nonprofit corporation headed by George G. Teague, a local evangelist and co-founder of the Capitol Hill Assembly of God – which filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for a license and construction permit on April 4, 1977, proposing to sign on a non-commercial religious television station on the frequency. The FCC Broadcast Bureau granted the license to Christian Broadcasting of Oklahoma on November 17, 1978; two months later in January 1979, the group applied to use KFHC-TV as the planned station's callsign. On July 13, 1979, the Teague group announced it would sell the license to Golden West Broadcasters (a joint venture between actor/singer and Ravia, Oklahoma native Gene Autry and The Signal Companies that, at the time, also owned independent station KTLA [now a CW affiliate] in Los Angeles) for $60,000; the FCC granted approval of the transaction on January 24, 1980. VEU The station first signed on the air on October 15, 1980, as KAUT, initially operating as a pilot station for Golden West's subscription service Video Entertainment Unlimited (VEU). (The callsign, which references controlling group stakeholder Autry, was chosen by Golden West two months prior to sign-on; a "-TV" suffix would be added to the callsign on January 27, 1983.) It was the first broadcast outlet for the service, which Golden West's pay television unit, Golden West Subscription Television, Inc., initially launched on May 1 as the microwave-relayed Golden West Entertainment Network in Omaha, Nebraska and Memphis, Tennessee. KAUT – which originally operated from a studio and office facility located at 11901 North Eastern Avenue (south of the John Kilpatrick Turnpike and southwest of the Burendale Heights North section) in northeastern Oklahoma City – was the sixth commercial television station to sign on in the Oklahoma City market and the fourth such station to operate on the UHF band. The VEU service – which occupied the channel 43 signal weekdays from 7:00 p.m. until sign-off at 2:00 a.m. and weekends from 1:00 p.m. to