XETV
Encyclopedia
XETV is a television station licensed
to Tijuana, Baja California
, Mexico
, serving as the CW Television Network
affiliate for the San Diego, California
area across the international border in the United States
. XETV's studios and offices are located in the Kearny Mesa section of San Diego, and its transmitter is located on Mount San Antonio in Tijuana.
The station is owned by Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa
, and its programming and sales rights are held by Bay City Television, a California corporation owned by Televisa. XETV is also carried on DirecTV
as a distant CW affiliate.
. Even after the Federal Communications Commission
's Sixth Report and Order lifted a four-year-long freeze on awarding television construction permits in 1952, signing on a third television station in San Diego proved difficult. While San Diego and Los Angeles are not close enough that one city's stations can be seen clearly over the air in the other, the unique southern California geography results in tropospheric propagation. This phenomenon makes co-channel interference a big enough problem that the two cities must share the VHF band.
By 1952, San Diego (awarded channels 8 and 10) and Los Angeles (assigned channels 2
, 4
, 5
, 7
, 9
, 11
, and 13) already had all but three VHF channels covered. Channel 3 initially had been deemed unusable as a signal because KEYT-TV
in Santa Barbara
would travel in a straight line across the Pacific Ocean
(it ultimately would be allocated to Tijuana Once TV
outlet XHTJB-TV
). San Diego's first two television stations, KFMB-TV
(channel 8) and KFSD-TV (channel 10, now KGTV
), were among the last construction permits issued before the FCC freeze went into effect. The UHF band was not seen as a viable option. Television set makers were not required to include UHF tuners until 1964. Additionally, several portions of San Diego County are very mountainous, and UHF signals do not carry very well across rugged terrain.
Complicating matters, the Mexican authorities had allocated two VHF channels to neighboring Tijuana—channels 6 and 12. Since these were the last two VHF channels left in the area, the FCC did not accept any new construction permits from San Diego as a courtesy to Mexican authorities. One of Tijuana's frequencies, channel 6, had originally been assigned to San Diego before the freeze; it was reassigned to Mexico as a result of the Sixth Report and Order.
Although San Diego was large enough to support three television stations, it soon became obvious that the only way to get a third VHF station on the air would be to use one of Tijuana's allocations. The Azcarraga family, owners of Telesistema Mexicano
, forerunner of Televisa, quickly snapped up the license for channel 6, and signed on XETV for the first time on January 6, 1953. It is the San Diego area's second-oldest TV station, following KFMB-TV which signed on the air on May 16, 1949.
At its launch, XETV was an independent station, broadcasting programs in both English and Spanish from its studio facilities in Tijuana. Channel 6 also established a business office in San Diego, which handled sales accounts from north of the border. Tijuana did not get its own all-Spanish station until 1960, when the Azcarragas signed on sister station XEWT-TV
on channel 12. Even though XETV is licensed to Tijuana and owned by Mexican interests, for all intents and purposes it has been a San Diego station from the beginning.
In 1956, XETV became an ABC
affiliate. ABC was carried part-time by KFMB-TV and KFSD-TV at the time, but ABC immediately made XETV its exclusive San Diego affiliate. Around this time (if not earlier), the Spanish programs disappeared from the schedule, and XETV has broadcast almost exclusively in English since then. However, the FCC did not allow American networks to transmit their signals to stations located outside the United States. As a result, ABC programs were recorded (on film, kinescope
, and later videotape) from a location north of the border and then physically transported to channel 6's facilities in Tijuana, a practice known in the television industry as "bicycling". While this arrangement legally circumvented the station's inability to acquire a direct network feed, it left XETV unable to carry live network programming, such as breaking news events and some sports coverage.
During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network
.
-based firm which owned UHF independent station KCST-TV (channel 39, now KNSD
), contested it and began a lengthy battle to take San Diego's ABC affiliation from XETV. KCST claimed that it was inappropriate for an American television network to affiliate with a Mexican-licensed station when there was a viable American station available. In 1972, the FCC, siding with KCST, revoked channel 6's permission to carry ABC programming. The wording of the FCC decision forced ABC to move its programming to KCST, effective July 1, 1973. Dissatisfied with being forced onto a UHF station, ABC stayed with KCST for only four years until moving to KGTV in 1977.
