The TV station in the movie, KTAR-TV, is the real life NBC affiliate for Phoenix, now known as KPNX.
Confusingly, 'A Fire in the Sky' (1978), about an object from space (a comet) landing in Arizona, is completely unrelated to the near-identically-titled1993 film 'Fire In The Sky', which is ALSO about an object from space (a UFO/alien craft) landing in Arizona; The 1993 film is based on the noted, real-life "alien abductee" claims made by Travis Walton of Snowflake Arizona, which happened in 1975. But this 1978 TV-movie is totally separate to the Walton case.
Similar to Visiteurs extraterrestres (1993) besides similar titles. Both movies take place in Arizona and have stars from the terminator franchise. Michael Biehn from this film starred in Terminator (1984), and Robert Patrick starred in Terminator 2 : Le Jugement dernier (1991).
A FIRE IN THE SKY was a novel by Walter Kendrick (1947-1998), a college academic who taught English at Fordham University.