 | |
| Type | Sports-focused broadcast television network |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Availability | Statewide Arizona |
| TV stations | See § Stations |
| Owner | Gray Television |
Launch date | July 13, 1995, with the launch of K19DD (now KPHE-LD) in Phoenix |
Official website | www |
Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS) is a broadcast television network in Arizona, United States. It is owned by Gray Television as part of the Arizona's Family group of stations, based in Phoenix, alongside CBS affiliate KPHO-TV (channel 5) and independent station KTVK (channel 3). Its programming consists primarily of sports events and news simulcasts. It is broadcast by low-power station KPHE-LD (channel 44) and on a subchannel of KPHO-TV in Phoenix from transmitters atop South Mountain; in Flagstaff on KAZF (channel 32), with transmitter on Mormon Mountain; in Yuma on KAZS (channel 27), with transmitter on Black Mountain in Imperial County, California; and in Tucson as a subchannel of Gray-owned KOLD-TV.
KPHE-LD, the low-power station purchased by Gray to start Arizona's Family Sports, was on the air by the mid-1990s, originally on channel 19. It broadcast programming from several sources and was also used in a trial of wireless internet broadcasting from low-power TV stations in the early 2000s. From 2003 to 2006, the station broadcast Bohemia Visual Music, a music video service. During that time, Lotus Communications purchased the station, and it relocated to channel 44. Lotus then relaunched the station with Spanish-language programming, some of it local.
In 2022, Gray Television acquired KPHE-LD and won permits to build new full-power stations in Flagstaff and Yuma. On March 1, 2023, the Arizona's Family Sports and Entertainment Network (shortened to Arizona's Family Sports) launched on channel 44, airing simulcasts of most of KTVK–KPHO's newscasts, Phoenix Rising FC soccer, Arizona Interscholastic Association high school sports, and other programming. Gray owns the rights to Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury basketball, which are aired in conjunction with KTVK and KPHO-TV, and Arizona Cardinals preseason football, which is broadcast by KPHO-TV and KOLD-TV plus Arizona's Family Sports in Yuma.