KTVD (channel 20) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside NBC affiliate KUSA (channel 9). Both stations share studios on East Speer Boulevard in Denver's Speer neighborhood, while KTVD's transmitter is located atop Lookout Mountain (near Golden).
KTVD first signed on the air on December 1, 1988. Originally operating as an independent station, it maintained a general entertainment format featuring classic cartoons and sitcoms, old movies and religious programming. The station lost money throughout its first two years on the air, and its original owners filed the station for bankruptcy in August 1990.[2] At one point, KTVD had only carried a few low-budget shows, religious programs and infomercials. The station began to turn a profit with the paid programming that aired, and gradually added a number of barter syndicated shows, such as cartoons, some older sitcoms and first-run talk shows, to its schedule. In March 1994, KTVD was purchased by Newsweb Corporation, operating under the licensee of Channel 20 TV Company, and emerged from bankruptcy.[3]
On October 27, 1993, KTVD signed an agreement with United Television to become a charter affiliate of the United Paramount Network (UPN); that network began operations on January 16, 1995. Channel 20 TV Company acquired KTVS (channel 3, now KCDO-TV) in Sterling in 1999, and converted it into a satellite station of KTVD; that station changed its callsign to KUPN in 2002 to reflect its UPN affiliation.
On December 15, 2005, Newsweb Corporation announced the sale of KTVD to the Gannett Company, owners of NBC affiliate KUSA-TV (channel 9). This was despite rumors that Fox Television Stations (which owned Fox station KDVR (channel 31) at the time locally, and is the current owner of KTVD's former Chicago sister station WPWR-TV) would purchase the station to create a duopoly with KDVR; the transaction was finalized on June 26, 2006.[4] Newsweb retained possession of KUPN, and converted it into an independent station in June 2006.[5]
24 января 2006 г. корпорация CBS и Time Warner объявили, что две компании закроют UPN (которую CBS приобрела месяцем ранее, в декабре 2005 г., после отделения от Viacom ) и Всемирный банк и объединят соответствующие программы двух сетей для создать новую совместную «пятую» сеть под названием The CW . [6] [7] В рамках этого объявления сеть подписала десятилетнее соглашение с Tribune Broadcasting о присоединении к 13 из 16 дочерних станций ВБ, которыми компания владела на тот момент, включая дочернюю компанию ВБ KWGN-TV ( канал 2), который был назван чартерным филиалом сети в Денвере. [8]
Почти месяц спустя, 22 февраля 2006 года, News Corporation объявила о запуске новой конкурирующей сети MyNetworkTV , которой будут управлять ее подразделения Fox Television Stations и Twentieth Television . [9] [10] 12 июля того же года компания Gannett подписала соглашение о присоединении, чтобы сделать KTVD денверским филиалом MyNetworkTV; [11] станция официально присоединилась к сети после запуска MyNetworkTV 5 сентября 2006 года. По состоянию на ноябрь 2014 года веб-сайт станции содержит только видеопортал MyNetworkTV по умолчанию, ссылки на веб-сайт KUSA и общедоступные отчеты о файлах , требуемые FCC .