View source for KTVF

{{short description|NBC affiliate in Fairbanks, Alaska}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign               = KTVF
| logo                   = KTVF 2023 (cropped).png
| logo_size              = 200px
| branding               = KTVF Channel 11 ''(general)''<br>''NewsCenter Fairbanks'' ''(newscasts)''
| analog                 =
| digital                = 26 ([[ultra high frequency|UHF]])
| virtual                = 11
| subchannels            = 
| translators            = ''11 ([[very high frequency|VHF]]) Fairbanks''
| affiliations           = '''11.1:''' [[NBC]] (1985–present, secondary until April 1996)<br>'''[[KFXF-LD|11.2]]:''' [[MeTV]]/[[MyNetworkTV]]<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://ktvf.titantv.com/apg/ttv.aspx|title=TitanTV Programming Guide -- What's on TV, Movies, Reality Shows, and Local News|website=ktvf.titantv.com|access-date=Jun 20, 2020}}</ref><br>'''[[KXDF-CD|11.3]]:''' [[CBS]]
| network                = 
| founded                = 
| airdate                = {{start date and age|1955|2|p=y}}<ref>The ''Broadcasting and Cable Yearbook'' says February 17, while the ''Television and Cable Factbook'' says February 3.</ref>
| location               = [[Fairbanks, Alaska]]
| country                = United States
| callsign_meaning       = '''T'''ele'''V'''ision '''F'''airbanks
| former_callsigns       = 
| former_channel_numbers = '''Analog''':<br>11 ([[Very high frequency|VHF]], 1955–2009)
| owner                  = [[Gray Television]]
| licensee               = Gray Television Licensee, [[Limited liability company|LLC]]
| operator               = 
| sister_stations        = [[KFXF-LD]], [[KXDF-CD]], [[KTUU-TV]]
| former_affiliations    = '''Primary:'''<br>CBS (1955–April 1996)<br>'''Secondary:'''<br>[[NTA Film Network|NTA]] (1956–1961)<br>[[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] (1971–1985)<br>[[UPN]] (1995–2000)<br>CBS (April–August 1996)<br>'''DT2:'''<br>[[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] (via KFXF-LD, January–November 2017)
| erp                    = 27 [[kilowatt|kW]]
| haat                   = {{convert|471|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| class                  = [[Digital terrestrial television|DT]]
| facility_id            = 49621
| coordinates            = {{nowrap|{{coord|64|52|43.4|N|148|3|22.7|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}}}
| licensing_authority    = [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]
| website                = {{URL|https://www.webcenterfairbanks.com/}} 
}}

'''KTVF''', [[virtual channel]] 11 ([[ultra high frequency|UHF]] [[Digital terrestrial television|digital]] channel 26), is an [[NBC]]-[[Network affiliate|affiliated]] [[television station]] [[city of license|licensed]] to [[Fairbanks, Alaska]], United States. Owned by [[Atlanta]]-based [[Gray Television]], it is [[sister station|sister]] to two [[low-power broadcasting#Television|low-power]] stations: primary [[MeTV]] and secondary [[MyNetworkTV]] affiliate [[KFXF-LD]] (channel 22) and [[Class A television service|Class A]] [[CBS]] affiliate [[KXDF-CD]] (channel 13). The stations share studios on Braddock Street in downtown Fairbanks, while KTVF's transmitter is located on the Ester Dome.

KTVF is used to provide full-[[Media market|market]] [[Terrestrial television|over-the-air]] [[High-definition television|high definition]] coverage of KFXF-LD (simulcast over KTVF-DT2) and KXDF-CD (simulcast over KTVF-DT3).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=print_station&facility_id=49621|title=KTVF FAIRBANKS, AK|website=www.rabbitears.info|access-date=Jun 20, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=print_station&facility_id=72584|title=KFXF-LD FAIRBANKS, AK|website=www.rabbitears.info|access-date=Jun 20, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=print_station&facility_id=64596|title=KXDF-CD FAIRBANKS, AK|website=www.rabbitears.info|access-date=Jun 20, 2020}}</ref> The station also operates a digital fill-in [[broadcast relay station#Broadcast translators|translator]] on [[very high frequency|VHF]] channel 11 from a transmitter located at its studios.

