You're sitting on your couch in Sandy or maybe a loft in Sugar House, remote in hand, just trying to find the Jazz game or the local news. It should be easy. But honestly, looking at the salt lake city television schedule lately feels like trying to solve a Rubik's Cube in the dark. Between the digital subchannels, the "cut the cord" streaming apps, and the fact that some local stations have swapped networks over the years, it’s a mess.
Remember when there were just four or five channels? You had KUTV, KTVX, KSL, and KUED. That was basically it. Now, you flip to Channel 2 and there are suddenly four different "Channel 2s" thanks to digital multicasting. If you're looking for the 10:00 PM news, you might find it on three different stations at once, or not at all if a football game runs long.
The Salt Lake market, which Nielsen officially calls the Salt Lake City-St. George DMA, is actually huge. It covers almost the entire state of Utah plus chunks of Idaho, Nevada, and Wyoming. Because we're in the Mountain Time Zone, our schedule is a bit of a weird hybrid. We get "East Coast" timing for some live events but "West Coast" delays for others. It’s enough to make you give up and just watch YouTube. But there is a logic to it if you know where to look.
Why the Salt Lake City Television Schedule Shifts So Much
Most people don't realize that Salt Lake City is a "Top 30" media market. That means we get a lot of attention from the big networks, but it also means our local stations are constantly fighting for your eyeballs with hyper-local content.
Take KSL (Channel 5), for example. They are the NBC affiliate, but they are owned by Bonneville International, which is an arm of the LDS Church. Because of that, the salt lake city television schedule on Channel 5 looks different than an NBC station in, say, New York or Los Angeles. You’ll see specific programming like Music & the Spoken Word or General Conference sessions that pre-empt national shows. If you’re looking for a national NBC program on a Sunday morning in Utah, you might be out of luck or have to find it on a secondary digital channel.
Then there's the whole sports mess.
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If you're trying to watch the Utah Jazz, you probably know by now that the "schedule" isn't just on KJZZ anymore. The team launched Jazz+, a streaming service, but they also returned to over-the-air broadcast on KJZZ 14. This was a massive win for fans who were sick of expensive cable packages. But it means you have to actually have an antenna to catch the "free" games, and you have to check the specific broadcast calendar because not every single away game lands on the local airwaves.
The Big Players and Their Digital Siblings
If you look at the master grid for the area, it's dominated by the big four, but the "point decimals" are where the variety lives now.
- KUTV (Channel 2 - CBS): They lean heavily into local news. Their schedule is pretty rigid because CBS loves its procedural dramas like NCIS. However, check out 2.2 (myNetworkTV) or 2.3 (Comet) if you want sci-fi or secondary syndicated runs.
- KTVX (Channel 4 - ABC): This is the oldest station in Utah. Their mid-afternoon block is almost entirely lifestyle and talk shows.
- KSL (Channel 5 - NBC): The heavy hitter for Olympics and Sunday Night Football. Their local news is the ratings leader, so the schedule is built around those 5:00, 6:00, and 10:00 PM blocks.
- KUED (Channel 7 - PBS): If you have kids or like documentaries, this is the most stable part of the salt lake city television schedule. No commercials, just straight programming.
- KSTU (Channel 13 - FOX): Known for the "13-minute" weather guarantee and having news at 9:00 PM instead of 10:00 PM. This is a lifesaver for people who need to be in bed early but still want the day's headlines.
Cutting the Cord in the 801 and 385
A lot of people in Murray and West Valley are ditching Comcast (Xfinity) or Google Fiber TV for digital antennas. Honestly, it's a smart move. The geography of the Salt Lake Valley is actually great for TV signals if you aren't tucked directly behind a mountain. Most of the transmitters are up on Farnsworth Peak.
If you point a decent indoor antenna toward the Oquirrh Mountains, you can pull in about 60 to 80 channels.
But here is the catch: the digital salt lake city television schedule for these subchannels isn't always listed in the paper or even on some smart TV guides. Channels like MeTV (on 4.3) or Antenna TV (on 13.2) run classic shows like MASH* or The Andy Griffith Show. These are great for background noise, but their schedules are independent of the main network.
