Changes in DFW's LPTV market

[JHBrandt]

The immigration law firm that buys time on 29.2 has been branching out lately. I've seen their ads on 28.2 (replacing color bars) and 55.3 (replacing Biz TV, which moved to 55.6). They don't appear to be simulcasts: they look like the same ads but aren't in sync between different channels.

Manuel Solis now has his infomercials running on 26.2 as well. 28.2 and 26.2 appear to be simulcast.

[JHBrandt]

As of Friday evening KATA/50.1 was no longer showing the MTV Tr3s network. Instead they were simulcasting LATV along with KAZD/55.4....

Just noticed LATV is no longer on KAZD/55.4. Instead there's merely a nightlight instructing viewers to tune to 50.1.

A network moving from a full-power signal to a low-power one? We've had networks move the other way, of course: Azteca, UAN, Mexicanal; but this may be a first for DFW.

[tested]

Hey, any idea what KHFD 51.1 is running?  This afternoon (Saturday) I saw an old John Wayne movie and a Bonanza episode.
Thought this was a religious channel.  Either the godcaster is broadcasting some "secular" programming or something has changed.

Have not seen any network logo or ID.

[JHBrandt]

On 51.3 you occasionally see a slide listing all four subchannels. I'm doing this from memory, but as I recall yesterday it listed:

51.1: Legacy TV
51.2: Cornerstone
51.3: Bible 24/7
51.4: EICB

(EICB stands for Excellence In Christian Broadcasting. It's been on KHFD since they were only broadcasting a single subchannel.)

So it sounds like 51.2-51.4 are all still religious, but "Legacy TV" sounds new. Are they trying to give HOT TV a run for their money?

[tested]

That's it.  Legacy TV is on 51.1.  I looked up their website and schedule and found they run a western movie and Bonanza on Saturday afternoon. 

[JHBrandt]

That's it.  Legacy TV is on 51.1.  I looked up their website and schedule and found they run a western movie and Bonanza on Saturday afternoon.

Legacy TV still runs religious content also; I saw some yesterday evening. So I guess KHFD broadcasts 3.9 religious channels and 0.1 secular (but "family-friendly") channel.

[JHBrandt]

KQFW has, for the second time, applied to displace to RF 24. They are actually licensed on RF 56 but AFAIK they're not broadcasting....

Their previous RF 24 application was rejected by the FCC, citing excessive interference with K25FW. But I didn't see any changes in this application. The interference report they filed looked exactly the same. It appears to meet FCC regulations, showing interference with only 0.4% of K25FW's potential viewers. But the FCC did their own analysis and came to a different conclusion last time.

BTW, a bit of trivia: D/FW now has 7 consecutive virtual channel numbers: 25 (K25FW), 26 (KODF), 27 (KDFI), 28 (KHPK), 29 (KMPX), 30 (KWDA), and 31 (K31GL). If this goes through, it will add 23 (KUVN) and presumably 24 (KQFW) for a total of 9 in a row. And then if KNAV goes online, that'd add 20 (KBOP), 21 (KTXA), and 22 (KNAV) for a total of 12 in a row! I wonder what the national record is?

Yesterday the FCC gave KQFW their CP for RF 24. (They never got on the air on RF 56 before out-of-core channels had to shut down.)

And now LMO Christian wants to modify their CP yet again and broadcast from downtown Dallas vs. Garland.

I'm starting to think they just want to offload 30.5 through 30.8 to another RF channel so they can solve their bandwidth issues on KWDA.

The FCC approved this modification last week, but I'm not holding my breath waiting for KQFW to light up on RF 24

[JHBrandt]

The K*FW family of religious broadcasters have spent the last few years migrating into the D/FW area (KVFW is apparently long gone, but KPFW has moved here, with KQFW and KSFW supposedly on the way). But apparently there's also a K*DA family. KWDA already broadcasts from downtown Dallas; but there's a KXDA as well.

KXDA (which is owned by the same Hispanic church as our KPFW/18) started as LP analog 64 south of Durant, OK; but recently (last October) got a CP to move to Howe, TX on RF 5, so it looks like they're following the same trend.

Many of these stations never light up, but it's worth checking: Does anyone with a VHF-Lo antenna pointing toward Howe see a digital signal on RF 5?

[Gridlock Joe]

The K*FW family of religious broadcasters have spent the last few years migrating into the D/FW area (KVFW is apparently long gone, but KPFW has moved here, with KQFW and KSFW supposedly on the way). But apparently there's also a K*DA family. KWDA already broadcasts from downtown Dallas; but there's a KXDA as well.

KXDA (which is owned by the same Hispanic church as our KPFW/18) started as LP analog 64 south of Durant, OK; but recently (last October) got a CP to move to Howe, TX on RF 5, so it looks like they're following the same trend.

Many of these stations never light up, but it's worth checking: Does anyone with a VHF-Lo antenna pointing toward Howe see a digital signal on RF 5?

All these stations are owned by what I suspect are shell companies of Hispanic Christian Community Network. They have a family of K*HO stations moving into Houston, two from Beaumont, one from Victoria and one from Woodville.

[tested]

Bumping up this thread again to point out that KHPK-LD 28.3 is now showing the "Classic Arts Showcase" (on screen bug says ARTS) channel.  I've seen this on some public access channels before. It's interesting stuff that's usually pretty old.  It's at least somewhat watchable.