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KNTV (channel 11), branded NBC Bay Area, is 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 ...
licensed to
San Jose, California San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...
, United States, serving the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...
. It is
owned and operated In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...
by the
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 ...
television network through its
NBC Owned Television Stations NBC Owned Television Stations (formerly NBC Local Media and NBC Television Stations Division (TVSD)) is the division of NBCUniversal Media Group#NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations, NBCUniversal Owned TV Stations (NBCUniversal), a subsidiary o ...
division alongside
Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a wholly owned subsidiary of Comcast. It provides content ...
outlet
KSTS KSTS (channel 48) is a television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area outlet for the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Gr ...
(channel 48); it is also sister to
regional sports network A regional sports network (RSN) in the United States and Canada is a television channel that presents sports programming to a local media market or geographical region. Such channels often focus on one or a few teams who currently play in Major L ...
s
NBC Sports Bay Area NBC Sports Bay Area (sometimes abbreviated as NBCS Bay Area) is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between NBCUniversal and the San Francisco Giants, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Headquar ...
and NBC Sports California. KNTV and KSTS share studios on North 1st Street in the
North San Jose Innovation District Rincon de los Esteros, also known as Innovation Triangle, the Golden Triangle, the Innovation District, or simply as Rincon, is a vast district of San Jose, California, making up a significant portion of North San Jose. The district has one of ...
; KNTV's transmitter is located on
San Bruno Mountain San Bruno Mountain is a fault block, fault-block Horst (geology), horst in northern San Mateo County, California. Rising to a quarter-mile high peak directly out of San Francisco Bay, it also includes a smaller ridge in San Francisco. Viewed f ...
, and two of its subchannels are also broadcast from the KSTS tower on
Mount Allison Mount Allison is a peak of the Diablo Range, located in the East Bay southeast of Fremont, California. Geography Mount Allison is part of a ridge that also includes Mission Peak and Monument Peak. Unlike those other two peaks, Mount Allis ...
. KNTV was established as an independent station in 1955; in 1960, it became an affiliate of ABC as the affiliate of record for Salinas and
Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...
, otherwise a separate market. Even though San Francisco had its own ABC television station,
KGO-TV KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been owned and operated by the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network through its ABC Owne ...
, KNTV focused its news and other programming on the
Santa Clara Valley The Santa Clara Valley (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Valle de Santa Clara'') is a geologic trough in Northern California that extends south–southeast from San Francisco to Hollister, California, Hollister. The longitudinal valley is bordered ...
. In 1999, ABC paid KNTV to end its affiliation in 2000 in order to allow KGO-TV to serve as the only source of ABC programming in the San Jose area. The station operated as an independent for a year and a half before securing a 10-year affiliation with NBC and then being sold to the network outright. Local news covering the entire Bay Area is produced from the San Jose studios.


History


Early years and ABC affiliation (1955–1999)

KNTV signed on the air on September 12, 1955, originally operating as an
independent station An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
covering the entire north-central California coast from
Monterey Monterey ( ; ) is a city situated on the southern edge of Monterey Bay, on the Central Coast of California. Located in Monterey County, the city occupies a land area of and recorded a population of 30,218 in the 2020 census. The city was fou ...
to San Francisco. It was the first television station in San Jose and was originally operated by Standard Radio and Television Corporation, which was owned by Allen T. Gilliland. The station's studios and offices were located at 645 Park Avenue, a short distance from the
Caltrain Caltrain (reporting mark JPBX) is a commuter rail line in California, serving the San Francisco Peninsula and Santa Clara Valley (Silicon Valley). The southern terminus is in San Jose, California, San Jose at the Tamien station with weekday r ...
railroad tracks and adjacent to the Gilliland-owned Sunlite Baking Company in downtown San Jose. Its antenna was originally located on Loma Prieta, some south of San Francisco. Channel 11 often aired shows from
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 ...
, DuMont and NBC that were respectively turned down by San Francisco's
KPIX-TV KPIX-TV (channel 5), branded on-air as CBS Bay Area, is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the CBS network outlet for the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS ...
(channel 5) and
KRON-TV KRON-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's outlet for The CW. Owned and operated by The CW's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, KRON-TV has studios ...
(channel 4), as well as some ABC shows that also aired on
KGO-TV KGO-TV (channel 7) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It has been owned and operated by the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network through its ABC Owne ...
(channel 7). The station was not viable as an independent, despite the Bay Area's size. The going got even more difficult when
Oakland Oakland is a city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area in the U.S. state of California. It is the county seat and most populous city in Alameda County, with a population of 440,646 in 2020. A major West Coast port, Oakland is ...
-based
KTVU KTVU (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Oakland, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division along ...
(channel 2) signed on in 1958, and it soon became apparent that the Bay Area was not large enough at the time to support two independent stations. However, due to KNTV's transmitter and antenna location, its signal could be received fairly well in the nearby areas of Monterey and Salinas; the transmitter was located approximately halfway between San Jose and Monterey. Taking advantage of this, KNTV sought and was granted the ABC affiliation for the
Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by about 75 miles (120 km), accessible via California S ...
area in 1960, on the condition that the station reduced its transmitter power so as not to overlap with network-owned KGO-TV's signal. Previously, all three networks had been shoehorned onto Salinas-based
KSBW-TV KSBW (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Salinas, California, United States, serving the Monterey Bay area as an affiliate of NBC and ABC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station has studios on John Street ( Highway 68) in downto ...
(channel 8). KNTV, therefore, became one of the few stations located outside the market it served. Following the death of Allen T. Gilliland in 1960, ownership of KNTV was held by the executors of his estate, which included son Allen T. Gilliland Jr. The younger Gilliland acquired majority ownership in August 1966 and later operated it as part of Gill Industries, which also controlled San Jose's
cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...
system. KNTV was highly regarded locally by viewers and seen as a "hometown" station for the South Bay, with news coverage and local commercials reflecting its South Bay roots, rather than focusing almost solely on San Francisco as the other network outlets did. Gill Industries sold KNTV to
Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...
–based
Landmark Communications Landmark Media Enterprises, LLC (a spinoff of Landmark Communications, Inc.) is a privately held technology company headquartered in Norfolk, Virginia. History The ''Norfolk Landmark'' was established in 1873. It had various editors. K. C. Murray ...
in 1978. Twelve years later, Landmark sold the station to a minority-owned firm, Granite Broadcasting.


