please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . june 2013 learn how and when to remove this template message kxtv sacramento stockton modesto california united states city sacramento california branding abc 10 general abc 10 news newscasts slogan imagine better . california spirit channels digital 10 vhf virtual 10 psip affiliations .1 abc .2 justice network .3 heroes & icons owner tegna media kxtv llc first air date march 20 1955 ; 61 years ago 1955 03 20 call letters meaning x roman numeral 10 for channel number tv former callsigns kbet tv 1955 1959 former channel number s analog 10 vhf 1955 2009 digital 61 uhf until 2009 former affiliations cbs 1955 1995 transmitter power 28.6 kw height 611.9 meters 2 008 ft facility id 25048 transmitter coordinates 38 14 24 n 121 30 3 w 38.24000 n 121.50083 w 38.24000 ; 121.50083 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.abc10.com kxtv virtual channel and vhf digital channel 10 is an abc affiliated television station located in sacramento california united states . the station is owned by tegna inc. kxtv maintains studio facilities located on broadway just south of business loop 80 at the south edge of downtown sacramento and its transmitter facility which is shared with kovr channel 13 is located in walnut grove . contents 1 history 1.1 switch to abc 2 abc10 weather tower 3 digital television 3.1 digital channels 3.2 analog to digital conversion 4 programming 5 news operation 5.1 notable former on air staff 6 out of market carriage 7 references 8 external links history edit the station first signed on the air on march 19 1955 as kbet ; it was owned by the locally based sacramento telecasters . the station originally operated an affiliate of cbs . the station s original studio facilities were located on 7th avenue in south sacramento . mcclatchy newspapers owner of the sacramento bee newspaper and sacramento telecasters had long fought over the channel 10 construction permit before the federal communications commission and ultimately in federal court . 1 in 1959 sacramento telecasters sold the station to corinthian broadcasting and its call letters were changed to the current kxtv the x representing the roman numeral for its channel number 10 . in 1968 the station moved to its present location at 400 broadway in downtown sacramento . corinthian became part of dun & bradstreet in 1971 . the a.h. belo corporation bought all of dun & bradstreet s television stations except for wish tv in indianapolis and wane tv in fort wayne indiana which went to lin broadcasting in february 1984 . as a cbs affiliate the station preempted some lower rated daytime and late night programs including the 9 10 a.m. morning block in the 1980s and early 1990s while late night programs were absent from the schedule from the late 1980s until the late show with david letterman debuted in 1993 . kxtv also preempted the network s sunday morning cartoons from the 1960s until the early 1980s . in 1991 kxtv dropped the price is right due to its heavy syndicated programming lineup . after several months of complaints kxtv restored the game show to its lineup but to make room for syndicated programming it was committed to carry channel 10 subsequently dropped guiding light due to low ratings . kxtv also aired the young and the restless at 3 p.m. instead of the program s recommended 11 a.m. timeslot beginning in 1994 . as a cbs affiliate kxtv s station id included an electronic alarm like version of the cbs ding used as the top of the hour time signal on the network s co owned radio stations and on its hourly radio news updates . switch to abc edit kxtv s logo until 2015 . on march 6 1995 kxtv switched its affiliation to abc in a swap with kovr channel 13 which joined cbs . with the move kxtv became the third station in sacramento to affiliate with abc ; kccc tv channel 40 channel now occupied by ktxl was the market s original affiliate from 1953 until it shut down in 1957 when the network moved to kovr . the station continued to preempt network programming as an abc affiliate it preempted the half hour soaps airing in the 12 30 p.m. timeslot loving followed by the city and later port charles at some point running it during the overnight hours . during the station s first six months as an abc affiliate kxtv preempted an hour of abc saturday morning cartoons it began airing the block in its entirety in the fall of 1995 . kxtv aired all my children at 3 p.m. in its early years with abc replacing the young and the restless in that timeslot with the switch before moving it to the network s recommended noon slot after the midday newscast moved back one hour from noon to 11 a.m. kxtv has carried the entire abc schedule since the network gave back the weekday 12 30 p.m. pacific time timeslot back to its affiliates in 2003 . in 1999 belo traded kxtv to the gannett company in exchange for fellow abc affiliate kvue in austin texas . this marked a re entry into the sacramento market for gannett who briefly owned kovr during the late 1950s . when gannett finalized its acquisition of belo on december 23 2013 kxtv was reunited with several of its sister stations for the first time in 14 years and became a sister station to kvue in austin for the first time . until the company merged with cbs television distribution in 2007 kxtv had first choice on the local rights to all programs distributed by king world . the station currently holds the local syndication rights to king world turned cbs properties inside edition jeopardy and wheel of fortune the latter two having aired on