KTVB
U.S. center / local news
Background
KTVB went on the air on July 12, 1953, as KIDO-TV — Idaho's first television station — founded by Georgia Davidson, one of only three female network TV station owners in the country at the time. Davidson sold the companion radio station in 1958 and rebranded the TV outlet with the KTVB call letters in 1959. She sold the station to Seattle-based King Broadcasting in 1979. Through a series of corporate transactions, the station passed to Belo Corp, then to Gannett when Gannett acquired Belo in December 2013. In 2015, Gannett spun off its broadcasting assets into a separate publicly traded company called TEGNA Inc., and KTVB has operated under that ownership since. In August 2025, Nexstar Media Group announced a $6.2 billion agreement to acquire all of TEGNA's 64 stations, including KTVB; the deal was pending FCC regulatory approval as of mid-2026, with President Trump publicly expressing ambivalence about lifting ownership caps that the merger would require. Throughout its history, KTVB has positioned itself as a mainstream local news outlet, earning high credibility marks from fact-checkers and focusing primarily on Idaho state and regional coverage rather than strong national editorial stances.
Sources
- KTVB – Wikipedia
- KTVB – Boise News – Bias and Credibility – Media Bias/Fact Check
- KTVB celebrates its 70th anniversary as Idaho's first TV station
- Nexstar to acquire Tegna in $6.2B broadcast merger – Idaho Business Review
- Boise's KTVB-TV has been sold. But President Trump may have the final say – East Idaho News
- What New Ownership Means To Boise's KTVB and Its Viewers – KIDO Talk Radio
- Tegna Inc. – Wikipedia
- KTVB | The Trust Project News Partners
Profile compiled 2026-07-31; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.