KUTH-DT

KUTH-DT (channel 32) is a television station licensed to Provo, Utah, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Univision and UniMás networks to Salt Lake City and the state of Utah. The station is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision, and maintains studios on West Amelia Earhart Drive in the northwestern section of Salt Lake City; its transmitter is located west of Orem, in the Lake Mountains.

KUTH-DT
CityProvo, Utah
Channels
Branding
  • Univision 32
  • Noticias 32 Salt Lake City (newscasts)
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
April 17, 2003 (2003-04-17)
Former call signs
KCBU (2003–2004)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 32 (UHF, 2003–2009)
Independent (2003–2004)
Call sign meaning
Utah
-or-
Univision Utah
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID81451
ERP194 kW
HAAT812 m (2,664 ft)
Transmitter coordinates40°16′45″N 111°56′3″W
Translator(s)see § Translators
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.univision.com/local/salt-lake-city-kuth

History

The station first signed on the air on April 17, 2003, as KCBU, operating as an independent station; it was originally owned by Cocola Broadcasting. Univision Communications bought the station in October 2004 and entered into an outsourcing agreement with Equity Broadcasting (which Univision's principals held a stake in at the time) to operate the station. At that time, channel 32 swapped affiliations and call signs with what was then KUTH (Utah's original full-power Univision affiliate on channel 12, licensed to Logan, Utah, which became KUTF in 2005) and became the new Univision affiliate.

Former logo, used until December 31, 2012.

When Univision sold the last of its shares in Equity Broadcasting in 2007, KUTH was supposed to go to Equity outright; however, the transfer of KUTH from Univision to Equity never materialized. Later, Univision planned to purchase KUTF to create a duopoly with KUTH but cancelled its plans shortly after Newport Television announced the sale of its Salt Lake City duopoly to High Plains Broadcasting; by that time, private-equity firm Providence Equity Partners owned sizable stakes in both Univision and Newport Television. This cancellation resulted in Newport Television retaining ownership of KTVX (channel 4) and selling only KUCW (channel 30) to High Plains Broadcasting (with Newport Television continuing to control both of those stations).

The radio tower for KUTH atop Lake Mountain. Shared with KUPX.

Under Equity's management of the station, all of KUTH's programming originated from Equity's master control hub at the company's headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas. This arrangement ended on June 12, 2009, as part of the completion of the digital television transition, at which time Univision took over the operations of KUTH outright.

News operation

Under Equity's management of the station, KUTH began airing weeknight newscasts at 5 and 10 p.m. The newscasts were produced out of the company's headquarters in Little Rock, with reports filed by Salt Lake City-based reporters. The newscasts were canceled in June 2008, after Equity instituted a companywide suspension of news programs on its Univision-affiliated stations.[2] Local newscasts would not return to KUTH until September 30, 2013, when Univision launched weeknight 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts branded Noticias 32 Salt Lake City.[3]

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KUTH-DT[4]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
32.1 1080i16:9KUTH-DTUnivision
32.2 UNIMASUniMás
32.3 480i4:3GetTVgetTV
32.4 ESCAPEIon Mystery
32.5 16:9CrimeTrue Crime Network
32.6 TwistTwist

Translators

Analog-to-digital conversion

Because it was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997 , the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, KUTH shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 32.[5] The station "flash-cut" its digital signal into operation UHF channel 32. On June 23, all Univision-owned full-service stations, including KUTH, added the -DT suffix to their legal call signs.

References
  1. "Facility Technical Data for KUTH-DT". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. Manthey, Toby (June 14, 2008). "Equity ends newscasts; N.Y. station buy teeters". Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Archived from the original on February 6, 2009. Retrieved June 19, 2008.
  3. "Univision 32 Salt Lake City Launches Local Newscast "Noticias 32 Salt Lake City" at 5pm and 10pm" (Press release). Salt Lake City, Utah: Univision Communications. September 30, 2013. Retrieved November 15, 2013.
  4. RabbitEars TV Query for KUTH
  5. List of Digital Full-Power Stations Archived August 29, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
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