KPYX

KPYX

Company type	Independent television station
Industry	Broadcasting
Founded	January 2, 1968 (1968-01-02)
Headquarters	San Francisco, California , United States
Area served	San Francisco Bay Area
Products	Television broadcasting
Owner	CBS News and Stations
Website	www.kpyx.tv

KPYX (channel 44, cable channel 12), operating under the brand name KPIX+, is an independent television station licensed in San Francisco, California, catering to the San Francisco Bay Area audience. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside KPIX-TV (channel 5), which serves as the market's CBS owned-and-operated outlet. Both stations share production facilities located near San Francisco's Financial District. The transmitter for KPYX is situated atop Sutro Tower.

Initially launched as KBHK, channel 44 was among the UHF stations established by Kaiser Broadcasting and was one of only two commercial UHF stations in the Bay Area to endure the boom-and-bust cycle of the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 1982, it was purchased by United Television, and in 1995 it became a founding owned-and-operated station of the United Paramount Network. Since 2001, under its present ownership, the station operated as KBCW and maintained an affiliation with The CW from its inception in 2006 until 2023. Following CBS's divestment of its stake in The CW to Nexstar Media Group, the station rebranded as KPYX and launched local news programming during prime time and morning hours.

Kaiser, Field, and Chris-Craft ownership

On November 14, 1962, a construction permit was granted to Kaiser Broadcasting, a subsidiary of Oakland-based Kaiser Industries and owner of San Francisco radio station KFOG (104.5 FM), to establish channel 44 in San Francisco. Before adopting the call sign KBHK, the permit had initially been designated as KFOG-TV and subsequently KHJK-TV, named in honor of Kaiser Industries founder Henry J. Kaiser.

KBHK-TV commenced broadcasting on January 2, 1968. Kaiser had intended to launch two stations simultaneously, including WKBF-TV in Cleveland (which faced delays due to weather). The flagship local program for channel 44 was Tonight in San Francisco. The studios located at 420 Taylor Street held a rich broadcasting history, having previously been occupied by NBC’s San Francisco station and other broadcasters before becoming vacant.

By 1968, KBHK entered a highly competitive UHF landscape in the Bay Area with modest ratings caused by challenging topography and limited signal reach. Despite early setbacks with live entertainment and news programming, its ratings gradually saw improvement. While many competitors ceased operations due to financial difficulties, KBHK continued to operate. Initially transmitting from San Bruno Mountain, KBHK shifted its transmitter to Sutro Tower upon its completion; the previous mast was then utilized by other broadcasters.

In 1973, Kaiser Broadcasting merged with Chicago-based Field Communications. By 1977, Kaiser sold its interest to Field for $42.625 million, making Field the sole proprietor of KBHK. Field maintained its broadcast headquarters in San Francisco. After Field placed its stations on the market in 1982, KBHK was bought by United Television, a division of Chris-Craft Industries, in 1983. In 1984, United proposed a $50 million offer to KQED to exchange channels and relocate the commercial station to VHF; however, this proposal was rejected.

After nearly a quarter-century at the Taylor Street location, KBHK moved to 650 California Street in 1992. Although the station had considered acquiring KQED’s former studios in 1988, it ultimately did not finalize that transaction. During the early ’90s, KBHK transitioned away from prime time movies toward first-run syndicated content as higher-budget programming became increasingly accessible.

Affiliation with UPN

In 1993, Chris-Craft/United Television joined forces with Paramount Pictures (which merged into Viacom in 1994) to establish the United Paramount Network (UPN). When UPN launched on January 16, 1995, United Television's independent stations served as its original affiliates.

By 2000, Viacom had acquired Chris-Craft's 50% ownership of UPN (Chris-Craft had held full ownership until Viacom's investment in 1996). On August 12 of that year, Chris-Craft sold its UPN stations to Fox Television Stations, a division of News Corporation, for $5.5 billion; the transaction was finalized on July 31, 2001. This acquisition posed regulatory ownership challenges for Fox, which aimed to create duopolies in markets where it already operated Fox stations. However, Fox was unable to convert KBHK into a Fox affiliate due to KTVU’s existing long-term contract. Meanwhile, Viacom, having purchased CBS and KPIX a year earlier, sought to expand duopolies in other markets. As a result, Fox exchanged KBHK-TV with Viacom for KTXH in Houston and WDCA in Washington, D.C., allowing Fox to establish duopolies in those cities. The FCC approved this transaction in August 2001, stipulating that Viacom divest one of its San Francisco radio properties. After the sale, KBHK moved its operations from California Street to the KPIX studios located on Battery Street.

