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KSWB-TV
KSWB-TV (channel 69, cable channel 5) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW station KUSI-TV (channel 51); Nexstar's Tegna subsidiary owns CBS affiliate KFMB-TV (channel 8). KSWB-TV and KUSI-TV share studios on Viewridge Avenue (near I-15) in the Kearny Mesa section of San Diego; KSWB-TV's transmitter is located southeast of Spring Valley. The station is branded as Fox 5 San Diego, in reference to its primary cable channel number in the market.
KSWB-TV went on the air in September 1984 as KTTY. Owned by a consortium that represented four separate applicants for the channel, KTTY was the third independent station in the market; its programming was perceived at the time to be generally inferior to its two competitors. In 1994, the station was placed into bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure, during which time it affiliated with The WB. Tribune Broadcasting won the bidding to purchase KTTY in 1995, and the station was relaunched as KSWB-TV on August 16, 1996. Tribune provided stronger programming that improved the station's ratings. Between 1999 and 2005, KSWB produced a local 10 p.m. newscast, which was then outsourced to KNSD-TV as part of a wave of cost cuts.
In 2008, Tribune reached a deal to make KSWB-TV the region's new Fox affiliate, displacing XETV, a Tijuana-based independent that had long targeted the U.S. market. The move led the station to restart its own local newscasts. In 2024, Nexstar bought KUSI-TV, giving it a duopoly in San Diego. Nexstar purchased Tegna Inc. in 2026, putting KFMB-TV under common ownership, but ongoing lawsuits against the merger have halted integration.
Center City Complex Inc., owned by businessman Charles Woods, filed for the addition of a new television station allocation to San Diego in 1978. Woods had proposed that channel 27 be allocated to the city and sought to build a new Spanish-language outlet; however, a revised agreement with Mexico designated channel 27 for Tijuana, and channel 69 was proposed instead for San Diego. Ten to twelve applications were received, and eight were designated for comparative hearing by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in early 1982. The field of applicants consolidated after the hearing designation by way of settlements and mergers and was whittled down eventually to five. Four of these groups consolidated: a group of Asian businessmen headed by former San Diego city councilor Tom Hom; Black investor J. Bruce Llewellyn and several other East Coast interests; Gil Contreras, leading a Hispanic group; and a White group led by Jim Harmon, the president of Imperial Airlines. Harmon was the brother of Helen Alvarez Smith, former co-owner of KFMB-TV (channel 8). They then settled with the fifth group—Christian Communications Network, owned by evangelist Jerry Barnard—and agreed to air its programming.
The settlement cleared the way for the consortium, known as San Diego Television, to get a construction permit, which the FCC moved to grant on December 2, 1982. The Llewellyn group opted to sell, owing to the difficulty of living on the East Coast and trying to set up a TV station on the West Coast, and was bought out by the other groups for $2 million (equivalent to $5.09 million in 2025). When the antenna was shipped, it was first delivered to the studios in Chula Vista, not to the San Miguel Mountain transmitter site where it needed to be installed. The Chula Vista studio site was chosen for its access to I-5 and relative lack of congestion; this contrasted with the situation in the Kearny Mesa area, where most San Diego TV stations are located.
KTTY began broadcasting on September 30, 1984, mostly airing classic movies and old syndicated reruns, as well as Newspot news briefs throughout the day. In its first year, ratings were low; even some Los Angeles independent stations, seen on San Diego cable systems, surpassed it in the ratings. It aired San Diego State Aztecs sports and such local productions as Beach Party, a show filmed on local beaches described by its producer as "PM Magazine meets American Bandstand for teenagers". As an independent station, KTTY consistently trailed XETV (channel 6) and KUSI-TV (channel 51) in the quality of its programming and its ratings. It promoted itself as "San Diego's Movie Channel"; John Freeman, TV writer for The San Diego Union-Tribune, called it in retrospect "a laughingstock—bankrupt and virtually bereft of watchable programming". The Harmon–Alvarez Smith group became the primary owners of San Diego Television in 1986 when the group obtained a $17 million bank loan.
San Diego Television filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on February 2, 1994. This action was undertaken by Alvarez Smith in order to protect KTTY from foreclosure on the 1986 loan. In the year that followed, the station made two upgrades. As part of a new San Diego Padres baseball rights package, KTTY picked up a scheduled 36 games a season for two years, one of three different outlets airing Padres games in 1994 and 1995 (alongside KFMB-TV and Prime Sports). It also affiliated with The WB, one of two new networks launching in January 1995.
On August 29, 1995, in a Los Angeles courtroom, bidders competed at a bankruptcy auction to buy KTTY. Before the auction, offers for the station had hovered between $40 and $42 million. In an event described as "exciting" by an observer, and amidst a frenzied market for TV stations nationally, bidding was fierce. After groups including Newsweb and Viacom dropped out, third-place finisher New World Communications exited when the price reached $60 million, leaving Tribune Broadcasting and United Television—associated with The WB's rival, UPN—to fight it out in a bidding war. After both parties bid in 22 rounds to push the price to $70 million, Tribune bid $70.5 million (equivalent to $132 million in 2025) without United matching it, winning the right to buy KTTY. After the debts—which had increased to $26 million—were covered, the owners of San Diego Television split $44 million.
