KNTV

KNTV, virtual channel 11 , branded on-air as NBC Bay Area, is an NBC owned-and-operated television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States and serving the San Francisco Bay Area. The station is owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations subsidiary of NBCUniversal , as part of a duopoly with Telemundo owned-and-operated station KSTS , also licensed to San Jose; it is also sister to regional sports networks NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California. KNTV and KSTS share studios on North 1st Street in San Jose; KNTV's transmitter is located on San Bruno Mountain.

KNTV signed on the air on September 12, 1955, originally operating as an independent station covering the entire north-central California coast from Monterey to San Francisco. It was the first television station in San Jose, and was originally operated by Standard Radio and Television Corporation, which was owned by Allen T. Gilliland. The station's studios and offices were located at 645 Park Avenue, a short distance from the Caltrain railroad tracks and adjacent to the Gilliland-owned Sunlite Baking Company in downtown San Jose. Its antenna was originally located on Loma Prieta, some 60 miles south of San Francisco. Channel 11 often aired shows from CBS, DuMont and NBC that were respectively turned down by San Francisco's KPIX-TV and KRON-TV , as well as some ABC shows that also aired on KGO-TV . The station was not viable as an independent, despite the Bay Area's size. The going got even more difficult when Oakland-based KTVU signed on in 1958, and it soon became apparent that the Bay Area was not large enough at the time to support two independent stations.

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