KUNP

KUNP
La Grande - Portland, Oregon
United States
City La Grande, Oregon
Branding Univision Portland
Channels Digital: 16 (UHF)
Virtual: 16 (PSIP)
Subchannels 16.1 Univision
16.2 TBA
16.3 Grit
Translators KUNP-LD 47 Portland
Affiliations Univision
Owner Sinclair Broadcast Group
(Sinclair LaGrande Licensee, LLC)
Founded August 6, 1999
First air date December 2001
Call letters' meaning UNivision Portland
Sister station(s) KATU
Former callsigns KBPD (2001–2002)
KPOU (2002–2006)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
16 (UHF, 2001–2009)
Transmitter power 50 kW
Height 773 m
Facility ID 81447
Transmitter coordinates 45°18′35″N 117°43′57″W / 45.30972°N 117.73250°W / 45.30972; -117.73250
Licensing authority FCC
Public license information: Profile
CDBS
Website kunptv.com

KUNP, UHF digital channel 16, is a Univision-affiliated television station serving Portland, Oregon, United States, and that is licensed to La Grande. The station also serves the Bend and Salem, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, metropolitan areas. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, as part of a duopoly with ABC affiliate KATU (channel 2). The two stations share studios and offices located in northeastern Portland. KUNP's transmitter is located near Cove.

Because of the location of its transmitter facilities, KUNP relies on a translator station to relay its signal: KUNP-LD (UHF channel 47) in Portland, operating with an effective radiated power of 15 kilowatts. It also previously relayed its signal via KABH-LP (UHF channel 15) in Bend, operating with an effective radiated power of 84 kilowatts. KABH was jointly owned by WatchTV, Inc. alongside its crosstown Portland HSN affiliate KORK-CA, but was operated by Sinclair under a local marketing agreement. KABH's license was cancelled by the FCC on March 19, 2015 for failure to file a license renewal application. It also relies on cable and satellite coverage across Western and Central Oregon.

History

KUNP's logo prior to January 1, 2013

The station was founded on August 6, 1999, and formally signed on the air in December 2001 as KBPD; it changed its call letters to KPOU on May 14, 2002. The call letters changed again to the current KUNP on December 15, 2006. KABH-LP was founded on June 1, 1992 as K15DO, but did not take to the air until November 3, 1993.

KUNP was originally owned by Equity Broadcasting Corporation; it was acquired by Fisher Communications on November 3, 2006, along with KUNS-TV in Seattle. Fisher would associate the two stations with the ABC affiliates it already owned in those markets, KATU and KOMO-TV. At one point, KUNP also had KKEI-CA as another translator prior to the Fisher acquisition. That station now serves Portland as a Telemundo affiliate. That station is also owned by WatchTV, Inc., owner of the now-defunct KABH-LP.

On August 21, 2012, Fisher Communications signed an affiliation agreement with MundoFox, a Spanish-language competitor to Univision that was owned as a joint venture between Fox International Channels and Colombian broadcaster RCN TV, for KUNP and Seattle sister station KUNS to be carried on both stations as digital subchannels starting in late September.[1] On April 11, 2013, Fisher announced that it would sell its television and radio station properties, including KUNP, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group.[2] The deal was completed on August 8, 2013.[3] MundoFox would eventually rebrand as MundoMax in 2015.

KUNP's online logo as of 2007

Cable and satellite availability

"Must-carry" regulations imposed by the Federal Communications Commission require most cable television providers across northwest Oregon to carry KUNP on their lineups. But even with the station's affiliation with Univision, the station is not available on all cable systems, as many of these providers are still under carriage agreements for the national cable feed for the network, which allows them control of several minutes throughout the day of local commercial time that would not be available if they instead carried KUNP. Equity traditionally depended completely on must-carry to bring their stations to cable providers and the same was the case with KUNP before the sale of the station to Fisher. Some do not carry the network at all due to a low Spanish-speaking population in their local areas. It is likely in the future that retransmission consent agreements will be made which fold in required carriage of KUNS with that of KATU in order to expand the station's carriage.

On April 17, 2012, DirecTV began carrying KUNP's high definition signal as part of its local broadcast station package for the Portland area (on channel 47). Up until that point, the satellite provider only carried the station's standard definition signal.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[4][5]
16.1 1080i 16:9 KUNP-LD Main KUNP programming / Univision
16.2 720p 16:9 Station ID (Formerly MundoMax)
16.3 480i 16:9 GritTV Grit

Analog-to-digital conversion

Since KUNP did not sign on-the-air before the April 21, 1997, deadline for the FCC's digital television allotment plan, the station was not granted a companion digital signal. Therefore, on or before June 12, 2009, the station was required to turn off its analog signal and turn on a new digital signal (a method known as a "flash cut") – on UHF channel 16. KUNP-LP, as a low-power station, continued to broadcast in analog until April 13, 2012, when it made its' flash-cut to digital transmission on UHF channel 47 and changing its' callsign suffix from '-LP' to '-LD'.

TV subchannels

On December 31, 2014, KUNP added a third subchannel to its lineup and began broadcasting English-language Grit on that subchannel.

News operation

In 2006 former parent company Fisher Communications was part of a Hispanic journalist million dollar deal in media. It started a newscast on Seattle's Univision station KUNS-TV which then went to Portland. The newscast aired Monday through Friday at 6 pm and 11pm. It was anchored by Jaime Méndez in Seattle and Roxy de la Torre in Portland. Weather and sports segments came from Seattle where KUNS-TV sister and Fisher Communications building also with KOMO-TV. Later a new anchor came to Noticas Noreste: Teresa Gonazlez who was at sister station KUNS-TV but did the weather for Noticias Noreste both in Portland and Seattle. She became a co-anchor for Jaime Méndez who did the sports segment for both Portland and Seattle. In 2013 a new anchorman's set was designed.

News team

References

  1. ↑ Fisher Adds MundoFox In Seattle, Portland, TVNewsCheck, August 21, 2012.
  2. ↑ Malone, Michael (April 11, 2013). "Sinclair to Acquire Fisher Stations for $373 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved April 12, 2013.
  3. ↑ "Sinclair Broadcast Group Closes on Fisher Communications Acquisition". All Access. August 8, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2013.
  4. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KUNP
  5. ↑ RabbitEars TV Query for KUNP-LD

External links

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