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 earth's s ...

licensed to

Pocatello, Idaho Pocatello () is the county seat of and the largest city in Bannock County, Idaho, Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, Idaho, Power County, containing the city's airport. It is t ...

, United States, serving the

Idaho Falls Idaho Falls is the List of cities in Idaho, fourth most populous city in Idaho and the county seat of Bonneville County, Idaho, Bonneville County. It is the state's most populous city outside the Boise metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United St ...

–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 station, television and radio broadcasting, ra ...

as an affiliate of the

digital multicast network A digital multicast television network, also known as a diginet or multichannel, is a type of national television service designed to be broadcast terrestrially as a supplementary service to other stations on their digital subchannels. Made possib ...

Grit Grit, Grits, or Gritty may refer to: Food * Grit (grain), bran, chaff, mill-dust or coarse oatmeal * Grits, a corn-based food common in the Southern United States Minerals * Grit, winter pavement-treatment minerals deployed in grit bins * G ...

. It is owned by Ventura Broadcasting alongside

Ion Television Ion Television (referred to on-air as simply Ion) is an American broadcast television network and FAST television channel owned by the Scripps Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network first began broadcasting on August ...

affiliate KVUI (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 Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

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 (United States), village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 67,824. Skokie lies approximately north of Chicago's dow ...

, Kaleidoscope Foundation, Inc. of

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

(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 late ...

), and Potelco Broadcasting of

Greensboro, North Carolina Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the List of municipalitie ...

. 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 government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(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 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 ...

on September 18, 2006. At one point, KBEO (channel 11) from

Jackson, Wyoming Jackson is a resort town in Teton County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 10,760 at the 2020 census, up from 9,577 in 2010. It is Teton County's only incorporated municipality and county seat, and it is the largest incorporated town ...

(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 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 ...

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

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

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

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

Technical information

Subchannels

The station'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— ...

: 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 multicast 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 ...

to Defy TV), 15.3 (Grit to TrueReal), 15.4 (

Stadium A stadium (: stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage completely or partially surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand or sit ...

to Bounce TV; the latter network previously aired on 15.4 from 2020 to June 2021), and 15.7 ( Pursuit Channel to Newsy).

Analog-to-digital conversion

KPIF shut down 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 ...

channel 15, on June 12, 2009, and "

flash-cut A flash cut, also called a flash cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period. In the United States, some telephone area codes were split or overlaid immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive di ...

" 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 2004 establishments in Idaho Antenna TV affiliates Court TV affiliates Daystar Television Network stations Ion Plus affiliates Grit (TV network) affiliates Laff (TV network) affiliates Story Television affiliates Television channels and stations established in 2004 PIF