On August 19, 1984, KECH discontinued ON TV, though it stated that it planned to broadcast late-night adult movies as a subscription service under the name "Cascade Entertainment Network", which was the new name of Willamette Subscription Television.[12] The move would have been a last gasp by Cascade to remain in business; even though the service had aired the Portland Trail Blazers for two seasons, the team ignored a contract through 1989, with an employee stating the Blazers "just don't consider the company to be in existence, as far as we're concerned".[13] Rogers bought back the microwave distribution service.[14]
In September 1985, Emerald City Broadcasting, owned by Robert Finkelstein of Los Angeles, acquired KECH-TV in exchange for assuming $4.8 million in debt from Greater Willamette Vision; Desmond continued as general manager. Finkelstein launched a new local news program in February 1986: The Valley News, with early and late newscasts focusing on news of the Willamette Valley area.[15] Viewer response was underwhelming; ratings were low, in part because they measured viewership in the entire Portland television market.[16] In late 1986, the call letters were changed to KWVT, for "Willamette Valley Television".[17]
Finkelstein put KWVT up for sale in January 1987 and announced that The Valley News would be discontinued on February 15.[18] It found a buyer on a shopping spree: the Home Shopping Network (HSN).[19]
KWVT discontinued all but several hours a week of its entertainment programming on March 31, 1987, to begin airing HSN, giving the network its first broadcast outlet in the state.[20] Days later, Silver King Broadcasting, the broadcast stations division of HSN, completed an agreement to buy the station for $5 million.[21][22] After the sale completed, the call sign was changed to KHSP.[23]
HSN had scarcely owned the newly renamed KHSP before selling it to Blackstar Communications, a Black-owned company, as part of an affiliation agreement and investment in the firm that saw Blackstar purchase KHSP for $5.135 million and pick up HSN's option on WMOD, serving Melbourne and Orlando, Florida.[24][25] The investors in Blackstar, including Wesley S. Williams Jr., were involved with a venture capital fund started by the National Association of Broadcasters. While the call letters were changed to KBSP-TV after the sale, channel 22 continued to air home shopping programming[26] and community programming under the "In Your Interest" banner.[27]
