Arizona TV Station Update - July 2017
By dhett on Monday, August 7 2017, 08:31 - Arizona Station Update - Permalink
As always, questions, additions, comments and corrections welcome.
New Stations
- KTVW-DT 33.x Phoenix (KTVW License Partnership GP) requested and has been granted a license to cover digital TV auxiliary operations. Technical specifications: Ch 33; TL 33° 20' 0" N, 112° 3' 49" W (South Mtn.); ERP 470 kW (1.5° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 510 m.
- XHCNS 2.x (34) Cananea SON (Televimex) has transitioned from pre-repack channel 45 post-repack channel 34. Technical specifications: Ch 34; TL 30° 58' 38" N, 110° 18' 23" W, ERP 32 kW directional; HAAT 211 m.
Programming Changes
- KTVK 3.x Phoenix (KPHO Broadcasting Corporation) has replaced its 24/7 news feed on channel 3.2 with Comet TV.
- KAZT-TV 7.x Prescott and KAZT-CD 7.x (36) Phoenix (KAZT LLC) is preparing to add the Charge! network to a new 7.4 subchannel. Launch date is unknown.
- KSAZ-TV 10.x Phoenix (NW Communications of Phoenix, Inc.) has added Light TV to its lineup on channel 10.4. The network had been promised in Phoenix since December 2016.
- KUAS 27.x (28) Tucson (Board of Regents / U of A) is silent.
- KUTP 45.x (26) Phoenix (Fox Television Stations, LLC) has dropped the My45 branding on channel 45.1 in favor of new Fox 10 Xtra branding, although the bug still shows my45 and my45.com.
- K17CM Duncan (Gospel Light Broadcasting, Inc.) is silent.
- K20GG-D 6.x Duncan (Arizona Board of Regents) has resumed retransmission of KUAT-TV Tucson. The translator had been silent.
- K21GC Safford (KTVW License Partnership GP) is silent.
- KFPB-LD 50.x Phoenix (Globe LPTV LLC) briefly added three new subchannels, 50.8, 50.9 and 50.10, labeled SBN_ESP, EAS and EAS, respectively, then removed them, along with longtime silent subchannel 50.7, which had been a shopping channel. The station now has six subchannels, all with programming.
- KEGS-LD 30.x (24) Las Vegas NV (Mako Communications LLC) has seen its Asian Cultural TV feed on channel 30.6 go dark.
- KNBX-CD 31.x Las Vegas NV (Mako Communications LLC) has replaced Newsmax TV with Get TV on channel 31.2.
- K41IO-D Las Vegas NV (Enlace Christian Television, Inc.) dropped AvivaVision on channel 41.3, but has since restored it.
- K43FO-D Las Vegas NV (Three Angels Broadcasting Network, Inc.) is silent.
- KGNG-LP 47 Las Vegas NV (King Kong Broadcasting LLC) is silent.
- KLSV-LD 50.x Las Vegas NV (Biltmore Broadcasting Las Vegas, Inc.) has been silent, then on, then silent. My last report was silent, so that's what I'm going with.
- XHAPS 15.x (22) Agua Prieta SON (Gobierno de Estado de Sonora) has resumed transmission of Telemax programming.
Transactions
- K17LM-D Yuma (Three Angels Broadcasting Network, Inc.) is included in a number of 3ABN stations in the process of being sold to Edge Spectrum, Inc. The sale was approved by the FCC in March, but not yet consummated. The parties have filed for a 90-day extension on consummation, which will expire 9/30.
- K21CX-D Tucson (Ventana Television, Inc.) has been included in the proposed purchase of all HSN properties by Liberty Interactive Media. Ventana Television is a subsidiary of HSN, while Liberty Interactive is the parent company of QVC. Liberty Interactive already owns a 38% share of HSN and is proposing to purchase the remaining shares.
Construction Permits and STAs Granted
- KTAZ 39.x Phoenix (NBC Telemundo License LLC) requested and has been granted a construction permit for its post-repack facilities. Technical specifications: Ch 29; TL 33° 20' 3" N, 112° 3' 41" W (South Mtn.); ERP 425 kW directional (1.2° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 552 m.
- KHRR 40.x Tucson (NBC Telemundo License LLC) requested and has been granted a construction permit for its post-repack facilities. Technical specifications: Ch 16; TL 32° 14' 56" N, 111° 6' 59" W (Tower Peak); ERP 235 kW directional (0.75° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 622 m.
- KPDF-CA 41.x Phoenix (Northstar Phoenix License LLC) requested and has been granted a construction permit for its post-repack facilities. Technical specifications: Ch 22; TL 33° 20' 0" N, 112° 3' 47" W (South Mtn.); ERP 3.02 kW directional (1.75° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 472 m.
