NBC affiliate in Fairbanks, Alaska
KTVF
,
virtual channel
11 (
UHF
digital
channel 26), is an
NBC
-
affiliated
television station
licensed
to
Fairbanks, Alaska
, United States. Owned by
Atlanta
-based
Gray Television
, it is
sister
to two
low-power
stations: primary
MeTV
and secondary
MyNetworkTV
affiliate
KFXF-LD
(channel 22) and
Class A
CBS
affiliate
KXDF-CD
(channel 13). The stations share studios on Braddock Street in downtown Fairbanks, while KTVF's transmitter is located on the Ester Dome.
KTVF is used to provide full-
market
over-the-air
high definition
coverage of KFXF-LD (simulcast over KTVF-DT2) and KXDF-CD (simulcast over KTVF-DT3).
[4]
[5]
[6]
The station also operates a digital fill-in
translator
on
VHF
channel 11 from a transmitter located at its studios.
History
[
edit
]
The station signed on the air in February 1955 as the first television station serving what at the time was the smallest television market in the United States. The station was a CBS affiliate until April 1, 1996.
While primarily a CBS station, KTVF also served as a secondary affiliate for
ABC
from 1971 to 1985 (when it aired some of ABC's top-rated shows like
Marcus Welby, M.D.
,
Happy Days
,
Laverne & Shirley
,
Three's Company
, and
Eight is Enough
as well as
Wide World of Sports
,
Monday Night Football
and the
Academy Awards
) and
NBC
from 1985 to 1996. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the
NTA Film Network
.
[7]
In 1967, months after the Chena River flood temporarily knocked them off the air, KTVF rebuilt their studios in the Northward Building (where they still remained until 1990) and returned to the air, this time broadcasting in
color
.
In 1996, KTVF switched affiliations, from CBS to NBC. The reason for the network switch was that rival station
KATN
?which had the NBC affiliation since signing on a couple weeks after KTVF but had been primarily with ABC since 1984?would be merged with two other ABC stations in
Anchorage
and
Juneau
to form ABC Alaska's SuperStation, and that NBC was the dominant network by the 1995?96 season while CBS was in third place. KTVF also carried
UPN
programming on weekends from 1995 to 2000.
KFXF
aired a few CBS shows until K13XD (now KXDF-CD) signed on in August.
KTVF was founded by Alaska broadcasting pioneer
Augie Hiebert
and his company, Northern Television. It was thus a sister station to
KTVA-TV
in
Anchorage
, which signed on two years earlier. Hiebert retired in 1997, and his family sold the station to the
Ackerley Group
in 1999. Ackerley merged with
Clear Channel Communications
in 2001. Clear Channel sold its entire television division, including KTVF, to
Newport Television
in 2007.
In June 2003,
Media News Group
, owner of the
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
, announced that it would exercise an option to purchase KTVF. The seven-year option, pending removal of the FCC's restrictions on newspaper/broadcast ownership, was granted to Media News in 1999 when Northern Television sold the station to Ackerley. The FCC eliminated this rule on June 3, 2003, but implementation was stayed pending the outcome of litigation. Media News' purchase attempt never materialized; the seven-year option period expired in 2006 without renewal.
KTVF began airing high definition programming from NBC on February 12, 2010, at the start of the
Winter Olympics
in
Vancouver
; full HD broadcasting (both NBC and syndicated) would follow on May 31, 2012.
On September 29, 2010, the FCC granted KTVF a construction permit for a fill-in translator on their former analog allotment channel 11.
[8]
The translator will serve sections of the Fairbanks area.
Newport announced the sale of KTVF to Chena Broadcasting, a local company owned by Michael Young, on October 13, 2011.
[9]
Young had previously owned a partial stake in Tanana Valley Television, owner of KFXF and K13XD;
[10]
that company took over KTVF's operations under a shared services agreement upon the deal's completion.
[11]
The sale of KTVF to Chena Broadcasting was consummated on March 7, 2012?resulting in all of Fairbanks' commercial stations being operated by just two companies.