==History==
The station signed on the air in February 1955 as the first television station serving what at the time was the smallest television market in the United States. The station was a CBS affiliate until April 1, 1996.

While primarily a CBS station, KTVF also served as a secondary affiliate for [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] from 1971 to 1985 (when it aired some of ABC's top-rated shows like ''[[Marcus Welby, M.D.]]'', ''[[Happy Days]]'', ''[[Laverne & Shirley]]'', ''[[Three's Company]]'', and ''[[Eight is Enough]]'' as well as ''[[Wide World of Sports (American TV program)|Wide World of Sports]],'' ''[[Monday Night Football]]'' and the [[Academy Awards]]) and [[NBC]] from 1985 to 1996. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the [[NTA Film Network]].<ref name="Boxoffice7">{{Cite journal|title=Require Prime Evening Time for NTA Films |journal=Boxoffice |pages=13 |date=November 10, 1956 |url=http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090614204506/http://issuu.com/boxoffice/docs/boxoffice_111056-1 |archive-date=June 14, 2009 }}{{reliable|date=October 2014}}</ref> In 1967, months after the Chena River flood temporarily knocked them off the air, KTVF rebuilt their studios in the Northward Building (where they still remained until 1990) and returned to the air, this time broadcasting in [[color television|color]].

In 1996, KTVF switched affiliations, from CBS to NBC. The reason for the network switch was that rival station [[KATN]]—which had the NBC affiliation since signing on a couple weeks after KTVF but had been primarily with ABC since 1984—would be merged with two other ABC stations in [[Anchorage, Alaska|Anchorage]] and [[Juneau, Alaska|Juneau]] to form ABC Alaska's SuperStation, and that NBC was the dominant network by the 1995–96 season while CBS was in third place. KTVF also carried [[UPN]] programming on weekends from 1995 to 2000. [[KFYF|KFXF]] aired a few CBS shows until K13XD (now KXDF-CD) signed on in August.

KTVF was founded by Alaska broadcasting pioneer [[Augie Hiebert]] and his company, Northern Television. It was thus a sister station to [[KTVA-TV]] in [[Anchorage]], which signed on two years earlier. Hiebert retired in 1997, and his family sold the station to the [[Ackerley Group]] in 1999. Ackerley merged with [[iHeartMedia|Clear Channel Communications]] in 2001. Clear Channel sold its entire television division, including KTVF, to [[Newport Television]] in 2007.

In June 2003, [[Media News Group]], owner of the ''[[Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]]'', announced that it would exercise an option to purchase KTVF. The seven-year option, pending removal of the FCC's restrictions on newspaper/broadcast ownership, was granted to Media News in 1999 when Northern Television sold the station to Ackerley. The FCC eliminated this rule on June 3, 2003, but implementation was stayed pending the outcome of litigation. Media News' purchase attempt never materialized; the seven-year option period expired in 2006 without renewal.

KTVF began airing high definition programming from NBC on February 12, 2010, at the start of the [[2010 Winter Olympics|Winter Olympics]] in [[Vancouver]]; full HD broadcasting (both NBC and syndicated) would follow on May 31, 2012.

On September 29, 2010, the FCC granted KTVF a construction permit for a fill-in translator on their former analog allotment channel 11.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/prod/app_list.pl?Facility_id=49621 |title = Application Search Results}}</ref> The translator will serve sections of the Fairbanks area.

