after they failed to renew a carriage agreement. The refusal to renew reportedly surrounds Dish Network's "Hopper" digital video recorder and its controversial commercial-skipping feature AutoHopwhich has also led to complaints from the major U.S. television networks. Sale to Nexstar Broadcasting Group On November 20, 2013, Gray Television announced it would purchase Hoak Media and Parker Broadcasting in a $335 million deal. Since Gray already owns KKCO and operates KJCT (which is owned by Excalibur Broadcasting), it decided to spin off KREX and its translators, and KFQX (which is being acquired by Excalibur) to a third-party. On December 19, Gray announced, in a side deal related to the Hoak acquisition, that KREX and its satellites will be sold to Nexstar Broadcasting Group, while KFQX will be sold to Mission Broadcasting, for $37.5 million. The sale of KREX was completed on June 13, 2014, while the KFQX sale was finalized on March 31, 2017. KREG was sold to Weigel Broadcasting in the winter of 2020, and has been repositioned via its cable and satellite carriage as a Denver-area station for its various popular subchannel networks. News operation KREX currently produces 22 hours of local news each week (with four hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). KREX-TV was the leading news station in the area for many years, but for most of the last decade has been runner-up to KKCO. Some of KREX's newscasts are simulcast on its sister stations, KFQX and KGJT. Digital television The stations' digital signals are multiplexed: KREX-TV digital channels KREY-TV digital channels Satellite stations KREX-TV also operates a satellite station in Montrose, Colorado, KREY-TV (virtual channel 10, VHF digital channel 13). KREY transmits from Flattop Mesa, a hill northeast of Montrose. Due to its relatively weak signal and the area's very uneven terrain, the station uses six translators to relay its signal to the Uncompahgre Valley and surrounding San Miguel mountain communities. Local studios are located on North 1st Street in Montrose. In its earliest days, local programs including Letters to Santa, in which area children were invited to sit on Santa Claus' lap on live television, were made in cramped quarters at the transmitter building, which doubled as KREY's studio through the 1970s. KREY previously produced short news inserts during KREX's weeknight newscasts, though this has since ended. KREX-TV formerly operated two additional satellite stations, KREZ-TV channel 6 in Durango and