On November 8, 2016, Northern Lights Media, the subsidiary of
Gray Television
that operates Anchorage stations
KTUU-TV
and
KYES-TV
, announced that it would buy KTVF, KFXF-LD and KXDF-CD (then known as KXDD-CD) for $8 million in cash, pending FCC approval.
[12]
The sale was completed on January 13, 2017.
[13]
[14]
With KTVA converting to a
Rewind TV
affiliate in 2021, KTVF became the oldest continuously operating station in Alaska.
Technical information
[
edit
]
Subchannels
[
edit
]
The station's digital signal is
multiplexed
:
Analog-to-digital conversion
[
edit
]
KTVF shut down its analog signal, over
VHF
channel 11, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States
transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts
under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition
UHF
channel 26.
[16]
Through the use of
PSIP
, digital television receivers display the station's
virtual channel
as its former VHF analog channel 11.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"TitanTV Programming Guide -- What's on TV, Movies, Reality Shows, and Local News"
.
ktvf.titantv.com
. Retrieved
Jun 20,
2020
.
- ^
The
Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook
says February 17, while the
Television and Cable Factbook
says February 3.
- ^
"Facility Technical Data for KTVF"
.
Licensing and Management System
.
Federal Communications Commission
.
- ^
"KTVF FAIRBANKS, AK"
.
www.rabbitears.info
. Retrieved
Jun 20,
2020
.
- ^
"KFXF-LD FAIRBANKS, AK"
.
www.rabbitears.info
. Retrieved
Jun 20,
2020
.
- ^
"KXDF-CD FAIRBANKS, AK"
.
www.rabbitears.info
. Retrieved
Jun 20,
2020
.
- ^
"Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films"
.
Boxoffice
: 13. November 10, 1956. Archived from
the original
on June 14, 2009.
[
unreliable source?
]
- ^
"Application Search Results"
.
- ^
Eggerton, John (October 13, 2011).
"Newport Agrees to Sell KTVF to Chena Broadcasting"
.
Broadcasting & Cable
. Retrieved
October 14,
2011
.
- ^
Chomicz, Dorothy (October 15, 2011).
"Fairbanks businessman Mike Young awaits approval of KTVF purchase"
.
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
. Retrieved
October 19,
2011
.
- ^
"More than meets the eye to Fairbanks TV deal"
.
Television Business Report
. October 19, 2011. Archived from
the original
on October 20, 2011
. Retrieved
October 20,
2011
.
- ^
"Northern Lights Media announces acquisition of Fairbanks television stations"
.
www.ktuu.com
. Retrieved
Jun 20,
2020
.
- ^
Gray Closes Green Bay, Davenport and Fairbanks Acquisitions
Gray Television
, 17 January 2017, Retrieved, 22 January 2017.
- ^
Consummation Notice
,
Federal Communications Commission
, 19 January 2017, Retrieved 22 January 2017.
- ^
"Digital TV Market Listing for KTVF"
.
RabbitEars.info
.
- ^
"DTV Tentative Channel Designation for the First and the Second Rounds"
(PDF)
. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 2013-08-29
. Retrieved
2012-03-24
.
External links
[
edit
]
|
---|
Local stations
|
- KATN
(2.1
ABC
, 2.2
Fox
, 2.3
CW+
, 2.4
Ion
, 2.5
Defy
)
- KJNP-TV
(4.1/.2
TBN
)
- KFXF-LD
(7.1
MeTV
/
MNT
,
7.2
CBS
)
- KUAC-TV
(9.1
PBS
, 9.2
World
, 9.3
Create
, 9.4
UA
TV/
FNX
, 9.5
PBS Kids
)
- KTVF
(11.1
NBC
,
11.2
MeTV
/
MNT
,
11.3
CBS
)
- KXDF-CD
(13.1
CBS
,
13.2
NBC
)
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(ABC Alaska Superstation)
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