KTLN-TV

KTLN-TV, virtual channel 68 (UHF digital channel 22), is a Heroes & Icons owned-and-operated television station licensed to Palo Alto, California, United States and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. Owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting, it is sister to San Francisco and San Jose-licensed low-power, Class A Decades owned-and-operated station KAXT-CD (channel 1; which shares spectrum with KTLN-TV). Both stations share studios on Pelican Way in San Rafael, and transmitter facilities on Mount Allison.

KTLN-TV
Palo Alto/San Francisco/Oakland/
San Jose, California
United States
CityPalo Alto, California
ChannelsDigital: 22 (UHF)
(shared with KAXT-CD[1])
Virtual: 68
BrandingH&I Bay Area (general)
MeTV Bay Area (DT2)
Programming
Affiliations68.1: Heroes & Icons
68.2: MeTV
68.3: Story Television
68.4: MeTV Plus
Ownership
OwnerWeigel Broadcasting
(KTLN-TV LLC)
KAXT-CD
History
Founded1990
First air date
July 15, 1998 (1998-07-15)
(in Novato, California; license moved to Palo Alto in 2018[2])
Former call signs
KWOK (1998–1999)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 68 (UHF, 1998–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 47 (UHF, 2005–2018)
Total Living Network (1998–2019)
Call sign meaning
"Total Living Network"
(former affiliation)
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID49153
ERP15 kW
HAAT688 m (2,257 ft)
Transmitter coordinates37°29′57″N 121°52′20″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
WebsiteKTLN FCC disclosures/schedule page on Heroes & Icons website

Even though KTLN-TV is licensed as a full-power station, its broadcasting radius does not reach all of the San Francisco Bay Area as it shares spectrum with KAXT-CD.[3] Therefore, it must rely on cable and satellite carriage to reach the entire market. However, KTLN-TV shares MeTV with CW owned-and-operated station KBCW's (channel 44) third subchannel, which has a stronger signal than KTLN.

History

Originally, Christian Communications of Chicagoland (then-owners of WCFC-TV, now Ion Television owned-and-operated station WCPX-TV) owned KTLN outright. It was formerly licensed to the Marin County community of Novato. CCC filed to sell the station to OTA Broadcasting, a company controlled by Michael Dell's MSD Capital, in June 2011.[4] The sale was completed on October 6, 2011; as part of the deal, CCC continued to operate KTLN via a local marketing agreement (LMA).[5]

Since October 2017, the two stations share studios on Pelican Way in San Rafael, and transmitter facilities on Mount Allison, because the DTV virtual channels between KAXT-LD's channel 22 (RF 42, formerly 22) and KRCB's channel 22 (RF 23) in Cotati had significant overlap that caused a PSIP conflict, allowing KAXT-CD to relocate to a new virtual channel, Channel 1.[1]

Weigel Broadcasting agreed to acquire KTLN-TV and KAXT-CD, along with KVOS-TV and KFFV in Seattle, from OTA Broadcasting in a $23.2 million deal on October 18, 2017.[6] The station was temporarily off the air as of June 2018.

The station sale to Weigel was completed on April 15, 2019.[7] At midnight on April 17, KTLN returned on the air carrying high definition signals of Heroes & Icons on 68.1, and MeTV on 68.2.[8]

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect Short name Programming[9]
68.1720p16:9KTLN-HDHeroes & Icons
68.2MeTVMeTV
68.3480iStoryStory Television
68.4MeTV+MeTV+

Analog-to-digital conversion

KTLN-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 68, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[10] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 47, using PSIP to display KTLN-TV's virtual channel as 68 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

References
  1. Modification of a Licensed Facility for DTV Application
  2. KTLN-TV Form 2100 - Community of License
  3. RabbitEars Contour Map for KAXT-CD
  4. "San Francisco TV station sold". Television Business Report. June 9, 2011. Archived from the original on June 11, 2011. Retrieved July 2, 2011.
  5. Jessell, Harry A. (August 5, 2011). "Billionaire Michael Dell OK'd To Buy SF TV". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  6. "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License (KVOS-TV/KFFV)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. October 24, 2017. Retrieved October 25, 2017.
  7. "Consummation Notice", CDBS Public Access, Federal Communications Commission, Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  8. "Where to Watch MeTV in Bay Area", MeTV, Retrieved 18 April 2019.
  9. "RabbitEars TV Query for KTLN". RabbitEars. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  10. List of Digital Full-Power Stations Archived 2013-08-29 at the Wayback Machine
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.