Newport announced the sale of KTVF to Chena Broadcasting, a local company owned by Michael Young, on October 13, 2011.<ref name=b&c-saletochena>{{cite news|last=Eggerton|first=John|title=Newport Agrees to Sell KTVF to Chena Broadcasting|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/475197-Newport_Agrees_to_Sell_KTVF_to_Chena_Broadcasting.php|access-date=October 14, 2011|newspaper=[[Broadcasting & Cable]]|date=October 13, 2011}}</ref>  Young had previously owned a partial stake in Tanana Valley Television, owner of KFXF and K13XD;<ref name=fdnm-saletochena>{{cite news|last=Chomicz|first=Dorothy|title=Fairbanks businessman Mike Young awaits approval of KTVF purchase|url=http://newsminer.com/bookmark/16059112-Fairbanks-businessman-Mike-Young-awaits-approval-of-KTVF-purchase|access-date=October 19, 2011|newspaper=[[Fairbanks Daily News-Miner]]|date=October 15, 2011}}</ref> that company took over KTVF's operations under a shared services agreement upon the deal's completion.<ref name=tvbr-ktvftvtv>{{cite news|title=More than meets the eye to Fairbanks TV deal|url=http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv_deals/more-than-meets-the-eye-to-fairbanks-tv-deal.html|access-date=October 20, 2011|newspaper=Television Business Report|date=October 19, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020024451/http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/tv_deals/more-than-meets-the-eye-to-fairbanks-tv-deal.html|archive-date=October 20, 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> The sale of KTVF to Chena Broadcasting was consummated on March 7, 2012—resulting in all of Fairbanks' commercial stations being operated by just two companies.

On November 8, 2016, Northern Lights Media, the subsidiary of [[Gray Television]] that operates Anchorage stations [[KTUU-TV]] and [[KAUU|KYES-TV]], announced that it would buy KTVF, KFXF-LD and KXDF-CD (then known as KXDD-CD) for $8 million in cash, pending FCC approval.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ktuu.com/content/misc/Northern-Lights-Media-announces-acquisition-of-Fairbanks-television-stations-400417171.html|title=Northern Lights Media announces acquisition of Fairbanks television stations|website=www.ktuu.com|access-date=Jun 20, 2020}}</ref> The sale was completed on January 13, 2017.<ref>[http://gray.tv/uploads/documents/pressreleases/Press_Release_WBAY_KWQC_KTVF.pdf Gray Closes Green Bay, Davenport and Fairbanks Acquisitions] [[Gray Television]], 17 January 2017, Retrieved, 22 January 2017.</ref><ref>[http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/prefill_and_display.pl?Application_id=1749214&Service=DT&Form_id=905&Facility_id=49621 Consummation Notice], [[Federal Communications Commission]], 19 January 2017, Retrieved 22 January 2017.</ref>

With KTVA converting to a [[Rewind TV]] affiliate in 2021, KTVF became the oldest continuously operating station in Alaska.

==Technical information==

===Subchannels===
The station's digital signal is [[Multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! [[Display resolution|Video]]
! [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! Short name
! Programming<ref>{{cite web|url=http://rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=KTVF#station|title=Digital TV Market Listing for KTVF|publisher=[[RabbitEars|RabbitEars.info]]}}</ref>
|-
| 11.1 || [[1080i]] || rowspan=3| [[16:9]] || KTVF-DT || Main KTVF programming / [[NBC]]
|-
| [[KFXF-LD|11.2]] || [[720p]] || KFXF-LD || Simulcast of [[KFXF-LD]] 
|-
| [[KXDF-CD|11.3]] || 1080i || KXDF-CD || Simulcast of [[KXDF-CD]]
|-
|}

===Analog-to-digital conversion===
KTVF shut down its analog signal, over [[Very high frequency|VHF]] channel 11, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States [[Digital television transition 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 26.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designation for the First and the Second Rounds |access-date=2012-03-24 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |archive-date=2013-08-29 }}</ref> Through the use of [[Program and System Information Protocol|PSIP]], digital television receivers display the station's [[virtual channel]] as its former VHF analog channel 11.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.webcenterfairbanks.com/ webcenterfairbanks.com]

{{Fairbanks TV}}
{{NBC Alaska}}
{{Gray TV}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ktvf}}
[[Category:1955 establishments in Alaska]]
[[Category:NBC affiliates]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1955]]
[[Category:Television stations in Fairbanks, Alaska|TVF]]
[[Category:Gray Television]]