KULR-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Billings, Montana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by the Cowles Company.

[4] The Midland Empire Broadcasting Company, owner of Billings radio station KGHL (790 AM), applied to the FCC in September 1955 for channel 8.

Midland Empire Broadcasting Company officials announced they would begin construction immediately on studios co-located with the radio station on Broadway.

[9] However, the company instead decided to build new facilities on North 30th Street to house both stations; the KGHL-TV transmitter was also built southeast of Billings.

[16] Two years later, Crain-Snyder sold KULR-TV to the Harriscope Broadcasting Corporation, which owned KFBB-TV in Great Falls and KTWO-TV in Casper, Wyoming; the FCC approved of the $350,000 purchase in March 1967.

[25][26] KULR-TV announced in 1983 that the station would relocate to a new building in the Homestead Business Park that would provide upgraded technical facilities and twice the space for its 40 employees; the structure was completed in 1984.

[36] On September 30, 2013, the Cowles Company announced that it would acquire Max Media's Montana television station cluster (comprising KULR and ABC affiliates KWYB in Butte, KFBB-TV in Great Falls, KHBB-LD in Helena and KTMF in Missoula) for $18 million.

[40] The station was on top for most of the 1980s, sometimes attracting twice as many or more households as channel 2, which analysts attributed to the more folksy approach taken by "Straight 8" in comparison with KTVQ's newscasts and the popularity of anchorman and news director Dave Rye.

Ratings started to climb,[42] though it was not until KTVQ replaced unpopular anchorman Dean Phillips with Montana native Gus Koernig that it surpassed KULR-TV in viewership.

[46] Rye's return failed to restore KULR to ratings leadership as KTVQ continued to hold a two-to-one viewership advantage for its newscasts.