the local marketing agreement, NPG moved to buy KECY and KDFX-CA (K77AV ceased operations in April 1998) for $2 million, and the FCC approved the sale in May 2008. KECY began broadcasting in high definition in early 2009 — the first station in the market to upgrade — and broadcasts Fox prime time and Fox Sports in high definition. The CW affiliation moved from KSWT to KECY in March 2010, and KECY placed the network on channel 9.3, moving KESE-LP to 9.4. The network also began airing CW's programming in the early prime time schedule, beginning at 7 pm, like other affiliates in the Mountain Time Zone. DirecTV contributed around $1 million in technology and fiber optics in early 2011 to provide KECY a direct link to DirecTV's facilities in Los Angeles, allowing KECY to send high definition content to DirecTV, and DirecTV to send KECY's signal to subscribers in the Yuma/El Centro market. On July 2, 2014, NPG announced that it had agreed to form a resource sharing agreement with Blackhawk Broadcasting, owner of KSWT and KYMA-DT, giving NPG control of the big four television network affiliates in the Yuma–El Centro market. All employees of KSWT and KYMA, except for sales personnel, became employees of NPG. Blackhawk continues to operate the sales departments of its stations. As a result of the agreement, KSWT and KYMA relocated to KECY's building on 4th Avenue. Terrestrial HD distribution of KECY-DT2, KECY-DT3, and KECY-DT4/KESE-LP By November 2017, the over-the-air feed of "ABC 5" had been upgraded into 720p HD, after previously being offered in a 16:9 standard definition widescreen picture format. At that time, the over-the-air feed of "Desert CW6" was unable to be upgraded into 720p HD, most likely due to bandwidth limitations prohibiting KECY from transmitting three of their feeds in 720p HD simultaneously while also simulcasting KESE-LP "Telemundo 3" as a fourth subchannel; however, "Desert CW6" was instead upgraded into a widescreen SD picture format, after previously being offered in 480i 4:3. Ever since an upgrade to their multiplexer equipment sometime in November 2019, the over-the-air feed of "Desert CW6" has been broadcasting in 720p HD over-the-air; meanwhile, the simulcast of KESE-LP on KECY-DT4 was upgraded to 1080i full HD. News operation While affiliated with CBS, it operated a news department which ended sometime in the early 1990s. At the time of the shutdown of the original news operation, its