KFTU-DT

KFTU-DT (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Douglas, Arizona, United States, serving as the Tucson market's outlet for the Spanish-language network UniMás. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Green Valley–licensed Univision outlet KUVE-DT (channel 46). The two stations share studios on Forbes Boulevard in Tucson; KFTU's transmitter is located on Juniper Flats Road northwest of Bisbee.

KFTU-CD (channel 34) is a low-power, Class A television station licensed to Tucson that rebroadcasts KFTU-DT's signal to the city, as KFTU's coverage area falls well short of Tucson proper. KFTU-DT is also rebroadcast on KUVE-DT's second digital subchannel in order to reach the entire market; this signal can be seen on channel 46.2 from a transmitter atop Mount Bigelow. Likewise, KUVE is rebroadcast on KFTU's second digital subchannel. Master control and most internal operations for KFTU-DT and KUVE are based at the facilities of sister station KTVW-DT on 30th Street in southern Phoenix.

Like its sister station KFPH-DT (channel 13) in Flagstaff

History

The station was granted its original construction permit on April 8, 1998, and took the call letters KBGF in June 1998. Initially owned by Winstar Broadcasting Corp. of New York City, it was sold in December 1999 to Douglas Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Equity Broadcasting of Little Rock, Arkansas. Douglas Broadcasting completed building the station and filed for a license to cover the construction permit in April 2001. At the same time, they took KBGF on the air under Program Test Authority as an independent station. In October 2001, Douglas Broadcasting sold the station to Univision, who changed its call letters to KFTU in January 2002 to coincide with the launch of its new network, Telefutura (now UniMás), and added the "-TV" suffix two years later (after the end of analog broadcasting in June 2009, KFTU and all other Univision-owned stations switched to the "-DT" suffix). The station obtained its license to cover construction on February 4, 2004, after nearly three years operating under Program Test Authority.

KFTU-CD

KFTU-CD began with an original construction permit granted on August 26, 1991, to Ponyland Broadcasting (later Venture Technologies Group) for a low-power television station to serve Tucson on UHF channel 25 with the callsign K25EA. Delays building the station caused the permit to lapse and the FCC to delete the callsign in 1993, but the station was restored and came on the air in August 1994, with the initial license granted August 29, 1994. The station changed its callsign to KTAZ-LP (for Tucson, Arizona) on December 18, 1996. In April 2001, Venture Technologies sold the station to Douglas Broadcasting, who, in turn, sold the station to Univision in September 2001. After the Telefutura network launched in January 2002, Univision dropped the station's Home Shopping Network affiliation in favor of its new network. About the same time, KTAZ was granted Class A status, and changed its call letters to KTAZ-CA on March 1, 2002. KTAZ found itself displaced when Fox affiliate KMSB (channel 11) neared launch of its digital television station on UHF channel 25, and in May 2002, applied to move to UHF channel 34. The application was granted in June, and by December 2002, the station was at its new broadcast channel. Univision changed the station's call letters to KFTU-CA on November 6, 2004, establishing brand identity with its principal station in Douglas. The station's call sign was changed again on March 19, 2012, concurrent with its transition to digital broadcasting.

The KTAZ call letters would resurface in Phoenix in 2006, when the Telemundo station there began branding itself as Telemundo Arizona.

callsign	KFTU-DT
city	Douglas, Arizona
branding	UniMás Arizona
digital	36 (UHF)
virtual	3
translators	KFTU-CD 34 (18 UHF) Tucson KUVE-DT 46.2 (34.2 UHF) Green Valley KUVE-CD 42.2 (36.2 UHF) Tucson
affiliations	3.1: UniMás 3.2: Univision
callsign meaning	TeleFutura (former name of UniMás) TeleFutura Tucson
airdate	June 20, 2001
location	Douglas–Tucson, Arizona
country	United States
former callsigns	KBGF (2001–2002) KFTU (2002–2003) KFTU-TV (2004–2009)
former channel numbers	Analog: 3 (VHF, (2001–2009)
owner	TelevisaUnivision
licensee	UniMas Partnership of Douglas
sister stations	KUVE-DT
former affiliations	Independent (2001–2002)
erp	5 kW
haat	685 m
facility id	81441
coordinates	31.48203°N, -109.9595°W
licensing authority	FCC

KFTU-DT

History

KFTU-DT

KFTU-CD

Technical information

Subchannels

Analog-to-digital conversion

Former translator

References