XETV once again became an independent station, with a standard program schedule comprising syndicated offerings, off-network programs, movies, and children's shows. Also, because Mexican broadcast regulations did not limit commercial time (as FCC regulations did at the time) every Sunday, the station, in a forerunner to future changes in the U.S., became, in effect, the first station in North America to carry an infomercial
, which consisted of a one-hour advertisement of listings of local houses for sale. As FCC regulations at that time limited television stations to 18 minutes of commercials in an hour, such a program could not have been run on U.S. television at that time.
In 1976 XETV settled into a new business office on Ronson Road in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, while the station's broadcast operations remained in Tijuana. Channel 6's Tijuana-based production and technical operations eventually moved from Mexico to an expanded wing of this facility.
In 1986 XETV became one of the very first stations outside of the original group of six former Metromedia
stations (which had been purchased by Fox's parent company, News Corporation
, earlier that year) to join the newly-launched Fox Broadcasting Company
as a charter affiliate. Similar to its earlier arrangement with ABC, channel 6 had to receive pre-recorded Fox programs on tape, transported physically across the international border to the station's Tijuana broadcast facilities. When Fox acquired the broadcast rights
to the NFL's National Football Conference
in 1994, the FCC soon granted a waiver of the rules and allowed Fox to transmit a direct network feed to XETV.
In November 1995, then-UPN
affiliate KUSI-TV
tried unsuccessfully to wrestle the Fox affiliation away from XETV by filing an appeal, as cited in the United States Court of Appeals
case Channel 51 of San Diego, Inc. vs. FCC and Fox Television Stations, Inc. 79 F.3d 1187
The permit was granted to Fox on behalf of XETV, and the case was settled on March 26, 1996.
During the 1993-1997 television seasons, XETV also aired PTEN
programming (most notably Babylon 5
), although due to the Fox franchise and logistical reasons, these programs were shown on tape-delay (often on Saturday afternoons) along with other syndicated programs.
announced that its San Diego station, CW affiliate KSWB-TV
, would be switching to Fox in August 2008. Fox cited concerns with airing on a Mexican station, even though XETV had been with Fox since the network's launch and had broadcast almost entirely in English for over half a century. Station officials did not know about the affiliation change until the switch announcement was made public.
The fate of both XETV and the CW affiliation for the San Diego market remained unclear until July 2, 2008, when channel 6 announced that it would be joining the CW. On July 19, 2008, the station began dropping references to Fox, referring to itself as "San Diego 6, your new home for the CW". The San Diego 6 logo incorporates a miniature CW logo in its top left corner for news programming; otherwise setting it off to the right in proportionate size. Instead of being the standard green color, the CW logo is colored a bright blue in non-news advertising to match the station logo's blue, gold and white color scheme.
XETV, upon switching networks, replaced KSWB-TV
on DirecTV
as Standard Definition
only "CW-W" in markets without a CW affiliate on the system.
rules. This means that local cable providers are not required to carry XETV, even if the TV station requests to be carried under this provision. However, the station is carried by Cox Cable, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T u-verse in San Diego and by Cablemas in Tijuana.
XETV has broadcast almost entirely in English since 1956, if not earlier. The only exceptions are station identifications, the compulsory playing of El Himno Nacional Mexicano
(the Mexican national anthem), technical disclaimers, and public service announcements.
XETV broadcasts 24 hours a day. However, for legal sign-on purposes and as required by Mexican regulations (specifically Article 41 of Mexico's Law on the National Arms, Flag, and Anthem
), its broadcast day begins at 5:00 a.m. Pacific time
Monday through Saturday and 6:00 a.m. on Sundays; this begins with the playing of both El Himno Nacional Mexicano and The Star Spangled Banner (the national anthem of the United States), followed by the customary operational information and disclaimer, read in both English and Spanish.
Since the middle 1990s, XETV's production operations have been based in the United States. The station's production, news and sales operations are owned by Televisa subsidiary Bay City Television, while Televisa itself owns the master control and transmitter facility on Mount San Antonio in Tijuana. Local programming is fed from San Diego to Mount San Antonio by way of microwave link, and network and syndicated shows via satellite. There is currently no local programming on XETV which originates from Tijuana.
Certain Spanish-language programming airs only on the station's analog signal to meet the station's Mexican license requirements. These include PSAs which air throughout the day, as well as special addresses from the President of Mexico
. These programs do not air on XETV's cable or digital services. During the analog era, preemptions for mandatory presidential addresses were often a source of frustration on the American side of the border. They still draw complaints from the few viewers who still watch the station in analog, as well as cable viewers whose systems pick up XETV's analog signal.
