KIFI-TV, virtual and VHF digital channel 8, is a dual ABC/CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States and also serving Pocatello. The station is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG), which also operates dual Dabl/Fox affiliate KIDK (channel 3, also licensed to Idaho Falls) under a shared services agreement (SSA) with owner VistaWest Media, LLC. The two stations share studios on North Yellowstone Highway/U.S. 26 in Idaho Falls; KIFI's transmitter is located on East Butte in unincorporated northern Bingham county along the Idaho National Laboratory border. The station can also be seen on Cable One channel 8 and in high definition on digital channel 1008.
History[]
KIFI-TV went on the air in January 1961 as eastern Idaho's third television station. It was a primary NBC affiliate, and shared a secondary ABC affiliation with then KID-TV. At 316,000 watts, KIFI was the most powerful television station in Idaho. In 1962, KIFI aired the first live remote basketball telecast in Idaho from Reed Gym at Idaho State University in Pocatello.
In 1965, KIFI was the first station in Idaho to install a color film chain (16mm and 35mm color slides). In 1968, KIFI broadcast the first live telecast from the Eastern Idaho State Fair in Blackfoot with weatherman Lloyd Lindsey Young. In January 1996, KIFI-TV switched from NBC to ABC, swapping with longtime ABC affiliate KPVI (channel 6) after that station was sold to Sunbelt Broadcasting. Before the switch, NYPD Blue was not cleared at all in the Pocatello market, as KPVI opted to preempt it due to its vulgar language.
Originally owned by The Post Register, the area's leading newspaper, KIFI was sold to News-Press & Gazette in 2005. The station was branded as "Idaho 8" for a number of years, before being branded Local News 8 in early 1999. In 2008, KIFI launched "WiNG" (Wireless Internet Newsgathering), becoming the first station in the United States to execute live shots using WiMAX technology. In December 2010, it was announced that KIFI had entered into a shared services agreement with Fisher Communications-owned KIDK and would operate the CBS affiliate out of the KIFI facility.