Transition (1999–2001)

In 1999, KGO-TV agreed to pay Granite a substantial fee to stop channel 11 from running ABC programming once the station's affiliation contract expired. ABC's corporate parent,
The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...
, saw the need to expand KGO-TV's exclusive advertising market share into San Jose for this reason, and it felt that KNTV was taking away from the share. That same year, the deYoung family, owners of KRON-TV and the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'', put all of its media properties up for sale. NBC, which had been in the midst of renewing its affiliation agreement with KRON-TV, jumped into the bidding. It had been one of the bidders for the channel 4 license in the late 1940s when it wanted a sister television station to complement West Coast flagship KNBC (AM 680, now KNBR), but lost out to Chronicle. The deYoungs had built KRON into one of NBC's strongest affiliates, though NBC had long felt chagrin at KRON's frequent preemptions of network programming. NBC was thought to be the favorite to buy KRON-TV, but in a move that shocked the broadcasting industry, lost a bidding war for the station to
Young Broadcasting Young Broadcasting, LLC was an American media company that owned or operated 12 television stations in 10 markets with a total U.S. television household coverage of 5.9%. The company was formerly known as Young Broadcasting Inc. and was the out ...
in November 1999. NBC responded by threatening to yank its programming from KRON unless Young agreed to run it under the conventions of an NBC-owned outlet, including disallowing the station from preempting NBC programs outside of breaking news coverage. The network also made the unprecedented demand that Young pay NBC $10 million annually to carry the network's programming—a form of reverse compensation. Young refused and announced that it would end KRON-TV's 52-year relationship with NBC once its affiliation contract ended in December 2001. In February 2000, Granite contacted NBC to negotiate an affiliation deal and offered to pay an average of $37 million annually (totaling roughly $362 million over 10 years) for the rights to broadcast NBC programs on KNTV. This agreement was groundbreaking and notable, as KNTV became the first major market affiliate to pay a network for programming, reversing a long-standing model where networks paid affiliates to carry their programming. NBC accepted the deal, which was due to take effect in January 2002. In preparation for this switch, KNTV boosted its signal to reach the entire Bay Area. This increased KNTV's potential audience to more than seven million viewers, including 90% of the Bay Area. On July 3, 2000, KNTV terminated its ABC affiliation after 40 years with the network; it then temporarily carried programming from
The WB The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on ter ...
in a part-time simulcast with then co-owned KBWB-TV (channel 20, now KOFY-TV), which was the full-time WB affiliate for the Bay Area. The move cost the Monterey Bay area an over-the-air ABC affiliate. To compensate for the loss, KGO-TV was then added on cable providers in that market, with certain syndicated programs carried by the station replaced due to
syndication exclusivity Syndication exclusivity (also known as syndex) is a federal law () implemented by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States that is designed to protect a local television station's rights to syndicated television programs b ...
rules. This did not pose as much of a problem as it may seem due to the very high penetration of cable and satellite in the Monterey Bay area. ABC would not return over-the-air to the area until KSBW began carrying ABC programming on the station's second digital subchannel on April 18, 2011. In September 2000,
Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
reclassified KNTV to the Bay Area DMA. In March 2001, the
Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...
(FCC) officially recognized KNTV as a Bay Area station, clearing the way for channel 11 to begin identifying as "San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland". For Granite Broadcasting, the deal with NBC was expensive; the company showed a net loss of $44 million for the first three quarters of 2001, more than double its losses during the same period the previous year. In an attempt to reduce debts, Granite started looking for a buyer for
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 ...
WB affiliate WDWB (now
WMYD WMYD (channel 20) is an independent television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV (channel 7). The two stations share studios at Broadcast House on 10 Mile Roa ...
) in October 2001; that station would not be sold until 2014.