Because of its San Diego broadcast area, XETV also voluntarily complies with the FCC's policies on public service and children's E/I
programming.
In the early-2000s, XETV began transmitting a digital signal on channel 23, becoming the first San Diego area station to go digital. It was also the first digital station in Mexico because of its Tijuana transmitter; no other Mexican TV station had yet begun digital operations at that time. It maps on digital tuners in both countries as virtual channel
6.1 through PSIP technology.
While the United States completed its transition to full-power digital television in 2009, Mexico is transitioning over several years in stages by population areas, from the largest to the smallest, and is expected to be completed by 2021. The Tijuana metropolitan area is not required to go all-digital until 2016, so XETV did not have to discontinue analog broadcasting when American full-power stations did.
When the original American transition date of February 17, 2009 came near, XETV had expressed intentions to follow other San Diego-area stations in going digital-only. While the US deadline of February 17 had been extended to June 12, 2009 and in any case only applied to American-licensed stations, plans announced were to voluntarily make "San Diego 6" programming digital-only, with the former analog signal re-purposed as a repeater for Mexico City
's XEQ-TV
.
Claims on XETV's website that the station was indeed going to be digital-only were rescinded on February 17, 2009 as the station decided to delay cutting off its analog signal until after it secured approval from the Mexican government. The station's management has now claimed that XETV has decided to maintain its analog signal to benefit Mexican viewers.
, later a San Diego congressman, was a news director in XETV's early years). A 10 p.m. newscast was started in 1999, and later that year, a local morning news show followed. The 10 p.m. news was initially a half-hour show, but expanded to an hour in 2002. The 10 p.m. broadcast was dropped back to 33 minutes in 2009. The station continued its news broadcasts under its CW affiliation.
XETV is currently the only CW affiliate with a late evening newscast in the traditional late news timeslot (which on the California side of the market, is at 11 p.m. Pacific Time), which was added after the affiliation switch (though the 11 p.m. newscast, titled "11 @ 11", is only 11 minutes in length, delaying programming by 11 minutes), as well as one of the very few CW affiliates with a weekend morning newscast.
On March 9, 2009, XETV shut down its sports department, and sports anchors C.S. Keys and Andrea Nakano and sports producer Mike Lamar were fired by the station's then vice president and general manager Richard Doutre Jones. Doutre Jones said in a statement, "This had nothing do with the people in the sports department; it had everything to do with return on investment... I think people depend on us for weather and news; I don’t think sports is what they think of."
Doutre Jones left the station in June 2010 and was replaced by veteran sales manager Chuck Dunning. .
On April 23, 2011, XETV became the sixth television station in the San Diego market to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition.
was badly beaten by Sam Suleiman and Rosa Barraza, a husband-and-wife team accused of a real estate scam being investigated by the reporter. The incident was captured on tape and shown on many news programs throughout the nation.
Weather team
Reporters
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
to Tijuana, Baja California
Tijuana
Tijuana is the largest city on the Baja California Peninsula and center of the Tijuana metropolitan area, part of the international San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area. An industrial and financial center of Mexico, Tijuana exerts a strong influence on economics, education, culture, art, and politics...
, Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, serving as the CW Television Network
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
affiliate for the San Diego, California
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
area across the international border in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. XETV's studios and offices are located in the Kearny Mesa section of San Diego, and its transmitter is located on Mount San Antonio in Tijuana.
The station is owned by Mexican media giant Grupo Televisa
Televisa
Televisa is a Mexican multimedia conglomerate, the largest mass media company in Latin America and in the Spanish-speaking world. It is a major international entertainment business, with much of its programming airing in the United States on Univision, with which it has an exclusive contract...
, and its programming and sales rights are held by Bay City Television, a California corporation owned by Televisa. XETV is also carried on DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
as a distant CW affiliate.
Early years
XETV came into existence because of a technical quirk affecting stations in San Diego and Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Even after the Federal Communications Commission
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
's Sixth Report and Order lifted a four-year-long freeze on awarding television construction permits in 1952, signing on a third television station in San Diego proved difficult. While San Diego and Los Angeles are not close enough that one city's stations can be seen clearly over the air in the other, the unique southern California geography results in tropospheric propagation. This phenomenon makes co-channel interference a big enough problem that the two cities must share the VHF band.
By 1952, San Diego (awarded channels 8 and 10) and Los Angeles (assigned channels 2
KCBS-TV
KCBS-TV, channel 2, is an owned-and-operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Los Angeles, California. KCBS-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KCAL-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter...
