KSA-TV, broadcasting on

cable Cable may refer to: Mechanical * Nautical cable, an assembly of three or more ropes woven against the weave of the ropes, rendering it virtually waterproof * Wire rope, a type of rope that consists of several strands of metal wire laid into a hel ...

systems on channel 4, was a

television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...

Sitka, Alaska Sitka (; ) is a municipal home rule, unified Consolidated city-county, city-borough in the southeast portion of the U.S. state of Alaska. It was under Russian America, Russian rule from 1799 to 1867. The city is situated on the west side of Ba ...

, United States, affiliated with

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

. It was the first local television station in Sitka, operating between 1959 and 1983. It was also an affiliate of the

NTA Film Network The NTA Film Network was an early American television network founded by Ely Landau in 1956 that operated on a part-time basis, broadcasting films and several first-run television programs from major Hollywood studios. Despite attracting more ...

History

KSA-TV launched on November 15, 1959, at 6 p.m., as the first television station of any kind in Sitka. It was owned by a company known as Sitka Alaska TeleVision; the majority shareholder, Ketchikan Alaska TeleVision, operated a similar "

KATV KATV (channel 7) is a television station in Little Rock, Arkansas, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. The station's studios are located on Riverfront Drive in the Riverdale section northwest of downtown L ...

" in

Ketchikan Ketchikan ( ; ) is a city in and the borough seat of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough on Revillagigedo Island of Alaska. It is the state's southeasternmost major settlement. Downtown Ketchikan is a National Historic Landmark District. With a po ...

, which had gone on the air before any broadcast stations in

Anchorage Anchorage, officially the Municipality of Anchorage, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alaska. With a population of 291,247 at the 2020 census, it contains nearly 40 percent of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolita ...

, Fairbanks, or

Juneau Juneau ( ; ), officially the City and Borough of Juneau, is the capital of the U.S. state of Alaska, located along the Gastineau Channel and the Alaskan panhandle. Juneau was named the capital of Alaska in 1906, when the government of wha ...

. KSA-TV continued to broadcast into the early 1980s. In 1980, McCaw Cable acquired the Sitka cable system and KSA-TV. NBC programs remained on channel 4, though the KSA-TV moniker was abandoned. The station carried radically different programming in daytime hours due to duplication between

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate KIFW-TV (channel 13), KSA-TV and the Alaska Satellite Television Project. In 1983, McCaw consolidated its channels of delayed NBC and

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

programming into one service, dubbed "Northstar". In 1986, McCaw began live delivery of

WDIV-TV WDIV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves as the flagship broadcast property of the Graham Media Group subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. WDIV-TV maintains studio facili ...

(NBC) and

WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...

(ABC) programming utilizing the

CANCOM Shaw Satellite Services Inc., dba Shaw Broadcast Services ( French: Services de Radiodiffusion Shaw), is the division of Canadian telecommunications company Shaw Communications that is responsible for providing and managing the distribution of ...

feeds of

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

stations, replacing the taped Northstar service.

References

1959 establishments in Alaska 1983 disestablishments in Alaska Defunct local cable stations in the United States SA-TV Sitka, Alaska Television channels and stations disestablished in 1983 Television channels and stations established in 1959 {{Alaska-tv-station-stub