KILM (channel 64) is a television station licensed to Inglewood, California, United States, broadcasting the digital multicast network Laff to the Los Angeles area. It is owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company alongside San Bernardino–licensed Ion Television station KPXN-TV (channel 30). KILM and KPXN-TV share offices on West Olive Avenue in Burbank; Through a channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using KPXN-TV's spectrum from an antenna atop Mount Wilson.

KILM
CityInglewood, California
Channels
Programming
Affiliations64.1: Laff
Ownership
Owner
KPXN-TV
History
First air date
August 15, 1987; 37 years ago (1987-08-15) (in Barstow, California; license moved to Inglewood in 2018[2])
Former call signs
  • KVVT (1987–1992)
  • KHIZ (1992–2012)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 64 (UHF, 1987–2009)
  • Digital: 44 (UHF, until May 2018), 38 (UHF, June–December 2018)
Call sign meaning
FilmOn TV (former LMA partner/programmer)
Technical information[3]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID63865
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT900 m (2,953 ft)
Transmitter coordinates34°12′36″N 118°4′2.2″W / 34.21000°N 118.067278°W / 34.21000; -118.067278
Links
Public license information

History

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The station's logo as KHIZ, used until 2012.

KILM began broadcasting on August 15, 1987, as KVVT, originally licensed to Barstow. It was the only independent commercial television station in the Mojave Desert region to provide local news programs. In 1989, the station switched to ABC as a result of the Mojave Desert at the time not receiving a good signal from KABC-TV (channel 7) in Los Angeles. It became KHIZ in 1992; that same year, KABC boosted its signal to the Mojave Desert, causing channel 64 to disaffiliate with ABC. (A similar situation occurred in Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, where WEWS-TV (channel 5) and then-ABC affiliate WAKR/WAKC (channel 23, now WVPX-TV) both aired ABC programming until 1996). In the mid-2000s, the station changed its format and service area to be transmitted in both the Los Angeles metropolitan area and the Inland Empire region. Multicultural Broadcasting purchased Sunbelt Television, Inc. in 2007.[4] KHIZ eventually incorporated ethnic programming into its schedule.

At one time, KHIZ aired a weekday morning news program, Inland Empire Live, that was produced from the facilities of CBS affiliate WSEE-TV (channel 35) in Erie, Pennsylvania, and distributed to KHIZ via satellite transmission.[5]

FilmOn took over the station's operations under an LMA on September 1, 2012, at which point it became KILM.[6] On November 25, 2013, FilmOn TV was removed and replaced with paid programming. On July 12, 2014, KILM dropped the all-paid programming lineup and replaced it with programming from the SonLife Broadcasting Network, a religious network owned by televangelist Jimmy Swaggart. On August 1, 2017, another LMA was made with a new network, Punch TV, which mainly consisted of public domain and brokered programming.[7]

On June 1, 2018, KILM began channel sharing with Ion Television owned-and-operated station KPXN-TV (channel 30). As KPXN's broadcast radius does not adequately cover Barstow, KILM changed its city of license to Inglewood.[2] Several weeks later, Ion Media Networks agreed to a $10 million purchase of the station, continuing a nationwide pattern of Ion buying out their channel sharing partners to retain full control of their spectrum.[8][9] Multicultural terminated the Punch TV LMA at the start of August 2018, and began to carry a full schedule of paid programming from Corner Store TV while the sales process with Ion continued. The sale was completed on September 17, 2018, with Ion immediately converting the station to taking over the former channel space of KPXN-DT3 and its Ion Plus feed under KILM's 64.1 virtual channel, which allowed Ion to utilize KILM's must-carry status for main-channel full-market coverage of Ion Plus.[10]

On February 28, 2021, the station became an affiliate of Grit after Ion Plus shifted online-only (it has since returned over-the-air and is carried on KPXN-DT3).[11]

On June 28, 2021, the station switched its affiliation to Bounce TV after the launch of TrueReal and Defy TV on KPXN's third and fourth subchannels.

On May 5, 2024, KILM switched from Bounce to sister network Scripps News, with Bounce moving to sister station KPXN-DT5, giving Scripps News full-market carriage on most providers.

On November 16, 2024, Scripps News ceased over-the-air operations and converted to a free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) service; as a result, KILM switched to Laff, a comedy-themed diginet owned by Scripps.

Technical information

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Subchannels of KPXN-TV and KILM[12]
License Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
KPXN-TV 30.1 720p 16:9 ION Ion Television
30.2 480i CourtTV Court TV
30.3 IONPlus Ion Plus[13]
30.4 Laff Laff
30.5 Bounce Bounce TV
30.6 Jewelry Jewelry TV
30.8 HSN HSN
KILM 64.1 720p Laff Laff[14]

Analog-to-digital conversion

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KHIZ shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 64, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on 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 44,[15] using virtual channel 64.

Former translator

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On May 6, 2009, KHIZ added a low-power analog translator K39GY channel 39 (now KHIZ-LD, channel 2), a former TBN translator in Victorville. It was sold in 2015 to DTV America.

References

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  1. ^ Modification of a Licensed Facility for DTV Application
  2. ^ a b KILM Form 2100 - COL Change Request (Reduced Final)
  3. ^ "Facility Technical Data for KILM". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  4. ^ "MRBI Official Site".
  5. ^ Inland Empire Live News, archived from the original on July 13, 2011, retrieved March 21, 2019
  6. ^ Johnson, Ted (August 11, 2012). "Fox sues startup over broadcast streaming". Variety. Retrieved September 4, 2012. …FilmOn is launching its first broadcast channel in the country, KILM-TV Channel 64, in Los Angeles starting on Sept. 1.
  7. ^ "Punch TV Studios Begins Broadcasting on KILM Los Angeles / Southern California..." (Press release). PR Web. July 28, 2017. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  8. ^ Hsieh, Dan (June 13, 2018). "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  9. ^ "Station Trading Roundup: 2 Deals, $10.7M". TVNewsCheck. June 19, 2018. Retrieved June 20, 2018.
  10. ^ "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. September 17, 2018. Retrieved September 18, 2018.
  11. ^ Henderson, Terence (January 16, 2021). "More diginets fall: Scripps pulls plug on Ion Plus, ShopIon, Qubo". T Dog Media. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  12. ^ "RabbitEars TV Query for KPXN". RabbitEars.info. Retrieved June 30, 2024.
  13. ^ Keys, Matthew (June 28, 2024). "Scripps replacing Defy TV with Ion Plus on broadcast TV". TheDesk.net. Retrieved June 28, 2024.
  14. ^ Johnson, Ted (September 27, 2024). "Scripps News To Cut More Than 200 Jobs, Scale Back National News Programming Amid "Difficult" Linear TV Advertising Market". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
  15. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.