KTLN-TV
Television station in Palo Alto, California
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KTLN-TV (channel 68) is a television station licensed to Palo Alto, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an owned-and-operated station of the classic television network Heroes & Icons. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting alongside San Jose–licensed low-power, Class A Catchy Comedy station KAXT-CD (channel 1). The two stations share studios on Pelican Way in San Rafael, and transmitter facilities on Mount Allison.
- H&I Bay Area
- MeTV Bay Area (68.2)
- 68.1: Heroes & Icons
- for others, see § Subchannels
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| City | Palo Alto, California |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding |
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| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| KAXT-CD | |
| History | |
| Founded | 1990 |
First air date | July 15, 1998 (in Novato, California; license moved to Palo Alto in 2018[2]) |
Former call signs | KWOK (1990–1999) |
Former channel numbers |
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| Total Living Network (1998–2019) | |
Call sign meaning | "Total Living Network" (former affiliation) |
| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 49153 |
| ERP | 15 kW |
| HAAT | 688 m (2,257 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 37°29′57″N 121°52′20″W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | KTLN FCC disclosures/schedule page on Heroes & Icons website |
Even though KTLN-TV is licensed as a full-power station, it shares spectrum with KAXT-CD, whose low-power broadcasting radius does not cover all of the San Francisco Bay Area.[4] Therefore, it relies on cable and satellite carriage to reach the entire market. However, KTLN-TV shares MeTV with independent station KPYX's (channel 44) third subchannel, which has a stronger signal than KTLN.
History
Originally, Christian Communications of Chicagoland (then-owners of WCFC-TV, now Ion Television owned-and-operated station WCPX-TV) owned KTLN outright. It was formerly licensed to the Marin County community of Novato. CCC filed to sell the station to OTA Broadcasting, a company controlled by Michael Dell's MSD Capital, in June 2011.[5] The sale was completed on October 6, 2011; as part of the deal, CCC continued to operate KTLN via a local marketing agreement (LMA).[6]
Weigel Broadcasting agreed to acquire KTLN-TV and KAXT-CD, along with KVOS-TV and KFFV in Seattle, from OTA Broadcasting in a $23.2 million deal on October 18, 2017.[7] The station was temporarily off the air as of June 2018.
The station sale to Weigel was completed on April 15, 2019.[8] At midnight on April 17, KTLN returned on the air carrying high definition signals of Heroes & Icons on 68.1, and MeTV on 68.2.[9]
Technical information
Subchannels
| License | Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KAXT-CD | 1.2 | 480i | 16:9 | KAXT-SD | Catchy Comedy |
| KTLN-TV | 68.1 | 720p | KTLN-HD | Heroes & Icons | |
| 68.2 | MeTV | MeTV | |||
| 68.3 | 480i | Story | Story Television | ||
| 68.4 | MeTV+ | MeTV+ | |||
| 68.5 | Quest | Quest | |||
| 68.6 | TOONS | MeTV Toons | |||
| 68.7 | WEST | WEST |
Analog-to-digital conversion
KTLN-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 68, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[12] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 47, using virtual channel 68.