As an NBC O&O (2001–present)

On December 17, 2001, NBC announced another twist on the deal: it bought KNTV from cash-strapped Granite for $230 million, effectively separating itself from KBWB (which remained under Granite ownership; it was sold in 2018). The network was already in the process of acquiring San Jose-based Telemundo station KSTS and wanted to create a
duopoly A duopoly (from Greek , ; and , ) is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market, and most (if not all) of the competition within that market occurs directly between them. Duopoly is the most commonly ...
in the Bay Area. KNTV officially joined NBC at 11:35 p.m. Pacific Time on December 31, 2001.
Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...
officially welcomed NBC's newest station in a ceremony on ''
The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...
'' (leading an area-wide 10-second countdown, as the show served as KNTV's first NBC program), followed later that morning by a segment on the ''
Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * The current day and calendar date ** Today is between and , subject to the local time zone * Now, the time that is perceived directly, present * The current, present era Arts, entertainment and m ...
'' show in which
Al Roker Albert Lincoln Roker Jr. (born August 20, 1954) is an American weather presenter, journalist, television personality, and author. He is the weather anchor on NBC's ''Today'', and occasionally co-hosts '' 3rd Hour Today''. He has a lapsed Ameri ...
introduced KNTV's anchors. With NBC's move to channel 11, it became the only major network in the Bay Area to switch from one station to another. KNTV is the third Bay Area station to affiliate with NBC, as primary CBS affiliate KPIX-TV had carried the network as a secondary affiliation upon its sign-on in 1948 until KRON debuted the following year. NBC formally took control of KNTV in April 2002. This was not NBC's first attempt at purchasing a station in the Bay Area; a plan to purchase KTVU in 1961 was canceled following antitrust objections from KRON-TV, along with an FCC hearing designation surrounding all applications related to NBC's ownership of
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
and
television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
stations in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
. After the affiliation switch to NBC, Granite switched the station's on-air numerical branding to "NBC 3" to reflect its position on cable channel 3 on nearly every cable provider in the Bay Area. After the sale to NBC, its new ownership addressed issues involving confusion with
Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...
's NBC affiliate,
KCRA-TV KCRA-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Sacramento, California, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Stockton-licensed dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate KQCA (channel 58). The two stations shar ...
(which broadcast on channel 3), and
rebranded Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...
the station as "NBC 11" in September 2002. Initially as the station built up its newsgathering resources in San Francisco and the East Bay, KNTV newscasts were perceived to be
infotainment Infotainment (a portmanteau of ''information'' and ''entertainment''), also called soft news as a way to distinguish it from serious journalism or hard news, is a type of media, usually television or online, that provides a combination of inform ...
due to the focus on much more accessible crime and entertainment news, but by late 2002 the newscasts began focusing on Bay Area affairs. The station added on a San Francisco bureau and studio in a facility on Battery Street in San Francisco. During the
2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...
, the station heavily promoted channel 11 through its "illuminating"
marketing campaign Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...
(stylized as "I11uminating," with the number "11" used in place of the "L" letters).


