KUCO-LD, virtual and UHF digital channel 27, is a low-powered

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the Latino public and includes ...

- affiliated

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 A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...

Chico, California Chico ( ; Spanish for "little") is the most populous city in Butte County, California. Located in the Sacramento Valley region of Northern California, the city had a population of 101,475 in the 2020 census, reflecting an increase from 86,18 ...

, United States. Owned by the

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, ...

, it is

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a family, familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to r ...

to Redding-licensed

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

KRCR-TV KRCR-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Redding, California, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Chico–Redding market. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside five low-power stations: Chico-licens ...

(channel 7) and four other low-power stations: Chico-licensed

Antenna TV Antenna TV is an American digital television network owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series, primarily sitcoms, from the 1950s to the 1990s. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operati ...

affiliate

KXVU-LD KXVU-LD, virtual channel 17 (VHF digital channel 3), is a low-powered Antenna TV- affiliated television station licensed to Chico, California, United States. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, it is a sister station to ABC affiliate KRCR-TV ...

(

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 analog ...

channel 17);

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (unofficially abbreviated MyTV, MyNet, MNT or MNTV, and sometimes referred to as My Network) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its ...

affiliates Redding-licensed

KRVU-LD KRVU-LD (channel 21) is a low-power television station in Redding, California, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside ABC affiliate KRCR-TV (channel 7, also licensed to Redding) and three ot ...

(channel 21) and Chico-licensed KZVU-LD (channel 22), and Chico-licensed

UniMás UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which i ...

affiliate

KKTF-LD KKTF-LD (channel 30) is a low-power television station licensed to Chico, California, United States, affiliated with the Spanish-language UniMás network. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Redding-licensed ABC affiliate KRCR-TV ...

(channel 30). Sinclair also operates

Paradise In religion, paradise is a place of exceptional happiness and delight. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical or eschatological or both, often compared to the miseries of human civilization: in parad ...

-licensed

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''). Twelve sp ...

affiliate

KCVU KCVU (channel 20) is a television station licensed to Paradise, California, United States, serving the Chico– Redding market as an affiliate of the Fox network. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreem ...

(channel 20) through a local marketing agreement (LMA) with owner Cunningham Broadcasting. However, Sinclair effectively owns KCVU as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith. The stations share studios on Auditorium Drive east of downtown Redding and maintain a news bureau and sales office at the former

Sainte Television Group Sainte Partners II, L.P. (also known as Sainte Television Group) was a broadcast company based in Modesto, California. The company's founder was country-western performer Chester Smith and his wife Naomi. Stations previously owned by Sainte * KCS ...

facilities on Main Street in downtown Chico. For

FCC 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 jurisdictio ...

and other legal purposes, the Chico/Paradise-licensed stations still use the Chico address and Redding-licensed stations use the Redding address. KUCO-LD's transmitter is located along Cohasset Road northeast of Chico.

KEUV-LD KEUV-LD (channel 35) is a low-power television station in Eureka, California, United States, affiliated with the Spanish-language Univision network. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside low-power dual CW+/MyNetworkTV affiliate KEC ...

(channel 35) in

Eureka Eureka (often abbreviated as E!, or Σ!) is an intergovernmental organisation for research and development funding and coordination. Eureka is an open platform for international cooperation in innovation. Organisations and companies applying th ...

operates as a semi-satellite of KUCO-LD. As such, it

simulcast Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simulta ...

s all Univision programming as provided through KUCO but airs separate local commercials and legal

station identification Station identification (ident, network ID or channel ID or bumper) is the practice of radio and television stations and networks identifying themselves on-air, typically by means of a call sign or brand name (sometimes known, particularly in th ...

s. Although KEUV-LD maintains its own studios (shared with

KAEF-TV KAEF-TV (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Arcata, California, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for the Eureka area. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside two low-power stations: dual CW/MyNetworkTV affilia ...

and LMA partner KBVU) on Sixth Street in downtown Eureka,

master control Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as sw ...

and some internal operations are based at KUCO's facilities.

History

KUCO-LP was founded by country-western singer

Chester Smith Chester Smith (March 29, 1930 – August 8, 2008) was a country-western musician and business entrepreneur. Early life and radio career Smith was born in Durant, Oklahoma, on March 29, 1930. He and his family relocated to Tranquility, Californ ...

's broadcast company Sainte Partners II, L.P. and first hit the air in 1998 to help bring Spanish-language television to the growing Spanish-speaking population in Northern California. It was the first Spanish-language station to air in the Chico/Redding market. It would soon be joined by

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

affiliate KXVU-LP and

affiliate

, both also founded by Smith's company. In 2014, six years after Smith's death, his company sold KUCO-LP and the remaining stations to

Bonten Media Group Bonten Media Group was a New York City-based owner of television broadcast stations in the United States. It was formed by Randall D. Bongarten and Diamond Castle Holdings in November 2006. Its first acquisition was 14 stations from Bluestone T ...

, owners of

affiliate

in Redding. On an unknown date in either 2016 or 2017, KUCO-LP conducted an unauthorized test of the

Emergency Alert System The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national warning system in the United States designed to allow authorized officials to broadcast emergency alerts and warning messages to the public via cable, satellite, or broadcast television, and bot ...

. However, the message read that the activation was for an Emergency Action Notification. It is unknown if any panic from residents followed. On April 21, 2017,

announced its intent to purchase the Bonten stations (including KUCO-LP) for $240 million. The sale was completed September 1, 2017.Consummation Notice
''CDBS Public Access'',

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 ...

, Retrieved 6 September 2017. The station changed its call sign to KUCO-LD on April 5, 2019, coincident with receiving its license for digital operations.

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 ...

References

External links

* {{SBGI Univision network affiliates UCO-LD UCO-LD Sinclair Broadcast Group Television channels and stations established in 2003 2003 establishments in California Low-power television stations in the United States