, 4
KNBC
KNBC, channel 4, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, licensed to Los Angeles, California, USA. KNBC's studios and offices are located within the NBC Studios complex in Burbank, California, and its transmitter is located on Mount Wilson...
, 5
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
, 7
KABC-TV
KABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...
, 9
KCAL-TV
KCAL-TV, channel 9, is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, USA, owned by the CBS Corporation. KCAL-TV shares its studio facilities with KCBS-TV inside CBS Studio Center in the Studio City section of Los Angeles, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.-Digital...
, 11
KTTV
KTTV, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Los Angeles, California. Serving the vast Los Angeles metropolitan area, KTTV is a sister station to KCOP , Los Angeles' MyNetworkTV station...
, and 13) already had all but three VHF channels covered. Channel 3 initially had been deemed unusable as a signal because KEYT-TV
KEYT-TV
KEYT-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, and San Luis Obispo, California areas. Licensed to Santa Barbara, California the station broadcasts on digital UHF channel 27 and uses VHF channel 3 as its virtual channel...
in Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
would travel in a straight line across the Pacific Ocean
Pacific Ocean
The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the Earth's oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic in the north to the Southern Ocean in the south, bounded by Asia and Australia in the west, and the Americas in the east.At 165.2 million square kilometres in area, this largest division of the World...
(it ultimately would be allocated to Tijuana Once TV
Once TV
Once TV México, Spanish for México Eleven TV is a Mexican educational broadcast television network owned by Instituto Politecnico Nacional. The network's flagship station is XEIPN channel 11 in Mexico, Distrito Federal. It broadcasts across Mexico through local television affiliates, cable...
outlet XHTJB-TV
XHTJB-TV
XHTJB is the television call sign for the local Once TV repeater in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico....
). San Diego's first two television stations, KFMB-TV
KFMB-TV
KFMB-TV is the local CBS television affiliate in San Diego, California. Its studios are located on Engineer Road in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego along with its sister radio stations, AM 760 and FM 100.7...
(channel 8) and KFSD-TV (channel 10, now KGTV
KGTV
KGTV, digital channel 10, is the ABC television affiliate in San Diego, California. The station can be seen on Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T U-verse on cable channel 10 in standard definition. Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable carry its high definition signal on cable...
), were among the last construction permits issued before the FCC freeze went into effect. The UHF band was not seen as a viable option. Television set makers were not required to include UHF tuners until 1964. Additionally, several portions of San Diego County are very mountainous, and UHF signals do not carry very well across rugged terrain.
Complicating matters, the Mexican authorities had allocated two VHF channels to neighboring Tijuana—channels 6 and 12. Since these were the last two VHF channels left in the area, the FCC did not accept any new construction permits from San Diego as a courtesy to Mexican authorities. One of Tijuana's frequencies, channel 6, had originally been assigned to San Diego before the freeze; it was reassigned to Mexico as a result of the Sixth Report and Order.
Although San Diego was large enough to support three television stations, it soon became obvious that the only way to get a third VHF station on the air would be to use one of Tijuana's allocations. The Azcarraga family, owners of Telesistema Mexicano
Telesistema Mexicano
Telesistema Mexicano is the predecessor of Televisa. Telesistema Mexicano was a television alliance made up of the independently owned television flagship stations XEW Canal 2, XHTV Canal 4, and XHGC Canal 5 in Mexico, Distrito Federal.-History:...
, forerunner of Televisa, quickly snapped up the license for channel 6, and signed on XETV for the first time on January 6, 1953. It is the San Diego area's second-oldest TV station, following KFMB-TV which signed on the air on May 16, 1949.
At its launch, XETV was an independent station, broadcasting programs in both English and Spanish from its studio facilities in Tijuana. Channel 6 also established a business office in San Diego, which handled sales accounts from north of the border. Tijuana did not get its own all-Spanish station until 1960, when the Azcarragas signed on sister station XEWT-TV
XEWT-TV
XEWT-TV is the television call sign for the Televisa television station in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Informally called "Tu Canal" , the channel can also be seen in most parts of the San Diego market. It is also available on Ku band via the SatMex 5 satellite at 116.8°W...
on channel 12. Even though XETV is licensed to Tijuana and owned by Mexican interests, for all intents and purposes it has been a San Diego station from the beginning.