New studios and transmitter

In 2004, NBC converted a vacant office space in northern San Jose into a state-of-the-art, all-digital facility for KNTV and KSTS. On December 13 of that year, KNTV moved from its original studios on Park Avenue to the new location. As part of a company-wide environmental initiative (known today as "Green is Universal"), the facility is entirely powered by
wind energy Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ...
. Following its acquisition by NBC, KNTV continued to broadcast from its longtime transmitter location on the summit of Loma Prieta (located between San Jose and Santa Cruz), but did not increase its power to improve signal coverage in San Francisco and Oakland; as a result, the signal could not be seen over the air in much of the Bay Area north of
San Mateo County San Mateo County ( ), officially the County of San Mateo, is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 764,442. Redwood City, California, Redwood City is th ...
, including much of San Francisco itself. The affiliation and market switches also resulted in many cable providers in the Monterey Bay area either dropping KNTV entirely or blocking its NBC programming under syndication exclusivity guidelines; even so, the signal still overlapped with KSBW. That all changed on September 12, 2005, when KNTV was able to finally move its transmitter northwest to San Bruno Mountain, giving it a signal comparable to the Bay Area's other major stations. The move came after years of objection from KRON's owner Young Broadcasting. KRON made numerous filings with the FCC, alleging that thousands of San Jose residents would lose over-the-air coverage of KNTV if it moved closer to San Francisco. Some San Francisco residents, especially in the Sunset and Richmond districts of the city, still found it difficult to receive an adequate over-the-air signal, because they are shielded from San Bruno Mountain. Most of the other Bay Area stations operate from
Sutro Tower Sutro Tower is a unique three-legged tall TV and radio lattice tower located on the West Side (San Francisco), West Side of San Francisco, California. Rising from a hill between Twin Peaks (San Francisco), Twin Peaks and Mount Sutro near Claren ...
, which has a better overall view of San Francisco proper, although at the expense of those in northern San Mateo County, where San Bruno Mountain acts as a shield. However, most of the Bay Area is covered with a strong signal from all of the stations. The year closed, however, with a devastating
wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a ...
at the retired transmitting facility on Loma Prieta. The fire was quickly extinguished on the afternoon of December 31; however, the fire reignited after firefighters had left the scene, and destroyed the former primary analog and digital transmitters, which had only been retired a few months earlier and were in backup status, as well as a variety of other communications equipment. In January 2007,
CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...
moved its
Silicon Valley Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
bureau—formerly located at ''
The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...
''s bureau in
Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...
—into KNTV/KSTS' San Jose studios. Former KNTV and KRON reporter Jim Goldman is the bureau chief, and the main CNBC reporter covering business stories concerning the Silicon Valley; the set used for daily broadcasts on CNBC occupies part of KNTV's newsroom. In 2008, KNTV changed its on-air branding from "NBC11" to "NBC Bay Area"; the station's website was relaunched on October 16, 2009, as part of a larger revamp of the websites of NBC's entire O&O station group. In April 2010, KNTV entered into an arrangement with former NBC affiliate KRON-TV to broadcast network programs during instances in which KNTV has to preempt them for special programming such as telecasts of San Francisco Giants games. Incidentally, KRON's owner, Young Broadcasting discussed entering KRON into a
shared services Shared services is the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and the ...
agreement with KNTV's owner
NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC (abbreviated as NBCU and Trade name, doing business as NBCUniversal or Comcast NBCUniversal since 2013) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media and Show business, entertainment conglomerate (comp ...
, which ultimately never materialized. KRON's default carriage of preempted NBC shows ended in 2012, when
KICU-TV KICU-TV (channel 36), branded as KTVU Plus, is a television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Oakland-licensed Fox Broadca ...
(then owned by
Cox Media Group CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company p ...
as a sister station to KTVU) resumed those duties until the sale of both KICU and KTVU to
Fox Television Stations Fox Television Stations, LLC (stylized as FOX TV STATIONS; also known as FTS) is a group of television stations in the United States owned-and-operated by Fox Corporation. It owns LiveNOW from Fox, Fox Local, and Fox Soul. It also oversees ...
in 2014; preemptions are now handled in-house with a move of NBC programming to KNTV's
Cozi TV Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1950s to the 2000s. The network originat ...
subchannel. On April 13, 2010, KNTV became the subject of
Stephen Colbert Stephen Tyrone Colbert ( ; born May 13, 1964) is an American comedian, writer, producer, political commentator, actor, and television host. He is best known for hosting the satirical Comedy Central program ''The Colbert Report'' from 2005 to ...
's program, ''
The Colbert Report ''The Colbert Report'' ( ) is an American late night television, late-night Late-night talk show, talk and news satire television program hosted by Stephen Colbert that aired four days a week on Comedy Central from October 17, 2005, to December ...
'', where Colbert played a clip read by weekend anchor Diane Dwyer on the issue of "unpaid internships". Colbert would eventually use that given clip to set the stage for laughs based on unpaid interns. In April 2014, a five-alarm fire destroyed the former KNTV complex on Park Avenue; the vacant property had been purchased by the
San Jose Redevelopment Agency The San Jose Redevelopment Agency (SJRA, officially the Redevelopment Agency for the City of San José) was a redevelopment agency in the government of San Jose, California. It was created in 1956 and grew into the second-largest tax increment fina ...
along with adjacent parcels in the (eventually ill-fated) hopes of attracting a new downtown stadium for the
Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...
.


