KSTU

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Not to be confused with KXTU-LD.
KSTU
KSTU Fox 13 logo.jpg
Salt Lake City, Utah
United States
ChannelsDigital: 28 (UHF)
Virtual: 13
BrandingFox 13 (general)
Fox 13 News (newscasts)
Programming
Affiliations
  • 13.1: Fox
  • 13.2: Antenna TV
  • 13.3: Court TV (O&O)
  • 13.4: Court TV Mystery (O&O)
  • 13.5: QVC
Ownership
OwnerE. W. Scripps Company
(Scripps Broadcasting Holdings LLC)
KUPX-TV
History
First air date
October 24, 1978 (42 years ago) (1978-10-24)
(original license)
November 9, 1987 (33 years ago) (1987-11-09)
(current license)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 20 (UHF, 1978–1987)
  • 13 (VHF, 1987–2009)
Former affiliations
  • Independent (1978–1986)
  • FNN (secondary; 1981–1985)
  • DT3:
  • Justice Network (2015–2018)
  • Stadium (2018–2021)
  • DT4:
  • Charge! (2018–2021)
Call sign meaning
Springfield Television of Utah
(original owners)
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID22215
ERP350 kW
HAAT1,210 m (3,970 ft)
Transmitter coordinates40°39′32.8″N 112°12′10.8″W / 40.659111°N 112.203000°W / 40.659111; -112.203000Coordinates: 40°39′32.8″N 112°12′10.8″W / 40.659111°N 112.203000°W / 40.659111; -112.203000
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitefox13now.com

KSTU, virtual channel 13 (UHF digital channel 28), is a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The station is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, as part of a duopoly with Provo-licensed Ion owned-and-operated station KUPX-TV (channel 16). KSTU's studios are located on West Amelia Earhart Drive in the northwestern section of Salt Lake City, and its transmitter is located on Farnsworth Peak in the Oquirrh Mountains, southwest of Salt Lake City. The station has a large network of broadcast translators that extend its over-the-air coverage throughout Utah, as well as portions of Nevada.

History[]

As an independent station[]

The station first signed on the air on October 24, 1978 under the ownership of Massachusetts-based Springfield Television, which also owned NBC affiliate WWLP in Springfield, Massachusetts, and ABC affiliate WKEF in Dayton, Ohio. It was the first independent station in Utah, as well as the first new commercial station to sign on in Salt Lake City since KUTV (channel 2) hit the airwaves 24 years earlier.

Salt Lake City had a fairly long wait for an independent station compared to other cities of its size. It had enough of a population base to support one since the early 1960s. However, the Salt Lake City market is one of the largest in a geographic area and most mountainous markets in the country, covering all of Utah and large slices of Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming. The market's three commercial stations, as well as PBS members KUED and KBYU-TV, all needed massive networks of low-power translators to cover it.

Additionally, at the time the only available allocations were on the UHF band, and UHF stations did not cover mountainous territory very well. The expense associated with building a translator network, combined with the limitations of UHF, scared off most prospective investors. By the mid-1970s, however, cable television, a must for acceptable television in much of Utah, even in today's digital era, had gotten enough penetration in the market to lessen the need for translators and make an independent station viable.

The station originally broadcast on UHF channel 20 on a transmitter originally used for WWLP's partial satellite, WRLP-TV in Greenfield, Massachusetts, which closed down shortly before KSTU's sign-on. KSTU's programming at the time was typical for an independent station: cartoons, off-network sitcoms, classic movies, and drama series. Springfield Television merged with Adams Communications in 1984. On October 9, 1986, the station became a charter affiliate of Fox. However, like most Fox affiliates early in the network's history, it was still essentially programmed as an independent. Fox initially ran only late-night programming at its launch and when it added primetime programming in April 1987, it only aired such programs on Saturdays and Sundays. It would not air a full week's worth of programming until 1993.

A new license[]

In 1980, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) added a new VHF allocation on channel 13 to the Salt Lake City market. Five groups submitted applications for a permit to build a television station on that allocation in May 1981. In 1984, the FCC held hearings with the competing applicants. And in 1985, it announced the winning applicant. The second-place applicant, locally owned Mountain West Television Company, or MWT Company, appealed the FCC decision but lost the appeal. When that failed, MWT Company proposed a buyout of the other four competing interests, including the winning applicants. The strategy succeeded and was carried out in November 1986. At the same time, Mountain West entered into a limited partnership agreement with Northstar Communications, which was partly owned by Allstate Insurance, and a new company, called MWT, Ltd., was formed. On January 20, 1987, the FCC awarded the original construction permit for a new station on channel 13 to MWT, Ltd., under the call sign KTMW. However, buying equipment for the new station proved difficult.

Meanwhile, Adams Communications was undergoing serious financial difficulties and decided to sell off its stations. There were few takers for channel 20, however. Under the circumstances, it was very receptive to an offer from MWT to buy KSTU's assets for $30 million. Adams was able to make a considerable profit on the deal, while MWT was able to get the equipment it needed at a substantial discount. The two parties reached a sales agreement in July. The sale was approved by the FCC in September and the transaction was finalized on October 23, 1987.