In 1956, XETV became an ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate. ABC was carried part-time by KFMB-TV and KFSD-TV at the time, but ABC immediately made XETV its exclusive San Diego affiliate. Around this time (if not earlier), the Spanish programs disappeared from the schedule, and XETV has broadcast almost exclusively in English since then. However, the FCC did not allow American networks to transmit their signals to stations located outside the United States. As a result, ABC programs were recorded (on film, kinescope
Kinescope
Kinescope , shortened to kine , also known as telerecording in Britain, is a recording of a television program made by filming the picture from a video monitor...
, and later videotape) from a location north of the border and then physically transported to channel 6's facilities in Tijuana, a practice known in the television industry as "bicycling". While this arrangement legally circumvented the station's inability to acquire a direct network feed, it left XETV unable to carry live network programming, such as breaking news events and some sports coverage.
During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network
NTA Film Network
The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956. The network was not a full-time television network like CBS, NBC, or ABC. Rather, it operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first-run television programs from major Hollywood studios...
.
Transition
In 1968, ABC renewed its permit to provide programming to XETV with the FCC. Bass Broadcasting, a TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
-based firm which owned UHF independent station KCST-TV (channel 39, now KNSD
KNSD
KNSD is the NBC television station based in San Diego, California. It is owned by a joint venture of NBCUniversal and LIN TV . However, because NBCUniversal has majority control, KNSD is run as an NBC owned and operated station...
), contested it and began a lengthy battle to take San Diego's ABC affiliation from XETV. KCST claimed that it was inappropriate for an American television network to affiliate with a Mexican-licensed station when there was a viable American station available. In 1972, the FCC, siding with KCST, revoked channel 6's permission to carry ABC programming. The wording of the FCC decision forced ABC to move its programming to KCST, effective July 1, 1973. Dissatisfied with being forced onto a UHF station, ABC stayed with KCST for only four years until moving to KGTV in 1977.
XETV once again became an independent station, with a standard program schedule comprising syndicated offerings, off-network programs, movies, and children's shows. Also, because Mexican broadcast regulations did not limit commercial time (as FCC regulations did at the time) every Sunday, the station, in a forerunner to future changes in the U.S., became, in effect, the first station in North America to carry an infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...
, which consisted of a one-hour advertisement of listings of local houses for sale. As FCC regulations at that time limited television stations to 18 minutes of commercials in an hour, such a program could not have been run on U.S. television at that time.
In 1976 XETV settled into a new business office on Ronson Road in the Kearny Mesa neighborhood of San Diego, while the station's broadcast operations remained in Tijuana. Channel 6's Tijuana-based production and technical operations eventually moved from Mexico to an expanded wing of this facility.
As a Fox affiliate
Metromedia
Metromedia was a media company that owned radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and owned Orion Pictures from 1986-1997.- Overview :...
stations (which had been purchased by Fox's parent company, News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
, earlier that year) to join the newly-launched Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
as a charter affiliate. Similar to its earlier arrangement with ABC, channel 6 had to receive pre-recorded Fox programs on tape, transported physically across the international border to the station's Tijuana broadcast facilities. When Fox acquired the broadcast rights
NFL on FOX
NFL on Fox is the brand name of the Fox Broadcasting Company's coverage of the National Football League's National Football Conference games, produced by Fox Sports...
to the NFL's National Football Conference
National Football Conference
The National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...
in 1994, the FCC soon granted a waiver of the rules and allowed Fox to transmit a direct network feed to XETV.
In November 1995, then-UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
affiliate KUSI-TV
KUSI-TV
KUSI-TV, virtual channel 51.1, is an independent television station based in San Diego, California. The station is owned and operated by Channel 51 of San Diego, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of McKinnon Broadcasting...
tried unsuccessfully to wrestle the Fox affiliation away from XETV by filing an appeal, as cited in the United States Court of Appeals
United States court of appeals
The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal court system...
case Channel 51 of San Diego, Inc. vs. FCC and Fox Television Stations, Inc. 79 F.3d 1187
Case citation
Case citation is the system used in many countries to identify the decisions in past court cases, either in special series of books called reporters or law reports, or in a 'neutral' form which will identify a decision wherever it was reported...
The permit was granted to Fox on behalf of XETV, and the case was settled on March 26, 1996.
