KPIF


KPIF is a television station licensed to Pocatello, Idaho, United States, serving the Idaho Falls–Pocatello media market as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Grit. It is owned by Ventura Broadcasting alongside Ion Television affiliate KVUI. The two stations share studios on West Alameda Road in Pocatello; KPIF's transmitter is located on Howard Mountain.
WWW Official Site

History

The original construction permit for KPIF was granted on March 2, 2001, to Pocatello Channel 15, L.L.C., a partnership between KM Communications, Inc. of Skokie, Illinois, Kaleidoscope Foundation, Inc. of Little Rock, Arkansas, and Potelco Broadcasting of Greensboro, North Carolina. The three companies had been competing applicants for a channel 15 television station in Pocatello, and agreed in 2000 to form a partnership in order to expedite construction of the station. In 2003, due to irreconcilable differences that caused delays in development of the permit, Myoung Hwa Bae of KM Communications extended an offer to buy out the other two members. KM Communications completed construction of the station and signed on in March 2004 under Program Test Authority from the Federal Communications Commission. The station applied for a license to cover the construction permit on March 1, 2004, and was granted the license on October 11, 2006.
Initially, KPIF was affiliated with America One, but the station picked up a WB affiliation in July 2004. It became an affiliate of The CW on September 18, 2006. At one point, KBEO from Jackson, Wyoming became a satellite of KPIF.
After The CW moved to a digital subchannel of ABC affiliate KIFI-TV on September 7, 2009, the station switched to RTV.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:
ChannelRes.AspectShort nameProgramming
15.1720p16:9GritGrit
15.2480i16:9IONPlusIon Plus
15.3480i16:9LaffLaff
15.4480i16:9MeTVMeTV
15.5480i4:3MeTOONSMeTV Toons
15.6480i16:9CourtTVCourt TV
15.7480i16:9StoryStory Television
15.8480i16:9QVCQVC
15.9480i4:3AntennaAntenna TV
15.10480i16:9DaystarDaystar
15.11480i16:9DSTRESPDaystar Español
15.12480i16:9NewsMx2Newsmax2

As of November 2021, Grit moved from 15.2 to the main subchannel. A few other subchannels changed their affiliations too, including 15.2, 15.3, 15.4, and 15.7.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KPIF shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 15, on June 12, 2009, and "flash-cut" its digital signal into operation on UHF channel 15, as they were granted original construction permits after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997.
While KPIF did broadcast a digital signal after the analog shutdown, it did not apply for a license to cover or an extension of the digital construction permit until 2014. KPIF was granted a broadcast license for its digital signal on February 6, 2016.