Arizona TV Station Update - January 2020

As always, questions, additions, comments and corrections welcome.

New Licenses

• KDOS-LD 19.x Globe (KTVW License Partnership GP) has been granted a license to cover its displacement construction permit. Technical specifications: Ch 19; TL 33° 17' 21" N, 110° 49' 47" W (Signal Peak); ERP 12 kW directional (2° elec beam tilt, 1° mech); HAAT 1000 m.
• K16FB-D Globe (Unimas Partnership of Phoenix) has been granted a license to cover its displacement construction permit. Technical specifications: Ch 18; TL 33° 17' 21" N, 110° 49' 47" W (Signal Peak); ERP 10 kW directional (2° elec beam tilt, 1° mech); HAAT 1001 m.
• K30GL 6.x Many Farms (Nexstar Broadcasting Inc.) has been granted a license to cover its construction permit to flash cut to digital. Technical specifications: Ch 30; TL 36° 27' 37" N, 109° 5' 36" W (Roof Butte); ERP 5.11 kW directional; HAAT 734 m.
• K04QP-D 4.x Casas Adobes (KVOA License LLC) has requested a license to cover its modified construction permit. Technical specifications: Ch 4; TL 32° 14' 57" N, 111° 7' 0" W (Tucson Mtns.); ERP 1.7 kW (non-directional); HAAT 606 m.
• KNTL-LP 15.x (35) Laughlin NV (Entravision Holdings LLC) has been granted a license to cover its displacement facilities and transition to digital. Technical specifications: Ch 35; TL 35° 14' 58" N; 114° 44' 37" W (Little Peak); ERP 15 kW non-directional (0.25° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 711 m.
• K19LV-D 9.x St. George UT (Utah State Board of Regents) has been granted a license to cover its construction permit. Technical specifications: Ch 19; TL 37° 3' 50" N, 113° 34' 23" W (Webb Hill); ERP 0.7 kW (1.75° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 82 m.
• K44JI-D 7.x Washington UT (University of Utah) has requested a license to cover its displacement construction permit. Technical specifications: Ch 30; TL 37° 9' 19" N, 113° 52' 52" W (West Mountain Peak); ERP 0.2 kW directional (1.75° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 1086 m.

Programming Changes

• KTVK 3.x Phoenix (KPHO Broadcasting Corporation) has moved its Accu-Weather programming to channel 3.4, and has added the Cirle TV network to channel 3.3. Meredith seems to have signed a contract to carry Circle, as the network has also appeared on Meredith's KSMO in Kansas City this weekend.
• KYMA-DT 13.x Yuma (Blackhawk Broadcasting LLC) now has combined programming from the two stations Blackhawk previously owned. The primary subchannel (13.1) remains CBS, while the remaining subchannels are now NBC on 11.1 (it may have changed to 13.2 since the old KYMA was shut down), Estrella TV on 13.3 and Ion on 13.4.
• KPAZ-TV 21.x (20) Phoenix (Trinity Broadcasting of Arizona, Inc.) has replaced its simulcast of TBN on 21.5 with a full 24-hour schedule of Juce TV. Later in January, TBN rebranded youth- and music-focused Juce TV to a network called Positiv, featuring family-oriented and Christian films, many of which come from TBN's own library. Channel 21.3 is now a full 24-hour schedule of Smile of a Child, which is simply branded as "Smile".
• KDPH-LD 48.x (46) Phoenix (Community Television Educators Inc.) is silent.
• KLAS-TV 8.x (7) Las Vegas NV (Nexstar Broadcasting Inc.) has added a new program stream, channel 8.4, carrying Ion programming. It's possible that Telemundo O&O KBLR could be dropping Ion from channel 39.3, possibly when it launches its news channel, LX, later this spring. KLAS's carriage of Ion may be temporary, as Ion Media Networks has announced the purchase of KMCC 34.x from Entravision, which, if approved by the FCC, would give Ion an O&O station in Las Vegas.
• XHBM 2.x (34) Mexicali BCN (Televimex SA de CV) has added a new program stream, channel 2.2, carrying Foro TV.

Call Sign Changes

• Blackhawk Broadcasting LLC switched call signs of its two stations, prior to shuttering one of them, as required in the sale of parent Northwest Broadcasting to Apollo. KYMA-DT 11.x Yuma became KSWT 11.x Yuma and was shut down, although its license still showed KYMA-DT. KSWT 13.x Yuma has become KYMA-DT 13.x Yuma, and is the surviving station.
• K16FB-D Globe (Unimas Partnership of Phoenix) has changed its call sign to K18NN-D, following licensing of its displacement facilities.
• K30GL Many Farms (Nexstar Broadcasting Inc.) has changed its call sign to K30GL-D, following licensing of its digital facilities.
• K44JI-D Washington UT (University of Utah) has changed its call sign to K30OL-D, following licensing of its displacement facilities.

