KITV (channel 4) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of ABC.

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.

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.

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.

[13] Originally designated KABS-TV, the channel became KULA-TV when it was transferred to the same subsidiary as KULA radio, the Pacific Frontier Broadcasting Company.

[22] Territorial Telecasters, a group linked to radio woman Christmas Early, filed for the channel in December 1952,[23] only to abandon its bid within months and formally withdraw it in June.

[17] The FCC granted a construction permit in December,[26] but KULA-TV protested, fearing the Honolulu market could not support an additional station and that it would face negative economic impacts from the sign-on of channel 13.

[34] The two television stations merged as KHVH-TV on channel 4, retaining KULA-TV's affiliation with ABC and its studios on Ala Moana Boulevard, at midnight on July 15, 1958.

In addition to the KHVH stations and the Hawaiian Village Hotel that was their namesake, he developed Hawaii Kai on eastern Oahu as well as a cement plant and a hospital.

In 1962, he filed for stations in the UHF band in Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Burlington, New Jersey, near Philadelphia.

Using the Lani Bird satellite, channel 4 brought viewers a college football game between Michigan State and Notre Dame on November 19, 1966.

During halftime, viewers in the U.S. saw sunbathers on Waikiki's beaches; in addition, KHVH fed film from the Vietnam War to the ABC and NBC networks.

[56] The sale closed on August 1, 1973; with the KHVH stations now under separate owners, channel 4 changed its call sign to KITV, for Island Television.

[62] The Starr stations were acquired by Shamrock Broadcasting, a company founded by Roy E. Disney, in a deal announced in May 1978 and approved by the FCC in May 1979.

The merger of Starr and Shamrock came after LIN Broadcasting made a higher offer that required more divestitures, with the two satellite stations of KITV a complicating factor.

[63][64] Under Shamrock, KITV endured a two-month-long strike by the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) that began on November 3, 1980.

On that date, eight on-camera employees walked off the job, claiming that general manager Dick Grimm had refused contract negotiations for four years.

In the mid-1970s, University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine women's volleyball was added to the station's lineup at a time when the team was among the top squads in the nation.

[68][69] Most notable, however, was the Merrie Monarch Festival in Hilo; Grimm successfully petitioned organizer Dottie Thompson, initially reticent, to allow a telecast.

[69] Originally in the form of an edited highlight package, live coverage debuted in 1984,[70] and KITV held the rights to the festival through 2009, after which it was outbid by KFVE.

[72] One of the first changes under the new ownership was the switch to same-day broadcast of prime time entertainment series and soap operas with stations in the continental U.S., a practice that KGMB and KHON had adopted with CBS and NBC programming three years earlier.

In 1998, KITV moved its operations from its longtime studios on Ala Moana Boulevard to its current location on South King Street (also known as One Archer Lane).

On January 15, 1998, KITV began airing a digital signal, giving it a claim to be the first U.S. TV station to commercially broadcast in the new format.

[93] The practice had originated when entertainment programs were still taped and shipped to Hawaii for rebroadcast; the commercials defrayed the cost of transporting network material.

[94] The switch to clock time had little effect on KHON and KITV, then the top two news stations in Honolulu, which remained in their ratings positions.

[107] In 2022, Allen acquired KIKU (channel 20), a station that had traditionally broadcast Japanese- and Filipino-language programming but had been converted by its ownership to rebroadcasting the ShopHQ home shopping network in spite of public outcry.

[118] Two reporters, Don Baker and Tom McWilliams, sued, alleging they were fired for being White at a time when the station wanted a more diverse news team;[119] a federal judge ruled against the lawsuit.

It hired Jack Hawkins, a news anchor unfavorably compared by many to the fictional Ted Baxter and suffering from a credibility gap as a non-local newsman.

[129] The 5 p.m. newscast—anchored by the husband-and-wife team of Gary Sprinkle and Pamela Young—was a ratings success for the station;[130] Young brought her Mixed Plate travel and features series with her to channel 4.

[138] In the wake of the 2006 Kiholo Bay earthquake on the island of Hawaii, KITV was unable to broadcast its signal but began producing and streaming its newscast online, the only local station able to do so.