The Minnesota Channel is an American

free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal and view or listen to the content without requiring a subscripti ...

television channel originating at

Twin Cities Public Television Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. (abbreviated TPT, doing business as Twin Cities PBS) is a nonprofit organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that operates the Twin Cities' two PBS member television stations, KTCA-TV (channe ...

. It features programming related to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

(and some related to

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

and

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, S ...

), plus coverage of the

Minnesota Legislature The Minnesota Legislature is the bicameral legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota consisting of two houses: the Senate and the House of Representatives. Senators are elected from 67 single-member districts. In order to account for decenn ...

when in session. The Minnesota Channel is carried as 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 compressi ...

on all six member networks of the

Minnesota Public Television Association The Minnesota Public Television Association (MPTA), also commonly known as Minnesota Public Television, is a not-for-profit trade organization of public television stations in the state of Minnesota that operates an interconnecting statewide educa ...

History

In early 2003, TPT began setting aside time on KTCI for the "Minnesota Channel", an evening dedicated to local and regional related programming, frequently produced in partnership with other nonprofit and public service organizations. The service expanded from one to two evenings in 2004 and, on September 16, 2005, became a new full-time

digital channel Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware * Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals ** Digital camera, which captures and stores digital ...

, ''tptMN'' (digital channel 17.2,

Comcast Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

(Saint Paul) 243, Comcast (Minneapolis) 202, and

Mediacom Mediacom Communications Corporation is the United States' fifth largest cable television provider based on the number of video subscribers, and among the leading cable operators focused on serving smaller cities and towns. The company has a s ...

102). The Minnesota Channel was expanded to region wide coverage in Minnesota and

in February 2008. In October 2012, the Minnesota Channel changed picture formats from 4:3 to 16:9 widescreen.

Programming

Since its inception, the MN Channel has co-produced more than 250 programs with more than 100 partner organizations: non-profits, universities, governmental agencies and other public service organizations. Among the programs broadcast on the MN Channel are several targeting ethnic communities that now call Minnesota and the Twin Cities home and who are generally under-served by commercial media. Some of these shows are also broadcast on

Public-access television Public-access television is traditionally a form of non-commercial mass media where the general public can create content television programming which is narrowcast through cable television specialty channels. Public-access television was cre ...

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

channels in the region: *''Zona Latina'' ( Latino) *''Kev Koom Siab'' ( Hmong) *''Geetmala'' (

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

) *''BelAhdan'' (

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Province), East Thrace (Europ ...

ern) *''Journey to the East'' ( Chinese) *''Vietnamese News'' (

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making it ...

ese) The network's website''tpts Minnesota Productions & Partnerships
/ref> features information on programs and partners, plus
regularly-updated blog

Affiliates

Minnesota

KTCI Twin Cities Public Television, Inc. (abbreviated TPT, doing business as Twin Cities PBS) is a nonprofit organization based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, that operates the Twin Cities' two PBS member television stations, KTCA-TV ( ...

(2.2 and 2.6) St. Paul/Minneapolis (Available in HD) * WDSE (8.4)

Duluth , settlement_type = City , nicknames = Twin Ports (with Superior), Zenith City , motto = , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top: urban Duluth skyline; Minnesota ...

/ WRPT (31.4) Hibbing * KAWE (9.6)

Bemidji Bemidji ( ) is a city and the county seat of Beltrami County, in northern Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,574 at the 2020 census. According to 2021 census estimates, the city is estimated to have a population of 15,279, making it ...

/ KAWB (22.6) Brainerd *

KWCM-TV KWCM-TV (channel 10) is a PBS member television station in Appleton, Minnesota, United States, owned by the West Central Minnesota Educational TV Corp. KWCM-TV's studios are located on Pioneer Drive in Granite Falls, and its transmitter is loca ...

(10.3)

Appleton Appleton may refer to: People *Appleton (surname) Places Australia * Appleton Dock Canada * Appleton, Newfoundland and Labrador * Appleton, Ontario United Kingdom * Appleton, a deserted medieval village site in the parish of Flitcham w ...

/ KSMN (20.3) Worthington/Sioux Falls * KSMQ-TV (15.4) Austin/Rochester

North Dakota

Prairie Public Television Prairie Public Television is a state network of public television stations operated primarily by Prairie Public Broadcasting. It comprises all of the PBS member stations in the U.S. state of North Dakota. The state network is available via flag ...

carries Minnesota Channel in North Dakota. * KGFE (2.3)

Grand Forks Grand Forks is the third-largest city in the state of North Dakota (after Fargo and Bismarck) and the county seat of Grand Forks County. According to the 2020 census, the city's population was 59,166. Grand Forks, along with its twin city o ...

(Available in HD) * KBME-TV (3.3) Bismarck * KWSE (4.3) Williston * KSRE (6.3)

Minot Minot ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Ward County, North Dakota, United States, in the state's north-central region. It is most widely known for the Air Force base approximately north of the city. With a population of 48,377 at the 2 ...

* KDSE (9.3) Dickinson * KFME (13.3)

Fargo Fargo usually refers to: * Fargo, North Dakota, United States * ''Fargo'' (1996 film), a crime film by the Coen brothers * ''Fargo'' (TV series), an American black comedy–crime drama anthology television series Fargo may also refer to: Othe ...

* KCGE (16.3) Crookston, MN / Grand Forks * KJRE (19.3) Ellendale * KMDE (25.3) Devils Lake

References

{{Public affairs television channels in the United States Television networks in the United States Public Broadcasting Service Public television in the United States Television channels and stations established in 2003 Television in Minnesota Television stations in North Dakota English-language television stations in the United States