Programming

Since being purchased by NBCUniversal, KNTV has produced its own programs for both local broadcast and for distribution nationally on the NBC television network and in syndication. Two of KNTV's national and regional programs distributed to NBC stations and the network at large were ''Tech Now!'' (a weekly show that debuted on September 19,
1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
under Granite Broadcasting ownership covering tech news and products, hosted by Scott Budman and produced by Scott McGrew and was at one time popular in
Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...
) and ''In Wine Country'' (a weekly series focusing on the
Napa Valley Napa Valley is an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Napa County, California. The area was established by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) on February 27, 1981, after a 1978 petition submitted by the Napa Valley Vin ...
wine community). KNTV is one of ten NBC O&O stations to distribute programs to other stations or to the network itself as of 2021, along with
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
' KNBC,
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
's
WNBC WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey†...
,
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
's
WTVJ WTVJ (channel 6) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Fort Lauderdale–licensed WSCV (channel 51), a flag ...
,
Hartford Hartford is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The city, located in Hartford County, Connecticut, Hartford County, had a population of 121,054 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 ce ...
's
WVIT WVIT (channel 30) is a television station licensed to New Britain, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven Media market, market. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations ...
, Philadelphia's
WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jersey–licensed ...
,
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
's
WMAQ-TV WMAQ-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Telemundo station WSNS-TV (chann ...
,
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
'
KXAS-TV KXAS-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alon ...
, San Diego's
KNSD KNSD (channel 39, cable channel 7), branded on air as NBC 7 San Diego, is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations d ...
and
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
's
WRC-TV WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television service, Class A Telemundo outlet W ...
. The station is also the local broadcaster of the San Jose Holiday Parade each December. On October 12, 2010, KNTV hosted its first political debate since becoming owned by NBCUniversal. Its 5, 6, and 11 p.m. newscast was broadcast live at San Rafael's Dominican University of California, though the latter newscast were used as a wrap-up of the debate. The debate between California
gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...
candidates Meg Whitman and
Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...
was moderated by
NBC News NBC News is the news division of the American broadcast television network NBC. The division operates under NBCUniversal Media Group, a division of NBCUniversal, which is itself a subsidiary of Comcast. The news division's various operations r ...
special correspondent
Tom Brokaw Thomas John Brokaw (; born February 6, 1940) is an American author and retired network television journalist. He first served as the co-anchor of Today (American TV program), ''The Today Show'' from 1976 to 1981 with Jane Pauley, then as the anch ...
. This program was simulcast on several other NBC stations within California, including fellow NBC O&Os KNBC and KNSD, as well as on Hearst Television-owned KCRA-TV and KSBW.


Past program preemptions and deferrals

As an ABC affiliate, KNTV occasionally preempted a few ABC programs. KGO-TV, meanwhile (as a network-owned outlet) aired ABC's entire programming schedule, so this often gave San Jose and Silicon Valley (also known as the "South Bay") area residents a second choice for viewing preempted ABC programming (although reception of KGO in the South Bay tended to have some static without a roof-mounted antenna, because of the relatively far distance from Sutro Tower). In its early years as the new NBC affiliate for the San Francisco Bay Area, KNTV aired NBC's
soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
lineup much later in the afternoon than most affiliates; KRON had done this for years as an NBC affiliate. Soon enough, by July 2009, KNTV fell in line with the network's recommended time slot and aired ''
Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that aired on the network NBC from November 8, 1965, to September 9, 2022; the soap has streamed n ...
'' (NBC's remaining afternoon daytime drama) at 1 p.m., before the soap opera moved to NBCUniversal's streaming service
Peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...
in September 2022.