Transactions

• K31NV-D 32.x Cottonwood (The Camp Verde TV Club) has been sold to Good News Broadcasting, pending FCC approval.
• KMCC 34.x (32) Laughlin NV (Entravision Holdings LLC) has been sold to Ion Media Networks, pending FCC approval, giving Ion an O&O station the Las Vegas NV market.

Construction permits and Special Temporary Authorizations (STAs) granted

• KASW 61.x (27) Phoenix (Scripps Broadcasting Holdings LLC) requested and has been granted a construction permit to convert to a Distributed Transmission System (DTS). It plans to keep its current South Mountain transmission site as site 1, with all of the current broadcast parameters, but has added three additional sites: Shaw Butte as site 2, to provide fill-in coverage to the Paradise Valley area of northeast Phoenix and north Scottsdale, Gila Bend as site 3, to provide coverage to the town of Gila Bend, currently terrain-blocked from all OTA TV signals due to the Sierra Estrellas, and a site labeled "Riviera" as site 4, which is the tower from which Riviera Broadcasting's KZON broadcasts, located near the intersection of Ocotillo Rd. and Schnepf Rd., to provide fill-in service to San Tan Valley, Florence and Coolidge.
  • Technical specifications:
    • Site 1 (South Mtn.): Ch 27; TL 33° 20' 1" N, 112° 3' 47" W (South Mtn.); ERP 445 kW directional (0.95° elec. beam tilt); HAAT 551 m.
    • Site 2 (Shaw Butte): Ch 27; TL 33° 35' 47" N, 112° 5' 34" W (Shaw Butte); ERP 18.5 kW directional (1.5° elec. beam tilt); HAAT 268 m.
    • Site 3 (Gila Bend): Ch 27; TL 32° 56' 4" N, 112° 40' 56" W (Near jct. Butterfield Trl. & I-8); ERP 50 kW directional (1° elec. beam tilt); HAAT 44 m.
    • Site 4 (Riviera): Ch 27; TL 33° 14' 50" N, 111° 31' 52" W (Near jct. Ocotillo Rd. & Schnepf Rd.); ERP 20 kW directional (1.5° elec. beam tilt); HAAT 167 m.
• KDPH-LD 48.x (46) Phoenix (Community Television Educators Inc.) requested and has been granted a silence STA through July 9, 2020.
• KESE-LP 35 Yuma (NPG of Yuma-El Centro LLC) has been granted an extension of its STA to operate at 55% of nominal power, due to equipment failure. The STA will expire July 7, 2020. Technical specifications: Ch 35; TL 32° 38' 31" N, 114° 33' 37" W (Ave. 4E & Co. 13th St.); ERP 4.4 kW directional; HAAT 81 m.
• K04QP-D 4.x Casas Adobes (KVOA License LLC) requested and has been granted a modification of its existing construction permit, specifying a move to an adjacent tower, about 26 meters away. Because the new tower is slightly higher than the old, the licensee has also requested to reduce power from the 2 kW previously approved, in order to keep the signal within the geographic contour already approved. Technical specifications: Ch 4; TL 32° 14' 57" N, 111° 7' 0" W (Tucson Mtns.); ERP 1.7 kW (non-directional); HAAT 606 m.
• K16BP-D 45.x Cottonwood (Fox Television Stations LLC) was granted a minor modification of its license to co-locate with co-owned station K36AE-D, using a combined antenna system. Technical specifications: Ch 16; TL 34° 41' 13" N, 112° 7' 2" W (Mingus Mtn.); ERP 15 kW directional (1° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 777 m.
• Motor Racing Networks Inc. DBA Racing Electronics requested and has been granted an Experimental STA to operate a limited service area digital LPTV station within a two-mile radius of Phoenix International Raceway during NASCAR events scheduled for March 5 - 9, 2020. Technical specifications: Ch 25; TL 33° 22' 28" N, 112° 18' 39" W (Phoenix Int'l Raceway); ERP 0.075 kW; HAAT -38 m (19 m AGL).
• KPVM-LD 46.x (25) Pahrump NV (KPVM Television Inc.) has has been granted an STA to operate at lower power than authorized in its construction permit so that it can begin providing service to the Las Vegas area while awaiting its full power antenna. Technical specifications: Ch 25; TL 35° 56' 46" N, 115° 2' 37" W (Arden Peak); ERP 3 kW directional (0.75° electrical beam tilt); HAAT 568 m.
• Motor Racing Networks Inc. DBA Racing Electronics requested and has been granted an Experimental STA to operate a limited service area digital LPTV station within a two-mile radius of Las Vegas Motor Speedway during NASCAR events scheduled for February 19 - 24, 2020. Technical specifications: Ch 34; TL 36° 16' 18" N, 115° 0' 39" W (Las Vegas Motor Speedway); ERP 0.075 kW; HAAT -86 m (19 m AGL).
• K17JQ St. George UT (Edge Spectrum Inc.) requested and has been granted a silence STA through July 30, 2020.
• K40KZ St. George UT (Edge Spectrum Inc.) requested and has been granted a silence STA through July 30, 2020.

