KFSF-DT
kW | |
HAAT | 498 m (1,634 ft) |
---|---|
Transmitter coordinates | 37°45′19″N 122°27′10″W / 37.75528°N 122.45278°W |
Translator(s) | KDTV-CD 28.2 Santa Rosa |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | UniMás |
KFSF-DT (channel 66) is a
History
The station first signed on the air on November 25, 1986, as KPST-TV. Founded by
However, from the start, other companies competed for the Channel 66 license, even after Pan Pacific Television was awarded it by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The most fervent competitor was Silver King Broadcasting, the broadcasting arm of HSN, which vied for the license for ten years after the station's sign-on. Shortly before KPST made its formal debut, Silver King announced that it would acquire the license. The deal was stalled for years until alleged improprieties by Pan Pacific cracked open the door for Silver King to try and take over the license. In 1989, the FCC opened an investigation into Pan Pacific Television over allegations that it intentionally declined to disclose its ownership by Chinese investors on its application, in violation of agency rules restricting foreign companies from maintaining an ownership interest in an American broadcast television or radio property higher than 25%.[4]
With the likelihood that the company would have to undergo a hearing by the FCC Commissioner's Board regarding the issue, Pan Pacific also realized that the station was ripe for a possible takeover by other prospective licensees, citing a federal law that permitted minority-owned firms to be able to purchase local broadcast media properties that were under FCC investigation at a discount bid. The company chose to sell the KPST license to Channel 66 of Vallejo, a company founded by veteran media executive
However, shortly after the transaction occurred, the
Silver King/USA Broadcasting ownership
The dispute over the license was eventually resolved in late 1995, when the Whitehead-Diller partnership reached an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum, in which West Coast Broadcasting agreed to rescind its application and allow Whitehead and Diller to purchase the station. In addition, Diller's company, Silver King Communications, agreed to the reimburse the legal fees incurred by the three petitioners (with Wong and Pen receiving up to $268,000, West Coast Broadcasting receiving up to $17,000 and Liu receiving up to $28,960), in exchange for each of the parties dropping their legal challenges.[4]
On February 15, 1996, the Whitehead-Diller partnership was given permission by the FCC to acquire KPST-TV for $9 million (below the station's appraisal value of $12 million).[5] Silver King's involvement in the deal gave the company an additional television station property as Diller had earlier announced on November 27, 1995, that he would acquire the Home Shopping Network and Silver King Broadcasting, which owned HSN-affiliated stations in several other larger media markets.[6][7][8][9] Two years later in 1997, Silver King purchased the USA Network and renamed its broadcast television subsidiary as USA Broadcasting, as part of a corporate rebranding borrowing from the identity of its new cable channel property.
In June 1998, USA Broadcasting launched a customized independent station format, "CityVision", which infused syndicated programming—including a few produced by sister production unit
Sale to Univision
In the summer of 2000, USA Networks announced that it would sell its television station group, in order to focus on its cable network and television production properties. Among the prospective buyers for the USA Broadcasting unit was The Walt Disney Company—which had acquired ABC in 1996—which was the original frontrunner to purchase the thirteen-station group (had Disney been successful in acquiring the station, such a deal would have made KPST a sister station to KGO-TV (channel 7), one of ABC's five original owned-and-operated stations). However, Spanish-language broadcaster Univision Communications beat out Disney and the competing bidders in a close race, securing a deal to purchase the USA Broadcasting stations for $1.1 billion on December 7, 2000.[11][12] But because of the station's joint ownership structure, Whitehead and USA Networks had to sell their respective stakes in KPST to Univision; USA sold its 49% minority interest in the station for $37 million, while Whitehead sold his 51% share for $42 million. The sale to Univision faced opposition from a coalition of Bay Area residents of Chinese origin and San Francisco city supervisor Leland Yee, who each filed a complaint to the FCC over the sale.[13] The FCC chose to approve the Univision acquisition,[14] effectively allowing KPST to form a duopoly with Univision owned-and-operated station KDTV (channel 14).