Sports programming

On November 1, 2007, KNTV entered into a three-year broadcast contract with the
San Francisco Giants The San Francisco Giants are an American professional baseball team based in San Francisco. The Giants compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...
through 2010, replacing the team's longtime broadcaster KTVU, which had carried Giants games since 1961, three years after the team moved to the Bay Area and KTVU first began broadcasting. The team's first game broadcast on KNTV aired on April 1,
2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...
. KNTV broadcasts 20 to 40 Giants baseball games a year, which are produced by sister network
NBC Sports Bay Area NBC Sports Bay Area (sometimes abbreviated as NBCS Bay Area) is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between NBCUniversal and the San Francisco Giants, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Headquar ...
. Also, KNTV airs ''Giants Clubhouse'' each weekend during the
MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
season. All of the Giants broadcasts are carried in high definition. The station has preempted Giants telecasts during the
Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...
due to
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 ...
currently holding the television rights to the Olympics. The Giants' contract with KNTV concluded at the end of the 2010 season, however, the broadcast rights were renewed before the 2011 season. Thus, it is one of the few major network affiliates that carry live local MLB games to viewers in their broadcast area. As of
2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...
, Giants telecasts on KNTV have been simulcasts from NBC Sports Bay Area. KNTV also occasionally runs special editions of its newscasts or ''Sports Sunday'', to cover
San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...
NFL games that are broadcast as part of ''
NBC Sunday Night Football ''NBC Sunday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''SNF'') is an American weekly television broadcast of National Football League (NFL) games on NBC and Peacock (streaming service), Peacock in the United States. It began airing on August 6, 2006, w ...
''. On January 23, 2014, NBCUniversal,
Comcast Comcast Corporation, formerly known as Comcast Holdings,Before the AT&T Broadband, AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corporation, not th ...
, and the San Francisco 49ers announced a 10-year partnership that included new additions to
Levi's Stadium Levi's Stadium is an American football stadium located in Santa Clara, California, United States, just west of the much larger city of San Jose, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has served as the home venue for the National Football League (N ...
. The partnership spans multiple business units that include KNTV, NBC Sports Bay Area, its VoiceEdge,
Ethernet Ethernet ( ) is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 198 ...
, and
Xfinity Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications business segment and division of the Comcast Corporation. It is used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless servic ...
services, as well as building a new studio only from where KNTV is based. It also produced 400 hours of programming on KNTV and NBC Sports Bay Area. KNTV is slated to become the local broadcaster for Super Bowl LX in 2026, to be held at Levi's Stadium. From 2006 to 2021, KNTV aired
San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. The Sharks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Con ...
games shown via the ''
NHL on NBC The ''NHL on NBC'' is an American presentation of National Hockey League (NHL) games produced by NBC Sports, and televised on NBC properties, including MSNBC, CNBC, Golf Channel, USA Network and NBCSN in the United States. While NBC covered the ...
''; this included the team's appearance in the
2016 Stanley Cup Finals The 2016 Stanley Cup Finals was the Stanley Cup Finals, championship series of the National Hockey League's (NHL) 2015–16 NHL season, 2015–16 season, and the culmination of the 2016 Stanley Cup playoffs. The Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern ...
.


