KATH-LD

KATH-LD (channel 2) is a low-power television station licensed to both Juneau and Douglas, Alaska, United States, affiliated with NBC. The station is owned by Gray Media and maintains a transmitter in downtown Juneau.

KSCT-LD (channel 5) in Sitka is a translator of KATH-LD, broadcasting from a transmitter in downtown Sitka. Programming is identical to KATH-LD with both stations being fed from the studios of sister station KTUU-TV (channel 2) in Anchorage. KSCT-LD additionally carries CBS and MyNetworkTV programming on subchannels.

On cable, KATH-LD is carried on GCI in Juneau on channel 15, on Dish Network throughout Southeast Alaska on channels 5 and 9380, and DirecTV throughout Southeast Alaska on channel 4. KATH-LD's high definition feed is also available on GCI's basic service on digital channel 652 in Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan, Petersburg and Wrangell. KATH-LD's standard-definition signal is also on GCI cable in Petersburg, Wrangell and Angoon. Daily Alaska news is provided through a partnership with KTUU-TV.

History

KSCT-LP was the first of the two stations to go on the air, signing on May 1, 1995, as a Fox affiliate owned by Dan Etulain, who previously owned KTNL (channel 13) from 1983 to 1992.[1] KSCT-LP had operated as a cable-only station since December 9, 1994;[2] during that period, Fox's primetime programming was seen in the afternoon, though it was moved into primetime concurrently with channel 5's sign on.[1] KSCT-LP affiliated with Fox because, at the time, it was the only one of the Big Four television networks that was willing to affiliate with low-power television stations.[1] Initially, most of KSCT-LP's non-Fox programming was supplied by National Empowerment Television, though it also broadcast some local programming;[1][2] after NET moved to a satellite that the station could not receive, its programming was replaced with Channel America, Outdoor Channel, and American Independent Network on December 1, 1995.[3] By this time, KSCT-LP had added a secondary affiliation with The WB.[3] The station was originally assigned the call letters K05KH; it officially became KSCT-LP on November 20, 1995,[4] though it had promoted itself as "KSCT" since its launch.[1]

In June 1998, Etulain announced that he would launch KATH-LP as Juneau's NBC affiliate that July; KSCT-LP had switched to NBC by this time as well.[5] Delays in receiving equipment required to place the station on GCI's lineup postponed the launch of the station to August 17, 1998.[6] NBC programming was previously only available in Juneau via cable carriage of Seattle's KING-TV; however, KING was not carried on the basic cable tier, unlike KATH-LP.[5] KATH-LP supplemented NBC programming with blocks of local programming, which generally consisted of pre-recorded coverage of community events and high school sports; at its launch, the station did not air any local newscasts.[5][6] Juneau's existing stations, ABC affiliate KJUD (channel 8) and PBS station KTOO-TV (channel 3), were at the time part of the statewide Alaska's SuperStation and AlaskaOne networks respectively, with limited local programming.[5] Shortly after KATH-LP's launch, Etulain purchased[7] K05JR,[8] which had been licensed in 1994;[9] the sale was completed on May 26, 1999.[7] K05JR and KSCT-LP continued their secondary WB affiliations until early 1999; at that time, K05JR added a secondary UPN affiliation.[10] K05JR's call sign was changed to KATH-LP on November 15, 2001;[8] it had been calling itself "KATH" on the air since its sale to Etulain. By early 2003, KATH-LP was simulcasting local newscasts from KTUU-TV in Anchorage.[11] KATH-LD ended analog over-the-air broadcasts in November 2011.

On November 9, 2012, GCI, through subsidiary Denali Media Holdings, announced plans to purchase KATH-LD and KSCT-LP from Dan Etulain's North Star Television Network, along with KTVA in Anchorage from MediaNews Group. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the deal on October 29, 2013.[12] KATH-LD's news partnership with KTUU-TV was suspended on December 7, 2013, as a result of a larger dispute between GCI and KTUU,[13] but a deal to resume it was reached on February 6, 2014.[14]

KSCT-LP began broadcasting a digital over-the-air TV signal in January 2018.

Denali Media Holdings announced the sale of KATH-LD and KSCT-LP to Gray Television on May 28, 2020.[15] The sale made KATH-LD and KSCT-LP sister stations to KTUU-TV and KYES-TV in Anchorage and KTVF in Fairbanks, and gave Gray a monopoly on NBC programming throughout Alaska. The sale was completed on July 31.[16]

Subchannels

External links