Louisiana Television Stations

WDSU (Channel 6) in New Orleans was Louisiana's first television station, signing on December 18, 1948. Founded by businessman Edgar B. Stern Jr., WDSU was not only the first station in Louisiana but also the first on the Gulf Coast, the first in the Deep South, and the 49th television station in the entire nation.

WDSU pioneered many firsts in Louisiana television, including the first color broadcasts (1955), first Sugar Bowl and Mardi Gras telecasts, and first extensive hurricane coverage. The station originally operated from the Hibernia Bank Building in New Orleans. WDSU is owned by Hearst Television and remains an NBC affiliate today.

Louisiana has seven Designated Market Areas (DMAs) serving different regions of the state: New Orleans (#50 nationally with 672,790 TV households), Shreveport (#91 with 375,030 households), Baton Rouge (#95 with 355,760 households), Lafayette (#124 with 245,210 households), Monroe-El Dorado (#142 with 171,300 households, shared with Arkansas), Lake Charles (#177 with 97,170 households), and Alexandria (#183 with 85,710 households).

Combined, these seven markets serve over 2 million television households across Louisiana. New Orleans is by far the largest market, nearly twice the size of Shreveport. The Shreveport and Monroe markets extend into neighboring states (Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma), reflecting the Ark-La-Tex region's interconnected media landscape.

Louisiana Public Broadcasting (LPB) is a statewide network of six PBS member television stations serving most of Louisiana outside the Greater New Orleans area. Created by the Louisiana Legislature in 1971 and beginning broadcasts on September 6, 1975, LPB is operated by the Louisiana Educational Television Authority (LETA) with a mission to educate, inform, and connect Louisiana citizens through commercial-free programming.

The six LPB stations are located in Alexandria (KLPA, Channel 25), Baton Rouge (WLPB, Channel 27), Lafayette (KLPB, Channel 24), Lake Charles (KLTL, Channel 18), Monroe (KLMN, Channel 27), and Shreveport (KLTS, Channel 24). Each station broadcasts three channels: LPB1 (main PBS programming), LPB2 (24/7 children's programming from PBS KIDS), and LPB3 (Create TV with how-to and lifestyle content). In the New Orleans market, WYES-TV (Channel 12) serves as the independent PBS member station, while LPB affiliates with WLAE-TV (Channel 32) to provide LPB's news and public affairs programming to that market.

Two major Louisiana television stations maintain local ownership: WBRZ (Channel 2) in Baton Rouge and KTBS (Channel 3) in Shreveport. WBRZ has been owned and operated by the Manship family through Louisiana Television Broadcasting, LLC, since signing on in 1955, making it Baton Rouge's only locally owned and operated television news source for over 70 years.

KTBS in Shreveport is owned by KTBS, LLC, managed by the Wray Properties Trust (Betty Wray Anderson, John D. Wray, and Edwin N. Wray Jr.). The Wray family has owned KTBS radio (now KEEL) since 1929, and launched KTBS-TV in 1955. KTBS is one of only a handful of American television stations to have locally based ownership. Most other Louisiana stations are owned by major broadcasting groups including Gray Media, Hearst Television, Tegna Inc., Nexstar Media Group, and E.W. Scripps Company.

Louisiana residents can watch local TV stations without cable through two primary methods: over-the-air antenna or live TV streaming services. With a TV antenna, you can receive free digital broadcasts from all full-power Louisiana stations. Visit the FCC's DTV Reception Maps or Channel Master's Louisiana TV guide to enter your zip code and see which stations are available at your location. Most Louisiana stations broadcast on UHF frequencies, though some (like WAFB in Baton Rouge and WVUE in New Orleans) use VHF.

For streaming options, services like Hulu + Live TV, fuboTV, YouTube TV, and Sling TV offer Louisiana local channels as part of their packages, combining live local broadcasts with on-demand content. Many individual stations also stream live on their websites and mobile apps, including WWL-TV, WDSU, WVUE FOX 8, WBRZ, WAFB, and KLFY. For New Orleans Pelicans basketball games, Pelicans+ streaming service ($14.99/month) is available for fans within 150 miles of New Orleans, or you can watch through fuboTV which carries the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network.

WVUE-DT (FOX 8) in New Orleans broadcasts the most local news of any Louisiana television station, with 57 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (10 hours each weekday and 3.5 hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). This represents the highest local newscast output of any television station in the New Orleans market and within the entire state of Louisiana.

WVUE was also a pioneer in HD news broadcasting, becoming the first television station in New Orleans to broadcast local newscasts in high definition on April 29, 2007. The station is owned by Gray Media and maintains studios on Howard Avenue in New Orleans. Other Louisiana stations with significant news operations include WWL-TV (CBS, New Orleans), which has won seven George Foster Peabody Awards for journalism excellence, WAFB (CBS, Baton Rouge) with 25 hours of news weekly, and WBRZ (ABC, Baton Rouge), which has earned regional Murrow Awards for investigative reporting.

New Orleans Saints games are primarily broadcast on WVUE FOX 8 (Channel 8) for Sunday afternoon road games and select home games through Fox's National Football Conference television package. When Fox acquired NFC broadcast rights in 1993, WVUE became the unofficial "home" station for Saints broadcasts, a role that continues today. Additional Saints games air on WWL-TV (CBS Channel 4) for AFC opponent games, WDSU (NBC Channel 6) for Sunday Night Football, and nationally on ESPN for Monday Night Football.

For New Orleans Pelicans basketball, all regionally-televised games moved to WVUE FOX 8 beginning with the 2024-25 NBA season under a multi-year agreement. Previously, Pelicans games were broadcast on Bally Sports New Orleans. Fans can also watch through the Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network (available on fuboTV streaming) or subscribe directly to Pelicans+ streaming service ($14.99/month or $99.99/season) for fans within 150 miles of New Orleans. The Pelicans+ coverage area includes all of Louisiana and most zip codes within 150 miles of the Smoothie King Center.

"Acadiana" refers to the south-central Louisiana region encompassing Lafayette and surrounding parishes with strong Cajun and Creole cultural heritage. Interestingly, the term "Acadiana" was actually coined through Louisiana television. According to station history, a typo in a letter to KATC-TV's founding owner and namesake, Acadian Television Corporation, resulted in the creation of the term "Acadiana" for this region of southern Louisiana.

Today, Acadiana represents Louisiana's Lafayette television market (DMA #124), serving 245,210 TV households across nine parishes including Lafayette, Acadia, St. Martin, Iberia, Vermilion, Evangeline, St. Landry, and Jefferson Davis. Major stations serving Acadiana include KATC (Channel 3, ABC), KLFY (Channel 10, CBS), KADN (Channel 15, FOX), and KLPB (Channel 24, PBS/LPB). KATC reaches over 377,000 weekly viewers throughout the Acadiana region, while KLFY's programming includes the local morning show "Passe Partout," derived from the French phrase meaning "all-purpose," reflecting the area's French cultural roots.