KUVE-DT

KUVE-DT

Semi-satellite of KTVW-DT, Phoenix, Arizona
Green Valley–Tucson, Arizona United States
City	Green Valley, Arizona
Channels	Digital: 34 (UHF) Virtual: 46
Branding	Univision Arizona UniMás Arizona (on DT2)
Programming
Affiliations	46.1: Univision 46.2: UniMás for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	TelevisaUnivision (Univision Tucson LLC)
Sister stations	KFTU-DT
History
Founded	2000
First air date	January 5, 2001 (2001-01-05)
Former call signs	KXGR (2001–2003)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 46 (UHF, 2001–2008) Digital: 47 (UHF, until 2009), 46 (UHF, 2009–2018)
Former affiliations	Pax TV (2001–2003)
Technical information
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	63927
ERP	185 kW
HAAT	1,124 m (3,688 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	32°24′54″N 110°42′57.9″W
Translator(s)	KUVE-CD 42 (36 UHF) Tucson KFTU-DT 3.2 (36.2 UHF) Douglas
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	UnivisionArizona.com

KUVE-DT (channel 46) is a television station licensed to Green Valley, Arizona, United States, serving as the Tucson market's outlet for the Spanish-language network Univision. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Douglas-licensed UniMás outlet KFTU-DT (channel 3). The two stations share studios on Forbes Boulevard in Tucson; KUVE-DT's transmitter is located atop Mount Bigelow.

KUVE operates a low-power Class A translator station: KUVE-CD (channel 42), licensed to Tucson. This station's transmitter is located atop the Tucson Mountains, serving 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 (channel 33) in Phoenix. It airs separate commercials and legal identifications but otherwise simulcasts all of KTVW's Univision programming and statewide newscasts produced in Phoenix. There is also a three-hour overnight segment of locally produced English-language programming on KUVE on Monday mornings, to comply with KUVE-CD's Class A license.

History

KTVW began broadcasting to the Tucson area on November 1, 1980, when it built a translator on channel 40. K40AC was displaced from the channel by the launch of KPOL-TV in 1985, moving to channel 52. The call letters were changed to KUVE-LP in 1998.

Meanwhile, in 1983, four groups applied for Green Valley's channel 46, with their applications being designated for comparative hearing. Sungilt Corporation got the nod and the construction permit on October 31, 1988, and the permit took the call letters KXGR in 1990. After Paxson Communications Corporation announced plans to operate and acquire KXGR alongside stations in Fayetteville, North Carolina, and Charleston, West Virginia, it was identified as an intended affiliate of Paxnet, but the station failed to materialize; by the time of the network's August 1998 launch, it was tabbed to start in the second quarter of 1999.

After twelve years, five expired construction permits and two transmitter location changes, KXGR applied for its license to cover on December 21, 2000, and signed on as a Pax affiliate on January 5, 2001, under 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.

Sungilt made two attempts to sell the station. Donald E. Ledwig agreed to buy KXGR for $15 million in early 2001, with $1 million of that going to Paxson. The deal never received approval and fell apart after one year. In January 2002, shortly after resuming program testing, Sungilt agreed to sell the station to Univision. 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 call sign.

Former logo, used until December 31, 2012.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KUVE-DT

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
46.1	720p	16:9	KUVE-DT	Univision
46.2			KFTU-HD	UniMás (KFTU-DT)
46.3	480i	4:3	getTV	GetTV
46.4		16:9	Mystery	Ion Mystery
46.5			ShopLC	Shop LC
46.6			Dabl	Dabl
46.7			NVSN	Nuestra Visión (soon)

  Simulcast of subchannels of another station

  Subchannel broadcast with MPEG-4 video

Translator

City of license	Callsign	Channel	ERP	HAAT	Facility ID	Transmitter coordinates	Public license information
Tucson	KUVE-CD	36	15 kW	577.8 m (1,896 ft)	78036	32°14′55.8″N 111°6′59.9″W	Public file LMS

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.