KUTP
Channels
BrandingFox 10 Xtra
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerFox Television Stations, LLC
KSAZ-TV
History
FoundedDecember 20, 1984
First air date
December 23, 1985 (1985-12-23)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 45 (UHF, 1985–2009)
Call sign meaning
United Television/Phoenix, referring to the founding owner
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID68886
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT531.5 m (1,744 ft)
Transmitter coordinates33°20′3.3″N 112°3′43.2″W / 33.334250°N 112.062000°W / 33.334250; -112.062000
Translator(s)see § Translators
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.fox10phoenix.com/fox10xtra

KUTP (channel 45), branded on-air as Fox 10 Xtra, is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, broadcasting the MyNetworkTV programming service. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet KSAZ-TV (channel 10). Both stations share studios on West Adams Street in Downtown Phoenix, while KUTP's transmitter is located atop South Mountain.

History

Early years

In May 1984, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allocated channel 45 to Phoenix and began taking applications for the channel[2] after United Television, a subsidiary of Chris-Craft Industries, petitioned for the additional slot.[3] United soon got competition for the channel from another twelve applicants,[4] Undeterred, United bought out all of the competitors for a reported $5 million and won a construction permit on December 20, 1984.[5]

United immediately set out to bring Phoenix its third independent station alongside the existing KPHO-TV and KNXV. It originally proposed to become KOLT-TV (as in "Kolt 45"), but United could not convince radio station KOLT in Scottsbluff, Nebraska, to give it the rights to share the designation.[6] On December 23, 1985, a year after obtaining the construction permit, KUTP came to air as the only station United would build and sign on from the ground-up in the company's history.[7] Along with movies and syndicated programs, United commissioned a revival of The Lloyd Thaxton Show, last seen in Los Angeles in the late 1960s, as a centerpiece of its programming efforts.[8] In 1988, United made an even more consequential pickup when it signed a deal to telecast away games of the Phoenix Suns. The initial deal saw the station receive the rights to 25 road games for five years,[9] with the figure increasing to 30 beginning in the 1990–91 season[10] and to 41 games by the mid-1990s, when the Suns were the station's chief viewership draw.[11]

Under United Television ownership, the station carried programming from the Prime Time Entertainment Network programming service from January 1993 to January 1995.[12] In the fall of 1994, United Television and Paramount Pictures announced the formation of the United Paramount Network (UPN), lining up independent stations that were owned by both companies at the time as charter affiliates; KUTP affiliated with UPN upon the network's January 16, 1995, debut.[11]

In 2000, Paramount parent company Viacom bought Chris-Craft's 50% ownership interest in UPN (which Chris-Craft had wholly owned, until Viacom acquired a stake in the network in 1996). On August 12 of that year, Chris-Craft sold its UPN stations to the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of News Corporation for $5.5 billion;[13] this resulted in the creation of Phoenix's second television duopoly with KSAZ.[14] KUTP merged its operations with KSAZ into that station's studio facilities on West Adams Street.

From UPN to MyNetworkTV

Logo used when the station was re-branded as "PHX 45" from January to June 2006.

On January 24, 2006, the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced that the two companies would shut down UPN and The WB and combine the networks' respective programming to create a new jointly owned broadcast network called The CW.[15][16]

In unveiling the merged network, while WB and UPN affiliates owned by WB minority stakeholder Tribune Broadcasting and by CBS Television Stations were announced as charter outlets, none of the Fox-owned UPN stations—many of which were competitors to these stations—were chosen. Even though neither of these groups were present in Phoenix, as with the rest of the chain, Fox took immediate steps to remove UPN branding and promotions from KUTP, which branded as "PHX 45" for six months. The next month, News Corporation then announced the creation of its own secondary network, MyNetworkTV, to serve its own outgoing UPN stations as well as those that had not been selected for The CW.[17][18] (Phoenix's WB affiliate, KASW, then signed an affiliation agreement with The CW;[19] it is now an independent station.) Coinciding with the September 2006 launch of MyNetworkTV, Fox announced that KUTP would begin producing a local interactive dating show, My Dating Place, which aired on weeknights.[20]

KUTP's logo as "My 45", used from June 2006 to August 2017.

On August 7, 2017, KUTP was re-branded as Fox 10 Xtra, a brand extension of KSAZ-TV, adding a two-hour block of the latter's live streaming YouTube channel Fox 10 News Now Monday through Friday between 10 a.m. and 12 noon.

Local programming

Newscasts

Beginning in 2018, KSAZ-TV produced a 7 p.m. newscast, Fox 10 Xtra News at 7, for air on KUTP; this program, the station's first regular newscast, debuted in July 2018.[21] In addition, the station airs two hours of LiveNow from Fox, the Fox television stations' over-the-top streaming news offering, which originated as Fox 10 News Now in Phoenix.

