KUOK - Digital Programming

Digital Programming

Digital channels

Because it was granted an original construction permit after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997, the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, at the end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations, KUOK would have been required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal (called a "flash-cut").

According to the station's DTV status report, "On December 8, 2008, the licensee's parent corporation filed a petition for bankruptcy relief under chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy code... This station must obtain post-petition financing and court approval before digital facilities may be constructed. The station will cease analogue broadcasting on June 12, 2009, regardless of whether digital facilities are operational by that date. The station will file authority to remain silent if so required by the FCC."

While the DTV Delay Act extended this deadline to June 12, 2009, Equity had applied for an extension of the digital construction permit in order to retain the broadcast license after the station goes dark. Though Tyler Media purchased KUOK and its repeaters in 2009, the main KUOK signal had not been added as a digital subchannel on sister station and Telemundo affiliate KTUZ-TV (channel 30) for viewers in Oklahoma City with an over-the-air digital receiver. In December 2011, KCHM-CA ended analog operations and flash-cut its signal to digital (becoming KUOK-CD), allowing Oklahoma City viewers who previously lost access to the station following the digital transition to view the station over-the-air; the KUOK-CD signal covers a 32-mile radius that includes the entire Oklahoma City metropolitan area.