It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Fox affiliate KMSB (channel 11); Tegna maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Gray Media, owner of CBS affiliate KOLD-TV (channel 13), for the provision of studio space and technical services while maintaining control of programming and sales.

The three stations share studios on North Business Park Drive on the northwest side of Tucson (near the Casas Adobes neighborhood); KTTU-TV's transmitter is located atop Mount Bigelow.

Tucson Telecasting, a subsidiary of McKinnon Broadcasting (one part-owner, Clinton D. McKinnon, had owned KVOA-TV from 1955 to 1962); National Group Telecommunications, whose owners were busy building KSTS in San Jose, California; and Alden Communications Group all made bids, as did the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson.

[8] Fred Allison, a market veteran from KVOA, was tapped to help program the new station; the chief engineer was a priest, the Rev.

Nearly immediately after KDTU went on the air on December 31, 1984, in a debut marred by transmitter problems,[11] Tucson got its second new station in a week: KPOL (channel 40).

[12] (The two stations shared the same transmitter site in the Tucson Mountains, a 150-foot (46 m) mast painted sky blue to reduce its visual impact in an attempt to mollify property owners,[13] and both faced unexpected setbacks getting electric service.

[10]) In a letter, Bishop Manuel Duran Moreno admitted to priests that the diocese had been trying to sell the station since January 1986, 18 months prior to publicly disclosing it was on the block.

[18] Further trouble was created when some programs the station aired, such as The Morton Downey Jr. Show, proved to not be family-friendly, generating criticism and ultimately leading to it being pulled from KDTU.

[19] On October 21, 1988, the diocese terminated 14 employees and slashed the pay of its administrative staff by 10 percent, cutting clergy and religious support services in the process, as a result of KDTU's financial losses.

[20] While none of the station's 42 employees were affected in that set of cuts, less than two weeks later, the diocese had worse news for them: it was giving KDTU its last rites and taking it off the air on November 1.

[25] McKinnon did not exercise its right of first refusal, citing the "horrendous" sum that would have been needed to make KDTU competitive, and FCC approval was granted in January 1989.

[29] KPOL exited when it closed in October: the fact that its owners had not anticipated KDTU being a competitor was cited as one reason for its failure.

"[31] In September 1991, Mountain States Broadcasting, a subsidiary of the Providence Journal Corporation and owner of KMSB, signed a time brokerage agreement with Clear Channel.

KMSB-TV moved into KTTU-TV's studios on 6th Avenue, and Mountain States began programming and selling all advertising time across both stations and providing other services to Clear Channel.

This outsourcing arrangement resulted in CBS affiliate KOLD-TV taking over daily non-sales operations of KMSB and KTTU and moving their advertising sales department into KOLD's studios.