- KUVE-CD 42.x Tucson (Univision Tucson LLC) requested and has been granted a construction permit for its post-repack facilities. Technical specifications: Ch 36; TL 32° 14' 56" N, 111° 7' 5" W (Tower Peak); ERP 8.2 kW directional (1.5° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 582 m.
- KPPX-TV 51.x (31) Tolleson (America 51, LP) requested and has been granted a Legal STA in the form of a waiver from specifying its post-repack facilities. KPPX had been assigned channel 14, but preliminary analysis suggests that it may interfere with operations in the 460-470 MHz Land Mobile band directly below the channel 14 frequency band if it operates at fully authorized power. The station has cited the experience of KTNC in the San Francisco Bay Area. KTNC operates on channel 14 but has caused interference in the Land Mobile band at authorized power levels, so it has been required to operate at 1/3 power per STA. After eight years and about $500K spent, plus time and labor costs, it still has not been able to resolve interference issues. KPPX-TV requested and has been approved to specify alternate facilities in the first priority filing window, which has been announced for August 9 through September 8. It will be a major change application, which will be subject to the local public notice requirements in the Commission’s rules, including a 30-day period for the filing of petitions to deny. If and when the alternate facilities are approved, the station will have one month to apply for reimbursement of relocation costs, if any. It is probable that KPPX-TV will request to continue current operations on RF channel 31, accepting adjacent-channel interference from KUAT-TV on RF channel 30, but not causing any.
- KWBA-TV 58.x (44) Sierra Vista (Journal Broadcast Corporation) requested and has been granted a construction permit for its post-repack facilities. Technical specifications: Ch 21; TL 31° 45' 32" N, 110° 48' 6" W (Santa Rita Mtns.); ERP 525 kW directional (0.75° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 332 m.
- KASW 61.x Phoenix (Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc.) requested and has been granted a construction permit for its post-repack facilities. Technical specifications: Ch 27; TL 33° 20' 1" N, 112° 3' 47" W (South Mtn.); ERP 200 kW directional (0.75° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 551 m.
- KBLR 39.x (40) Paradise NV (Telemundo Las Vegas License LLC) requested and has been granted a construction permit for its post-repack facilities. Technical specifications: Ch 20; TL 36° 0' 34" N, 115° 0' 23" W (Black Mtn.); ERP 630 kW directional (0.75° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 371 m.
Canceled, Denied, Dismissed, Expired or Expiring
- The FCC has dismissed the application filed by KUVE-DT 46.x Green Valley (Univision Tucson LLC) to build a two-site Distributed Transmission System in Tucson. The station will no longer be broadcasting on channel 46 after November 30, 2018.
Notifications
- KPAZ-TV 21.x (20) Phoenix (Trinity Broadcasting of Arizona, Inc.) has filed notice of equipment failure with the FCC. The station has been operating at 80% power level since June 30.
Spectrum Repack
Mexican authorities claim that most of their stations are already transitioned to their post-repack channels.
Arizona border stations having completed repack
- XHCNS 2.x Cananea (Televimex) 45 -> 34 (Las Estrellas)
Arizona border stations not having completed repack
- XHCCS 15.x Cananea (Gobierno de Estado de Sonora) 43 -> 16 (Telemax)
Arizona border stations status unknown
- XHNON 5.x Nogales (Televimex) 38 -> 26 (Canal Cinco)
- XNNOS 2.x Nogales (Televimex) 41 -> 17 (Las Estrellas)
- XHMEX 5.x Mexicali (Televimex) 44 -> 18 (Canal Cinco)
- XHMEE 38.x Mexicali (Televimex) 45 -> 15 (Gala TV) - would displace KYUM-LD
- XHILA 66.x Mexicali (Intermedia y Asociados de Mexicali) 46 -> 20 (Independent)
- XHBC 4.x Mexicali (Televisora de Mexicali) 47 -> 14 (Televisa Mexicali)
Comments
Additional items:
Transactions:
- KPPX-TV 51.x (31) Tolleson (America 51, LP) has requested an additional 90 days to consummate its restructuring.
- KMCC 34.x (32) Lauglin NV (Cranston Acquistion LLC) has requested an additional 90 days to consummate its sale to Entravision.
- KCSG 8.x (14) Cedar City UT (West American Finance Corporation) and translators K16DS-D 16.x St. George UT and K27MQ-D 27.x Santa Clara UT are in the process of being purchased by TV-49, Inc., which is, in turn, owned by Weigel.
Vegas channels continue to play games of hide and seek this summer. KLVS-50 is back on the air. Their periods of silence is usually quite brief. K43FO has been silent for about two weeks. It may be connected with their repack process to channel 36. Asian Cultural TV, KEGS 30.6, is airing, but does have some frequent periods of silence. Campesina/702.TV, is in and out of black quite frequently on KHMP 18.8. GET TV, KNBX 31.2, continues to air with extremely low audio. KMCC-34 seems to be running smoothly, for now. A dial check last evening found way too many Vegas channels with the wrong time and date attached to their PSIP's. One station claims it's 2115. And too many LPTV stations are not providing program description info. Vegas could use some updated TSR data. .
