KIDK (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Idaho Falls, Idaho, United States, serving the Idaho Falls–Pocatello media market as an affiliate of Dabl, Fox, and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by VistaWest Media, LLC, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG), owner of ABC/CBS/CW+/Telemundo affiliate KIFI-TV (channel 8, also licensed to Idaho Falls), for the provision of certain services. The two stations share studios on North Yellowstone Highway/US 26 in Idaho Falls; KIDK's transmitter is located on East Butte in unincorporated northern Bingham County along the Idaho National Laboratory border.
KIDK's signal is relayed on low-power translator KXPI-LD (channel 34, owned by NPG outright alongside KIFI-TV) in Pocatello, with transmitter on Howard Mountain in unincorporated Bannock County west of downtown Pocatello.
After dropping its secondary NBC affiliation, KIDK had an exclusive affiliation with CBS until September 1994, when it began to carry a secondary affiliation with Fox, carrying some of the network's shows in late fringe hours. This allowed the station to continue airing NFL football, which moved to Fox NFL during the 1994 United States broadcast TV realignment; it still carries Fox programming today through its second subchannel along with programming from the MyNetworkTV service. In 1996, KIDK agreed to carry UPN as a third affiliation (KPID-LP, now KXPI-LD, affiliated with the network when it debuted in June 2001; however, KIDK continued its secondary affiliation with the network until 2003). , the highest-rated UPN program, was cleared in the market on KPVI as station management replaced NYPD Blue, feeling it was too vulgar for local market standards. NYPD Blue aired in its scheduled timeslot on KIFI once it became affiliated with ABC.
On December 9, 2010, Fisher Communications announced that it had entered into a shared services arrangement with News-Press & Gazette Company–owned ABC affiliate KIFI-TV, under which KIDK would be run out of the KIFI facility and 27 KIDK staffers would be laid off. KIDK-KIFI SSA Deal To Cost 27 Jobs, TVNewsCheck, December 9, 2010. The transaction was completed on January 1, 2011. KIFI and KIDK enter staff-sharing agreement, Post Register, December 8, 2010.
On April 11, 2013, Fisher announced that it would sell its stations to the Sinclair Broadcast Group. The deal was completed on August 8, 2013. Shortly beforehand, a deal was reached to sell KIDK and KXPI to VistaWest Media, LLC, a company based in St. Joseph, Missouri (where NPG is also based); the stations would remain operated by NPG under a shared services agreement. The sale was finalized on November 29.
In December 2020, NPG acquired KIDK's non-license assets from VistaWest. As a result, the KIDK intellectual unit moved to KIFI's second digital channel, with Dabl taking over KIDK's main channel. KIDK's operations remained largely unchanged, though over-the-air viewers were asked to rescan their sets in order to continue watching CBS.
Its separate newscasts airing weeknights at 5 and 6 on KIDK were dropped in favor of one seen at 5:30 while KIFI airs ABC World News Tonight. KIDK provides the CBS Evening News at 5 preceding its local show. KIDK still offers a separate broadcast weeknights at 10 that does compete with KIFI. All local news programming produced for KIDK originates from KIFI's primary set except with modified studio elements, such as duratrans and on-screen graphics, indicating the specific channel airing news.
In order to maintain individual on-air identities and branding, KIDK and KIFI have separate graphic schemes and news music packages. The two maintain primary weeknight personalities (such as news anchors) that only appear on one channel. On weekends, KIFI offers its own early evening newscast at 5 while KIDK follows at 5:30. The two television outlets simulcast together at 10 although the broadcast can be delayed or preempted on one channel due to network obligations.
KIDK airs a nightly prime time newscast on its Fox subchannel known as Channel 3 Eyewitness News at 9 on Fox 5. The show can be seen for 35 minutes on weeknights and a half-hour on weekends. Prior to the SSA formulation with KIFI, KIDK-DT2 also rebroadcast KIDK's weekday morning show at 7. Another News Operation Bites The Dust, TVNewsCheck, January 3, 2011. KIFI now produces KIDK-DT2's newscast as a result of the SSA. It competed with another local newscast seen weeknights at 9 on KFXP (that was produced by rival NBC affiliate KPVI-DT, channel 6). However, that thirty-minute show was discontinued on June 30, 2012, as KFXP lost its Fox affiliation a day before KXPI affiliated with the network.
+ Subchannels of KIDK and KXPI-LD ! scope = "col" | Channel ! scope = "col" | Res. ! scope = "col" | Aspect ! scope = "col" | Short name ! scope = "col" | Programming |
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