During the 1993-1997 television seasons, XETV also aired PTEN
Prime Time Entertainment Network
The Prime Time Entertainment Network was a United States television network launched in 1993 by the Prime Time Consortium, a joint venture between Warner Bros. Domestic Television and the Chris-Craft group of independent stations...
programming (most notably Babylon 5
Babylon 5
Babylon 5 is an American science fiction television series created, produced and largely written by J. Michael Straczynski. The show centers on a space station named Babylon 5: a focal point for politics, diplomacy, and conflict during the years 2257–2262...
), although due to the Fox franchise and logistical reasons, these programs were shown on tape-delay (often on Saturday afternoons) along with other syndicated programs.
San Diego 6
In March 2008 Tribune BroadcastingTribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
announced that its San Diego station, CW affiliate KSWB-TV
KSWB-TV
KSWB-TV, virtual channel 69, is a Fox-affiliated television station in San Diego, California. It broadcasts a 720p high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter southeast of Spring Valley...
, would be switching to Fox in August 2008. Fox cited concerns with airing on a Mexican station, even though XETV had been with Fox since the network's launch and had broadcast almost entirely in English for over half a century. Station officials did not know about the affiliation change until the switch announcement was made public.
The fate of both XETV and the CW affiliation for the San Diego market remained unclear until July 2, 2008, when channel 6 announced that it would be joining the CW. On July 19, 2008, the station began dropping references to Fox, referring to itself as "San Diego 6, your new home for the CW". The San Diego 6 logo incorporates a miniature CW logo in its top left corner for news programming; otherwise setting it off to the right in proportionate size. Instead of being the standard green color, the CW logo is colored a bright blue in non-news advertising to match the station logo's blue, gold and white color scheme.
XETV, upon switching networks, replaced KSWB-TV
KSWB-TV
KSWB-TV, virtual channel 69, is a Fox-affiliated television station in San Diego, California. It broadcasts a 720p high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter southeast of Spring Valley...
on DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
as Standard Definition
Standard-definition television
Sorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...
only "CW-W" in markets without a CW affiliate on the system.
Special broadcast authority
Because XETV is licensed to Tijuana, it is not covered under the FCC's must-carryMust-carry
In cable television, governments apply a must-carry regulation stating that locally-licensed television stations must be carried on a cable provider's system.- Canada :...
rules. This means that local cable providers are not required to carry XETV, even if the TV station requests to be carried under this provision. However, the station is carried by Cox Cable, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T u-verse in San Diego and by Cablemas in Tijuana.
XETV has broadcast almost entirely in English since 1956, if not earlier. The only exceptions are station identifications, the compulsory playing of El Himno Nacional Mexicano
Himno Nacional Mexicano
The National Anthem of Mexico started being used in 1854, although it was not officially adopted by law until 1943. The lyrics of the national anthem, which allude to Mexican victories in the heat of battle and cries of defending the homeland, were composed by poet Francisco González Bocanegra in...
(the Mexican national anthem), technical disclaimers, and public service announcements.
XETV broadcasts 24 hours a day. However, for legal sign-on purposes and as required by Mexican regulations (specifically Article 41 of Mexico's Law on the National Arms, Flag, and Anthem
Law on the National Arms, Flag, and Anthem
The Law on the National Coat of Arms, Flag and Anthem is a set of rules and guidelines passed by the Mexican government on the display and use of the flag , coat of arms and the anthem . The original law was passed in 1984 and it contains 7 chapters, a preamble and a section that contains the...
), its broadcast day begins at 5:00 a.m. Pacific time
Pacific Time Zone
The Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
Monday through Saturday and 6:00 a.m. on Sundays; this begins with the playing of both El Himno Nacional Mexicano and The Star Spangled Banner (the national anthem of the United States), followed by the customary operational information and disclaimer, read in both English and Spanish.
Since the middle 1990s, XETV's production operations have been based in the United States. The station's production, news and sales operations are owned by Televisa subsidiary Bay City Television, while Televisa itself owns the master control and transmitter facility on Mount San Antonio in Tijuana. Local programming is fed from San Diego to Mount San Antonio by way of microwave link, and network and syndicated shows via satellite. There is currently no local programming on XETV which originates from Tijuana.
Certain Spanish-language programming airs only on the station's analog signal to meet the station's Mexican license requirements. These include PSAs which air throughout the day, as well as special addresses from the President of Mexico
President of Mexico
The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...
. These programs do not air on XETV's cable or digital services. During the analog era, preemptions for mandatory presidential addresses were often a source of frustration on the American side of the border. They still draw complaints from the few viewers who still watch the station in analog, as well as cable viewers whose systems pick up XETV's analog signal.