KPPX 51.x (31) is willing to remain on RF 31 accepting interference from KUAT RF 30 but not causing any?
But KPPX RF31 still can cause interference with KOLD RF 32.
If they were to stay on RF channel 31, KPPX-TV would not be permitted to cause interference to either KUAT or KOLD, and must agree to accept any and all interference from either station, just as they do now.
For unknown reasons, Las Vegas KHDF 19.3 eased away from the 'For Lease" graphics this week, and began airing a simulcast of Azteca from 19.1 and 19.3 This is a SD 4x3 version, like 19.2. 19.4 remains a "For Lease" graphic.
Yesterday Aug 16th- at around 2pm local Arizona time, the 45's briefly reverted to their physical channels (26.3,4, 5 and 6) Movies! and BUZZR switched places, and regular Fox broadcasting was on it's channel, and a Fox network I'd never seen (the Fox 10 Xtra!) which was airing Session's press conf. I don't know what time it switched back, but everything is back to normal now.
Also, if you're vigilant you might catch stations emergency broadcast weekly tests I believe on Mondays, I unfortunately did not mark the hour- was doing a channel search and it was on 50.7, 8 and 9 just for a short time.
Today's Tip: if you own an analog TV w/analog to digital converter box, a VCR; and a Roku player you can record whatever is streaming from the Roku onto VHS. Just connect the Roku with RCA connectors, as it is an analog signal. It will not result in a DMCA complaint, as the D stands for Digital. Plus, I am not selling the content or airing to the public.
Armount TV (Armenian TV) is coming to KNBX 31.1 Las Vegas on 1 September. Looks like it will be a general entertainment channel, with much in Armenian (non English), This will replace the colorbars that has been present on Mako's KNBX 31.1 since March 2013.
Charge! made its debut last Thursday on KAZT channel 7.4. Some TV's also pick up a channel labeled bk.haul on channel 7.10.
While Armount TV tests and tweaks their service in Las Vegas prior to an official launch of 1 September on KNBX 31.1, another station is changing things around. KHMP-18 has moved France24 from 18.1 to 18.5. Not done yet, KHMP has placed color bars on 18.1 and changed the PSIP to "STZ". No hint of what that might become. On Thursday the 24th, 702.TV/Campesina, KHMP 18.8, was gone for the day replaced by a strange audio service with a short loop of music and a credit fix ad. Because France24 moved to 18.5, Life Hacks is now absent from that sub-channel on KHMP.
Spotted on Armount this week was Game Of Thornes, and the 2003-08 NBC series Las Vegas, in addition to several movies and talk shows.Most were in non-English. This sub-channel seems to have deep pockets and has a polished presentation. While in the testing stage, pixelation was a major concern, but seems to have been rectified. Audio went from being off to being on, and now is again off.
Educational Independent WDSC (15 PSIP) in the Orlando/Daytona Beach/Melbourne market has dropped The Florida Channel from its 15.2 channel and replaced it with a slide on August 24th. That slide is still on the screen this afternoon. They run MHz Worldview on 15.3; will they move it to 15.2? Don't know yet.
Things are seldom dull on Las Vegas airwaves, just across the border from Arizona. On Wednesday, KHMP-18 switched things back to their normalcy with France24 on 18.1 in 720p 16x9, and colorbars for something the PSIP indicates as STZ TV on 18.5 in 480i 4x3. LifeHacks is still absent from KHMP.
Audio levels on a number of Vegas stations are so low that a viewer must turn the volume to max to get a barely listenable level. This is very true for GET TV on KNBX 31.2, and ARMOUNT on KNBX 31.1. SHOP TV on KEGS 30.5 and KVPX 28.2 also fall into this snakepit of technical bad choices by the engineers.
STZ TV is a Brazilian TV station
STZ TV is still prepping themselves for a launch, hiding behind colorbars and a PSIP on KHMP 18.5 Las Vegas. If it turns out to be the Brazilan station, that would be different, but seems like finding an audience a challenge, even in Vegas. Maybe there's a few ex-Brazilians hiding out in Dolan Springs, AZ.
STZ TV, KHMP 18.5 Vegas, is short for Streetz TV, a hip hop channel. Somehow I don't think Easter Bunnies will be involved.
KSNV 3.6 (according to RabbitEars.Info) will soon be adding American Sports Network (soon to be dubbed Stadium). I believe it will actually appear on 3.4, with an rf of 22.6. It's interesting that Sinclair took this long to add their own network to one of their major O&O's.