KKTV goes multichannel with My Network TV

This fall, KKTV/Channel 11 will be adding a digital subchannel to its broadcast, carrying programs from the new My Network TV channel, along with two extra local newscasts weeknights at 6:30 p.m and every night at 9 p.m.

The new channel, dubbed “MyKKTV,” will be available on channel 11.2 to viewers with digital televisions. KKTV’s regular CBS programming will still be on channel 11.1.

“Digital multicasting is an important step into the future for KKTV,” KKTV general manager Charlie Peterson said in a statement. “As broadcast technology continues to advance, local stations must ensure their viewers have the opportunity to reap the benefits.”

Subchannels are a wrinkle of high definition television technology that allows a station to transmit one or more regular-definition channels alongside its primary programming. Local Fox affiliate KXRM/Channel 21 offers a music video channel called “The Tube” on its digital subchannel, 21.2.

KXRM general manager Steve Dant said digital subchannels are the wave of the future.

“The subchannels are just starting to roll out and this is an early experiment in making that work,” he said. “It’s a ways away in terms of the market being able to receive that.”

KXRM’s “The Tube” is available to viewers who don’t have digital televisions if they subscribe to Adelphia’s digital cable package. KKTV doesn’t have a cable distribution deal for its subchannel yet.

KKTV news director Nick Matesi said the MyKKTV newscasts would be a new program rather than a repeat of the regular 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. news.

“The idea is to present viewers with more choices and opportunities to get their local news,” Matesi said in a statement.

My Network is a side project from Fox originally designed to provide programming to local stations that lost their UPN affiliation when that mini-network joined the WB to become the CW network (the CW also launches in the fall and will be carried locally on KXTU/Channel 57). My Network will provide two hours of primetime programming on weeknights and Saturdays. KKTV will round out the subchannel’s schedule with syndicated programs.