Because of its San Diego broadcast area, XETV also voluntarily complies with the FCC's policies on public service and children's E/I
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
programming.
Digital programming
| Channel | Video | Aspect Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,... |
Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.1 | 1080i 1080i 1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels... |
16:9 16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ... |
Main XETV programming / The CW |
In the early-2000s, XETV began transmitting a digital signal on channel 23, becoming the first San Diego area station to go digital. It was also the first digital station in Mexico because of its Tijuana transmitter; no other Mexican TV station had yet begun digital operations at that time. It maps on digital tuners in both countries as virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
6.1 through PSIP technology.
While the United States completed its transition to full-power digital television in 2009, Mexico is transitioning over several years in stages by population areas, from the largest to the smallest, and is expected to be completed by 2021. The Tijuana metropolitan area is not required to go all-digital until 2016, so XETV did not have to discontinue analog broadcasting when American full-power stations did.
When the original American transition date of February 17, 2009 came near, XETV had expressed intentions to follow other San Diego-area stations in going digital-only. While the US deadline of February 17 had been extended to June 12, 2009 and in any case only applied to American-licensed stations, plans announced were to voluntarily make "San Diego 6" programming digital-only, with the former analog signal re-purposed as a repeater for Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
's XEQ-TV
XEQ-TV
XEQ is a Televisa TV station, based in Mexico, Distrito Federal. XEQ is the flagship television station of the Galavisión network ....
.
Claims on XETV's website that the station was indeed going to be digital-only were rescinded on February 17, 2009 as the station decided to delay cutting off its analog signal until after it secured approval from the Mexican government. The station's management has now claimed that XETV has decided to maintain its analog signal to benefit Mexican viewers.
News operation
XETV launched a news operation in 1999, as part of its Fox affiliation agreement to broadcast local news. It had previously had a newscast from sign-on in 1953 until 1967 (Lionel Van DeerlinLionel Van Deerlin
Lionel Van Deerlin was an American politician who served as a Democratic United States Representative from California from 1963 to 1981, representing a San Diego area district.-Biography:...
, later a San Diego congressman, was a news director in XETV's early years). A 10 p.m. newscast was started in 1999, and later that year, a local morning news show followed. The 10 p.m. news was initially a half-hour show, but expanded to an hour in 2002. The 10 p.m. broadcast was dropped back to 33 minutes in 2009. The station continued its news broadcasts under its CW affiliation.
XETV is currently the only CW affiliate with a late evening newscast in the traditional late news timeslot (which on the California side of the market, is at 11 p.m. Pacific Time), which was added after the affiliation switch (though the 11 p.m. newscast, titled "11 @ 11", is only 11 minutes in length, delaying programming by 11 minutes), as well as one of the very few CW affiliates with a weekend morning newscast.
On March 9, 2009, XETV shut down its sports department, and sports anchors C.S. Keys and Andrea Nakano and sports producer Mike Lamar were fired by the station's then vice president and general manager Richard Doutre Jones. Doutre Jones said in a statement, "This had nothing do with the people in the sports department; it had everything to do with return on investment... I think people depend on us for weather and news; I don’t think sports is what they think of."
Doutre Jones left the station in June 2010 and was replaced by veteran sales manager Chuck Dunning. .
On April 23, 2011, XETV became the sixth television station in the San Diego market to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition.
National attention
On September 5, 2006, XETV's news team gained national attention, when investigative reporter John MattesJohn Mattes
John Mattes is an investigative journalist who has won seven Emmys, one Golden Mike award, one Edward R Murrow award and 10 press club awards for exposing fraud and corruption in government. Mattes holds an advanced degree in Communication Research from the University of Wisconsin and a law degree...
was badly beaten by Sam Suleiman and Rosa Barraza, a husband-and-wife team accused of a real estate scam being investigated by the reporter. The incident was captured on tape and shown on many news programs throughout the nation.
Newscast titles
- Channel 6 News Up to Date (1970s–1982)
- Channel 6 News (1982–1986)
- Fox 6 News (1999–2008)
- San Diego 6 News (2008–present)
Station slogans
- See the Difference! (1984–1987)
- Local News. Fox Attitude. (1999–2002)
- Your News at Ten / Your News in the Morning. (2002)
- Fair. Balanced. (2002–2004; similar to "Fair and Balanced" slogan used by Fox News ChannelFox News ChannelFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
) - The Team That Knows San Diego (2004–2006)
- Your Station for Balanced News (2006–present)
Current on-air staff
Anchors- Marc Bailey - weekday mornings (5:30-9 a.m.) and San Diego Living at 9-10 a.m.