News operation

KNTV presently broadcasts 37 hours, 25 minutes of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6 hours, 5 minutes each weekday, and hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). The station also produces a local sports highlight and discussion program on Sunday nights called ''Xfinity Sports Sunday Primetime'', which is hosted by sports anchor Dave Feldman during the fall, when NBC provides football coverage in prime time. In September 1998, KNTV began producing an hour-long 10 p.m. newscast for then-WB affiliate KBWB-TV (now KOFY-TV). Upon becoming a WB affiliate in July 2000, KNTV increased its local news programming; it retained all of its existing newscasts and added two hours to its weekday morning newscast, an hour-long news and technology-focused program at noon, an additional half-hour to its 5 p.m. newscast and a simulcast of the KBWB 10 p.m. newscast.TV Turmoil As Channel 11 Cuts ABC Link
''San Francisco Chronicle'', July 3, 2000.
The 7–9 a.m., 5:30 and 10 p.m. newscasts were dropped once KNTV switched to NBC in January 2002. On July 21, 2008, KNTV became the third station in the Bay Area (behind KGO and KTVU) to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. For the first half of 2009, the recession forced NBC to cut costs at KNTV. Several rounds of layoffs occurred, forcing KNTV to shed some well-known personalities, including chief weather anchor John Farley, who left the station in March 2009; after Farley's departure, weekend weather segments originated from the studios of Los Angeles sister station KNBC. The station also closed news bureaus in Sacramento and Oakland. KNTV's news helicopter (which was purchased in 2006) was also suspended from use on April 30, 2009. On May 22, 2009, former NBC Weather Plus meteorologist Jeff Ranieri was named KNTV's new chief meteorologist. The year prior, on June 29, 2008, layoffs included reporters Noelle Walker, Ethan Harp, Christien Kafton, and San Jose reporter Daniel Garza, along with several behind-the-scenes jobs. In December 2010, sports director Raj Mathai transitioned to weeknight news anchor, though he continued to host ''Sports Sunday'' for a short time after the change. On December 21, 2010, KNTV's newscasts moved to a temporary set while the main news set underwent renovations, traffic and sports reports were also done in the newsroom. Meteorologist Rob Mayeda also announced his move to the weekend evening newscast. The station added additional personnel including former KOB reporter Marla Tellez, meteorologist Nick O'Kelly, and freelance sports anchors Justin Allen and Christine Nubla (all of whom, except for Tellez, previously worked for KNTV). On April 20, 2011, KNTV announced that Comcast SportsNet Bay Area (now NBC Sports Bay Area) would begin producing sports segments for the station starting on June 13, 2011, to be produced from a dedicated set at the cable channel's studios. This made KNTV the first NBC-owned station to have its sports segments produced by the
regional sports network A regional sports network (RSN) in the United States and Canada is a television channel that presents sports programming to a local media market or geographical region. Such channels often focus on one or a few teams who currently play in Major L ...
. On August 10, 2011, Janelle Wang replaced Jessica Aguirre as weeknight anchor of the 5 p.m. newscast. Wang and Raj Mathai are the only
Asian American Asian Americans are Americans with ancestry from the continent of Asia (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of those immigrants). Although this term had historically been used fo ...
weekday anchor team outside of Hawaii. On July 16, 2016, KNTV became the eighth NBC-owned station and the first station on the West Coast to begin using "Look N" graphics following seven NBC-owned stations on the East Coast which began using the new graphics in the summer of 2016. Before this, KNTV along with sister stations KNBC and KNSD revamped their websites on July 1, 2016. As of January 2017, KNTV is the only NBC-owned station and one of the two stations in the Bay Area which do not have 4 p.m. newscasts since the NBC affiliation taken over from KRON-TV in 2002. Several owned stations already have hour-long 4 p.m. newscasts. The other NBC-owned stations in New York, Miami, and Hartford began theirs in June, the stations in Los Angeles and Chicago revived theirs in the summer of 2016, and the station in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
(then WBTS-LD) debuted theirs in January 2017. In December 2018, the station announced that they would cut its midday newscasts to half an hour beginning on January 7, 2019, in favor of the brand new lifestyle show ''California LIVE''; sister stations KNBC (which produces the program) and KNSD also announced their cuts on the midday newscasts for a half-hour due to the launching of the series. From mid-March 2020 until April 17, 2020, KNTV expanded its 11 p.m. weeknight newscast to a full hour to provide expanded coverage of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
. In May 2021, it was announced that KNTV will move ''
NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas'' for its weeknight broadcasts ) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network ...
'' to the network recommended time of 6:30 p.m. beginning June 7 as a result of the introduction of two new newscasts at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.; the former will be the third in the San Francisco Bay Area to have this (following KTVU which have theirs as a result of their expansion of its 5 p.m. newscast in April 2005 and KPIX-TV which introduced it in February 2019) and the latter will be the second station in the area to adding the 7 p.m. newscasts (following KPIX-TV which introduced their 7 p.m. newscast in February 2019). In addition, the logo was modified, with the stripes of colors used in the NBC logo was added, and the news opens was also modified with the addition of "Moving You Forward" slogan (which is introduced to complete with their competitor KGO-TV which introduced their slogan "Building a Better Bay Area" in 2020). On July 5, 2021 (a day after
Independence Day An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...
), KNTV began using "Look S" graphics after its sister station KNBC began using it a week prior to its switch and other stations in Chicago and Dallas both debuting it on June 21 and 29 respectively. On September 12, 2022, KNTV launched a half-hour 4:30 p.m. newscast, after the East Coast edition of ''Nightly News'' airing at 4 p.m.


Notable current on-air staff

* Jessica Aguirre – anchor; also host of ''NBC Class Action'' * Raj Mathai – anchor * Rob Mayeda (
AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions ...
Seal of Approval) – meteorologist and host of ''On Thin Ice'' * Scott McGrew – business and technology reporter, ''Tech Now'' producer/reporter, ''Press Here'' host/moderator and weekday anchor * Jeff Ranieri (AMS Seal of Approval) – chief meteorologist * Garvin Thomas – "Bay Area Proud" reporter; also fill-in anchor