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If you're using a streaming service like YouTube TV or Hulu + Live TV to access the local schedule, you'll generally see the same feed as the broadcast, but occasionally you'll hit a "blackout." This happens most often with sports or syndicated shows where the streaming rights are different from the broadcast rights. It’s frustrating. You see the show in the guide, you click it, and you get a screen saying "This program is unavailable for streaming."
The "Mountain Time" Problem
We live in a chronological purgatory.
When a big event like the Grammys or the Oscars happens, the salt lake city television schedule usually follows the "Eastern/Central" feed if it's a live news event, but entertainment shows are often delayed by an hour. This means if you are on Twitter or TikTok, you’ll see spoilers before the show even starts in Utah.
To get around this, some locals use a VPN or specific streaming settings to "pretend" they are in New York so they can watch at the same time as the East Coast. It’s a bit of a hack, but for reality TV finales, it’s almost necessary to avoid spoilers from the rest of the country.
Local News: The Backbone of the Grid
In Salt Lake, news is king. We have one of the highest "news consumption" rates in the country. Because of that, the salt lake city television schedule is stuffed with local updates.
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KUTV and KSL are in a perpetual arms race. KUTV often starts their morning news earlier than everyone else, sometimes as early as 4:30 AM. If you’re an early riser heading to a shift at the airport or a hospital, that’s your go-to. KSL, on the other hand, dominates the noon slot.
Then there is Fresh Living on KUTV or Good Things Utah on KTVX. These are "lifestyle" shows. They look like news, but they are basically an hour of cooking segments, local business spotlights, and "moms-on-the-go" content. They occupy that weird 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM slot. If you're looking for hard news during that time, you're better off switching to a national cable outlet or checking the station's website.
How to Actually Track the Schedule Without Going Crazy
Since the Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret News aren't the daily doorstep staples they used to be, finding a reliable grid is tough. Most people use the "Guide" button on their remote, but those are notoriously slow or inaccurate for the smaller channels.
The most reliable way to see the salt lake city television schedule in real-time is actually through the individual station apps. KSL has a very robust "KSL+ app" that lets you stream their news live and see exactly what's coming up. For the nerdier stuff or the old movies on the subchannels, a site like TitanTV allows you to put in your Salt Lake zip code (like 84101 or 84094) and see a "grid" that looks like the old TV Guide channel.
Surprising Facts About Utah Airwaves
- Utah has one of the highest concentrations of "translator" stations in the US. These are mini-transmitters that take the Salt Lake signal and "bounce" it over mountains into places like Price or Moab.
- KJZZ was originally owned by Larry H. Miller. It stood for "Jazz." It went through a period of being a random independent station but is now back to being a primary home for local sports.
- We have a dedicated 24/7 weather channel on some digital tiers, though it's mostly automated loops.
Making the Most of Your TV Time
If you want to master the local airwaves, stop relying on the auto-scan on your TV. Do a manual scan every few months. Stations in Salt Lake occasionally move their virtual channel assignments or add new subchannels like "Catchy Comedy" or "Laff."
Don't ignore the Spanish-language schedules either. Univision (KUTH 32) and Telemundo (KULX 10) have massive footprints in the valley. Even if you aren't a fluent Spanish speaker, their coverage of international soccer is often better (and more "live") than the English counterparts.
To stay on top of the salt lake city television schedule, your best bet is a two-pronged approach. Use a digital antenna for the best picture quality (it's uncompressed, unlike cable!) and use a local news app for the breaking alerts.
Actionable Steps for Utah Viewers
- Buy a Winegard or Mohu Leaf antenna. Place it on a north or west-facing window for the best shot at the Oquirrh transmitters.
- Rescan your TV every 90 days. New digital channels like 14.2 or 16.3 pop up all the time without notice.
- Download the KSL+ and KUTV apps. These are the most reliable for checking if a football game has pushed the evening news back.
- Check KJZZ's website for the Jazz schedule. Don't assume every game is on; some are still exclusive to national tiers like TNT or ESPN.
- Use TitanTV. Set up a free account, plug in your Salt Lake zip code, and customize the grid to hide the channels you never watch. It saves a lot of scrolling.