- Courtney Dwyer - weekend mornings (8-10 a.m.)
- Lynda Martin - weekday fill-in anchor
- Kristen Mosteller- weekday mornings at 5 a.m. and San Diego Living 9-10 a.m.
- Heather Myers - weekday mornings (5:30-9 a.m.)
- Jim Patton - weeknights at 10 and 11 p.m.
- Jeff Powers - weekend morning (8-10 a.m.) and weekends at 10 p.m.
- Estha Trouw - freelance anchor and reporter
Weather team
- Sabrina Fein (AMSAmerican Meteorological SocietyThe American Meteorological Society promotes the development and dissemination of information and education on the atmospheric and related oceanic and hydrologic sciences and the advancement of their professional applications. Founded in 1919, the American Meteorological Society has a membership...
Seal of Approval) - chief meteorologist; weeknights at 10 and 11 p.m. (on maternity leave) - C.S. Keys (AMS Seal of Approval) - meteorologist/traffic anchor; weekday mornings (5-9 a.m.)
- Renee Kohn- weeknights at 10 and 11 p.m.
- Brooke Landau - weather anchor; weekend mornings (8-10 a.m.) and weekends at 10 p.m.
- Amy Cabrera - fill-in
Reporters
- Amanda Burden - reporter
- Sharon Chen - reporter
- Carlos Delgado - general assignment reporter
- Mike Dinow - general assignment reporter
- Susana Franco - reporter
- Ruben Galvan - weekday morning reporter
- Kelly Gillepsie - entertainment reporter
- Bobby Kaple- general assignment reporter
- Kristen Mosteller-general assignment reporter; also fill-in anchor
- Candice Nguyen - reporter
- Sherri Palmeri - "Day Trippin' with Sherri" feature/travel reporter
- Brandi Powell- reporter
- Derek Stahl-general assignment reporter
- Ken Stern - market watch reporter
Former on-air staff
- John MattesJohn MattesJohn Mattes is an investigative journalist who has won seven Emmys, one Golden Mike award, one Edward R Murrow award and 10 press club awards for exposing fraud and corruption in government. Mattes holds an advanced degree in Communication Research from the University of Wisconsin and a law degree...
- Aloha TaylorKu'ualoha Taylor-External links:*...
- chief meteorologist (2006–2009) now at KSWB-TVKSWB-TVKSWB-TV, virtual channel 69, is a Fox-affiliated television station in San Diego, California. It broadcasts a 720p high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter southeast of Spring Valley... - Maria Arcega-Dunn - Reporter (now at KCPQKCPQKCPQ, channel 13, is the Fox television affiliate licensed to Tacoma, Washington serving the Seattle/Tacoma television market, owned by the Tribune Company...
) - Angie Austin- Weather Anchor now at KWGN
- Brooke Beare - Anchor now at KPSP
- Angela Chee- Anchor
- Eric Collins- reporter
- Elizabeth Espinosa- reporter now at KTLAKTLAKTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
- Amanda Grace- Anchor now at WHDH
- Sandra Maas- Anchor now at KUSI
- Chrissy Russo- weather anchor now at KSWBKSWB-TVKSWB-TV, virtual channel 69, is a Fox-affiliated television station in San Diego, California. It broadcasts a 720p high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter southeast of Spring Valley...
- Anita Lightfoot - Anchor and reporter
- Elex Michaelson- Anchor and reporter now at KABCKABC-TVKABC-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, licensed to Los Angeles, California. KABC-TV's studios are located in Glendale, California...
- Lynn Stuart- reporter and fill-in anchor now at KSWBKSWB-TVKSWB-TV, virtual channel 69, is a Fox-affiliated television station in San Diego, California. It broadcasts a 720p high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter southeast of Spring Valley...
- Jenny Hammel- reporter now at KSWBKSWB-TVKSWB-TV, virtual channel 69, is a Fox-affiliated television station in San Diego, California. It broadcasts a 720p high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter southeast of Spring Valley...
- Brian Christie- Anchor
- Antonio Castelan- reporter now at KNBCKNBCKNBC, channel 4, is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC Television Network, licensed to Los Angeles, California, USA. KNBC's studios and offices are located within the NBC Studios complex in Burbank, California, and its transmitter is located on Mount Wilson...