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| City | Bellingham, Washington |
| Channels | |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
| Founded | August 15, 1997 (1997-08-15) |
Former call signs | KEGA (February–October 1989) |
Former channel numbers | Analog: 24 (UHF, 1997–2009) |
| |
Call sign meaning | British Columbia, Bellingham |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 53586 |
| ERP | 208kW |
| HAAT | 757 m (2,484 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 48°40′45″N122°50′36″W / 48.67917°N 122.84333°W /48.67917; -122.84333 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KBCB (channel 24) is areligious television station inBellingham, Washington, United States, serving Northwest Washington and theGreater Vancouver andSeattle metropolitan areas as anowned-and-operated station ofTri-State Christian Television (TCT). The station's transmitter is located nearMount Constitution onOrcas Island.
The construction permit was awarded as KEGA on February 10, 1989. It gained its current call sign on October 2, 1989.
From its sign-on on August 15, 1997,[3] until 2006, KBCB aired a mix ofindependent/ImaginAsian programming targeted towards theVancouver area andsouthwesternBritish Columbia, Canada, in addition to news from European international broadcasters until the early 2000s decade, bearing the nameWorld Television to reflect the international mix of programming carried on the station. In 2006, the station converted to an affiliation with ShopNBC. The network becameShopHQ in 2013.
KBCB added theEstrella TV network as a multicast channel on August 1, 2011. KBCB's affiliation with Estrella ended on April 24, 2014.[4]
On September 19, 2014, Venture Technologies Group reached an agreement to sell the station toFox Television Stations for $10 million;[5] the purchase was submitted forFederal Communications Commission (FCC) approval on October 3.[6] The purchase came amid speculation that Fox was interested in having an owned-and-operated station in the home market of theSeattle Seahawks football team, whose games primarily air on Fox as members of theNational Football Conference. Fox had reportedly threatened to not renewKCPQ's affiliation when its affiliation agreement ended in January 2015,[7] while the broadcaster had made similar transactions in other NFC markets, such as purchasing thenetwork affiliate serving theSan Francisco Bay Area, where the49ers play, as well as a station inCharlotte, North Carolina, home to theCarolina Panthers.[8]
On October 17, 2014, Fox announced that it had reached a deal to maintain its affiliation with KCPQ through July 2018—agreeing to areverse compensation arrangement.[9] Following this development, Fox's application to acquire KBCB was dismissed by the FCC on November 20, 2014.[10] On March 3, 2020, Fox completed its purchase of KCPQ and sister stationKZJO after coming to terms with the stations' new owner,Nexstar Media Group, which had acquired KCPQ via its purchase ofTribune Media.
On January 1, 2015, KBCB replaced its affiliation ofShopHQ with that of the Sonlife Broadcasting Network. In March, the SD simulcast on 24.2 was replaced byJewelry TV.Home shopping channelQVC was added on subchannel 24.3 in July 2017. February 2018 saw home shopping retailer Evine (the legal successor to ShopNBC/ShopHQ) added to channel 24.2 and Jewelry TV moved to channel 24.4. Evine returned to its previous name, ShopHQ, on August 21, 2019.[11] In September 2020, ShopHQ ceased airing and was replaced with a "This channel is available for lease" notification.[12]
On February 8, 2021, Venture Technologies Group announced that it would sell KBCB toMarion, Illinois–basedTri-State Christian Television for $7.74 million, including a $2 million cash donation.[1] The sale was completed on April 30,[13] and KBCB became the third station in the Seattle market to be owned and operated by a religious organization (alongsideKTBW-TV andKWDK). Christian programming from TCT's satellite channel now broadcasts on channel 24.1 and Sonlife airs on subchannel 24.2, as a result.[14] Having gone dark since the sale, channels 24.3 and 24.4 began transmitting again in March 2022, carryingNewsmax TV andShop LC, respectively. Subchannel 24.5 was added at the same time, displaying a static message that a yet to be named channel is coming soon.[15] Newsmax TV was dropped in December of the same year.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24.1 | 720p | 16:9 | KBCB HD | TCT |
| 24.2 | 480i | 4:3 | SBN | SonLife |
| 24.3 | 16:9 | GDT | Infomercials | |
| 24.4 | 4:3 | ShopLC | Shop LC | |
| 24.5 | 16:9 | BizTV | Biz TV |
KBCB shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 24, on February 17, 2009, as part of thefederally mandated transition from analog to digital television (which Congress had moved the previous month to June 12).[17][18] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 19, usingvirtual channel 24.
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofWashington | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Washington | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish | ||
| Other |
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| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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