kxtv since the mid 1980s as a cbs affiliate . until 2002 the station also held the local rights to the oprah winfrey show which later moved to kcra kqca . in 2002 kxtv acquired the local rights to sacramento kings games as a result of a contractual dispute between the team s owners the maloof family and longtime broadcaster kmax tv channel 31 due to the station selling ads featuring the team without the kings permission . in 2009 the kings broadcasts moved exclusively to comcast sportsnet california with kxtv only carrying games through abc s broadcast rights to the nba which began around the same time that kxtv acquired the local broadcast rights . around the first week of october 2012 gannett entered a dispute against dish network regarding compensation fees and dish s autohop commercial skip feature on its hopper digital video recorders . gannett ordered that dish discontinue autohop on the account that it is affecting advertising revenues for kxtv . gannett threatened to pull all of its stations kxtv among them should the skirmish continue beyond october 7 and dish and gannett fail to reach an agreement . 2 3 the two parties eventually reached an agreement after extending the deadline for a few hours . 4 on june 29 2015 gannett s broadcasting division split from the newspaper division and renamed its broadcasting and digital divisions under the tegna inc. name kxtv was included in the transaction to tegna . 5 on august 30 2015 kxtv changed its on air branding to abc10 retiring the news10 moniker . 6 abc10 weather tower edit the abc10 weather tower at day time . the abc10 weather tower at night time . the abc10 weather tower formerly news10 weather tower went into operation on august 24 2001 in coincidence with opening day of the 2001 california state fair . construction of the tower was completed on october 11 2000 but kxtv decided to hold off its launch due to the state s energy crisis occurring near the original dedication date . it was built and designed by nacht & lewis architects based in downtown sacramento . kxtv an anchor facility and active proponent of improvements to the broadway street corridor elected not to construct a conventional broadcast tower examples of which may be seen throughout sacramento . the proposed design melds the rather demanding engineering requirements for communications towers with sensitivity to the suggestions of the surrounding residents while creating an icon and gateway for the broadway corridor . the top of the tower glows with a different color based on the weather conditions or to represent when either the sacramento kings or sacramento monarchs have won a game . color description yellow sunny or clear conditions are forecast for tomorrow but the temperature is not above 100 degrees . green rain is in the area but there is no severe weather . blue high winds are in the area but a severe weather watch has not been issued . white cloudy red the temperatures are above 100 degrees or a severe weather watch or warning has been issued . purple the sacramento kings during the nba season have won their latest game . kxtv is one of two tegna owned stations that operate a weather beacon . the other is abc affiliated sister station wzzm channel 13 in grand rapids which operates its beacon at that studios in walker michigan . as of 2014 the color lighted portion of the weather tower has been removed making the tower a plain but decorated tower . digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 7 10.1 720p 16 9 kxtv dt main kxtv programming abc 10.2 480i kxtv jn justice network 10.3 h & i heroes & icons in 2006 kxtv began carrying a 24 hour weather service on digital subchannel 10.2 which was an affiliate of the local accuweather channel . on august 23 2011 the disney abc television group signed an affiliation agreement with kxtv to carry live well network which replaced the local accuweather channel on 10.2 . 8 kxtv produces friday night football highlights and jonathan mumm s california postcard segments in high definition . the station s talk show sacramento & company produced a special presented in high definition called the future is hdtv on news10 in 2009 about the fcc mandated transition from analog to digital television broadcasts and showcased hd programs from abc and the syndication market . analog to digital conversion edit in 1999 kxtv began broadcasting its digital signal on uhf channel 61 . kxtv shut down its analog signal over vhf channel 10 on june 12 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television . 9 the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 61 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition to its analog era vhf channel 10 . on march 18 2014 kxtv applied for a digital fill in translator on uhf channel 36 . the translator will serve the immediate part of the city . 10 as of may 27 2016 the uhf channel 36 translator has not been put into service . programming edit syndicated programming seen on kxtv includes jeopardy wheel of fortune right this minute inside edition and the ellen degeneres show among others . from the late 1980s to early 1990s kxtv produced two nationally syndicated magazine programs scratch which was aimed at young adults and pulse which covered medical news . on september 12 2005 kxtv launched a lifestyle and entertainment talk program called sacramento & company airing for an hour on weekday mornings at 9 a.m. it is similar to other locally produced talk programs seen on gannett stations in other markets and features segments sponsored by local companies ; the program was