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| KMEG | |
| History | |
First air date | May 9, 1999 (25 years ago) (1999-05-09) |
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Call sign meaning | Pappas Telecasting of the Heartland, from founding owner[1] |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 77451 |
| ERP | 871kW |
| HAAT | 613 m (2,011 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 42°35′12″N96°13′19″W / 42.58667°N 96.22194°W /42.58667; -96.22194 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | siouxlandnews |
KPTH (channel 44) is atelevision station inSioux City, Iowa, United States, affiliated withFox andCBS. It is owned by theSinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services toDabl affiliateKMEG (channel 14) under ashared services agreement (SSA) with Waitt Broadcasting. The two stations share studios alongI-29 (postal address says Gold Circle) inDakota Dunes, South Dakota; KPTH's transmitter is located inunincorporatedPlymouth County, Iowa, east ofJames andUS 75 along theWoodbury County line.
KPTH has been the Fox affiliate for Sioux City since its construction byPappas Telecasting in 1999. Its operations were merged with KMEG, then the CBS affiliate, in 2005. After Pappas filed for bankruptcy protection, the station was sold to Titan TV Broadcast Management in 2009 and again to Sinclair in 2013. KPTH absorbed the CBS programming previously on KMEG in 2021. KPTH aired local news from 2006 to 2023.
Pappas Telecasting received a construction permit to build a new station in Sioux City on February 25, 1997, immediately announcing that it planned to put KPTH on the air as a Fox affiliate in early 1998.[3] Work on the tower site inPlymouth County began that October.[4]
KPTH began broadcasting May 9, 1999. It operated from offices inSouth Sioux City, Nebraska, and broadcast from an interim antenna at the 1,500-foot (460 m) level of its planned 2,000-foot (610 m) tower for the first five months.[5] The high-power facility was necessary because two thirds of television households in the Sioux City market lived outside the metropolitan area.[1] It also provided tower space for KMEG and for the digital facilities ofKTIV andIowa Public Television transmitter KSIN.[6]
In May 2005, Waitt Broadcasting (owner of KMEG) entered into a shared services agreement with Pappas Telecasting. Pappas assumed operations of KMEG and moved KPTH into the former's studios inDakota Dunes, South Dakota.[7] In November 2007, Waitt announced it would sell KMEG to Siouxland Television,LLC, with Pappas continuing to operate it as part of the deal. However, Pappas' Sioux City duopoly was among the company's thirteen stations which filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 2008.[8] As a result, the sale of KMEG to Siouxland Television fell through. On January 16, 2009, it was announced that several of the Pappas stations involved in the bankruptcy (including KPTH) would be sold to New World TV Group (also known as Titan Broadcast Management or Titan TV Broadcast Group) after the transaction receivedUnited States bankruptcy court approval; New World/Titan also took over their operations while the sale was completed.[9]
Titan announced the sale of most of its stations, including KPTH, to theSinclair Broadcast Group on June 3, 2013.[10] Sinclair announced the closing of the sale on October 3.[11]
In January 2021, Sinclair renewed its CBS affiliation agreement, with KPTH—instead of KMEG—listed as the Sioux City affiliate.[12] On February 4, the CBS 14 subchannel of KMEG, including its programming and local news, moved to KPTH 44.3; KMEG's 14.1 subchannel began broadcastingDabl.[13]
KPTH had promised newscasts at launch, but a 2000 attempt by Pappas to sell the station led to the postponement of any plans to launch local news.[14] The 2005 merger of KMEG and KPTH's operations led to the announcement that KMEG would extend its news operation to channel 44.[7] Weekend newscasts were eliminated on both stations as a cost-cutting move when Titan assumed control of the Pappas stations in March 2009; the KPTH newscast had only just been expanded to weekends in January.[15][8]
In April 2023, it was reported that Sinclair would cut its local newscasts in five markets, including Sioux City, effective in May; the lost newscasts would be replaced with Sinclair's syndicatedThe National Desk.[16][17]
The station's digital signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44.1 | 720p | 16:9 | FOX | Fox |
| 44.2 | 480i | 4:3 | MyNet | TBD &MyNetworkTV |
| 44.3 | 1080i | 16:9 | CBS 14 | CBS |
KPTH shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 44, at noon on February 17, 2009, to conclude thefederally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[19][20]
The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 49, usingvirtual channel 44.[21] The station switched to broadcasting on channel 30 on November 30, 2018, as a result of the2016 United States wireless spectrum auction.[22]
KPTH's signal is repeated overtranslator KBVK-LD (channel 20) inSpencer, Iowa.[18] It was formerly relayed on KPTP-LD (channel 31) inNorfolk, Nebraska; this translator's license was canceled on August 5, 2010.[23]
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