KPVI-DT


KPVI-DT, virtual channel 6, is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Pocatello, Idaho, United States and also serving Idaho Falls. The station is owned by Atlanta-based Cox Media Group. KPVI-DT's studios are located on East Sherman Street in downtown Pocatello. Its transmitter is located on a mountain top about east-northeast of the Pocatello city limits; this location was chosen because of possible interference from KIVI-TV in Boise, which also broadcast its analog signal on channel 6. At one time, KPVI and KIVI were sister stations with the same affiliation. KPVI broadcast its analog signal at 100 kW.

History

KPVI signed on April 26, 1974 as an ABC affiliate. It was originally owned by Eastern Idaho Television Corporation, which also owned sister station KIVI-TV in Boise, Idaho. Previously, ABC had been carried on a shared basis by both CBS affiliate KID-TV and NBC affiliate KIFI-TV. Idaho Television Company sold both KPVI and sister station KIVI to Futura Titanium Corporation in 1977. Futura sold the station to Ambassador Media in 1983. In early 1995, KPVI became a secondary affiliate of UPN; it cleared the network's highest-rated program, , as a replacement for NYPD Blue, which was deemed to be too vulgar for airing in the Pocatello market. In November 1995, Sunbelt Communications Company, now known as Intermountain West Communications Company purchased KPVI and satellite stations KJVI in Jackson, Wyoming and KKVI in Twin Falls.
The three stations remained with ABC until January 1996 when KPVI and KJVI switched to NBC, swapping affiliations with KIFI. Since NBC programming in Twin Falls was provided by Boise NBC affiliate KTVB via translator, KKVI dropped its affiliation with ABC and became a full Fox affiliate. As a result, the secondary UPN affiliation that KPVI carried was moved to KIDK, where it would remain until KXPI-LP signed on in 2001. KJVI, which became KJWY several months later, remained a semi-satellite of KPVI until it was sold to PMCM TV, LLC in 2009. As a result of the sale to Sunbelt, the station moved in the mid-1990s from a smaller downtown facility to a newly remodeled facility on East Sherman Street. Saturday Night Live star Molly Shannon was the guest of honor at the official grand opening of the facility.
Intermountain West Communications Company reached a deal to sell KPVI and KXTF to Idaho Broadcast Partners in June 2013; Idaho Broadcast Partners is a subsidiary of Frontier Radio Management. The sale was completed on May 13, 2014.
On January 29, 2016, Frontier Radio Management sold Idaho Broadcast Partners to NBI Holdings, LLC, which owns Northwest Broadcasting. The sale was completed on March 24.
In February 2019, Reuters reported that Apollo Global Management had agreed to acquire the entirety of Brian Brady's television portfolio, which it intends to merge with Cox Media Group and stations spun off from Nexstar Media Group's purchase of Tribune Broadcasting, once the purchases are approved by the FCC. In March 2019 filings with the FCC, Apollo confirmed that its newly-formed broadcasting group, Terrier Media, would acquire Northwest Broadcasting, with Brian Brady holding an unspecified minority interest in Terrier. In June 2019, it was announced that Terrier Media would instead operate as Cox Media Group, as Apollo had reached a deal to also acquire Cox's radio and advertising businesses. The transaction was completed on December 17.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
6.11080iKPVI-HDMain KPVI-DT programming / NBC
6.2480iDecadesDecades
6.3480iMoviesMovies!

On January 1, 2012, Antenna TV replaced Universal Sports when it ceased to be available to over-the-air broadcast stations in order to become a cable and satellite-only channel.
On January 13, 2016, Decades replaced Antenna TV.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KPVI shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 6, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 23. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 6.

News operation

Due to an ailing economy in January 2011, KPVI announced significant layoffs affecting people in every department at the station, including twelve members of the station's news department. In addition to personnel cuts, the station also eliminated all weekend newscasts. The announcement of layoffs came nearly a week after former news director and main anchor, Brenda Baumgartner, announced her resignation. Baumgartner's co-anchor and assistant news director, Todd Blackinton took over as the new news director at the station. The changes at KPVI came less than a month after CBS affiliate KIDK said they would lay off 27 of its 43 employees as they entered a staff-sharing agreement with ABC affiliate KIFI-TV.
KPVI produced KPVI on Fox News at 9, a weeknight 9 p.m. newscast seen on local Fox affiliate KFXP and its sister station, KXTF in Twin Falls. However, the newscast was discontinued on July 1, 2012, when KFXP and KXTF's Fox affiliations ended. The news broadcast for KFXP moved to 5:30 pm effective on Monday, July 2, 2012.

Translators

KPVI's network of 23 translators covers eastern Idaho, a portion of western Wyoming, and also West Yellowstone, Montana.
These translators are either owned and operated by KPVI or by local governments or television associations.