IDAHO FALLS, IDAHO: ABC affiliate KIFI-TV is extending its reach of its signal. The station received FCC approval to build a new transmitter facility to serve the Teton Valley area. The communities of Driggs; Alta, Wyo.; and parts of Tetonia and Victor--all near the Wyoming border.
“We have been working with the Federal Communications Commission to get quick approval to build a new transmitter in an existing facility on Relay Ridge,” said KIFI News Group General Manager Mark Danielson. He was quoted on the station’s Web site. “The FCC granted that request last week, authorizing KIFI to build the site--K47MK-D--immediately in order to serve those communities.”
Danielson said he was already taking delivery of equipment at the station’s main studio. He said the engineering team intended to have the transmitter up and running before Christmas, barring extreme weather or unforeseen events. The main feed, Local News 8 in HD, will be on virtual channel 8.1; Telemundo East Idaho on 8.2; and CW East Idaho on 8.3.
The new transmitter site is expected to stabilize KIFI’s signal for the entire Jackson Hole, Wyo., area as well as extending it into the Teton Valley. Danielson said he intends to maintain KIFI’s old analog transmitter--K05GU--licensed to the Grand Targhee Resort for the foreseeable future
