KCVU

History

KCVU was founded by Chester Smith and his company Sainte Partners II, L.P. of Modesto, California, in 1986 and started broadcasting as KBCP in 1990. It was a home shopping channel until 1994, when KBCP flipped the call sign to KCVU reflecting its new Fox affiliation. It replaces an affiliation on KRCR-TV seen on non-ABC hours since the network's inception in 1986. KRCR's other two satellites in Eureka and Fort Bragg had Fox as well as ABC. More Fox coverage was provided by KTXL and KTVU on Chico and Redding cable systems.

Its transmitter and license is located near Paradise, California. KCVU's sister stations include KRVU 21 Redding, KZVU 22 Chico, KUCO-TV Univision 27, KXVU-TV Antenna TV 17 (formerly affiliated with Telemundo), and KKTF-TV UniMas 30 (formerly TeleFutura).

KCVU terminated analog channel 30 on December 22, 2008. The station was re-branded to Fox 20 (for its physical digital channel; this differs from most digital signals, which identify using their analog channel). It still may be seen in analog via translator on channel 8 in Oroville and channel 38 in Redding until both translators go digital in the near future.

KBVU and KVIQ went digital on November 28, 2008, and were rebranded from Fox 29 and CBS 6 to Fox 28 and CBS 17, respectively.

On August 21, 2009, KCVU and KBVU replaced the digital simulcast of MyNetworkTV with This TV on their DT2 subcarriers.

Programming

Fox 20 has a sister station, KBVU FOX 28 in Eureka. KBVU is a stand alone full power digital station. KRVU MY 21 in Chico and KECA-LD2 My 29.2 are the same station designed to cover both the Chico-Redding and Eureka DMAs.

Contract dispute with Northland Cable

On May 6, 2007, KCVU replaced Medford Fox affiliate KMVU on Northland Cable Television channel 13 in both Mt. Shasta and Yreka when KMVU and Northland could not come to an agreement to remain on the cable system. (Northland also carried sister station MyTV Northern California on cable channel 2, but will be replaced with KFBI-LP of Medford) Northland had been blocked from airing Fox Network programming as a result. However, in a report from the Siskiyou Daily News on February 8, 2008, it appears that the dispute is settling down and Northland is working with KMVU and KCVU to return either channel to both cable systems. KNVN replaced KMVU on channel 13 in Mt. Shasta and channel 11 in Yreka. KHSL-TV started to air on channel 6 in Yreka and KDRV is also on channel 6 in Mt. Shasta. KMVU finally won the contract dispute and KCVU will no longer air on both cable systems because all Fox affiliates are under syndex. KMVU and all the other local stations are fed to Yreka via OTA translator and has a fiber-optic link to Mt. Shasta except for KNVN which uses a Dish Network feed.

KCVU or any of its sister stations no longer broadcast north of Shasta County or south of Butte County.

Regionally distributed, locally produced programs

Fox 20 provides facilities and services to tape local programs from its studios in Chico. There are currently no local programs scheduled. (Two of the station's longtime regional programs, Issues & Answers and Pray Northstate, were cancelled in 2010 by management.)

Regional Programs formerly produced by or at Fox 30/Fox 20

Local news & relationship to KRCR

From February 2004 to June 2005, Fox 30 News at 10:00 pm was produced by KRCR-TV, utilizing that station's news department.

In August 2012, it was announced that Sainte would sell KCVU & KBVU to Esteem Broadcasting of California, and would fully merge its operations with ABC affiliates KRCR & KAEF.

On April 1, 2013, KCVU relaunched its local news coverage with KRCR News Channel 7 at 10 on FOX 20, which airs weeknights at 10pm with Tracey Leong and Mark Mester as anchors. As of November 2014, KBVU airs a separate 10 pm newscast for the Eureka market.

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

KCVU shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 30, on December 22, 2008, due to lack of funding and used its existing digital facilities, as did its other debt-ridden rivals KHSL and KNVN. The virtual channel was changed from 30 to 20 and the station was rebranded as "Fox 20 Digital."

Early switch

KCVU, KHSL-TV, and KNVN ceased analog operations on December 22, 2008.

High definition

Fox programs broadcast from 8-10 pm are broadcast in high definition, as are sporting events on such as Major League Baseball, NASCAR and NFL Football. Unlike co-owned market competitors KHSL and KNVN, however, none of KCVU's syndicated programming (most of which is distributed in high definition) is broadcast in HD. It is unknown when this will change.

Death of Chester Smith

The Sacramento Bee and Chico Enterprise Record reported that Chester Smith, founder of Sainte Partners, died on August 8, 2008, at Stanford Medical Center in Palo Alto, California at age 78. He was survived by his wife Ann and his children. Despite Smith's death, Sainte continued to own and operate KCVU and its sister stations in the Sainte family. The family continued to operate the station group despite poor financial practices until its sale to Esteem Broadcasting in 2012.

Translators

KCVU has one translator station: