Digital Television
DTV - HDTV Channel List

San Francisco Bay Area
(within 100 miles of San Francisco)
Listed by Virtual Channel

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All full power analog stations have gone off the air, except for those transmitting "Nightlight Service" (see below).
The only analog stations remaining that offer programming are low power stations.

See notes below for explanation of header information.   

Virtual Channel	Transmitter Channel	Call Letters	Network/ Programming	City of License	Transmitter Location	ERP kW	Antenna HAAT-ftInformation and Notes
2.1	41.1	KOTR	?	Gonzales	Mt. Toro	15	2487	L - N
2.1	44.1	KTVU	FOX	Oakland	Sutro Tower	400	1680	A - H - T
2.2	44.2		LATV
2.?	42.1	K42IT	FOX	Oakland	Monument Pk	3	?	L - H - N - T
2.?	42.2		LATV					L - N
3.1	35.1	KCRA	NBC	Sacramento	Walnut Grove	1000	1900	H - T
3.2	35.2		NBC-WxPlus
3.1	39.1	KMMD	MTV-TR3S	Salinas	Mt. Toro	15	2418	L - N
4.1	4.1	K04QR	?	Esparto	NW Rio Linda	0.24	151	L - N
4.1	4.1	K04QR	KTVU	Lakeport	Bald Mt/NW Esparto	0.1	1001	L
4.1	38.1	KRON	MyNetTV	San Francisco	Sutro Tower	1000	1679	A
4.2	38.2		MyNetTV					A - H
5.1	5.1	K05MI	?	Berkeley	Burdell Mtn.-Novato	0.3	1276	L - N
5.1	5.1	K05MI	KICU	Lakeport	NE Kelseyville	0.3	1969	L
5.1	29.1	KPIX	CBS	San Francisco	Sutro Tower	1000	1679	A - H
6.1	9.1	KVIE	PBS	Sacramento	Walnut Grove	33	1958	H
6.2	9.2		PBS
6.3	9.3		V-me
6.1	6.1	KEFM	?	Sacramento	Sutter Buttes	0.3	2123	L - N
7.1	7.1	KGO	ABC	San Francisco	Sutro Tower	23.8	1686	A - H
7.2	7.2		Live Well					A - H - R
7.3	7.3		AccuWx					A
8.1	8.1	KSBW	NBC	Salinas	Fremont Peak	20.6	2493	H
8.2	8.2		NBC-WxPlus
8.1	8.1	KDAS	Daystar	Guerneville	Mt. St. Helena	0.2	2963	L - N
8.1	8.1	KDTS	Daystar	San Francisco	Mt. Diablo	0.22	2835	L - N
8.1	51.1	KBTV	Asian	Sacramento	Downtn Sacto	15	285	L - N
9.1	30.1	KQED	PBS-HD	San Francisco	Sutro Tower	710	1679	A - H - Sched.
9.2	30.2		KTEH-SD-PBS	San Jose
9.3	30.3		PBS World
10.1	10.1	KXTV	ABC	Sacramento	Walnut Grove	34.5	2008	H
10.2	10.2		ABC-AccuWx
11.1	12.1	KNTV	NBC	San Jose	Mt. San Bruno	103.1	1237	H
11.2	12.2		NBC-WxPlus
11.3	12.3		Universal Sports
13.1	25.1	KOVR	CBS	Stockton	Walnut Grove	1000	2014	H
14.1	51.1	KDTV	Univision	San Francisco	Mt. Allison	476	2300
14.1	36.1	KAZV	Independent	Modesto	Mt. Oso	0.5	1214	L - N
14.1	14.1	KMMK	MTV-TR3S	Sacramento	Rt 49-S of Placerville	2.3	804	L - N
14.1	3.1	K14MW	Religion	Petaluma	Mt. Tamalpais	.3	2195	L - N - T
14.1	14.1	K14MW	Religion	Petaluma	NE of Santa Rosa	4	919	L - N - T
15.1	31.1	KMUM	MTV-TR3S	Sacramento	Sutter Buttes	15	410	L - N
18.1	18.1	K18IJ	KQED	Salinas	Mt. Toro	0.1	2254	L - N
19.1	18.1	KUVS	Univision	Modesto	Angels Camp	500	1821
19.2	18.2		Univision
20.1	19.1	KOFY	Independent	San Francisco	Sutro Tower	463	1601	A - H
20.4	19.4		Azteca					A
22.1	23.1	KRCB	PBS	Cotati	Sonoma Mtn.	299	2068	H
22.2	23.2		PBS Create
22.3	23.3		KRCB-FM91
22.1	42.1	KAXT	Religion-Spanish	Santa Clara - San Jose	Mt. San Bruno	0.61	1234	L - N - T
22.1	42.1	KAXT	Religion-Spanish	Santa Clara - San Jose	Mt. Allisom	15	1916	L - N -T
23.1	15.1	KBSV	Armenian	Ceres	Mt. Oso	.421	1890
23.1	11.1	KMUV	TMD	Monterey	Fremont Peak	0.3	2365	L - N