Expired, Expiring, Canceled or Dismissed

• The license for KYMA-DT 11.x Yuma has been canceled. All programming has moved over to channel 13, formerly KSWT, now KYMA-DT.

Notices

• KTTU 18.x (19) Tucson (KTTU-TV Inc.) has notified the FCC that it has resumed full power operations as of January 6, 2020.
• KDPH-LD 48.x (46) Phoenix (Community Television Educators Inc.) has notified the FCC that it suspended operations as of December 30, 2019. The station intends to resume operations when its displacement facilities on channel 13 are completed.

Some observations and questions as well.
If the ATSC 3.0 is suppose to be superior to current ATSC 1.0 with
regard to improvements in reception, Why does KASW need three
additional transmitters??? Broadcasters certainly don't want or need
the additional cost of buying, running and maintaining more transmitters.

On South Mtn, KASW is a full power station, while KFPH is a translator
of KFPH/13 Flagstaff. In Northern Arizona, KASW has but only one
translator on Mingus Mtn while KFPH is a full power station covering
a much larger geographic area. How will programming be allocated????
How many programming streams can ATSC 3.0 support???
Will KASW carry major network programming and KFPH carry diginets???

Prescott Joe said:

Some observations and questions as well.
If the ATSC 3.0 is suppose to be superior to current ATSC 1.0 with
regard to improvements in reception, Why does KASW need three
additional transmitters??? Broadcasters certainly don't want or need
the additional cost of buying, running and maintaining more transmitters.

On South Mtn, KASW is a full power station, while KFPH is a translator
of KFPH/13 Flagstaff. In Northern Arizona, KASW has but only one
translator on Mingus Mtn while KFPH is a full power station covering
a much larger geographic area. How will programming be allocated????
How many programming streams can ATSC 3.0 support???
Will KASW carry major network programming and KFPH carry diginets???

Click to expand...

There are several reasons.

1. Phoenix is a testing market and the Model Market people want to have a facility to test SFNs. Single-frequency networks/distributed transmission systems are much easier to manage in a COFDM-modulated system like ATSC 3.0 than in ATSC 1.0.
2. Shaw Butte, the Estrellas and the San Tan Mountains do shade some people from South Mountain in the areas these transmitters would serve. Particularly in San Tan Valley this is becoming important.

In testing mode, KASW is being used to relieve several channels from the KFPH mux. The Fox, ABC, CBS and KUTP streams that are on KFPH's testing are being moved to the KASW mux. KNXV (ATSC 1.0) will pick up some of KASW's subs and others will be spread around. You'll want to read this document.

An ATSC 3.0 channel has a theoretical capacity of 57 Mbps and a likely real-world one is closer to 26 Mbps. (ATSC 1.0: 19.3 Mbps) Further, ATSC 3.0 uses more efficient H.265 (HEVC) encoding, so it can pack more channels than MPEG-2-dependent ATSC 1.0. (MPEG-4 is possible on 1.0—but not very well supported by TV manufacturers. Seriously, ask the Mexicans.)

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for all the information.....

Great answer, Raymie! I would have clicked the "like" button if we had one.

In other news, KBLR 39.x (20) Las Vegas NV (Telemundo Las Vegas License LLC) has dropped Ion from channel 39.3, replacing the programming with a graphic instructing viewers to call the network. KLAS just picked up Ion last Friday.

I believe NBC in Yuma transmits on 13.4 RF but uses 11.1 as virtual.

dhett said:

[*]KTVK 3.x Phoenix (KPHO Broadcasting Corporation) has moved its Accu-Weather programming to channel 3.4, and has added the Cirle TV network to channel 3.3. Meredith seems to have signed a contract to carry Circle, as the network has also appeared on Meredith's KSMO in Kansas City this weekend.