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KSWB-TV
KSWB-TV (channel 69, cable channel 5) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CW station KUSI-TV (channel 51); Nexstar's Tegna subsidiary owns CBS affiliate KFMB-TV (channel 8). KSWB-TV and KUSI-TV share studios on Viewridge Avenue (near I-15) in the Kearny Mesa section of San Diego; KSWB-TV's transmitter is located southeast of Spring Valley. The station is branded as Fox 5 San Diego, in reference to its primary cable channel number in the market.
KSWB-TV went on the air in September 1984 as KTTY. Owned by a consortium that represented four separate applicants for the channel, KTTY was the third independent station in the market; its programming was perceived at the time to be generally inferior to its two competitors. In 1994, the station was placed into bankruptcy to avoid foreclosure, during which time it affiliated with The WB. Tribune Broadcasting won the bidding to purchase KTTY in 1995, and the station was relaunched as KSWB-TV on August 16, 1996. Tribune provided stronger programming that improved the station's ratings. Between 1999 and 2005, KSWB produced a local 10 p.m. newscast, which was then outsourced to KNSD-TV as part of a wave of cost cuts.
In 2008, Tribune reached a deal to make KSWB-TV the region's new Fox affiliate, displacing XETV, a Tijuana-based independent that had long targeted the U.S. market. The move led the station to restart its own local newscasts. In 2024, Nexstar bought KUSI-TV, giving it a duopoly in San Diego. Nexstar purchased Tegna Inc. in 2026, putting KFMB-TV under common ownership, but ongoing lawsuits against the merger have halted integration.
Center City Complex Inc., owned by businessman Charles Woods, filed for the addition of a new television station allocation to San Diego in 1978. Woods had proposed that channel 27 be allocated to the city and sought to build a new Spanish-language outlet; however, a revised agreement with Mexico designated channel 27 for Tijuana, and channel 69 was proposed instead for San Diego. Ten to twelve applications were received, and eight were designated for comparative hearing by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in early 1982. The field of applicants consolidated after the hearing designation by way of settlements and mergers and was whittled down eventually to five. Four of these groups consolidated: a group of Asian businessmen headed by former San Diego city councilor Tom Hom; Black investor J. Bruce Llewellyn and several other East Coast interests; Gil Contreras, leading a Hispanic group; and a White group led by Jim Harmon, the president of Imperial Airlines. Harmon was the brother of Helen Alvarez Smith, former co-owner of KFMB-TV (channel 8). They then settled with the fifth group—Christian Communications Network, owned by evangelist Jerry Barnard—and agreed to air its programming.
The settlement cleared the way for the consortium, known as San Diego Television, to get a construction permit, which the FCC moved to grant on December 2, 1982. The Llewellyn group opted to sell, owing to the difficulty of living on the East Coast and trying to set up a TV station on the West Coast, and was bought out by the other groups for $2 million (equivalent to $5.09 million in 2025). When the antenna was shipped, it was first delivered to the studios in Chula Vista, not to the San Miguel Mountain transmitter site where it needed to be installed. The Chula Vista studio site was chosen for its access to I-5 and relative lack of congestion; this contrasted with the situation in the Kearny Mesa area, where most San Diego TV stations are located.
KTTY began broadcasting on September 30, 1984, mostly airing classic movies and old syndicated reruns, as well as Newspot news briefs throughout the day. In its first year, ratings were low; even some Los Angeles independent stations, seen on San Diego cable systems, surpassed it in the ratings. It aired San Diego State Aztecs sports and such local productions as Beach Party, a show filmed on local beaches described by its producer as "PM Magazine meets American Bandstand for teenagers". As an independent station, KTTY consistently trailed XETV (channel 6) and KUSI-TV (channel 51) in the quality of its programming and its ratings. It promoted itself as "San Diego's Movie Channel"; John Freeman, TV writer for The San Diego Union-Tribune, called it in retrospect "a laughingstock—bankrupt and virtually bereft of watchable programming". The Harmon–Alvarez Smith group became the primary owners of San Diego Television in 1986 when the group obtained a $17 million bank loan.
San Diego Television filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on February 2, 1994. This action was undertaken by Alvarez Smith in order to protect KTTY from foreclosure on the 1986 loan. In the year that followed, the station made two upgrades. As part of a new San Diego Padres baseball rights package, KTTY picked up a scheduled 36 games a season for two years, one of three different outlets airing Padres games in 1994 and 1995 (alongside KFMB-TV and Prime Sports). It also affiliated with The WB, one of two new networks launching in January 1995.
On August 29, 1995, in a Los Angeles courtroom, bidders competed at a bankruptcy auction to buy KTTY. Before the auction, offers for the station had hovered between $40 and $42 million. In an event described as "exciting" by an observer, and amidst a frenzied market for TV stations nationally, bidding was fierce. After groups including Newsweb and Viacom dropped out, third-place finisher New World Communications exited when the price reached $60 million, leaving Tribune Broadcasting and United Television—associated with The WB's rival, UPN—to fight it out in a bidding war. After both parties bid in 22 rounds to push the price to $70 million, Tribune bid $70.5 million (equivalent to $132 million in 2025) without United matching it, winning the right to buy KTTY. After the debts—which had increased to $26 million—were covered, the owners of San Diego Television split $44 million.