23.1	23.1	KEZT	Telemundo	Sacramento	Downtown Sacto	4.5	279	L - N
25.1	25.1	KQET	PBS-HD	Watsonville	Fremont Peak	81.1	2292	H
25.2	25.2		KTEH-SD-PBS
25.3	25.3		V-me
26.1	27.1	KTSF	Independent	San Francisco	Mt. San Bruno	858	1323
26.2	27.2		MBC America
27.1	27.1	KEXT	Telefutura	Modesto	Mt. Oso	15	1214	L - N
27.1	27.1	KYMB	MGM-This	Monterey	SE of Monterey	5	574	L
27.2	27.2		MegaTV
27.3	27.3		CoastalTV
27.4	27.4		AmericaOne
28.1	28.1	KFTL	Shopping/Religion	San Francisco	Mt. San Bruno	15	1243	L
28.1	28.1	KMMW	MTV-TR3S	Stockton	Angels Camp	15	1831	L
29.1	48.1	KSPX	Ion	Sacramento	Walnut Grove	1000	1604
29.2	48.2		Qubo
29.3	48.3		Ion Life
29.4	48.4		Worship
29.1	29.1	K29AB	KICU	Monterey	Fremont Peak	3.1	2228	L - N
31.1	21.1	KMAX	CW	Sacramento	Walnut Grove	1000	2014	H
31.1	31.1	KMUM	MTV-TR3S	Sacramento	NW of N.Highlands	15	410	L - N
32.1	33.1	KMTP	News-Arts	San Francisco	Sutro Tower	500	1627	A
32.2	33.2		World Ch.
32.4	33.4		SCITV
32.5	33.5		NTDTV
33.1	5.1	KCSO	Telemundo	Sacramento	Angels Camp	0.3	1955	L - N
34.1	20.1	KACA	Daystar	Modesto	W of Ripon	15	440	L - N
35.1	13.1	KCBA	FOX	Salinas	Fremont Peak	19.75	2362	H
36.1	4.1	KTVJ	Independent	Petaluma	Mt. Tamalpais	0.3	2188	L - N
36.1	36.1	KICU	Independent	San Jose	Monument Pk	550	2251	H - T
36.2	36.2		Korean Programs
38.1	39.1	KCNS	Shopping/Asian	San Francisco	Sutro Tower	1000	1679	A
38.2	39.2		Shopping/Asian
39.1	39.1	K39JM	?	Sacramento	Sutter Buttes	3	2123	L - N
40.1	40.1	KTXL	FOX	Sacramento	Walnut Grove	950	1972	H
40.2	40.2		LATV
40.1	40.1	KMMC	MTV-TR3S	San Francisco	Mt. San Bruno	3.2	1283	L - N
42.1	14.1	KTNC	TuVision	Concord	Mt. Diablo	40	3156
42.1	42.1	KBKF	?	Glen Arbor	Santa Cruz Mt.	15	1581	L - N
42.1	42.1	KMSX	?	Sacramento	S. of Colfax	15	584	L - N
43.1	43.1	900312KG	Religion	Sacramento	Rt 49-S of Placerville	100	1010	L - N - T
44.1	45.1	KBCW	CW	San Francisco	Sutro Tower	1000	1609	A - H
44.1	34.1	KRJR	Daystar	Sacramento	Downtown Sac'to	15	302	L - N
45.1	45.1	K45HC	TBN	Sacramento	Walnut Grove	15	587	L - N
46.1	32.1	KION	CBS	Monterey	Mt. Toro	46	2487	H
46.2	32.2		CW
47.1	47.1	K47LC	MTV-TR3S	Salinas	Fremont Peak	15	2300	L - N
48.1	49.1	KSTS	Telemundo	San Jose	Mt. Allison	257	2257
48.2	49.2		Telemundo					H
49.1	44.1	K49EO	TBN	Modesto	WNW of Ripon	15	436	L - N
49.1	49.1	KSAO	CoastalTV	Sacramento	SE of Folsom	15	341	L - N
50.1	32.1	KFTY	Independent	Santa Rosa	Mt. St. Helena	19.9	3045
54.1	50.1	KTEH	KTEH-SD-PBS	San Jose	Monument Pk	1000	2178	T
54.2	50.2		KQED-SD-PBS
54.3	50.3		PBS Life
54.4	50.4		PBS Kids
54.5	50.5		V-me
58.1	46.1	KQCA	MyNetTV	Stockton	Walnut Grove	600	1903	H
58.2	46.2		MGM-This
60.1	43.1	KCSM	PBS	San Mateo	Sutro Tower	500	1678	A - H
60.2	43.2		MHzWorldview
60.3	43.3		Jazz TV
64.1	26.1	KTFK	TeleFutura	Stockton	Walnut Grove	850	1952
65.1	41.1	KKPX	Ion	San Jose	Mt. San Bruno	1000	1371	H
65.2	41.2		Qubo
65.3	41.3		Ion Life
65.4	41.4		Worship
66.1	34.1	KFSF	TeleFutura	Vallejo	Sutro Tower	330	1637	A
66.2	34.2		KDTV-Univision	San Francisco
67.1	31.1	KSMS	Univision	Monterey	Fremont Peak	1000	2299
67.2	31.2		KDJT-TeleFutura
67.3	31.3		LATV
68.1	47.1	KTLN	TLN	Novato	Burdell Mtn.	1000	1319

