KPIF (channel 15) is a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the eart ...

licensed to Pocatello, Idaho, United States, serving the

Idaho Falls Idaho Falls ( Shoshoni: Dembimbosaage) is a city in and the county seat of Bonneville County, Idaho, United States. It is the state's largest city outside the Boise metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the population of Idaho Falls was 6 ...

–Pocatello

media market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Grit. It is owned by Ventura Broadcasting alongside

Ion Television Ion Television is an American broadcast television network owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August 31, 1998, as Pax TV, focusing primarily on family-oriented en ...

affiliate

KVUI KVUI (channel 31) is a television station licensed to Pocatello, Idaho, United States, serving the Idaho Falls, Idaho, Idaho Falls–Pocatello media market, market as an affiliate of Ion Television. It is owned by Ventura Broadcasting alongside G ...

(channel 31, also licensed to Pocatello). The two stations share studios on West Alameda Road in Pocatello; KPIF's transmitter is located on Howard Mountain.

History

The original construction permit for KPIF was granted on March 2, 2001, to Pocatello Channel 15, L.L.C., a partnership between KM Communications, Inc. of

Skokie, Illinois Skokie (; formerly Niles Center) is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, neighboring the City of Chicago's northern border. Its population, according to the 2020 census, was 67,824. Skokie lies approximately north of Chicago's do ...

, Kaleidoscope Foundation, Inc. of

Little Rock, Arkansas ( The "Little Rock") , government_type = Council-manager , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_party = D , leader_title2 = Council , leader_name2 ...

(a subsidiary of

Equity Broadcasting Corporation Equity Media Holdings Corporation was a broadcasting company based in Little Rock, Arkansas that owned and operated television stations across the United States. Prior to March 30, 2007, the company was known as Equity Broadcasting, a name later ...

), and Potelco Broadcasting of

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...

. The three companies had been competing applicants for a channel 15 television station in Pocatello, and agreed in 2000 to form a partnership in order to expedite construction of the station. In 2003, due to irreconcilable differences that caused delays in development of the permit, Myoung Hwa Bae of KM Communications extended an offer to buy out the other two members. KM Communications completed construction of the station and signed on in March 2004 under Program Test Authority from the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdicti ...

(FCC). The station applied for a license to cover the construction permit on March 1, 2004, and was granted the license on October 11, 2006. Initially, KPIF was affiliated with

America One America One was an American television network established in 1995 by USFR Media Group through its America One Television subsidiary.

, but the station picked up a WB affiliation in July 2004. It became an affiliate of

The CW ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

on September 18, 2006. At one point,

KBEO KBEO, VHF digital channel 11, was a Retro TV- affiliated television station licensed to Jackson, Wyoming, United States. The station was owned by KM Communications Inc. History KBEO signed on March 30, 2001. The station originally operated se ...

(channel 11) from

Jackson, Wyoming Jackson is a town in Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 10,760 at the 2020 census, up from 9,577 in 2010. It is the largest town in Teton County and its county seat. Jackson is the principal town of the Jackson, WY-ID Micro ...

(which was the first to sign on, on March 30, 2001) became a satellite of KPIF (KBEO has since gone dark). After The CW moved to a digital subchannel of

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

affiliate

KIFI-TV KIFI-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States, serving the Idaho Falls–Pocatello, Idaho, Pocatello market as an affiliate of American Broadcasting Company, ABC, CBS, The CW Plus and Telemundo. It is o ...

(channel 8) on September 7, 2009, the station switched to RTV (later RTN, now

Retro TV Retro TV (stylized as retrotv), formerly known as Retro Television Network, is an American broadcast television network owned by Get After It Media. The network mainly airs classic television sitcoms and drama series from the 1950s through t ...

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource - a ...

: As of November 2021, Grit moved from 15.2 to the main subchannel. A few other subchannels changed their affiliations too, including 15.2 (

Heroes & Icons Heroes & Icons (H&I) is an American digital broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Usually carried on the digital subchannels of its affiliated television station in most markets, the network airs classic television series fr ...

to Defy TV), 15.3 (Grit to TrueReal), 15.4 ( Stadium to Bounce TV; the latter network previously aired on 15.4 from 2020 to June 2021), and 15.7 (

Pursuit Channel Pursuit Channel is an American television network that airs programming geared to hunting, fishing, shooting and outdoor recreation. It is based in Glenwood, Alabama and was launched on April 23, 2008. Pursuit is currently available to over 45 m ...

to Newsy).

Analog-to-digital conversion

KPIF shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 15, on June 12, 2009, and " flash-cut" its digital signal into operation on UHF channel 15, as they were granted original construction permits after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997. While KPIF did broadcast a digital signal after the analog shutdown, it did not apply for a license to cover or an extension of the digital construction permit (which expired on June 12, 2009) until 2014. KPIF was granted a broadcast license for its digital signal on February 6, 2016.

References

External links

Post Register article on station sign-on
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kpif Television channels and stations established in 2004 2004 establishments in Idaho PIF Grit (TV network) affiliates Defy TV affiliates TrueReal affiliates Bounce TV affiliates This TV affiliates Court TV affiliates Scripps News affiliates True Crime Network affiliates Daystar (TV network) affiliates