KDSM-TV (channel 17) is a television station in Des Moines, Iowa, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. The station is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group and has studios on Fleur Drive in Des Moines; its transmitter is located in Alleman, Iowa.

Channel 17 began broadcasting as KCBR, Des Moines's first independent station, on March 7, 1983. It was locally owned by the Independence Broadcasting Company. It was purchased by Duchossois Communications in 1985. Under Duchossois, the station changed its call sign to KDSM-TV in 1986, affiliated with the then-new Fox network, and became the local broadcaster of syndicated Iowa Hawkeyes men's basketball, which dramatically boosted its visibility and regional cable carriage. River City Broadcasting acquired KDSM-TV in 1990 and boosted its promotion of Fox programming. It soon surpassed ABC affiliate WOI-TV, long the market's distant third-rated station, in total revenue.

After River City merged with Sinclair in 1996, KDSM began broadcasting a local newscast in 2001. The newscast was presented from Sinclair-owned KGAN in Cedar Rapids using Des Moines–based news staff. In 2008, this was replaced with a local newscast produced by WHO-DT (channel 13). KDSM became the market's ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) broadcaster in 2023.

Channel 17 was the second television channel to be activated in central Iowa, nearly 30 years before the present station. KGTV was the first station in Des Moines itself; it operated from November 1953 to April 1955, when it folded amid economic struggles inherent in early UHF broadcasting. Two parties expressed interest in the channel in the two decades after the station folded. In 1966, Stoner Television Company of Des Moines filed to build and operate channel 17, and in 1970, the permittees of unbuilt station KWIG sought to change their assignment from channel 63 to channel 17.

In April 1979, Koplar Broadcasting of St. Louis announced its intention to build a new independent station on channel 17 to serve Des Moines. Koplar proposed to model the station, which it called KRBK, after its successful KPLR-TV in St. Louis. The next month, the Independence Broadcasting Company—owned by Raymond Gazzo, William Trout, and Carl Goldsberry of Des Moines—made an application of its own. Goldsberry was a Northwestern Bell yellow pages sales representative, while Trout and Gazzo were partners in a Des Moines law firm. The looming fight of Koplar versus Independence was compared by Evan Roth of the Des Moines Tribune to a "David and Goliath" contest. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) designated their applications as well as bids from Greater Des Moines Vision Ltd. and Columbia Iowa TV Ltd. for comparative hearing on March 13, 1981.

In April 1982, an FCC administrative law judge awarded channel 17 to Independence Broadcasting, not long after the four applicants reached a settlement agreement by which Independence reimbursed them for their expenses. The company initially selected a downtown studio site on 3rd Street, but by October it had instead found space in a building on Park Avenue.

A mild and wet winter caused difficulties with construction of the station's tower at Alleman. Construction equipment bogged down in muddy terrain. KCBR had initially set a January 17, 1983, start date, but the tower construction company started work two months late; by early January, the tower had reached less than half its planned height. Channel 17 broadcast for the first time on the afternoon of March 7, 1983; its official sign-on was a week later, on March 14. KCBR offered viewers a schedule of movies, syndicated and children's shows, and sports, as well as two locally produced public affairs shows.

Independence Broadcasting reached a $9 million deal in late October 1984 to sell KCBR to Citadel Communications, a company owned by East Coast investors led by former Corinthian Broadcasting president Philip Lombardo. The transaction fell apart, leading Independence to sue Citadel for breach of contract in late December.