KTVH-DT

KTVH-DT is a full-service television station serving Helena, Montana and the surrounding area as an NBC affiliate, broadcasting on digital channel 12. The station ceased its analog broadcasts on November 10, 2008. The station is owned by Cordillera Communications. KTVH is simulcast on KBGF-LD channel 50 (Bresnan cable 6) in Great Falls.

History

KTVH

KTVH was the first television station in Helena, signing on the air on January 1, 1958 as KXLJ-TV, a semi-satellite of KXLF-TV in Butte. It has always been an NBC affiliate. In December 1962, Bob Magnus and two partners bought the station, weaned it from KXLF, and changed the call letters to KBLL-TV.

In 1969, former Montana Governor Tim M. Babcock bought the station and changed the station's call letters to KTCM (Television for the Capitol of Montana). In 1976, KTCM built a new tower and expanded its coverage to include Missoula, Butte, and Great Falls; until 1986, it was effectively the default NBC affiliate for a large portion of Montana. Babcock sold the station to Lynn Koch in 1979, and the station changed call letters again, this time to KTVG. A few years later, Koch sold the station to Don Bradley, who again changed the call letters to KTVH (TeleVision for Helena - the calls were previously used on a Wichita, Kansas station now known as KWCH-DT), which remain to this day.