NOTES:

"Virtual Channel" is the channel to which the signal is aliased.  A signal transmitted by the station causes this number to be used on viewers' sets.  Stations are required by the FCC to use their former analog channel number as their Virtual Channel since viewers are familiar with that numbering system and station identification.

"Transmitter Channel" is the channel number the station actually transmits on.  See the Transmitter Channel Listing for a station list by transmitter channel number.

Several sub-channels (programs) can be transmitted on each digital television channel. To distinguish a station's sub-channels, decimals or dashes are added after the channel number - for example 7.1, 7.2 and 7.3, or 7-1, 7-2 and 7-3. Most tuners will not show any digital signals at all until you've had the tuner do a "scan", and if a station has made changes in its lineup, these tuners will not show those changes until you scan again.

Most tuners only show stations on their virtual channels, but some tuners show stations on their actual transmitted channels as well. A few tuners show stations only on their transmitted channels. This is why we show both channels in our list. (Note, too, that knowing transmitted channels is important when you select antennas, coax, and preamplifiers, since virtual channels are meaningless when you design your antenna and signal distribution systems.)

All tuners will show all of a station's sub-channels if you receive the station well enough to receive any one of its sub-channels, but on the transmitted channel, some tuners may not show sub-channels on the same sub-channel numbers (such as .1, .2, or .3) that appear on the virtual channel and which appear in our list. Some stations do not begin their sub-channels with .1 on their transmitted channel, so you may find nothing on .1 or .2 and find sub-channels on .3 and above. Therefore, if you are watching a transmitter channel, and the sub-channels don't match our list, tune through all of the sub-channels to find the program you want.

