KBTZ,

UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...

channel 24, was a

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelv ...

affiliated Affiliation or affiliate may refer to: * Affiliate (commerce), a legal form of entity relationship used in Business Law * Affiliation (family law), a legal form of family relationship * Affiliate marketing * Affiliate network or affiliation pla ...

television station licensed to

Butte, Montana Butte ( ) is a consolidated city-county and the county seat of Silver Bow County, Montana, United States. In 1977, the city and county governments consolidated to form the sole entity of Butte-Silver Bow. The city covers , and, according to the ...

, United States. The station was owned by Equity Media Holdings. KBTZ was simulcast on translator station KBTZ-LP on UHF channel 32 in

Bozeman Bozeman is a city and the county seat of Gallatin County, Montana, United States. Located in southwest Montana, the 2020 census put Bozeman's population at 53,293, making it the fourth-largest city in Montana. It is the principal city of th ...

. According to Equity's website, KBTZ had a secondary affiliation with Fox's sister network, MyNetworkTV. At auction on April 16, 2009,

Max Media Max Media is a company that owns radio stations throughout the United States. It is based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. History Max Media was founded in 2001. Prior to this, some of the company's management had run the TVX Broadcast Group from 1979 ...

purchased the intellectual property and programming rights to KBTZ's programming, including its Fox and MyNetworkTV affiliations to launch digital subchannels on their existing stations; they did not buy the transmitter facilities for either station.

Demise

Because it was granted an original

construction permit Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...

after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997, the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, at the end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations, KBTZ would be required to turn off its

analog signal An analog signal or analogue signal (see spelling differences) is any continuous signal representing some other quantity, i.e., ''analogous'' to another quantity. For example, in an analog audio signal, the instantaneous signal voltage varies c ...

and turn on its

digital signal A digital signal is a signal that represents data as a sequence of discrete values; at any given time it can only take on, at most, one of a finite number of values. This contrasts with an analog signal, which represents continuous values; at ...

(called a "

flash-cut A flash cut, also called a flash cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period. In the United States, some telephone area codes were split or overlaid immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive dia ...

"). Equity Media refused to launch many of their station launched in the 2000s with either a digital companion channel or as digital-only operations, and as their financial state deteriorated during the Great Recession, it put their stations at risk of being forced to sign off at the time of the digital switchover. As with many Equity stations, all of its operations, outside of an engineer who repaired the tower and satellite link when requested, were run out of Equity's hub in Little Rock, Arkansas with no local presence of a staff; most cable providers thus took its signal directly from satellite to avoid the over-the-air reception issues embellic of Equity-operated stations. On December 8, 2008, Equity filed for

chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

under the Federal Rules of Bankruptcy Procedure, in its home state of Arkansas. Having not built out its facilities by June 12, 2009, the final date of full-power broadcasting under the DTV Delay Act, Equity applied for an extension of the digital

for KBTZ in order to retain the broadcast license after the station would have to sign off. This was made moot on July 1, 2009, as

disapproved of losing coverage in the state of Montana leading into the

2009 NFL season The 2009 NFL season was the 90th season in the history of the National Football League (NFL). The 50th anniversary of the original eight charter members of the American Football League was celebrated during this season. The preseason started ...

and contracted with

to establish new Fox

digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

s on its ABC affiliates, KWYB (channel 18) in Butte and KWYB-LD in Bozeman. With no network to affiliate to, and the market at the time making acquiring another affiliation impossible, the debtors-in-possession of Equity decided not to offer the KBTZ stations for sale, and turned in the licenses to the FCC when requested. KBTZ was shut down on June 12, 2009 when analog broadcasting ended; both KBTZ and KBTZ-LP's callsigns have since been canceled by the FCC.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kbtz Television stations in Butte, Montana Television channels and stations established in 2003 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2009 Equity Media Holdings Defunct television stations in the United States 2003 establishments in Montana 2009 disestablishments in Montana BTZ