It became the Salt Lake City market's UPN affiliate, after the network disaffiliated from KJZZ-TV (channel 14) in January 2001.
This change came about due to several factors, most notably a disagreement over affiliate compensation, preemption terms, and what KJZZ ownership saw as the lack of financial viability of urban-themed programming in the Salt Lake City market.
In August 2001, the station moved its operations from its original studio facility in Ogden to the International Center in Salt Lake City.
On June 5, 2006, KPNZ removed UPN programming from its schedule in retaliation for being passed over by both The CW (which went to former WB affiliate KUWB, channel 30, now KUCW)[5] and another new netlet, News Corporation's MyNetworkTV (which at the time went to KJZZ-TV, which has since reverted to independent status).
The circumstances behind the arrests and dismantling of KPNZ are still unclear, though many rumors have been made public by partners, former employees and clients.
This was due to the station "willfully and repeatedly violat[ing] Section 11.35(a) of the Commission's rules...by failing to maintain operational Emergency Alert System (EAS) equipment and logs.