In February 2022, KUTP began simulcast programming from Fox Weather. This programming airs from 1 to 2 p.m. on weekdays, and from 4 to 6 a.m. on Sundays.[22]

Sports programming

For 23 years, from 1988 to 2011, KUTP served as the over-the-air television home of the NBA's Phoenix Suns, televising all road games that did not have exclusive rights held by a national broadcast or cable television network, as well as selected home games, averaging at least 45 game telecasts each season. KUTP produced its own broadcast graphics, in conjunction with the Suns until the 2010–11 NBA season; this role of the regional television broadcaster of Suns games was taken over thereafter by corporate sibling Fox Sports Arizona (later Bally Sports Arizona), from 2011 to 2023.[23]

Basketball returned to channel 45 in 2019 when Grand Canyon University entered into a deal to move men's basketball coverage from YurView Arizona, a cable channel, to KUTP; the games are produced by Sneaky Big Studios for GCU and KUTP.[24] The agreement was renewed for the 2021–22 season, adding women's basketball and men's baseball broadcasts.[25] The agreement was expanded for the 2022–23 season, adding a softball broadcast for the first time.[26]

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of KUTP[27]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
45.1 720p16:9KUTP DTMain KUTP programming / MyNetworkTV
45.2 480iMovies!Movies!
45.3 4:3BuzzrBuzzr
45.4 16:9DecadesCatchy Comedy
45.5 StartStart TV
10.2 720pKSAZ SDFox (KSAZ-TV)
  Simulcast of subchannels of another station

Analog-to-digital conversion

KUTP shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 45, at 8:30 a.m. on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 26.[28] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 45.

Translators

References

  1. ↑ "Facility Technical Data for KUTP". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ↑ Wilkinson, Bud (May 30, 1984). "Channel 10 to keep 'Body Language' under wraps". The Arizona Republic. p. F5. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  3. ↑ Wilkinson, Bud (June 28, 1984). "KTVW plans more news under new management". The Arizona Republic. p. G5. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  4. ↑ Wilkinson, Bud (August 31, 1984). "Federal Communications Commission logs 13 applicants for Channel 45: Race heats up for license for new TV station in Phoenix". The Arizona Republic. p. F7. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  5. ↑ Wilkinson, Bud (January 10, 1985). "FCC clears way for United Television's Phoenix entry". The Arizona Republic. p. E10. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  6. ↑ Wilkinson, Bud (June 19, 1985). "Interest in stereo TVs rises as Valley stations begin switch". The Arizona Republic. p. F5. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  7. ↑ Wilkinson, Bud (December 22, 1985). "Signing on: 'Movie intensive' Channel 45 makes Valley debut". The Arizona Republic. p. Television 3. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  8. ↑ Wilkinson, Bud (June 11, 1986). "Channel 45 brings back '60s talk-show host Lloyd Thaxton". The Arizona Republic. p. E7. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  9. ↑ "Basketball '88: The National Basketball Association". Broadcasting. October 24, 1988. p. 42. ProQuest 1016925563.
  10. ↑ "50-game local TV package Suns' most ambitious ever". Arizona Republic. August 31, 1990. p. D7. Retrieved October 14, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. 1 2 Walker, Dave (January 16, 1995). "UPN coming: Network 6 - KUTP-TV's new programs are of Paramount concern". Arizona Republic. pp. C1, C3. Retrieved October 14, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ↑ Susan, King (January 23, 1994). "Space, 2258, in the Year 1994". Los Angeles Times. p. 4. Archived from the original on July 7, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2009.
  13. ↑ Hofmeister, Sallie (August 12, 2000). "News Corp. to Buy Chris-Craft Parent for $5.5 Billion, Outbidding Viacom". The Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 4, 2013. Retrieved March 23, 2011.
  14. ↑ Davis Hudson, Eileen (January 14, 2002). "Phoenix" (PDF). Mediaweek. pp. 10–16. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 10, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  15. ↑ Seid, Jessica (January 24, 2006). "'Gilmore Girls' meet 'Smackdown'; CW Network to combine WB, UPN in CBS-Warner venture beginning in September". CNN Money. CNN. Archived from the original on March 16, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  16. ↑ Carter, Bill (January 24, 2006). "UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network". The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 17, 2015. Retrieved February 22, 2017.
  17. ↑ "News Corp. to launch new mini-network for UPN stations". USA Today. February 22, 2006. Archived from the original on September 23, 2013. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  18. ↑ "News Corp. Unveils MyNetworkTV". Broadcasting & Cable. February 22, 2006. Archived from the original on April 17, 2009. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
  19. ↑ "Belo Signs With CW in Phoenix". Broadcasting & Cable. March 8, 2006. Archived from the original on September 27, 2012. Retrieved September 24, 2012.
  20. ↑ Malone, Michael (September 9, 2007). "COVER STORY: Putting the 'My' in MyNetworkTV". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on April 14, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  21. ↑ Malone, Michael (April 12, 2018). "Fox Television Stations Expand News". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on November 1, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  22. ↑ "FOX Weather expands to new streaming platforms, local FOX TV stations". February 8, 2022. Archived from the original on March 19, 2022. Retrieved February 8, 2022.
  23. ↑ Sunnucks, Mike (February 23, 2011). "Fox Sports Arizona sole Phoenix Suns home". Phoenix Business Journal.
  24. ↑ "FOX 10 Xtra to broadcast games". gculopes.com. September 12, 2019. Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  25. ↑ Hauser, Josh (October 6, 2021). "Home games return to FOX 10 Xtra". gculopes.com. Archived from the original on October 6, 2021. Retrieved November 1, 2021.
  26. ↑ Hauser, Josh (September 28, 2022). "GCU, FOX 10 Xtra re-up for 2022-23". gculopes.com. Retrieved October 31, 2022.
  27. ↑ "RabbitEars TV Query for KUTP". rabbitears.info. Archived from the original on May 28, 2021. Retrieved October 31, 2021.
  28. ↑ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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