KAZA-TV


KAZA-TV, virtual channel 54, is a MeTV owned-and-operated television station serving Los Angeles, California, United States that is licensed to Avalon. The station is owned by Weigel Broadcasting. KAZA-TV's studios are located on Grand Central Avenue in Glendale, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Harvard. None of the station's assets are physically located on Santa Catalina Island, despite its city of license of Avalon.
KAZA-TV was previously an Azteca América owned-and-operated station from 2001 until 2018.

History

The station first signed on the air on July 9, 2001, originally operating as an independent station, carrying a format of Spanish-language music videos temporarily until the launch of Azteca América on July 28. The station was founded by Visalia-based Pappas Telecasting and TV Azteca.
On November 30, 2006, NBC Universal filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission to deny KAZA's license renewal, on basis that TV Azteca controlled 51.6% of the station via loans and other interests. According to the Los Angeles Times, it is believed to be the first challenge to a license renewal sent to the FCC since 1979.
According to the filing, NBC Universal accused TV Azteca of attempting to undermine its operations in Mexico. One example cited is the shutdown of production of the Telemundo program Quinceañera. NBC Universal accused TV Azteca of hiring undercover police officers to enforce the shutdown; the show's production was moved to Miami as a result. Two days later, Azteca chairman, Luis Echarte, insisted that the local marketing agreement is legitimate and called NBC Universal's allegations "ridiculous", citing that: "It's obviously a ploy to damage our image, given our strong performance in the U.S.," he says. "KAZA is owned by Pappas. We’ve been paying rent to Pappas to operate the station for three years."
On September 8, 2017, Pappas Telecasting and TV Azteca announced they would sell KAZA to Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting for $9 million. On January 1, 2018, KJLA replaced KAZA as the Azteca America affiliate for the Los Angeles market. Weigel Broadcasting assumed operational responsibilities for KAZA as well as ownership of its license on January 3, 2018, and converted into an owned-and-operated station of Weigel-owned MeTV as "MeTV Los Angeles". Prior to the switch, the MeTV affiliation was split between the DT3 feed of Anaheim-based KDOC-TV and Bishop-based KVME-TV. KVME became an affiliate of MeTV's sister network, Heroes & Icons on January 15, 2018.
On August 31, 2018, Decades soft-launched on KAZA-DT2, ahead of it moving three days later officially from KCBS-DT2 to launch fellow Weigel network Start TV.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
54.1720pMeTVMain KAZA-TV programming / MeTV
54.2480iDecadesDecades

Analog-to-digital conversion

KAZA-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 54, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 47, using PSIP to display KAZA-TV's virtual channel as 54 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.