Although KKFX-CD identifies as a station in its own right, it is officially licensed as a translator of KCOY-TV. In addition to its own digital signal, KKFX-CD is simulcast in high definition on KCOY-TV's second digital subchannel from a transmitter on Tepusquet Peak in the Los Padres National Forest east of Santa Maria. KCOY-TV, in turn, is simulcast on KKFX-CD's second digital subchannel.
History
KKFX-CD signed on for the first time on November 6, 1998, as the area's Fox affiliate. Network-ownedWest Coastflagship stationKTTV in Los Angeles (which had been carried on cable throughout the Central Coast dating back to its days as a superstation) served as the affiliate of record for the Central Coast before the station began operations. Before July 1, 2006, this station could also be seen in Santa Barbara on KSBB-LP channel 17, but it switched to a repeater of KEYT-TV. On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel Communications entered into an agreement to sell its television station group to Providence Equity Partners. The sale was finalized on March 14, 2008.[2] However, Providence Equity Partners did not keep KKFX and sister station KCOY due to Federal Communications Commission (FCC) restrictions. As a result, they were resold to the Cowles Publishing Company.[3] On May 7, 2008, the deal between Cowles and Newport Television closed.[4]
On September 20, 2013, News-Press & Gazette Company, owner of KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara, announced that it would purchase KKFX-CA as well as Monterey sister stations KION-TV and KMUV-LP. NPG also took over some operations of KCOY that Cowles retained under a shared services agreement.[5] The sale was completed on December 13, 2013.[6]
On January 20, 2015, KKFX began broadcasting over the air in high definition[7] and providing an HD feed directly to cable and DirecTV. On that same date, KKFX-CA returned to the airwaves in Santa Barbara on low-power KSBB-CD channel 17.[7]
Newscasts
Fox 11 News in the Morning airs weekdays on KKFX from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. A nightly hour-long newscast is included.
^[1]Archived December 19, 2013, at the Wayback Machine NewsChannel 3 Owner Completes Purchase of Fox 11, KEYT, December 13, 2013, Retrieved December 17, 2013.
