Branding IdahoPTV First air date see table below | Transmitter power see table below | |
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Channels Digital: see table below Headquarters Boise, Idaho, United States Profiles |
Idaho public television sign off 1997
Idaho Public Television (Also known as IdahoPTV and Idaho Public TV) is a Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) member network serving the state of Idaho. It comprises five television stations, operated and funded by the Idaho State Board Of Education, an agency of the Idaho state government that holds licenses to all PBS member stations in the state. The network is headquartered in Boise, with satellite studios at the University of Idaho in Moscow and Idaho State University in Pocatello.
Contents
- Idaho public television sign off 1997
- Idaho public television kids programming
- History
- Stations
- Digital subchannels
- Analog to digital conversion
- Translators
- References
Funding for Idaho Public television comes from three major sources. 63% of funding comes from private contributions. 24% is provided by the State of Idaho. 13% is provided by an annual grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Idaho public television kids programming
History
The network's first station, KUID-TV, signed on from the UI campus in September 1965. KBGL-TV signed on in July 1971 from ISU in Pocatello, followed that December by KAID-TV in Boise, licensed to Boise State University. After a decade, KBGL changed its call letters to KISU-TV in 1981. The three stations shared many programs, but were largely operated independently at first. However, in 1981, two KUID-produced documentaries—one about logging practices, another about lead exposure—caused such an outcry that the state legislature yanked nearly all funding for public television. Citing budget restrictions in early 1981, the state legislature cut 90% of the state funding for public television, and the stations relied on federal funding and private donations. A year later, the legislature ordered the merger of the three stations into a single network. The licenses for all three stations were transferred to the state board of education. Two other stations in Coeur d'Alene and Twin Falls were added in 1992.
In 2001, Idaho PTV began broadcasting its HD channel, KAID HD, using the default PBS HD schedule. Once the digital switchover had occurred in July 2009 and after a two-year acclimation process, the main HD channel became the home of the regular IdahoPTV schedule in August 2011, and the second standard definition channel was converted from the regular IdahoPTV schedule into a "Plus" subchannel, featuring an alternate schedule of programming.
Stations
Combined, the five stations and their extensive translator network reach almost all of Idaho, as well as parts of Washington, Montana, and Oregon. The north Idaho stations of Coeur d'Alene and Moscow are in the Pacific Time Zone, while the south Idaho stations of Boise, Twin Falls, and Pocatello are in the Mountain Time Zone. There is a one-hour video delay for stations in the Pacific Time Zone so that all programs are broadcast at the same local time (i.e. a printed schedule would be valid in both time zones). The exception is for viewers in Montana tuned to a north Idaho station, as the time is one hour later.
Notes:
Digital subchannels
The digital channels of IdahoPTV's stations are multiplexed:
Plus is a "best of" channel with nightly themes. Sunday's theme is history programming while Mondays is local content and exploration. Tuesdays' theme is science, Wednesdays, drama; Thursdays, British comedies; Fridays, natural history; and Saturdays, performance.
Analog-to-digital conversion
IdahoPTV's stations shut down their analog signals on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital channel allocations post-transition are as follows:
Translators
Idaho Public Television has a network of digital low power translators across Idaho:
KCDT - Coeur D' Alene, Idaho (digital channels displayed as 26.x by PSIP)
KAID - Boise, Idaho (digital channels displayed as 4.x by PSIP)
KIPT - Twin Falls, Idaho (digital channels displayed as 13.x by PSIP)
KISU - Pocatello, Idaho (digital channels displayed as 10.x by PSIP)
KUID - Moscow, Idaho (digital channels displayed as 12.x by PSIP)