On November 9, 1987, MWT moved the channel 20 intellectual unit (call letters, staff, programming and Fox affiliation) to channel 13. It also returned the channel 20 license to the FCC on the same day. As a result, the FCC reckons the current KSTU as a separate station from the old channel 20. MWT went on the air with the new KSTU on channel 13 under Program Test Authority. It requested a license to cover the CP on November 16, which was duly granted on March 7, 1988.

The purchase of KSTU, however, put a financial strain on MWT, namely on the old Mountain West partners. In May 1988, Mountain West sold its interest in KSTU to Northstar. The station rebranded as Fox 13 by 1989.

Fox takes over[]

Northstar sold KSTU to Fox Television Stations the next year, making it a Fox owned-and-operated station, and the first network-owned station in Utah. Unlike its rival stations, which have changed networks over the years, KSTU was the only VHF commercial station in Salt Lake City that has remained affiliated with the same network since that network's inception. Only KTVX (channel 4), originally an NBC affiliate, has been affiliated with ABC longer than KSTU has been a Fox affiliate.

Incidentally, when Fox Television Stations acquired the television station group owned by KTVX's then-parent Chris-Craft Industries on August 12, 2000[1] KTVX was one of two stations that the company traded to Clear Channel Communications (as part of a swap with WFTC in Minneapolis–Saint Paul). It was forced to sell KTVX due to FCC regulations prohibiting one company from owning two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market, as well as the fact that the station was in the middle of a long-term affiliation contract with ABC.

The station replaced most of the classic sitcoms on its weekday lineup with talk shows in the mid-1990s. The station added additional syndicated programming in 2002, once Fox dropped the Fox Kids weekday children's block nationally. In 2006, KSTU migrated its website to Fox Interactive Media's MyFox web platform. It also introduced a new logo, in a style in line with the other Fox O&O stations. However, the Times New Roman "13," which the station has used since 1997, was retained (unlike WHBQ-TV in Memphis, which switched to a "13" resembling that used by its Tampa sister station WTVT). KSTU was one of two network-owned stations in the Salt Lake City market from 1995 to 2007, when CBS sold KUTV (channel 2) to Four Points Media Group, a subsidiary of the private-equity group Cerberus Capital Management.

Local TV and Tribune ownership[]

2008–2016 logo

On June 13, 2007, Fox sold KSTU and seven other owned-and-operated stations[2] to Local TV (a subsidiary of another private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners), which had acquired the former broadcasting division of The New York Times Company the previous year. The sale was finalized on July 14, 2008. On July 1, 2013, the Tribune Company acquired Local TV for $2.75 billion;[3] the sale was completed on December 27.[4][5]

Sinclair and Fox purchase attempt; sale to Scripps[]

Further information: Attempted acquisition of Tribune Media by Sinclair Broadcast Group

Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into an agreement to acquire Tribune Media on May 8, 2017 for $3.9 billion, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in Tribune-held debt.[6][7] As Sinclair already owned KUTV, KJZZ-TV and KMYU in the market, the company offered to sell KSTU back to Fox Television Stations as part of a $910 million deal;[8] Howard Stirk Holdings concurrently agreed to purchase KMYU.[9] The merger was terminated on August 9, 2018 by Tribune Media, nullifying both transactions;[10] this followed a public rejection of the deal by FCC chairman Ajit Pai and vote by the commission to place the deal in review.[11][12]

Following the collaspe of the Sinclair merger, Nexstar Media Group announced their intentions to purchase Tribune Media on December 3, 2018 for $6.4 billion in cash and debt.[13] Due to Nexstar owning KTVX and KUCW,[14] the E. W. Scripps Company agreed to purchase KSTU as part $1.32 billion in overall divestments by Nexstar in order to meet regulatory approval.[15] The sale was completed on September 19, 2019.[16]

Digital television[]

Digital channels[]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[17]
13.1 720p 16:9 KSTU-HD Main KSTU programming / Fox
13.2 480i ANTTV Antenna TV
13.3 COURTTV Court TV
13.4 MYSTERY Court TV Mystery
13.5 QVC Simulcast of KUPX-DT / QVC

KSTU became a charter affiliate of Tribune Broadcasting's Antenna TV upon its launch on January 1, 2011, it is carried on digital subchannel 13.2.[18]

On December 29, 2017, KSTU added Charge! on digital subchannel 13.4.

On January 12, 2018, KSTU replaced Justice Network with Stadium on digital subchannel 13.3.

On February 1, 2021, KSTU replaced Stadium with Court TV on digital subchannel 13.3 and replaced Charge! with Court TV Mystery on digital subchannel 13.4.

On March 1, 2021, KSTU added a simulcast of KUPX 16.5 / QVC on digital subchannel 13.5.

Analog-to-digital conversion[]

KSTU shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 13, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[19] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 28,[20] using PSIP to display KSTU's virtual channel as 13 on digital television receivers.