Click to expand...

I wonder what makes Meredith keep the "Weather Now" subchannel? Its champions (the now-retired Seth Parker and former Chief Meteorologist Chris Dunn) are gone.

A couple of DTS questions. You live near 27th Ave and Beardsley.
Your outdoor antenna is pointed about 170 degrees. It "sees" the
South Mtn transmitter but also "sees" the Shaw Butte one, which is
closer but weaker. What is likely to occur in theory and in reality???
You live about a mile south of Shaw Butte but considerably further
from South Mtn. Do you point at the closer Shaw Butte or South Mtn?
What if there are trees/buildings to your North? What if there are
buildings to your South? Given the issues we have with ATSC 1.0
and co-channel transmitting issues in Northern Arizona, it should
be interesting, at the least, to see how things work---in reality.

Prescott Joe said:

A couple of DTS questions. You live near 27th Ave and Beardsley.
Your outdoor antenna is pointed about 170 degrees. It "sees" the
South Mtn transmitter but also "sees" the Shaw Butte one, which is
closer but weaker. What is likely to occur in theory and in reality???
You live about a mile south of Shaw Butte but considerably further
from South Mtn. Do you point at the closer Shaw Butte or South Mtn?
What if there are trees/buildings to your North? What if there are
buildings to your South? Given the issues we have with ATSC 1.0
and co-channel transmitting issues in Northern Arizona, it should
be interesting, at the least, to see how things work---in reality.

Click to expand...

Don't look for KASW to go to a DTS (a.k.a. SFN - single-frequency network) until they switch over to ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV). OFDM modulation, on which ATSC 3.0 relies, handles co-channel signals much, much better than 8-VSB (on which ATSC 1.0 relies) does. The DTS is possible in ATSC 1.0, but is much easier to deploy in ATSC 3.0.

I had heard from friends living on the N.Y./Pennsylvania border that they've
had issues with the WPSU signal since moving to DTS broadcast. It could be
a whole lot of other issues as they have trouble with most every station
in Wellsville, N.Y.




Distributed transmission
WPSU-TV is an innovator of distributed transmission of digital television signals; it has been involved with testing new ways to distribute these signals to difficult reception areas and received an experimental permit from the FCC in 2003. Initial tests showed that while a large UHF channel 15 transmitter at the location of WPSU's original low-VHF broadcast tower would encounter localized problems with terrain shielding that interfere with UHF reception in State College, and that relocation of the main transmitter would have interfered with the station's ability to serve the other two communities, the addition of a 50 kW, precisely-synchronized digital transmitter operating in State College itself on the same frequency as the main UHF 15 signal could provide a viable improvement to digital reception.[5]

This work was the basis for a pair of ATSC standards issued in 2004 to provide design guidance for the implementation of distributed transmission systems:

A/110A, "Synchronization Standard for Distributed Transmission, Revision A"
A/111, "Design of Synchronized Multiple Transmitter Networks" [6]
These standards were later used by other broadcasters, such as New York City's Metropolitan Television Alliance, as a basis of tests in 2007. This testing was crucial to other U.S. television stations and the FCC for developing guidelines pertaining to this type of broadcasting.

Prescott Joe said:

I had heard from friends living on the N.Y./Pennsylvania border that they've
had issues with the WPSU signal since moving to DTS broadcast. It could be
a whole lot of other issues as they have trouble with most every station
in Wellsville, N.Y.

Click to expand...

I've been to Wellsville a few times. I grew up about 75 miles north of there, and my sister used to live in Andover, the next town to the east of Wellsville.

I'm surprised they can pick up WPSU from there at all. They must live on a hilltop outside of town and have a good antenna, because Wellsville is in a valley along the Genesee River. If they're having problems with all stations, then I would guess that the problem is the antenna.

Back in the analog days, they received WGRZ 2 NBC Buffalo, WPSU 3 PBS,
WBEN/WIVB 4 CBS and WKBW 7 ABC. Sometimes they received WJAC 6
from Johnstown. RF 2-4 were always subject to atmospheric conditions
which would wipe out the signal, leaving RF 7 as the only reliable station.
Yes, they live outside of town, on a hilltop, with a Winegard 8200 antenna
and old channel master rotor. With everything now on UHF, the signals
are more reliable but more subject to line of sight reception limitations, which
they definitely do not have. Tried 8 bay and yagi UHF antennas and they were
not any better than the Winegard.