Фресно қаласының KSEE телеарнасының тарихы

NBC affiliate in Fresno, California

the airport in El Cajon, California

KSEE (channel 24) is a television station in Fresno, California, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside CBS affiliate KGPE (channel 47). The two stations share studios on McKinley Avenue in eastern Fresno; KSEE's transmitter is located on Bear Mountain (near Meadow Lakes). KSEE began broadcasting as KMJ TV, the first television station in Fresno, on May 31, 1953. It was owned by McClatchy Newspapers, alongside The Fresno Bee and KMJ radio, and was the market's leading station for most of McClatchy's ownership. However, the company owning the major daily newspaper in Fresno, its leading radio station, and its leading television station led to legal scrutiny in the 1970s and a five year battle by local investors known as San Joaquin Communications Corporation to attempt to wrest the license from McClatchy. McClatchy opted to sell to the investors in 1979, a deal completed in 1981, but they soon sold the station for financial reasons. Nexstar acquired KSEE in 2013, shortly after purchasing KGPE, and moved the latter station's operations into the former's studio building. KSEE produces daily newscasts as well as other local programs.

McClatchy Newspapers, owner of The Fresno Bee and KMJ radio (580 AM), sought to enter the world of television as early as May 1948, when it applied for authority to build television stations on channel 7 in Fresno and channel 10 in Sacramento. However, before the applications were acted on, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) instituted a four year freeze on television station awards. Channel 7 was removed from Fresno, and McClatchy modified its application to specify channel 24 in the new ultra high frequency (UHF) band. On September 18, 1952, the FCC granted McClatchy a construction permit for Fresno's channel 24, the first such permit awarded in California since the freeze was lifted. Work began immediately on building Fresno's first television station. In December, the McClatchy Broadcasting Company purchased the former Fresno Ice Arena on Olive Avenue with the intent to convert it to studios (with The Bee auditorium to be used as an interim facility), while 28 mile (45 km) east of Fresno on Bear Mountain, the station's transmitter was erected. McClatchy also commissioned Walt Disney to design a cartoon bee mascot for KMJ TV, "Teevy", to accompany the previous Disney designs of "Scoopy" and "Gaby", which were used as mascots for the Bee and the radio stations, respectively. A test pattern was broadcast on May 26, 1953; an inaugural program was presented on May 31 with regular programming beginning the following day, using an interim lower power transmitter as RCA could not deliver the full power equipment in time. KMJ TV aired programs from all networks and became a primary NBC affiliate, sharing CBS with KJEO TV (channel 47) when it went on the air in September 1953 and until KFRE TV started in 1956. In September 1954, KMJ TV began transmitting NBC programs in color. After moving to facilities on N Street in 1956, a new studio facility was built near the Bee complex on the corner of Van Ness Avenue and Calaveras Street in 1959; The Bee circulation department was also relocated there, across the street, as the newspaper outgrew existing office space.

Four and a half years of legal wrangling unexpectedly ended in May 1979, when McClatchy announced it would sell KMJ TV to SJCC for $13.5 million to avoid a continued legal burden and as many as five or six more years of hearings and appeals. The KMJ radio stations would remain under McClatchy ownership. The company then decided to put KOVR, its only other television station, up for sale; citing "increasingly strong government opposition" to cross ownership, president C. K. McClatchy II noted that he felt it was in the community interest to ensure an "orderly transition" of ownership at that station. However, an unexpected obstacle formed in November when six different social activist groups filed petitions to deny the transfer, largely because they felt that the station's new owners would not have an adequate editorial policy. National Land for People, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the Mexican American Political Association, the United Professors of California, the Fresno Democratic Coalition, and El Concilio de Fresno objected to the presence of several large landowners in SJCC's ownership consortium; several of the groups, notably National Land for People, were already contesting these landowners in the Westlands Water District for their use of water. Despite a story in The Wall Street Journal that suggested The Bee shelved a story about SJCC principal Frank Garabedian that would have linked him to a bribery scheme in order to protect the transaction, the FCC granted approval to the transaction on November 18, 1980. SJCC took control of KMJ TV on January 28, 1981, and changed the call sign to KSEE on February 27. As it turned out, the time it spent obtaining the station—more than six years—dwarfed the time it actually owned it. The investments made by the SJCC principals were rewarded with financial reverses, partly because NBC was the third rated television network at the time of the acquisition, as well as increased capital requirements. As a result, when three station groups made unsolicited overtures to purchase KSEE in January 1982, San Joaquin Communications listened and entered into negotiations with the Meredith Corporation to sell channel 24. The deal was announced and filed with the FCC that August for $17.6 million. The Meredith transaction also faced objections before the FCC, from a Black group over minority hiring practices and the same Mexican American group for similar reasons, but the groups negotiated a settlement agreement with Meredith in April 1983, withdrawing their opposition. Meredith took over operations the next month, promising improvements in programming and news. It also began a two year search for a site to relocate and build new studios; in 1985, KSEE announced it would construct a facility near the Fresno Air Terminal. These studios opened in 1987, and Fresno's public television station, KMTF (now KVPT), moved into the former KSEE plant.

In 1993, Meredith sold two of its stations—KSEE and WTVH in Syracuse, New York—to Granite Broadcasting, a Black owned company in New York; the transaction gave Meredith tax certificates for selling stations to a minority. The sale was closed that December. Granite assumed advertising sales functions for KPXF, the local Pax TV owned and operated station, under a joint sales agreement in 2000; in addition, KPXF reaired KSEE newscasts. This ended in March 2003 when the sale of KPXF to Univision and conversion to Telefutura as KTFF took place.

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 (the former KJEO TV), which Nexstar had just acquired from Newport Television. While most duopolies of Big Four or Big Three network affiliates contain two of the four highest rated stations in the market and are usually not permissible, Nexstar presented viewership figures showing that Univision station KFTV was second in the market, with KGPE fourth and KSEE fifth, making the combination legal. The purchase was approved on April 17 and completed by May 31. After acquiring KSEE and KGPE, Nexstar moved to consolidate the operations of both stations by relocating KGPE into KSEE's larger facilities and renovating the building. New high definition capable studios were built for the two stations, and the KSEE Building was renamed the McKinley Media Center.

KSEE launched Bulldog Insider, a weekly magazine program covering athletics at Fresno State University, in 2007. Since 2022, KSEE airs 11 Los Angeles Clippers regular season games a year syndicated from Nexstar sister station KTLA.