KPTH

KPTH
Sioux City, Iowa
United States
Branding KPTH Fox 44 (general)
Siouxland News (newscasts)
Slogan Taking Over the World, One Half Hour at a Time
Siouxland's Only Primetime Newscast
Channels Digital: 49 (UHF)
Virtual: 44 (PSIP)
Subchannels 44.1 Fox
44.2 MyNetworkTV/This TV
44.3 Grit
Affiliations Fox
Owner Sinclair Broadcast Group
(KPTH Licensee, LLC)
Founded March 17, 1997
First air date May 9, 1999 (1999-05-09)
Call letters' meaning Pappas Telecasting Heartland (reference to former owner)
Sister station(s) KMEG
Former channel number(s) Analog:
44 (UHF, 1999–2009)
Transmitter power 1,000 kW
Height 587 m
Class DT
Facility ID 77451
Transmitter coordinates 42°35′11.8″N 96°13′19.7″W / 42.586611°N 96.222139°W / 42.586611; -96.222139
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website siouxlandnews.com

KPTH is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Southern Siouxland licensed to Sioux City, Iowa. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 49 (or virtual channel 44.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in unincorporated Plymouth County, Iowa, east of James and US 75, along the Woodbury county line. The station can also be seen on Cable ONE channel 2 and in high definition on digital channel 475. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, KPTH operates CBS affiliate KMEG (owned by Waitt Broadcasting, Inc.) through a shared services agreement (SSA). The two outlets share studios along I-29 (postal address says Gold Circle) in unincorporated Dakota Dunes, South Dakota.

History

The station signed-on May 9, 1999 as the market's fifth television outlet. Airing an analog signal on UHF channel 44, KPTH, originally owned by Pappas Telecasting, immediately joined Fox. Prior to KPTH's launch, future sister station KMEG carried a secondary affiliation with the network. Initially at its sign-on, channel 44 only covered the Sioux City metro area before increasing to full-power in October 1999. This upgrade extended its coverage area to include the 23 county area that makes up the designated market area. KPTH quickly became Siouxland's most-watched station and was a member of the "Fox #1 Club" in 2004 and 2005. The station also began to air the entire Fox lineup nightly.

In May 2005, Waitt Broadcasting (owner of KMEG) entered into a shared services agreement with Pappas Telecasting. Although KPTH was designated the senior partner in the arrangement, it moved into KMEG's facility. In November 2007, Waitt announced it would sell KMEG to Siouxland Television, LLC, with Pappas continuing to operate it as part of the deal. However, Pappas' Sioux City duopoly was among the company's thirteen stations which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. As a result, the sale of KMEG to Siouxland Television fell through. On January 16, 2009, it was announced several of the Pappas stations involved in the bankruptcy (including KPTH) would be sold to New World TV Group after the transaction received United States bankruptcy court approval.[1] The change in ownership was completed on October 15, 2009, and on that day, New World TV Group took over the SSA with KMEG.

KPTH shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 44, at noon on February 17, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television (which Congress had moved the previous month to June 12).[2][3][4] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 49, using PSIP to display KPTH's virtual channel as 44 on digital television receivers.


TTBG announced the sale of most of its stations, including KPTH, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group on June 3, 2013.[5] The sale was finalized on September 30.[6]

The station's second digital subchannel began carrying college sports broadcasts via the American Sports Network syndication package on August 30, 2014.[7]

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[8]
44.1 720p 16:9 KPTH-DT Main KPTH programming / Fox
44.2 480i 4:3 MyKPTH MyNetworkTV / This TV
44.3 KPTH-SD Grit

Newscast

On October 9, 2006, KMEG began producing a weeknight prime time newscast on KPTH. Known as Siouxland News at Nine on Fox 44, the broadcast can currently be seen for thirty minutes. The former station handles primary newscast production even through KPTH is the senior partner in the SSA. On October 25, 2010, KMEG became the first station in the market to upgrade its news operation to 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen. Although not truly high definition, the broadcasts match the ratio of HD television screens. The weeknight news at 9 on KPTH was included in the change. KCAU became the area's first outlet to add full high definition newscasts soon after on November 23. It would not be until June 2011 when KTIV would complete the same upgrade. On April 15, 2013, KMEG and KPTH completed an upgrade to broadcast newscasts in full high definition.

Translators

KPTH's signal is repeated over three translators.[9] Since all are licensed as low-powered stations, they were exempt from transitioning to digital-only broadcasts in 2009 as mandated by law for all full-power television stations.

Call letters Channel City of license Transmitter location Note
KBVK-LP 52 Spencer, Iowa south of Terril along the Clay County line has construction permit for low-powered digital signal on channel 21
KCWL-LP 57 Storm Lake, Iowa east of city in Buena Vista County near Pocahontas County line former call sign (without "-LP" suffix) of former sister station KFXL-TV
KPTP-LD 31 Norfolk, Nebraska east of city in Western Stanton County, Nebraska County near Madison County line

References

  1. ↑ "New World Gets Pappas TVs for $260M". TVnewsday. January 16, 2008. Retrieved January 18, 2008.
  2. ↑ Today is the day for digital TV switch, Dave Dreeszen, Sioux City Journal, February 17, 2009
  3. ↑ http://www.kmeg14.com/story/6936989/about-kmeg-14
  4. ↑ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
  5. ↑ "Sinclair Buys 6 Titan Television Stations". TVNewsCheck. June 3, 2013. Retrieved June 4, 2013.
  6. ↑ https://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/cdbsmenu.hts?context=25&appn=101578756&formid=905&fac_num=77451
  7. ↑ Minium, Harry (August 27, 2014). "ODU's opener with Hampton to be televised in 66 markets". HamptonRoads.com. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved September 8, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Digital TV Market Listing for KPTH". Rabbit Ears.Info. Retrieved November 11, 2014.
  9. ↑ REC Broadcast Query, retrieved 2006-07-25

External links

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