KPBS (TV)

KPBS, virtual channel 15 (UHF digital channel 30), is a PBS member television station located in San Diego, California, United States. The station is owned by San Diego State University. KPBS maintains studio facilities located on the SDSU campus on Campanile Drive in San Diego, and its transmitter is located on San Miguel Mountain in southwestern San Diego County.

On cable, the station is available on Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and AT&T U-verse channel 11 and Cablemás channel 146 and in high-definition on Cox and Time Warner Cable digital channel 711, AT&T U-verse channel 1011 and Cablemás digital channel 168. It is one of two PBS member stations that operate as border stations – alongside WPBS-DT in Watertown, New York; in this case, KPBS serves viewers in both the United States and Mexico.

History

In 1960, San Diego State College (now San Diego State University) applied for a license from the Federal Communications Commission to operate a noncommercial educational television station to serve San Diego. The station first signed on the air on June 25, 1967 as KEBS-TV. The station was originally a member of National Educational Television, before becoming a member of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) when it launched on October 6, 1970, at which time the station changed its call letters to KPBS. Despite the calls, which mimic the callsign schemes used by stations owned by ABC, NBC and CBS in New York City and Los Angeles, it is not an owned-and-operated station, as PBS therefore cannot own or operate any of its member stations or regional member networks due to the network's local and non-profit nature; the KPBS callsign reflects the station's affiliation and programming, but not any special status within the PBS network.