KUVE-DT


KUVE-DT, virtual channel 46, is a Univision owned-and-operated television station serving Tucson, Arizona, United States that is licensed to Green Valley. The station is owned by the Univision Local Media subsidiary of Univision Communications, as part of a duopoly with Douglas-licensed UniMás owned-and-operated station KFTU-DT. The two stations share studios on Forbes Boulevard in Tucson; KUVE's transmitter is located atop Mount Bigelow.
KUVE operates a low-power Class A translator station: KUVE-CD, licensed to Tucson; this station's transmitter is located atop the Tucson Mountains. KUVE-CD serves the northwest parts of the metropolitan area shielded from the primary station by Mount Lemmon. KUVE-DT is also rebroadcast on the second digital subchannel of KFTU-DT, whose transmitter is located on Juniper Flats Road northwest of Bisbee. Likewise, KFTU is rebroadcast on KUVE's second digital subchannel.
Although identifying as a separate station in its own right, KUVE is considered a semi-satellite of KTVW-DT in Phoenix. As such, it simulcasts all Univision programming as provided through its parent, and the two stations share a website. However, KUVE airs separate commercial inserts and legal identifications. There is also a three-hour overnight segment of locally-produced programming on KUVE on Monday mornings, to comply with KUVE-CD's Class A license. Local newscasts, produced by KTVW and branded as Noticias 33, are simulcast on both stations. Although KUVE maintains its own facilities, master control and most internal operations are based at KTVW's studios on 30th Street in southern Phoenix.

History

On October 31, 1988, the Federal Communications Commission granted a permit to Sungilt Corporation to construct a full-service television station on UHF channel 46 to serve Green Valley and surrounding area. The station at first was identified by its application ID, 830311KN, and did not receive call letters until nearly two years later, in September 1990, when it took the call letters KXGR. After twelve years, five expired construction permits and two transmitter location changes, the station applied for its license on December 21, 2000 and signed on as a Pax TV affiliate on January 5, 2001, pursuant to Program Test Authority. However, at the completion of the first day of program testing, the station's transmitter failed, and it was unable to return to the airwaves until June 1, and then, only at low power for a minimum of two hours a day. After ten days, the station was again forced to go dark, and after being threatened with license cancellation, KXGR advised the FCC on November 28, 2001 that they had resumed program testing. The station was finally licensed on June 2, 2003.
In January 2002, shortly after resuming program testing, Sungilt agreed to sell the station to Univision, which had been serving Tucson with KUVE-LP, a low-power translator of Phoenix station KTVW-TV. The sale was approved by the FCC in September 2003 and completed in November. The new owners changed the station's call sign to KUVE-TV, to match the low-power station's calls.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
46.11080iKUVE-DTMain KUVE-DT programming / Univision
46.21080iKFTU-HDSimulcast of KFTU-DT / UniMás
46.3480igetTVGetTV
46.4480iMysteryCourt TV Mystery

Analog-to-digital conversion

KUVE discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 46, on September 18, 2008. The station cited a lack of space at its transmitter site to accommodate both the analog and digital transmitters, an issue that could not be rectified as the transmitter building lies on United States Forest Service land; additionally, winter weather conditions rendered it impossible to perform work after October. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 47 to channel 46.