KPMR

KPMR

Santa Barbara, California United States
Branding	Univision Costa Central
Channels	Digital: 21 (UHF) Virtual: 38 (PSIP)
Subchannels	38.1 Univision 38.2 UniMás 38.3 LATV 38.4 ZUUS Latino
Translators	Analog 10 (LPTV)
Affiliations	Univision
Owner	Entravision Communications Corporation (Entravision Holdings, LLC)
First air date	April 1, 2001 (2001-04-01)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 38 (UHF, 2001–2009)
Transmitter power	1 megawatt
Height	923.1 m
Facility ID	12144
Transmitter coordinates
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.kpmrtv.com

KPMR is a full-service Spanish-language television station in Santa Barbara, California. Owned by Entravision Communications, it broadcasts locally on digital UHF channel 21 as an affiliate of Univision. The station, founded on February 27, 1998, bills itself as the television station most watched by the Hispanic community on the Central Coast of California.

History

KPMR's logo from April 1, 2001 through December 31, 2012.

On May 23, 1997, the FCC granted a construction permit to Coast TV to build a full-service television station on channel 38 to serve Santa Barbara and California's Central Coast. Originally identified by the its application identification, 840720KG, the station took call letters KPMR in February 1998. Entravision Communications acquired the station from Coast TV in a deal finalized in January 2001, and applied for a license for the station a month later, bringing the station on the air under Program Test Authority as a Univision affiliate. The FCC granted the license on April 12, 2002.

Programming

KPMR airs Spanish-language programming such as movies, comedies and news, as well as Univision network programming. Local programming includes a newscast originally called 'Noticias Costa Central', and recently rebranded as Noticias A Su Lado, which airs nightly at 6pm and 11pm.

Competing news stations in the area announced that local newscasts will be shut down on December 30, 2011; however, the station continues to broadcast the local news. The station also continues to operate as a Univision affiliate.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming
38.1	1080i	16:9	KPMR-DT	Main KPMR programming / Univision
38.2	480i	4:3	Telefut	UniMás
38.3			LATV	LATV
38.4			ZUUS TV	ZUUS Latino

The FCC granted KPMR a construction permit in March 2001 to build companion digital facilities to broadcast on channel 21 with 1000 kW ERP. After two extensions of the construction permit, the station applied for and was granted Special Temporary Authority (STA) to build reduced-power facilities in October 2003. After several extensions of the STA, KPMR-DT applied for a license for its full-power digital facilities in July 2006. As of November 2006, the FCC has not yet granted the license. The station has elected to remain on channel 21 after the end of the DTV transition.

Analog-to-digital conversion

KPMR shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 38, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 21. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 38.

KPMR also broadcasts sister station KTSB-CA as a digital subchannel.

External links

• KPMR official webpage
• Entravision official site
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KPMR
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KPMR-TV