KTLN-TV

KTLN-TV (channel 68) is a television station licensed to Palo Alto, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an owned-and-operated station of the classic television network Heroes & Icons. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting alongside San Jose–licensed low-power, Class A Catchy Comedy station KAXT-CD (channel 1). The two stations share studios on Pelican Way in San Rafael, and transmitter facilities on Mount Allison.

KTLN-TV

Palo Alto–San Francisco–Oakland– San Jose, California United States
City	Palo Alto, California
Channels	Digital: 22 (UHF), shared with KAXT-CD[1] Virtual: 68
Branding	H&I Bay Area MeTV Bay Area (DT2)
Programming
Affiliations	68.1: Heroes & Icons for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	Weigel Broadcasting (KTLN-TV LLC)
Sister stations	KAXT-CD
History
Founded	1990
First air date	July 15, 1998; 27 years ago (1998-07-15) (in Novato, California; license moved to Palo Alto in 2018[2])
Former call signs	KWOK (1990–1999)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 68 (UHF, 1998–2009) Digital: 47 (UHF, 2005–2018)
Former affiliations	Total Living Network (1998–2019)
Call sign meaning	"Total Living Network" (former affiliation)
Technical information[3]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	49153
ERP	15 kW
HAAT	688 m (2,257 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	37°29′57″N 121°52′20″W
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	KTLN FCC disclosures/schedule page on Heroes & Icons website

Even though KTLN-TV is licensed as a full-power station, it shares spectrum with KAXT-CD, whose low-power broadcasting radius does not cover all of the San Francisco Bay Area.^[4] Therefore, it relies on cable and satellite carriage to reach the entire market. However, KTLN-TV shares MeTV with independent station KPYX's (channel 44) third subchannel, which has a stronger signal than KTLN.

History

Originally, Christian Communications of Chicagoland (then-owners of WCFC-TV, now Ion Television owned-and-operated station WCPX-TV) owned KTLN outright. It was formerly licensed to the Marin County community of Novato. CCC filed to sell the station to OTA Broadcasting, a company controlled by Michael Dell's MSD Capital, in June 2011.^[5] The sale was completed on October 6, 2011; as part of the deal, CCC continued to operate KTLN via a local marketing agreement (LMA).^[6]

Weigel Broadcasting agreed to acquire KTLN-TV and KAXT-CD, along with KVOS-TV and KFFV in Seattle, from OTA Broadcasting in a $23.2 million deal on October 18, 2017.^[7] The station was temporarily off the air as of June 2018.

The station sale to Weigel was completed on April 15, 2019.^[8] At midnight on April 17, KTLN returned on the air carrying high definition signals of Heroes & Icons on 68.1, and MeTV on 68.2.^[9]

Technical information

Subchannels

Subchannel of KAXT-CD and KTLN-TV^[10][11]

License	Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
KAXT-CD	1.2	480i	16:9	KAXT-SD	Catchy Comedy
KTLN-TV	68.1	720p		KTLN-HD	Heroes & Icons
	68.2			MeTV	MeTV
	68.3	480i		Story	Story Television
	68.4			MeTV+	MeTV+ → WEST (eff. September 1, 2025)
	68.5			Quest	Quest
	68.6			TOONS	MeTV Toons
	68.7			MeTV+	MeTV+ (eff. September 1, 2025)

Analog-to-digital conversion

KTLN-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 68, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.^[12] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 47, using virtual channel 68.