The week prior to the sale's completion, on May 15, 2001, Univision Communications announced during its
Channel 66 officially converted into a Spanish-language station on January 14, 2002, when it became an owned-and-operated station of TeleFutura, which initially launched on that date on 18 Univision-owned stations (including eleven of its large-market sister stations under USA Broadcasting ownership); the station accordingly changed its call letters to KFSF (for "Telefutura San Francisco") on that date.[17][18][19][20]
On December 3, 2012, Univision Communications announced that it would relaunch TeleFutura as UniMás—which loosely translates to "Univision Plus", to underline its ties to its parent network Univision—refocusing its programming to appeal towards Latino males between the ages of 12 and 35 years old. The rebranding took place on January 7, 2013.[21][22][23][24]
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
66.1 | 720p | 16:9 |
KFSF-HD | UniMás |
66.2 | KDTV-HD | Univision (KDTV-DT) | ||
66.3 | 480i | Bounce | Bounce TV | |
66.4 | Grit | Grit | ||
66.5 | TrueCri | True Crime Network | ||
66.6 | NVSN | Nuestra Visión (soon) |
Analog-to-digital conversion
KFSF shut down its analog signal, over
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KFSF-DT". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ Univision moves Bay Area studio to San Jose Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved on August 19, 2017.
- ^ Univision 14 will move SF headquarters to San Jose Media Moves. Retrieved on August 19, 2017
- ^ a b c d Angwin, Julia (February 15, 1996). "Diller OKd to Buy Bay Area Station / TV mogul comes to Vallejo". San Francisco Chronicle. Chronicle Publishing Company. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
- ^ Angwin, Julia (February 16, 1996). "TV Mogul Gets Deal On Area Station". San Francisco Chronicle. Chronicle Publishing Company. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
- Daily News. November 28, 1995.
- ^ Jones, Tim (November 28, 1995). "A Pair Of Deals Put Spotlight On Diller". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
- Cahners Business Information. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
- ^ "Diller Is Cleared to Take Control of Silver King". The New York Times. Associated Press. March 12, 1996. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
- ^ Littleton, Cynthia (January 17, 1999). "USA looking at L.A., Chi, others for expansion". Variety. Cahners Business Information. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ Kopytoff, Verne (December 8, 2000). "Univision to Buy More TV Stations / Spanish-language group expands to key markets". San Francisco Chronicle. Chronicle Publishing Company. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
- ^ Jones, Tim (December 8, 2000). "Univision Buys 13 TV Stations For $1.1 Billion". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ "BAY AREA BRIDGES / A ROUNDUP FROM ETHNIC AND COMMUNITY MEDIA". San Francisco Chronicle. Chronicle Publishing Company. November 18, 2001. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
- ^ "Univision gets FCC OK for USA stations buy". Broadcasting & Cable. Cahners Business Information. May 21, 2001. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ Calvo, Dana (May 15, 2001). "New Network in Works for Univision". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
- ^ James, Meg (July 31, 2001). "BRIEF / Entertainment: Univision to Call New Network Telefutura". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
- ^ Goodman, Tim (January 11, 2002). "The WB experiments with some funny stuff / Jamie Kennedy does silly sketches". San Francisco Chronicle. Chronicle Publishing Company. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
- ^ James, Meg (January 14, 2002). "Univision Aims 3rd Network at Bilinguals". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 11, 2015.
- ^ Stamler, Bernard (January 16, 2002). "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: ADVERTISING; Univision bets on a new Spanish-language network, TeleFutura". The New York Times. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
- ^ Johnson, Allan (January 18, 2002). "'Chair' and 'Chamber' fight to be the hot seat". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
- ^ Guthrie, Marisa (December 3, 2012). "Univision Rebrands Telefutura as UniMás". The Hollywood Reporter. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
- ^ "Univision Transforms Telefutura Into UniMás, Delivering Programming From The Top Spanish-Language Content Producers In The World" (Press release). Univision Communications. December 3, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
- ^ Ellingson, Annlee (December 3, 2012). "Univision plays the hipster card". L.A. Biz. Retrieved December 5, 2012.
- ^ James, Meg (January 7, 2013). "Univision to revamp its secondary Spanish language network". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 7, 2015.
- ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for KFSF". RabbitEars. Retrieved November 27, 2016.
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.