KBFD-DT (channel 32) is an Asian independent television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States. The station is owned by Allen Broadcasting (not to be confused with

Allen Media Broadcasting Entertainment Studios, Inc., also known as Allen Media Group, is an American media and entertainment company based in Los Angeles. Owned and founded in 1993 by businessman Byron Allen, the company was initially involved in the production and d ...

, owner of ABC affiliate

KITV KITV (channel 4) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Allen Media Group alongside multicultural independent station KIKU (channel 20). The two stations ...

(channel 4) and multicultural independent KIKU (channel 20)). KBFD-DT's studios are located on Bishop Street in downtown Honolulu, and its transmitter is located near

Hawaii Pacific University Hawaii Pacific University (HPU) is a private university in downtown Honolulu, Makapuʻu and Kāneʻohe, Hawaii. HPU is the largest private university in the central Pacific, most noted for its diverse student body of nearly 5,000 students, re ...

. Unlike major network affiliates in the Hawaii market, KBFD-DT does not operate any satellite stations or translators, nor is it available on DirecTV or

Dish Network DISH Network Corporation (DISH, an acronym for DIgital Sky Highway) is an American television provider and the owner of the direct-broadcast satellite provider Dish, commonly known as Dish Network, and the over-the-top IPTV service, Sling TV. A ...

. It can only be received via cable outside the Honolulu-area reach of its main signal.

Overview

The station first signed on the air on March 24, 1986. KBFD-DT is one of two television stations in Hawaii that specializes in Asian programming full-time (alongside KIKU). Although the station airs a variety programs from many Asian countries, most of the programs seen on KBFD are geared to a Korean audience as most of its lineup features programs acquired from the

Korean Broadcasting System The Korean Broadcasting System (KBS) () is the national broadcaster of South Korea. Founded in February 1927, it is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. KBS operates seven radio networks, ten television channels, a ...

, the

Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation (MBC; ) is one of the leading South Korean television and radio broadcasters. ''Munhwa'' is the Sino-Korean word for "culture". Its flagship terrestrial television station MBC TV broadcasts as channel 11. Es ...

, and SBS. Most of the programs on KBFD are also

subtitled Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...

in English, due to a growing audience of non-Asian viewers interested in its music shows and drama series. KBFD handles exclusive home video distribution of Korean shows and specials under the KBFDVD brand banner, which the station advertises on air and on their website. KBFD also carries programming from KBS World, the international program service from KBS (broadcasting as KBFD2) on

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 ...

32.2, Arirang programming on digital subchannel 32.3, and operates the cable channel KLife, a Korean lifestyle programming service. KBFD airs

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

s during the morning hours (from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. local time). KBFD is one of few television stations in the Honolulu market (and the United States as a whole) that continues to

sign-off A sign-on (or start-up in Commonwealth countries except Canada) is the beginning of operations for a radio or television station, generally at the start of each day. It is the opposite of a sign-off (or closedown in Commonwealth countries exce ...

each night from 12:30 a.m. to 6 a.m. local time. Its sign-on and sign-off features the national anthems of both the United States and South Korea.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

KBFD-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over

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 ...

channel 32 on January 15, 2009, the date in which full-power television stations in Hawaii transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 33, using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 32.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kbfd-Dt BFD-DT Korean-language television stations Television channels and stations established in 1986 1986 establishments in Hawaii