KPTF
Encyclopedia
KPTF-DT is a religious
television station
in Farwell, Texas
, broadcasting locally in digital
on UHF
channel 18 as an affiliate of God's Learning Channel
. The station is owned by Prime Time Christian Broadcasting of Odessa, Texas
. It is carried on Suddenlink cable television systems in Clovis, New Mexico
and Amarillo, Texas
.
(FCC) to Winstar Farwell, Inc., on April 8, 1998. Originally given callsign KBGD, it was to broadcast on UHF channel 18, serving Clovis and Portales, New Mexico
as well as Farwell, Texas. Winstar Farwell agreed to sell the construction permit to Prime Time Christian Broadcasting on August 24, 1999 and on February 25, 2000, Prime Time Christian Broadcasting assumed control. The station changed its callsign to KPTF on June 29, 2000. It began broadcasting under Program Test Authority in April 2001, but did not receive its license until June 26, 2002.
Located in a fringe area of the Amarillo television market, KPTF has cable carriage in Amarillo, but not in all parts of the market, in spite of must-carry rules. The FCC first ruled that Comcast
must carry KPTF on its Tucumcari, New Mexico
, system, but before the cable system was required to carry the station, the FCC ruled that Comcast did not have to carry KPTF. The station's over-the-air signal reaches only six of the 56 communities in the Amarillo market.
after the FCC
finalized the DTV
allotment plan on April 21, 1997 http://www.transmitter.com/FCC97115/chanplan.html, the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station
. Instead, at the end of the DTV transition for full-service stations
, KPTF turned off its analog signal
and turned on its digital signal
(called a "flash-cut
").
Religious broadcasting
Religious broadcasting refers to broadcasting by religious organizations, usually with a religious message. Many religious organizations have long recorded content such as sermons and lectures, and have moved into distributing content on their Internet websites.While this article emphasises...
television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
in Farwell, Texas
Farwell, Texas
Farwell is a city in and the county seat of Parmer County, Texas, United States. Farwell is located on the Texas-New Mexico border with the town of Texico, New Mexico on the opposite side...
, broadcasting locally in digital
ATSC
ATSC standards are a set of standards developed by the Advanced Television Systems Committee for digital television transmission over terrestrial, cable, and satellite networks....
on UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
channel 18 as an affiliate of God's Learning Channel
God's Learning Channel
God's Learning Channel is a Judeo-Christian television network which is based in the Southwestern United States. Based on the Messianic Judaism movement, it describes itself as "teaching the Torah and the true roots of Christianity", and its programming features a mixture of Christian and Jewish...
. The station is owned by Prime Time Christian Broadcasting of Odessa, Texas
Odessa, Texas
Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small portion of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 99,940 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Odessa, Texas Metropolitan...
. It is carried on Suddenlink cable television systems in Clovis, New Mexico
Clovis, New Mexico
Clovis is the county seat of Curry County, New Mexico, United States. Its population was 32,667 at the 2000 census; according to 2010 Census Bureau estimates, the population had risen to 37,775....
and Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo, Texas
Amarillo is the 14th-largest city, by population, in the state of Texas, the largest in the Texas Panhandle, and the seat of Potter County. A portion of the city extends into Randall County. The population was 190,695 at the 2010 census...
.
History
The station began as a construction permit granted by the Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
(FCC) to Winstar Farwell, Inc., on April 8, 1998. Originally given callsign KBGD, it was to broadcast on UHF channel 18, serving Clovis and Portales, New Mexico
Portales, New Mexico
Portales is a city in and the county seat of Roosevelt County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 11,131 at the 2000 census. Portales is located near the larger city of Clovis as well as Cannon Air Force Base, a major contributor to the economy of the region.Eastern New Mexico...
as well as Farwell, Texas. Winstar Farwell agreed to sell the construction permit to Prime Time Christian Broadcasting on August 24, 1999 and on February 25, 2000, Prime Time Christian Broadcasting assumed control. The station changed its callsign to KPTF on June 29, 2000. It began broadcasting under Program Test Authority in April 2001, but did not receive its license until June 26, 2002.
Located in a fringe area of the Amarillo television market, KPTF has cable carriage in Amarillo, but not in all parts of the market, in spite of must-carry rules. The FCC first ruled that Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
must carry KPTF on its Tucumcari, New Mexico
Tucumcari, New Mexico
Tucumcari is a city in and the county seat of Quay County, New Mexico, United States. The population was 5,989 at the 2000 census. Tucumcari was founded in 1901, two years before Quay County was founded.-History:...
, system, but before the cable system was required to carry the station, the FCC ruled that Comcast did not have to carry KPTF. The station's over-the-air signal reaches only six of the 56 communities in the Amarillo market.
Digital television
Because it was granted an original construction permitConstruction permit
A construction permit or building permit is a permit required in most jurisdictions for new construction, or adding on to pre-existing structures, and in some cases for major renovations. Generally, the new construction must be inspected during construction and after completion to ensure compliance...
after the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
finalized the DTV
Digital television
Digital television is the transmission of audio and video by digital signals, in contrast to the analog signals used by analog TV...
allotment plan on April 21, 1997 http://www.transmitter.com/FCC97115/chanplan.html, the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
. Instead, at the end of the DTV transition for full-service stations
DTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...
, KPTF turned off its analog signal
Analog signal
An analog or analogue signal is any continuous signal for which the time varying feature of the signal is a representation of some other time varying quantity, i.e., analogous to another time varying signal. It differs from a digital signal in terms of small fluctuations in the signal which are...
and turned on its digital signal
Digital signal
A digital signal is a physical signal that is a representation of a sequence of discrete values , for example of an arbitrary bit stream, or of a digitized analog signal...
(called a "flash-cut
Flash-cut
A flash-cut, also called flash-cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period.Some telephone area codes were split immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive dialing period. An example is telephone area code 213, which was split into 213 and 714 all at...
").