KIKU expanded its Asian focus to include Chinese programming on Saturdays. KIKU partnered with various companies to provide English subtitles for its Japanese programming to reach English-speaking viewers; some programs were subtitled in-house. On May 30, 2021, it was announced that KIKU would stop airing Filipino and Japanese TV content after June 28, 2021, and instead become an affiliate of ShopHQ (which previously aired on its second subchannel). On January 31, 2022, KIKU returned to airing Japanese and Filipino programming, as well as local news from its now-sister station KITV. It also added Entertainment Studios and other syndicated content to fill the schedule out further. Criticism In the April 2006 hardcopy publication Kokiku Magazine, fans have expressed their displeasure of KIKU continuing to air old travel shows such as Soko ga Shiritai. In the following May issue, KIKU general manager Phyllis Kihara defended the station's position, stating that Soko ranks higher in the local Nielsen ratings than some of the major network shows that air in the 7:00 p.m. timeslot on weeknights. Technical information Subchannels The station's digital signal is multiplexed: Analog-to-digital conversion KIKU discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 20, on January 15, 2009, the date in which full-power television stations in Hawaii transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts (six months earlier than the June 12 transition date for stations on the U.S. mainland). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 19, using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 20. See also Nippon Golden Network TV Japan References External links Independent television stations in the United States Laff (TV network) affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1983 IKU Japanese-language television stations 1983 establishments in Hawaii Entertainment Studios