KRVU-LD (channel 21) is a

low-power television station Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a Radio broadcasting#Station, broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower ...

Redding, California Redding is a city in and the county seat of Shasta County, California, and the economic and cultural capital of the Shasta Cascade region of Northern California. Redding lies along the Sacramento River, north of Sacramento, California, Sacrame ...

, United States, affiliated with

MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV (stylized as mynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviated MNT or MNTV) is an American commercial broadcast television syndication service and former television network owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations ...

. It is owned by

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...

alongside

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

affiliate

KRCR-TV KRCR-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to Redding, California, United States, serving as the American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate for the Chico, California, Chico–Redding media market, market. It is owned by Sinclair Bro ...

(channel 7, also licensed to Redding) and three 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 operatio ...

affiliate

KXVU-LD KXVU-LD (channel 17) is a low-power television station in Chico, California, United States, as an affiliate of Antenna TV. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, it is a sister station to ABC affiliate KRCR-TV (channel 7) and four other low-po ...

(channel 17); Chico-licensed

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, 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 L ...

affiliate

KUCO-LD KUCO-LD (channel 27) is a low-power television station licensed to Chico, California, United States, affiliated with the Spanish-language networks Univision and UniMás. Owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, it is sister station, sister to Redd ...

(channel 27); 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-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. ...

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 provides certain services to

Paradise In religion and folklore, paradise is a place of everlasting happiness, delight, and bliss. Paradisiacal notions are often laden with pastoral imagery, and may be cosmogonical, eschatological, or both, often contrasted with the miseries of human ...

-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 ("brush"). Twelve species ...

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 agree ...

(channel 20) through a

local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...

(LMA) with

Cunningham Broadcasting Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation is an owner of broadcast television stations in the United States. The company owns fifteen stations–eight affiliated with Fox, three affiliated with The CW, two affiliated with ABC, and two affiliated with ...

; 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 * KC ...

facilities on Main Street in downtown Chico (for

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

and other legal purposes, the Chico/Paradise-licensed stations still use the Chico address and Redding-licensed stations use the Redding address). KRVU-LD's transmitter is located near

Shasta, California Shasta is a census-designated place (CDP) in Shasta County, California, United States. Shasta sits at an elevation of . Its population is 1,043 as of the 2020 census, down from 1,771 from the 2010 census. Shasta State Historic Park located at ...

History

KRVU/KZVU was founded by Sainte Partners II, L.P., owned by country-western singer

Chester Smith Chester Smith (March 29, 1930 – August 8, 2008) was an American 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, ...

and hit the air in 1993, seven years after the founding of

(KZVU-LD was originally K21DS from 1993 to 1997 and KZVU-LP from 1997 to 2009). It became an affiliate of the fledgling new

UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...

network in 1997 and would change affiliations to

following the creation of

The CW The CW Network, LLC (commonly referred to as The CW or simply CW) is an American commercial broadcast television network which is controlled by Nexstar Media Group through a 75% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the firs ...

in 2006. Smith remained owner until his death in 2008.

Merger with Eureka Television Group

On April 27, 2009, KRVU/KZVU merged its operations with sister station KEMY in

Eureka, California Eureka ( ; Wiyot: ; Hupa: ; ) is a city and the county seat of Humboldt County, located on the North Coast of California. The city is located on U.S. Route 101 on the shores of Humboldt Bay, north of San Francisco and south of the Oreg ...

, and both stations were rebranded "Northern California's My TV".

Sale to Bonten Media Group

KRVU and its sister stations were sold 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 ...

in 2012. (The flagship station of Sainte,

FOX 20, was sold to Esteem Broadcasting, but became operated by Bonten.) The station was formerly known as MyTV Northern California, but reverted to its original call letters upon the station's purchase in 2012. KEMY would be dissolved in 2014 after Bonten launched

KECA-LD KECA-LD (channel 29) is a low-power television station in Eureka, California, United States, affiliated with The CW Plus and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Arcata-licensed ABC affiliate KAEF-TV (channel 23) and ...

as its digital replacement in the Eureka market, with KRVU/MyNetworkTV programming appearing on its digital subchannel.

Sale to Sinclair

On April 21, 2017,

announced its intent to purchase the Bonten stations (including KRVU-LD) for $240 million. The deal came immediately following the re-instatement of the "UHF discount", which reduces the calculated "reach" of a station for the purposes of national ownership limits if it broadcasts on a

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 ...

channel. The sale was completed September 1.Consummation Notice
''CDBS Public Access'',

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

, Retrieved September 6, 2017.

Technical information

KRVU-LD subchannels

KRVU-LD's 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— ...

KZVU-LD subchannel

Early switch

KCVU, along with

KHSL-TV KHSL-TV (channel 12) is a television station in Chico, California, United States, serving the Chico–Redding, California, Redding area as an affiliate of CBS and The CW Plus. It is owned by Allen Media Group in common operation with KNVN (chan ...

and

KNVN KNVN (channel 24) is a television station licensed to Chico, California, United States, serving the Chico–Redding, California, Redding media market, market as an affiliate of NBC and Telemundo. It is owned by Maxair Media, which maintains a sh ...

ceased analog operations on December 22, 2008. KCVU ceased analog operations early because the post-transition tower is complete and has been up and running for at least seven months; same case with KHSL. In the case of KBVU and its sister stations, the transition for some was much later as KUCO-LP, KXVU-LP, KKTF-LD, and both KBVU and MyTV's analog translators remained analog through late 2009/early 2010 when the Sainte Television Group ended all of its analog operations.

KVIQ KVIQ-LD (channel 14) is a low-power television station in Eureka, California, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Marquee Broadcasting alongside NBC affiliate KIEM-TV (channel 3). The two stations share studios on South Broadway ...

and KBVU already made the switch on November 28, 2008.

References

External links

MyTV Northern California's website

Fox 20's website
* {{SBGI RVU-LD MyNetworkTV affiliates Sinclair Broadcast Group RVU-LD