KKFX-CD (channel 24, cable 11) is a low-power, Class A television station licensed to

San Luis Obispo, California ; ; ; Chumashan languages, Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. Located on the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfway betwee ...

, United States, serving the Central Coast of California as an affiliate of the Fox network. It is owned by the

News-Press & Gazette Company The News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) is an American media company based in St. Joseph, Missouri, wholly owned and operated by the Bradley family. It is presided by Brian Bradley and David R. Bradley, with Hank Bradley (retired), Eric Bradley, ...

(NPG) as part of its News Channel cluster alongside Santa Barbara–based ABC and CBS affiliate

KEYT-TV KEYT-TV (channel 3) is a television station licensed to Santa Barbara, California, United States, serving the Central Coast of California as an affiliate of ABC, CBS, and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) alo ...

(channel 3) and Santa Maria–licensed

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 ...

and CW affiliate

KCOY-TV KCOY-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Santa Maria, California, United States, serving the Central Coast of California as an affiliate of Telemundo and The CW. It is owned by VistaWest Media, LLC, which maintains a shared se ...

(channel 12), which it manages. KKFX-CD and KCOY-TV share studios at West McCoy Lane and Skyway Drive in Santa Maria north of Santa Maria Public Airport; KEYT-TV maintains separate facilities on Miramonte Drive on TV Hill, overlooking downtown Santa Barbara. KKFX-CD's transmitter is located atop Cuesta Ridge north of San Luis Obispo; it and KCOY-TV, which covers the southern portion of the market from Tepusquet Peak in the

Los Padres National Forest Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in Southern California, southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast ...

, carry the same major subchannels.

History

The Fox television network had no affiliate on the southern Central Coast, but

KTTV KTTV (channel 11) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned a ...

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, ...

was available on cable. When Fox gained the rights to telecast NFL football from CBS in 1994, Santa Maria–based CBS affiliate

reached a secondary affiliation agreement to continue presenting football to its viewers. To fill this gap and provide a regional Fox affiliate, attorney William Reyner and the Smith Broadcasting Group, owner of Santa Barbara ABC affiliate

, teamed in December 1996 to launch KKFX. Originally broadcast on channel 11 and appearing on channel 11 or 24 on cable, the station debuted on January 20, 1997—in time to carry Super Bowl XXXI. This had the effect of putting Fox football telecasts out of reach of non-cable homes in San Luis Obispo County. In 2000, Reyner sold KKFX to the Ackerley Group, owner of KCOY-TV, for $15.4 million. At the time of the sale, KKFX was airing a 10 p.m. newscast. In 2002, Ackerley was bought out by Clear Channel Communications (now

iHeartMedia iHeartMedia, Inc., or CC Media Holdings, Inc., is an American mass media corporation headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. It is the holding company of iHeartCommunications, Inc., formerly Clear Channel Communications, Inc., a company founded by ...

). Clear Channel sold its television stations in a deal announced in 2007 to Newport Television, a broadcasting holding company controlled by the private equity firm Providence Equity Partners. The sale was finalized on March 14, 2008; however, Providence Equity Partners owned 19 percent of

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 ...

and thus had to sell stations in multiple California markets. The

Cowles Company The Cowles Company is an American diversified media company based in Spokane, Washington. The company owns and operates ''The Spokesman-Review'' in Spokane, founded in 1894, and owned the ''Spokane Daily Chronicle'' until it was shut down in 19 ...

Spokane, Washington Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...

, had agreed months before the deal closed to acquire KCOY, KKFX-CA, and the Clear Channel TV station in Monterey ( KION-TV); this transaction closed on May 7, 2008. In January 2012, Cowles announced a round of cost-cutting measures at its California stations. KCOY–KKFX bore the brunt of the cutbacks; sports coverage was eliminated, the morning show was pared back to an hour in length, and the evening newscasts began to be presented from Salinas. Thirteen employees were laid off, including chief meteorologist Jim Byrne and sports anchor Kevin Roose, although weeknight anchor Arturo Santiago and sports anchor Dave Alley each remained as Santa Maria-based reporters. The move came just seven months after Cowles invested in converting the Santa Maria newsroom to high-definition, making KCOY–KKFX the first high-definition newscasts in the market. Byrne sued Cowles, claiming breach of contract; the parties settled out of court. On September 20, 2013,

, owner of KEYT-TV, announced that it would take over some of KCOY's operations (including its news operation) under a shared services agreement. NPG acquired KKFX-CA directly. The sale was completed on December 13. On January 20, 2015, KKFX began broadcasting over the air in high definition and providing a high-definition feed directly to cable and

DirecTV DirecTV, LLC is an American Multichannel television in the United States, multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital Satellite television, s ...

. On that same date, KKFX-CA returned to the airwaves in Santa Barbara on low-power KSBB-CD channel 17.

Newscasts

''Fox 11 News in the Morning'' airs weekdays on KKFX from 7 to 8 a.m. A nightly hour-long newscast is included.

Subchannels

References

External links

Official website
{{NPG 1998 establishments in California Fox Broadcasting Company affiliates Grit (TV network) affiliates Low-power television stations in California News-Press & Gazette Company Television channels and stations established in 1998 KFX-CD

History

Newscasts

Subchannels

See also

References

External links