News operation[]

Fox 13 van covering General Conference

KSTU presently broadcasts 61½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 10½ hours each weekday and 4½ hours each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output among Utah's television stations. KSTU's Saturday and Sunday 5 p.m. newscasts are subject to preemption due to network sports coverage, as is standard with Fox stations that carry early evening weekend newscasts.

The station launched its news department on December 31, 1991, with the debut of a half-hour 9 p.m. newscast; KSTU added a three-hour weekday morning newscast, titled Good Day Utah, in 1996, replacing morning cartoons. In 2005, the station launched a midday newscast at 11 a.m. In August 2008, KSTU entered into a strategic alliance with news/talk radio station KNRS-FM (105.7 FM), in which KSTU meteorologists provide weather reports to KNRS, while KSTU reporters are often heard during KNRS newscasts and talk shows. In September 2008, KSTU debuted an hour-long early evening newscast at 5:00 p.m.

On August 17, 2009, the station expanded its midday newscast to 90 minutes by adding a half-hour newscast at noon, following its existing hour-long 11:00 a.m. newscast.[21] On January 23, 2010, KSTU debuted a 90-minute weekend morning newscast from 7:30 to 9:00 a.m.[22] In January 2013, KSTU expanded its weekend morning newscast by one hour to 6:30 a.m. On April 23, 2012, KSTU became the fourth (and last) major network station in Utah to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition.[23] In September 2013, KSTU debuted an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast, which competes with hour-long newscasts on KUTV and KTVX.

Notable former on-air staff[]

  • Nick Clooney – anchor (also father of actor George Clooney)
  • Brad Giffen – anchor (later at CFTO-DT and CTV News Channel in Toronto; now a full-time voice-over artist)
  • Megan Henderson – anchor (now at KTLA in Los Angeles)
  • Shauna Parsons – anchor (now at KPTV in Portland)

Translators[]

KSTU extends its coverage throughout the entire state of Utah (with a rebroadcaster KKRP-LD channel 21 – formerly KSTG — in Saint George, Utah), plus parts of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming, using a network of station- and community-owned translator television stations listed below.

References[]

  1. ^ Hofmeister, Sallie (August 12, 2000). "News Corp. to Buy Chris-Craft Parent for $5.5 Billion, Outbidding Viacom". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 23 March 2011.
  2. ^ News Corporation
  3. ^ Channick, Robert (July 1, 2013). "Acquisition to make Tribune Co. largest U.S. TV station operator". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved July 1, 2013.
  4. ^ Company Completes Final Steps of Transaction Announced in July Archived 2013-12-28 at the Wayback Machine, Tribune Company, December 27, 2013.
  5. ^ Tribune Closes Local TV Holdings Purchase, TVNewsCheck, December 27, 2013.
  6. ^ Stephen Battaglio (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast Group to buy Tribune Media for $3.9 billion plus debt". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  7. ^ Liana Baker; Jessica Toonkel (May 7, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast nears deal for Tribune Media". Reuters. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  8. ^ Hayes, Dade (May 9, 2018). "21st Century Fox Buys Seven Local TV Stations From Sinclair For $910 Million". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  9. ^ Jessell, Harry A. (April 24, 2018). "Sinclair Spins Off 23 TVs To Grease Trib Deal". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved April 24, 2018.
  10. ^ Mark K. Miller (August 9, 2018). "Tribune Kills Sinclair Merger, Files Suit". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media.
  11. ^ Benjamin Hart (July 16, 2018). "FCC Throws Wrench Into Sinclair Media Megadeal". New York. New York Media, LLC. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  12. ^ Harper Neidig (July 16, 2018). "FCC chair rejects Sinclair-Tribune merger". The Hill. Capitol Hill Publishing Corp. Retrieved August 9, 2018.
  13. ^ Jon Lafayette (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar Announces Deal to Buy Tribune for $6.4B". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media.
  14. ^ Scott D. Pierce (December 3, 2018). "Scott D. Pierce: KTVX's owner is buying FOX 13's owner — but one of those stations will have to be resold". Salt Lake Tribune. Huntsman Family Investments, LLC. Retrieved December 4, 2018.
  15. ^ Nabila Ahmed; Anousha Sakoui (March 20, 2019). "Nexstar to Sell Stations to Tegna, Scripps for $1.32 Billion". Bloomberg News. Bloomberg, L.P.
  16. ^ https://www.ftvlive.com/sqsp-test/2019/9/19/nexstar-takes-control-of-tribune
  17. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for KSTU
  18. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-11-27. Retrieved 2016-03-04.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  19. ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations Archived 2013-08-29 at the Wayback Machine
  20. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-07-29. Retrieved 2009-02-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  21. ^ http://www.sltrib.com/slc/ci_12901482
  22. ^ http://www.fox13now.com/news/kstu-good-day-utah-weekend-edition-launches-this,0,1813680.story
  23. ^ http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/lifestyle/53955739-80/news-fox-station-studio.html.csp

External links[]

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