Broadcast television viewers in two Northern California markets are having to switch stations to watch national network programming from Fox.
Earlier this month, Sinclair Broadcast Group’s KRCR (Channel 7) became the new Fox affiliate in the Chico television market, which also serves the neighboring city of Redding.
For more than three decades, Fox programming aired on KCVU (Channel 20), a television station owned and licensed to Cunningham Broadcasting, whose television stations are entirely operated and controlled by Sinclair.
KRCR has operated KCVU since 2017, when the station was sold to Cunningham. The two stations maintained separate facilities over the years, with KCVU’s administrative offices in Chico and KRCR’s television studios and offices in Redding.
On December 9, the Fox affiliation moved to KRCR full-time, whose main network affiliation is ABC. KRCR airs Fox programming on a digital sub-channel of its main over-the-air signal.
KCVU’s main signal is now affiliated with Sinclair-owned multicast network Roar, and is transmitted by KRCR through a virtual channel. Sinclair’s three other multicast networks — Comet, Charge and The Nest — and Weigel-owned Dabl is broadcast on the over-the-air frequency licensed to KCVU, but appears on digital sub-channels of KCVU to viewers using an antenna.
In a statement, KRCR said viewers may need to re-scan their television sets if they live in the Chico-Redding market to receive Fox and Roar programming moving forward.
Viewers in the North Coast television market are also impacted by the change, since Sinclair and Cunningham distribute their signals from Chico and Redding on separate but co-owned stations in that area.
In Eureka, semi-satellite KAEF (Channel 23, ABC) will now air Fox programming on its second digital sub-channel — matching Fox’s position on KRCR in the Chico-Redding area — and Roar will take over KBVU (Channel 28), which previously served as that market’s Fox affiliate.
Despite the channel switches, the stations in Chico-Redding and the North Coast markets will continue to use “Fox 20” and “Fox 28” as part of their branding.
The affiliation changes will affect cable subscribers, too. In Chico, customers of Comcast’s Xfinity TV will find Fox programming on cable channel 8, while residents in Redding who subscribe to Charter’s Spectrum TV will find Fox on cable channel 14. In Eureka, Spectrum TV customers will find Fox programming on cable channel 5.
ABC and Fox programming remains available on Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, DIRECTV, Dish Network and YouTube TV in both markets.