Affiliation with The CW

On January 24, 2006, Warner Bros. (under Time Warner) and CBS Corporation announced the closure of The WB and UPN networks and combined their programming to form a new network called The CW. Out of CBS’s 15 UPN affiliates, eleven—including KBHK—transitioned into CW affiliates. Reflecting this change, the station updated its call sign from KBHK to KBCW on July 1, 2006.

On December 4, 2019, CBS Corporation and Viacom reunited under the merged entity ViacomCBS (now known as Paramount Global).

Return to Independent Status

Nexstar Media Group took majority control of The CW on October 3, 2022. As part of this agreement, CBS retained the option to terminate affiliations with KBCW along with seven other stations. Exercising this option on May 5, 2023, CBS ended KBCW’s CW affiliation effective at the end of August and reverted the station back to independent status—prompting affiliation shifts across several markets. Subsequently, The CW affiliation was transferred to KRON-TV, a Nexstar-owned station.

On July 18, 2023, CBS News and Stations submitted an application to change KBCW’s call letters to KPYX effective September 1, 2023. This rebranding positions KPYX as an extension of KPIX-TV’s brand identity under the new name "KPIX+".

Sports

Upon its inception, channel 44 served as the broadcast home for both the Golden State Warriors and Oakland Athletics. The Athletics were televised on KBHK from 1968 through 1972 and again between 1982 and 1984; meanwhile, Warriors games aired on channel 44 starting in 1968 and resumed from 1981 until 1984. Additionally, KBHK aired three games during the final season of the NHL’s California Golden Seals in 1976, preseason contests for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers in 1973, as well as matches featuring the United States Football League’s Oakland Invaders. More recently, from 2022 to 2023, it broadcast home games for the Bay Area Panthers indoor football team.

Looking ahead to 2025, KPIX has entered into a broadcast partnership with the Golden State Valkyries, a WNBA expansion team set for their inaugural season. Coverage of their games will be shared between KPYX and KPIX-TV.

Newscasts

In the late 1960s, KBHK briefly offered a nightly news program, which was discontinued due to insufficient viewer interest.

On March 3, 2008, KPIX introduced a 30-minute 10 p.m. prime time newscast on KBCW, entering into competition with KTVU’s well-established hour-long broadcast. By July 2014, the weekday evening newscasts were renamed Bay Area Nightbeat. This program concluded on December 6, 2019; however, KBCW continued to air an hour of CBSN Bay Area at 10 p.m. until June 2020. Additionally, between January 2012 and 2015, KPIX produced a one-hour Sunday morning news segment for KBCW.

The 10 p.m. newscast was revived in July 2022 under the CBS News Now branding. Following the station’s transition to an independent outlet in 2023, prime time news broadcasts shifted to 8 and 9 p.m., complemented by a newly introduced morning newscast airing from 7 to 9 a.m.

Subchannels

KPYX’s transmitter is located atop Sutro Tower. Its multiplexed digital signal comprises the following channels:

Channel	Resolution	Aspect Ratio	Identifier	Programming
44.1	1080i	16:9	KPYX-DT	Primary KPYX content
44.2	480i	16:9	Nest	The Nest
44.3	480i	16:9	MeTV	MeTV
44.4	480i	16:9	CONFESS	Confess
44.5	480i	16:9	QVC 2	QVC2
4.3	480i	16:9	Rewind	Rewind TV (KRON-TV)
4.4	480i	16:9	Roar	Roar (KRON-TV)

Analog-to-digital conversion

KBHK-DT commenced digital broadcasts on channel 45 beginning April 15, 1999. In compliance with the federally mandated digital transition, KBCW terminated its analog transmission on UHF channel 44 on June 12, 2009. Subsequently, in 2019, KBCW relocated its digital signal to channel 28 as part of the FCC’s spectrum reallocation process.