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Idaho Public Television is a Public Broadcasting Service member network serving the state of Idaho. It comprises five television stations, operated and funded by the Idaho State Board Of Education. The network is headquartered in Boise, with satellite studios at the University of Idaho in Moscow and Idaho State University in Pocatello.
The network's first station, KUID-TV, signed on from the UI campus in September 1965. KBGL-TV signed on in July 1971 from ISU in Pocatello, followed that December by KAID-TV in Boise, licensed to Boise State University. After a decade, KBGL changed its call letters to KISU-TV in 1981. The three stations shared many programs, but were largely operated independently at first. However, in 1981, two KUID-produced documentaries--one about logging practices, another about lead exposure--caused such an outcry that the state legislature yanked nearly all funding for public television. Citing budget restrictions in early 1981, the state legislature cut 90% of the state funding for public television, and the stations relied on federal funding and private donations. A year later, the legislature ordered the merger of the three stations into a single network.
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