KSEE, virtual channel 24 (UHF digital channel 38), is an NBC-affiliated television station licensed to Fresno, California, United States. The station is owned by the Nexstar Media Group, as part of a duopoly with CBS affiliate KGPE (channel 47). The two stations share studios on McKinley Avenue in eastern Fresno (several blocks from Fresno Yosemite International Airport); KSEE's transmitter is located on Bear Mountain (near Meadow Lakes).
History
Early years
Fresno's first TV station signed on the air on June 1, 1953, as KMJ-TV. The station was originally owned by the McClatchy family, whose assets included local radio station KMJ (580 AM) and three "Bee" newspapers in California, in Fresno, Sacramento and Modesto. The station has been an NBC affiliate since its sign-on, due to KMJ radio's longtime affiliation with the NBC Red Network, although in its early years it also shared the CBS affiliation with KJEO-TV. Channel 24 is one of two commercial television stations in the Fresno market that has never changed its network affiliation (alongside KMPH-TV (channel 26), which has been a charter Fox affiliate since October 1986). KMJ-TV was the first station in the market to use color film and the first to transmit network programming in color in 1954.
In 1981, McClatchy exited from television broadcasting to focus on its newspaper properties; it sold KMJ-TV to San Joaquin Communications, which changed the station's call letters to KSEE on February 27 of that year (McClatchy continued to own KMJ radio until 1987; the TV station had to change its call letters per FCC rules at the time that required TV and radio stations in the same market, but with different owners to use different sets of call letters). San Joaquin Communications, in turn, sold KSEE to the Meredith Corporation in 1984. Meredith subsequently sold the station to Granite Broadcasting, in a deal that included CBS affiliate WTVH in Syracuse, New York, on December 27, 1993.
Sale to Nexstar and merger with KGPE
On February 6, 2013, Granite sold KSEE's non-license assets to the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, with Nexstar also intending to purchase KSEE's license following Federal Communications Commission approval; in the interim, Nexstar operated the station via a time brokerage agreement. The deal made KSEE a sister station to CBS affiliate KGPE, which Nexstar had just acquired from Newport Television. Normally, duopolies between two "Big Four" affiliates, let alone "Big Three," would not be allowed because those stations are usually the four highest-rated stations in a market, which FCC regulations do not allow any common ownership of. However, according to Nielsen, in 2013 KGPE was ranked as the fourth highest-rated station in the market and KSEE fifth, after KFSN (ABC), KFTV (Univision), and KMPH-TV (Fox), allowing a duopoly to be formed between the stations. This marked the second instance (after the Gannett Company purchased ABC affiliate WJXX in Jacksonville, Florida, creating a duopoly with that market's NBC affiliate WTLV, in 2000) in which a single company owns a duopoly involving two stations that are affiliated by a Big Three television network; and is also Nexstar's first true Big Three duopoly (Nexstar's other Big Three duopolies are virtually formed, in which the other station is owned by Mission Broadcasting). The merger was approved on April 17, and completed by May 31.
Following the merger, KGPE and KSEE announced that KGPE's operations would be consolidated into KSEE's facilities by the end of the year, from its longtime studio facility on First Street (across the street from Fashion Fair Mall). New high definition-capable studios were built for the two stations, and the KSEE Building was renamed the McKinley Media Center.
| TV stations in California |
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| KNBC, Los Angeles KSBY, Santa Barbara/Santa Maria/San Luis Obispo |
| TV stations in Central California, including Fresno and Visalia |
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| Full power stations: KAIL 7 (7.1 TCT, 7.2 Grio, 7.3 H&I, 7.4 Ion, 7.5 Local Now, 7.6 Defy, 7.7 TrueReal, 7.8 Newsy) | KVPT 18 (18.1 PBS, 18.2 PBS Kids, 18.3 Create, 18.4 World) | KFTV-DT 21 (21.1 UNI, 21.2 GetTV, 21.3 Mystery, 21.4 Grit, 21.5 Crime, 21.6 UniMás, 21.7 Twist) | KSEE 24 (24.1 NBC, 24.2 Bounce, 24.3 Grit, 24.4 Rewind, 26.4 Fox) | KMPH-TV 26 (26.1 Fox, 26.2 Dabl, 26.3 Comet, 26.5 Stadium, 59.3 TBD) | KFSN 30 (30.1 ABC, 30.2 Localish, 30.3 This, 30.4 HSN) | KGMC 43 (43.1 Estrella, 43.4 HSN, 43.5 ANT, 43.6 MeTV, 43.8 Cozi, 43.9 Laff) | KGPE 47 (47.1 CBS, 47.2 Mystery, 47.3 Grio, 47.4 Court, 59.1 CW) | KIFR 49 (49.1 CAS, 49.2 GEB) | KNSO 51 (51.1 TMD, 51.2 TXO, 51.3 Cozi, 51.4 Lx, 59.2 Charge!) | KFRE-TV 59 (59.1 CW, 59.2 Charge!, 59.3 TBD) | KTFF-DT 61 (61.1 UniMás, 61.2 UNI, 61.3 Quest, 61.5 Digi) Low-power stations: Outlying areas Defunct Stations: |