Notable former on-air staff

*
Chauncey Bailey Chauncey Wendell Bailey Jr. (October 20, 1949 – August 2, 2007) was an American journalist noted for his work primarily on issues of the African-American community. He served as editor-in-chief of the ''Oakland Post (California), Oakland Post ...
– reporter (1970–1971) * Brodie Brazil – sports anchor/reporter;
NBC Sports Bay Area NBC Sports Bay Area (sometimes abbreviated as NBCS Bay Area) is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between NBCUniversal and the San Francisco Giants, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Headquar ...
contributor * Marc Brown – reporter (1985–1987) * Allen Denton – anchor (2000–2007) * Dave Feldman – sports anchor * Chris Flanagan – sports anchor (2000–2004) * T. J. Holmes – anchor (2003–2006) * Jon Kelley – anchor (2011–2013) * Lisa Kim – anchor (1999–2010) *
Tony Kovaleski Anthony Carl Kovaleski (born 1959) is an American investigative journalist for Denver television station KMGH. Previously, Kovaleski worked at KNTV in San Jose, California from 2012 to 2015. From 2001 to 2011, he was the investigative reporter at ...
– chief investigative reporter (2011–2015) * Jim Kozimor – sports anchor * David Lee – sports anchor (1993–1998) * Jess Marlow – reporter (1960s) * Vicky Nguyen – investigative reporter/fill-in anchor (2007–2019) * Shannon O'Donnell – weekend/morning meteorologist (2001–2007) *
Victoria Recaño Victoria Recaño (born July 2, 1975) is an American television personality currently working for Inside Edition. Her previous jobs including being a special correspondent and media expert for TV Guide Network and co-anchoring the 6 pm and 10 pm ...
– anchor/reporter (2002) * Ric Romero – cameraman (1977–1978) * Ted Rowlands – reporter (1997–1999) * Catt Sadler – entertainment reporter/host of ''The Bay Beat'' (1998–2002) * Marla Tellez – anchor/reporter (2010–2013)


Technical information


Subchannels

The station's signal is
multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...
: Between them, KNTV and KSTS broadcast the same five services (11.3 and 11.4 on the KSTS multiplex simulcast 11.1 and 11.2 on the KNTV multiplex and vice versa for KSTS). The two stations are not co-sited (KSTS is on
Mount Allison Mount Allison is a peak of the Diablo Range, located in the East Bay southeast of Fremont, California. Geography Mount Allison is part of a ridge that also includes Mission Peak and Monument Peak. Unlike those other two peaks, Mount Allis ...
).


Analog-to-digital conversion

KNTV ended regular programming on its analog signal, over VHF channel 11, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.List of Digital Full-Power Station
The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 12,CDBS Print
/ref> using
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered as digits on a receiver's ...
11. As part of the SAFER Act, KNTV kept its analog signal on the air until June 26 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of
public service announcement A public service announcement (PSA) is a message in the public interest disseminated by the media without charge to raise public awareness and change behavior. Oftentimes these messages feature unsettling imagery, ideas or behaviors that are des ...
s from the
National Association of Broadcasters The National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) is a Industry trade group, trade association and lobbying, lobby group representing the interests of commercial and non-commercial over-the-air radio and television broadcasting, broadcasters in th ...
. On April 29, 2020, at 1 p.m. during the
FCC repack The 2016 United States wireless spectrum auction, officially known as Auction 1001, allocated approximately 100 Hertz, MHz of the United States Ultra high frequency, Ultra High Frequency (UHF) spectrum formerly allocated to UHF television broa ...
, KNTV relocated from channel 12 to channel 13. KNTV is now the largest NBC affiliate on the VHF band—and the only NBC O&O to broadcast on VHF.


ATSC 3.0

On March 27, 2023, KNTV began carrying Antenna TV on its multiplexed signal on behalf of KRON on channel 4.2 to help free-up KRON's RF channel 7 for ATSC 3.0 transmission. On March 29, 2023, at 10:01 a.m., KNTV and five other Bay Area stations went live on KRON's new transmitter on Sutro Tower in ATSC 3.0. With this addition of the ATSC 3.0 signal from Sutro Tower, KNTV is the only station in the Bay Area broadcasting from three different full-power transmitters, concurrently. Also, at the time of the ATSC 3.0 launch, the San Francisco Bay Area is the first and only market with all five major English networks participating via O&O stations (as well as
Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...
O&O KDTV). On May 5, 2023, KNTV began upconverting the ATSC 3.0 signal to
Dolby Vision Dolby Vision is a set of technologies developed by Dolby Laboratories for high dynamic range (HDR) video. It covers content creation, distribution, and playback. It includes dynamic metadata that define the aspect ratio and adjust the picture ...
, becoming the first station in the market to do so. Shortly before the
2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...
in
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, KNTV started broadcasting its ATSC 3.0 signal in
Dolby Atmos Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels as well as free-moving sound objects, interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horiz ...
, as well as Dolby Vision.


References

* Kearns, Jeff (December 6–12, 2001).
The Story At 11." ''Metroactive''
May 20, 2005. * Romano, Allison.

. ''Broadcasting and Cable''. February 21, 2005. * Malone, Michael (July 1, 2008).

. ''Broadcasting and Cable''. July 1, 2008


External links

*
Telemundo48.com
– KSTS-TV
NBC Bay Area Studio Pictures
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kntv 1955 establishments in California Cozi TV affiliates NBC Owned Television Stations Television channels and stations established in 1955 Television in San Jose, California NTV