Branding Fox Montana Translators KBTZ-LP 32 Bozeman First air date May 2, 2003 | Channels Analog: 24 (UHF) Affiliations defunct | |
Owner Equity Media Holdings Corporation
(Montana License Subsidiary, Inc.) | ||
KBTZ was a full-service television station serving Butte, Montana as a Fox affiliate, broadcasting in analog on UHF channel 24, with no digital allocation. The station was owned by Equity Media Holdings of Little Rock, Arkansas. KBTZ simulcast on translator station KBTZ-LP UHF channel 32 in Bozeman, Montana.
According to Equity's website, KBTZ had a secondary affiliation with Fox's sister network, MyNetworkTV. [1]
At auction on April 16, 2009, Max Media bought KBTZ and the rest of Equity's Montana Fox station system.
Demise
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, at the end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations, KBTZ would be required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal (called a "flash-cut").
As of December 2008 both the ability of KBTZ to transition to digital and its ability to continue broadcasting are directly jeopardised as (according to the station's most recent DTV status report), "On December 8, 2008, the licensee's parent corporation filed a petition for bankruptcy relief under chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code, case #4:08-BK-17646-M, US district court for the district of Arkansas. This station must obtain post-petition financing and court approval before digital facilities may be constructed" and "The station will cease analog broadcasting on February 17, 2009, regardless of whether digital facilities are operational by that date. The station will file authority to remain silent if so required by the FCC."
While the DTV Delay Act extended this deadline to June 12, 2009, Equity had applied for an extension of the digital construction permit in order to retain the broadcast license after the station goes dark.
On July 1, 2009, Max Media established a new Fox affiliate on the digital subchannel of its ABC affiliates, KWYB in Butte and KWYB-LD in Bozeman. KBTZ was shut down on June 12, 2009 when analog broadcasting ended; both KBTZ and KBTZ-LP's callsigns have since been canceled by the FCC.