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| Channels | |
| Branding | KITV 4; KITV 4 Island News |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| KIKU | |
| History | |
First air date | April 16, 1954 |
Former call signs |
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Former channel number(s) |
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| DuMont (secondary, 1954–1955) | |
Call sign meaning | Island Television |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 64548 |
| ERP | 41.1 kW |
| HAAT | 54 m (177 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 21°17′25″N 157°50′24″W / 21.29028°N 157.84000°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
KITV (channel 4) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Allen Media Group alongside multicultural independent station KIKU (channel 20). The two stations share studios on South King Street in downtown Honolulu; KITV's main transmitter is located atop the Ala Moana Hotel in Honolulu. Rebroadcasters on the islands of Maui and Hawaii extend the station's signal.
Channel 4 was the third station established in Honolulu as KULA-TV in April 1954. It was constructed by Iowa-based American Broadcasting Stations, then-owner of radio station KULA, and affiliated with ABC from the start. Three years later, industrialist Henry J. Kaiser founded the city's fourth TV station, KHVH-TV on channel 13. Established in the same year as radio station KHVH (990 AM), it was an independent station that aired primarily movies and brought color television to the islands. Kaiser bought KULA-TV in 1958 and merged the two stations as KHVH-TV on channel 4. Its signal extended with a 1958 affiliation agreement with KMVI-TV, covering Maui from atop Haleakalā, and the 1960 construction of satellite station KHJK-TV—now KHVO—in Hilo on the island of Hawaii.
Kaiser sold KHVH radio and television to Lawrence Berger in 1964 as he sought to move into broadcasting in the continental U.S. KHVH-TV brought Hawaii its first live television via satellite in 1966 and aired the first live programs between Hawaii and Japan. Berger kept KHVH radio and sold the television stations to Starr Broadcasting in 1973; channel 4 was renamed KITV. Under Starr, Shamrock Broadcasting, and Tak Communications ownership for the next 20 years, KITV languished as the market's third-rated news station but initiated live coverage of the Merrie Monarch Festival.
Tak wound up a years-long bankruptcy proceeding in 1995 by selling two of its stations, including KITV, to Argyle Television. Argyle—which merged with the Hearst Corporation in 1997 to form Hearst-Argyle Television—improved the quality and ratings of KITV's newscasts, which moved into second place from the mid-1990s through the mid-2000s. In conjunction with its move from studios on Ala Moana Boulevard to a new facility at One Archer Lane, KITV became the first television station in the United States to begin commercial digital broadcasts in January 1998. Hearst sold KITV to SJL Broadcasting in 2015. It was acquired in 2021 by Allen, which a year later purchased KIKU and restored its traditional format of Japanese- and Filipino-language programming.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for KITV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.