The television band now only consists of channels 2 through 51. The frequencies above channel 51 have been auctioned off for public service, cell phone and other services.
Channels 2 through 13 are VHF.
Channels 14 through 51 are UHF.

Although still authorized for television, channels 2 through 6 have been found to be poor for digital service. Electrical interference from power lines, motors, lightning, etc. causes the loss of digital bits and the loss of signal. Only 40 full power digital stations are on these channels in the entire country; only one in California, channel 3 in Eureka.

VHF signals propagate more readily than UHF signals, so VHF stations need to transmit with less power to cover the same area.

The actual frequencies of the various channels can be seen on the CSG Network Television Frequency Table.

Congress passed the "DTV Nightlight" bill giving authorized broadcasters an extra 30 days past the June 12, 2009, transition date to air DTV education messages on their analog signals.  Broadcasters will need to air the messages in both Spanish and English.  They will also get to transmit emergency weather or public safety information that airs on the digital signal.  The stations in this area that are airing "Nightlight Service" are KCRA 3, KVIE 6, and KNTV 11.

Clicking on the call letters of a station in the list above will take you to that station's records on the Federal Communications Commission site.

ERP = Effective Radiated Power
HAAT = Height Above Average Terrain
A = Antenna Sutro Tower - Station will operate on present temporary antenna until new antenna is ready. During daytime periods when antenna work is in progress, station will operate at reduced power from their auxiliary antenna. Completion date is said to be October, 2009.
H - Transmits in High Definition (HDTV)
L - Low Power or Translator Station
N - Not Yet On The Air
R - Reruns earlier programs from main channel
T - See notes below for special transition information for this station
Major San Francisco sites are in red.
Major Sacramento site is in green.

TRANSITION INFORMATION:
Virtual Channel - Notes
All stations transmitting from Sutro Tower in San Francisco - 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 20, 32, 38, 44, 60 and 66 -
see note A above for further information.
2-KTVU has applied for 1000 kW on channel 44 and a 3 kW translator on channel 42 at Monument Peak.
3-KCRA will operate at 93% power until September 15, 2009.
14-K14MW has an application submitted for channel 3 and is licensed for channel 14.
22-KAXT has a construction permit for Mt. San Bruno and an application submitted for Mt. Allison, both for channel 42.
28-KFTL has a construction permit for channel 24 and has also applied for a station on channel 28.
36-KICU will change to new transmitter and antenna and run full power at later date. Station has applied for 1000 kW on channel 36.
43-900312KG - callsign pending winner of lottery for channel.
54-KTEH will be increasing power from 290 to 1000 kW.

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San Francisco Bay Area-Sacramento-Monterey Digital Channel Lists:

• Listing by Virtual Channel - (Printer Version) - full information and details, sorted by virtual channel
• Listing by Transmitter Channel - (Printer Version) - full information and details, sorted by transmitter channel
• Post Transition Analog Listing - analog channels that have remained on the air after the transition on 6/12/09
• Post Transition Changes - a summary of the changes seen during 2009

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SPACING REQUIREMENTS Transmitter Channels 7-13: Prohibited on same channel: 0-170 mi Prohibited on adjacent channel: 14.29-68.35 mi

Transmitter Channels 14-51: Prohibited on same channel: 0-139 mi Prohibited on adjacent channel: 14.91-68.35 mi

Note on spacing requirements: The "doughnut" shaped exclusion zone for adjacent channels recognizes that adjacent stations only present a problem when there is a strong station right next to a weak station you want to watch.

The source for most of this information is the FCC web site.

Data on this page was compiled by:
   Larry Kenney, WB9LOZ, Retired engineer, KGO/ABC
   Bill Choisser, K9AT, Registered Professional Engineer, California

There are very active HDTV forums on line for the Bay Area and the nation. Visit our Broadcasting Page for links to them.

These charts will be updated as required.
Last updated on June 30, 2009.

Accuracy is not guaranteed but is correct to the best of our knowledge.

Larry Kenney
Corrections are welcome.

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Bill & Larry's Broadcasting Page