KIVI-TV

What is now KIVI-TV is actually the third attempt to launch a television station on channel 6 in Nampa, but the first to be successful.

The first of these earned the distinction of being Idaho's first television station. KFXD-TV broadcast under special temporary authority from June 18 to August 11, 1953. However, it was unable to obtain a network affiliation.^[3] KIDO-TV (channel 7, now KTVB), which signed on in July 1953, was a primary NBC affiliate but also had secondary affiliations with CBS, ABC and DuMont Television Network. Unable to find programming and limited to a two-man operation, KFXD-TV went off the air after only two months. It was the first VHF television station in the United States to go dark altogether. Three months later, KBOI-TV (channel 2) signed on in November 1953 as a primary CBS affiliate but also aired some ABC programs.

In the meantime, KFXD's owners sold the permit to the owners of Boise radio station KGEM, who changed the call sign to KTVI (moving them from a previous construction permit on channel 9).^[4] However, after expressing concerns that Boise was not yet large enough to support three television stations, KGEM returned the channel 6 permit to the FCC.^[5][6]

The next occupant of channel 6 was KCIX-TV, which operated November 1958 to January 1960. While it had a slightly longer run than KFXD-TV, it too failed to secure a network affiliation, and went silent awaiting the completion of a merger deal with a radio and television station in Pocatello that fell apart.

In 1968, two parties filed to make a third attempt at channel 6 in Nampa, both of them seeking a hookup with ABC. Actor Robert Taylor was the headline name in one bidder, Snake River Valley Television,^[7] while James Lavenstein of Salt Lake City backed the bid of the Idaho Television Corporation. A construction permit was granted to Idaho Television Corporation on May 26, 1971.^[8]

The station signed on February 1, 1974, as KITC, representing its ownership. It was delayed a month by the collapse of the tower for Pocatello sister station KPTO (changed before launch to KPVI) during construction.^[9] After 21 years and two false starts, Boise had full service from all three major networks for the first time.^[10] On April 15,^[8] KITC changed its call sign to KIVI. At that time, the station opened its Nampa studios, after having begun broadcasting from two mobile homes, and began producing local news programming on April 27, the same day that KPVI launched.^[1]

Idaho Television Company sold KIVI, along with KPVI in Pocatello, to Futura Titanium Corporation in 1977.^[11] Futura, in turn, sold the station to the Evening Post Publishing Company in 1981,^[12] and Evening Post struck a deal to sell KIVI to Milwaukee-based Journal Communications in 2001,^[13] with the deal closing in 2002.

While KIVI had operated a translator in the Magic Valley since 1985—despite the later existence of KKVI, a full-power ABC affiliate and satellite of KPVI established in 1989—an affiliation shuffle in January 1996, in which KPVI became an NBC affiliate but KKVI instead switched to Fox, led to the upgrading of translator K68CO to semi-satellite KSAW-LP, airing its own commercials.

On July 1, 2008, it was reported Banks Broadcasting had agreed to sell KNIN-TV (channel 9) to Journal Communications, which would create Boise's first television duopoly.^[14][15] On November 10, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) initially rejected the application.^[16] Shortly afterward, Banks Broadcasting filed an appeal. The FCC reversed its decision to reject the deal on January 16, 2009.^[17] The purchase closed on April 24, at which point KNIN vacated its longtime studios on West Bannock Street in downtown Boise and was integrated into KIVI's facilities in Nampa.^[18]

On July 30, 2014, it was announced that the E. W. Scripps Company would acquire Journal Communications in an all-stock transaction. The combined firm retained the companies' broadcast holdings and spun off their print assets as Journal Media Group.^[19] Originally, KIVI-TV, KNIN-TV and five radio stations were not included in the merger; in September, Journal filed to transfer these stations to Journal/Scripps Divestiture Trust (with Kiel Media Group as trustee).^[20][21] The merger was completed on April 1, 2015.^[22][23] Scripps retained KIVI and the five radio stations, but not KNIN.^[24] However, KIVI continued to provide services and facilities to KNIN, which was sold to Raycom Media and then Gray Television,^[25][26] until Gray sold the station to Marquee Broadcasting in 2023.^[27]

KIVI's second subchannel became "Boise 6" in October 2023, as Scripps acquired local rights to air the Vegas Golden Knights.^[28]

The station's signal is multiplexed:

KIVI shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 6, on June 19, 2009, one week later. All of Journal's television stations (including KIVI) added or regained the "-TV" suffix. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 24, using virtual channel 6.^[33]

• K32KO-DGarden Valley
• K27DX-DMcCall
• K16JZ-DMcDermitt, NV
• K03ET-D Terrace Lakes