KTMF


KTMF, virtual and UHF digital channel 23, is a dual ABC/Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Missoula, Montana, United States. The station is owned by the Cowles Company. KTMF's studios are located on Stephens Avenue in Missoula, and its transmitter is located on TV Mountain north of the city.
The station's signal is rebroadcast on KTMF-LD in Kalispell and on several other low-power translator stations in the Flathead Lake area of northwestern Montana.

History

On April 12, 1989, the Federal Communications Commission granted an original construction permit to Continental Television Network for a full-service station on channel 23 to serve Missoula. The station, at first known by its application identification number, , soon took the call letters KLFV, but before the station went on air, had changed calls again, this time to KTMF. The station went on the air on November 16, 1990. This made Missoula one of the last cities in the nation to get full service from all three major networks. Previously, ABC had been relegated to limited clearances on KECI-TV and KPAX-TV, or via cable from KXLY-TV in Spokane.
In February 2001, CTN sold KTMF, along with the then-KTMF-LP in Kalispell, KWYB in Butte, KWYB-LP in Bozeman and KTGF in Great Falls, to Max Media of Montana. They were the first television station acquisitions in Montana for Max Media.
On September 30, 2013, the Cowles Company acquired Max Media's Montana television station cluster for $18 million. The sale was completed on November 29.

KTMF-LD history

On January 6, 1992, the FCC granted an original construction permit to CTN for a low-power station on channel 59 to serve Kalispell. The station was given callsign K59EQ and after an expired construction permit and a couple of extensions of the new permit, K59EQ was licensed on July 11, 1995. The station changed its calls to KTMF-LP later in the same year.
In February 2001, CTN sold the station to Max Media of Montana as part of the same transaction as KTMF. KTMF-LP was granted a permit to move to channel 42 in October 2003 and as of August 2006, the station had completed the move, but had not applied for a license to operate on the new channel.
On May 27, 2010, KTMF-LP was granted a construction permit to flash-cut from analog to digital on channel 42. On January 4, 2013, the station changed its call sign to KTMF-LD. KTMF-LD was included in Cowles' 2013 purchase of Max Media's Montana stations. The station was licensed to move its digital broadcast to channel 36 effective December 26, 2018.

Digital television

Digital channels

KTMF and KTMF-LD's digital signals are multiplexed:
On September 26, 2001, the FCC granted a construction permit to build KTMF-DT on UHF channel 36. The station received Special Temporary Authority on April 22, 2001 to broadcast at reduced power. KTMF elected to remain on channel 23 following the completion of the digital television transition.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KTMF shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 23, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 36 to channel 23 for post-transition operations.

KTMF-DT2/KTMF-LD2 (Fox Montana)

On July 13, 2009, KTMF's second subchannel was launched to carry Fox, after Equity's KMMF and Kalispell repeater KMMF-LP were taken silent on the June 12, 2009 digital switchover date due to Equity's bankruptcy and KMMF having no digital facilities to transition to. Fox's secondary network MyNetworkTV is seen in a delayed manner on the subchannel from 11:05 p.m. to 1:05 a.m., and is carried unpromoted in any way outside of network promotions.

News operation

Under Continental Television Network, KTMF did not air local newscasts, but soon after Max Media acquired the stations, they began to make plans for a regional newscast for the stations, to debut in early 2002. They launched the newscast, produced by Independent News Network of Davenport, Iowa and branded Big Sky News, in October 2002, but the newscast generated controversy, in part because it tried to simultaneously serve the needs of five communities over apart, and in part because the newscast did not actually originate in Montana, but rather, in a city approximately away, with only one reporter actually assigned to and located in Missoula. Max Media launched another attempt at a regional newscast for KTMF and its other stations in February 2005, this time branded Montana News Network but this time it was produced out of KFBB-TV in Great Falls.
KTMF started its own news operation in August 2012 in preparation for the launch of a 9 p.m. newscast on its Fox subchannel a month later.

Translators

KTMF can be seen in other parts of western Montana on the following translator stations: