KSBW (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Salinas, California, United States, serving the Monterey Bay area as an affiliate of NBC and ABC.

Owned by Hearst Television, the station has studios on John Street (Highway 68) in downtown Salinas, and its transmitter is located on Fremont Peak in the Gabilan Mountains.

In 1957, its owners began operating KSBY in San Luis Obispo as a semi-satellite; the two stations remained commonly owned for more than three decades, and KSBW became the dominant local news outlet in the area.

[4] To break the logjam that awaited the competing applications, including a possible comparative hearing, KSBW and KMBY set television precedent when they agreed to share use of channel 8.

Channel 8 would be broadcast from Mount Toro,[5] where a defunct FM radio station, KSNI, had already built a tower and transmitter facilities.

[10] The FCC heard arguments on the matter in late June,[11] rejecting KICU's protest and permitting KSBW-TV and KMBY-TV to begin construction.

While the pairing maintained studios in Salinas and San Luis Obispo, the combination was promoted as the Gold Coast Stations, and they began carrying the same mix of CBS, ABC, and NBC network programming.

[34] The FCC ordered Central California Communications Corporation to file for operation of KSBY on a standalone, non-satellite basis in 1975, on account of its financial condition; the order stemmed from a dispute with Gill Industries, owner of KNTV, over the combination of KSBW and KSBY viewership figures for ratings purposes in the Salinas–Monterey market, where the stations' competition—KNTV and KMST in the north and KCOY-TV in the south—did not serve the same area.

[37][38] The new facility went into service in 1984, but in attempting to make inroads in San Jose, KSBW lost households in southern Monterey County where reception was poorer than previously predicted.

[39] In 1986, Blair fended off a hostile takeover attempt by Macfadden Acquisition Corporation[40] by accepting a competing, higher offer from Reliance Capital Group, led by financier Saul Steinberg.

[48] Gillett announced on March 25, 1994, that KSBW and KSBY would be sold to EP Communications, a new company formed by Elisabeth Murdoch—daughter of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, owner of the Fox network—and her husband, Elkin Pianim.

The Los Angeles Times reported a month before the announcement that Rupert Murdoch was interested in giving his daughter and son-in-law hands-on experience running a business.

[55] This was much-needed, particularly as KSBY underwent significant turnover during Murdoch ownership, including the firing of its general manager and longtime lead anchor.

[59] In hindsight, observers noted that Murdoch brought to KSBW and KSBY a larger-market style that was at odds with the stations' prior image,[54] but it was more aggressive and professional with fewer on-air errors.

[63] Smith Television put its four television stations on the market in September 1996, citing interest stemming from deregulation in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 signed earlier that year,[64][65] only to sell itself to a new joint venture of Smith and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, a private equity firm that also held an increased involvement in radio station ownership.

Sunrise received WDTN in Dayton, Ohio, and the license for WNAC-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, plus $20 million; in exchange, Hearst acquired KSBW as well as WPTZ in Plattsburgh, New York, and the associated WNNE in White River Junction, Vermont.

[77][b] The channel, with the branding Central Coast ABC, launched on April 18, 2011, displacing San Francisco's KGO-TV on cable systems; Hearst invested $1.4 million to expand the facilities to handle the additional service.

[82] KSBW has generally dominated television ratings for news and other programming on the northern Central Coast, far outdistancing its competition in the form of KION and KCBA.