KTVH-DT


KTVH-DT, virtual and VHF digital channel 12, is an NBC affiliated television station licensed to Helena, Montana, United States. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, it is a sister station to low-powered CBS affiliate KXLH-LD. The two stations share studios on West Lyndale Avenue in Helena; KTVH's transmitter is located on Hogback Mountain.
KTVH is simulcast on KTGF-LD channel 50 in Great Falls.

History

KTVH

KTVH was the first television station in Helena, signing on the air on January 1, 1958 as KXLJ-TV, a semi-satellite of KXLF-TV in Butte. It has always been an NBC affiliate. In December 1962, Bob Magnus and two partners bought the station, weaned it from KXLF, and changed the call letters to KBLL-TV.
In 1969, former Montana Governor Tim M. Babcock bought the station and changed the station's call letters to KTCM. In 1976, KTCM built a new tower and expanded its coverage to include Missoula, Butte, and Great Falls; until 1986, it was effectively the default NBC affiliate for a large portion of Montana. Babcock sold the station to Lynn Koch in 1979, and the station changed call letters again on July 28, 1980, this time to KTVG. Five years later, Koch sold the station to Don Bradley, who again changed the call letters to KTVH on August 19, 1985, which remain to this day.
By 1988, the station was in financial trouble and Bradley sold it to John Raddeck and Big Sky Broadcasting Limited Partnership. Big Sky Broadcasting restored the station's financial health and in 1997, sold KTVH to Beartooth Communications Company, a subsidiary of Sunbelt Communications Company. Soon after the sign-on of satellite KBGF, Sunbelt rebranded KTVH and its various satellites as "Beartooth NBC," after the Beartooth Mountains.
On May 7, 2014, Intermountain West Communications Company announced that it would sell KTVH-DT to Gray Television; Gray also purchased Helena CW affiliate KMTF, which had long been operated by KTVH, through a failed station waiver. Gray took over KTVH's operations through a local marketing agreement on June 1. The sale of KTVH to Gray closed on November 3, 2014. After the sale closed, Gray dropped the "Beartooth NBC" brand in favor of "KTVH/KBGF."
On July 1, 2015, Gray announced that it would sell KTVH-DT to Cordillera Communications; concurrently, sister station KMTF was donated to Montana State University and joined the Montana PBS network, with its CW programming being transferred to a KTVH subchannel. The sale was completed on October 30. Cordillera's purchase of KTVH made it a sister station to CBS affiliate KXLH-LD and reunited the station with KXLF-TV.

KTGF-LD

An original construction permit was granted on November 16, 2004 to Charles C. Townsend, III of Aloha Partners, to build a low-power television station serving Great Falls, Montana. The station being constructed on channel 50 was given call letters K50IQ. In April 2005, Townsend sold the permit to Beartooth Communications, who immediately changed the call letters to KBGF-LP. KBGF-LP signed on July 1, 2005, and immediately took the NBC affiliation from KTGF ; the station was licensed on December 5, 2005, and is a translator for KTVH. KBGF had its own office in Great Falls, but it has since closed. KBGF-LP was included in the 2014 sale of KTVH-DT to Gray Television. On December 16, 2014, the station was licensed for digital operation, under the call sign KBGF-LD. KBGF-LD was included in the 2015 sale of KTVH-DT to Cordillera Communications; the deal made it a sister station to CBS affiliate KRTV. KBGF-LD changed its call letters to KTGF-LD on July 1, 2018; the call sign moved from channel 16, which concurrently changed its call letters to KJJC.

Former satellites

From January 2001 through January 25, 2008, KTVH operated two full-service satellite stations in northern and central Montana.
StationCity of licenseChannelFirst air dateLast air dateERPHAATFacility IDTransmitter Coordinates
KBBJHavre9 9 kW83689
KBAOLewistown13 9 kW84794

KBBJ

On December 8, 1997, Sunbelt Communications Company obtained an original construction permit to build a full-service television station in Havre, Montana. KBBJ channel 9 became the first television station for Havre and north central Montana on January 2, 2001, when it signed on the air as a satellite of KTVH; its license was issued on December 5, 2001. Sunbelt assigned the station's license to subsidiary Beartooth Communication Company in 2005. KBBJ went silent January 25, 2008. On July 8, 2009, Sunbelt requested that the license for KBBJ be cancelled.

KBAO

Beartooth Communications Company was granted an original construction permit on December 12, 1997 to build a full-service television station to serve Lewistown and surrounding areas in central Montana. On January 3, 2001, KBAO channel 13 signed on as a satellite of KTVH, and as Lewistown's first television station; it was licensed on July 18, 2001. The station expanded its reach when the four translator television stations serving Phillips County in northern Montana became repeaters for KBAO. KBAO went silent January 25, 2008. On July 9, 2009, Sunbelt requested that the license for KBAO be cancelled.
Former translators
The following stations were rebroadcasting the signal of KBAO prior to going silent:

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
12.11080iKTVHMain KTVH programming / NBC
12.2480iKMTFHelena CW 10
12.3480iCozi TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

KTVH shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 12, on November 10, 2008. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 14 to VHF channel 12 for post-transition operations. KTVH is the first station in Helena to broadcast programming in high definition.
In August 2014, Gray filed an application for a digital companion channel for KBGF-LP operating on channel 19, contingent on its purchase of the station. The Federal Communications Commission granted special temporary authority to Intermountain West Communications on October 20 to construct this facility; this authority ensured that it could be constructed prior to winter, and allowed channel 19 to come on the air on October 26, mapping to channel 50.19 through PSIP.

News operation

KTVH-DT runs a news operation out of its studios in Helena, with newscasts on weeknights at 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. KTVH launched a weekday morning news show called Daybreak on January 1, 2018 starting at 6 a.m.