Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station has studios on North Fir Street in downtown Medford, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Ashland, 15 miles (24 km) south of the city.

Freedom announced on November 2, 2011, that it would bow out of television and sell its stations, including KTVL, to Sinclair Broadcast Group.

The news department featured well-known news personalities such as Terry Miller, Hank Henry, George Warren, Leon Hunsaker (also previously of KOBI and theDove TV), Marvin Rhodes, Pete Belcastro, Fred Inglis (formerly of KTVU), Milt Radford (also previously of KDRV) and, most notably, Ann Curry (who went on to become host of NBC's Today Show in 2011).

The show switched up its format, differing from its competitors to include faster-paced headline style news with more morning weather hits than any other station in Southern Oregon and Northern California.

On April 27, 2023, it was reported that KTVL would be discontinuing its local newscasts, effective May 12, with plans to lay off the entire news operation.

[10] KTVL was also the only southern Oregon and northern California television station that has continuously broadcast the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon, benefiting the Muscular Dystrophy Association every Labor Day weekend from 1970 to 2011.

(Fellow CBS affiliate KHSL-TV in Chico, California, was the next closest station to do so before broadcasting the program was ceased after 1997 by new ownership.)

Members of the News 10 team including Trish (Borucki) Glose, Kevin Lollis and Libby Dowsett had hosted the telethon at various times until the format was dissolved by MDA in 2012.

The most emotional moment came in 2002 when a devastated Rhodes announced that Grants Pass resident Ray Dimmick, who battled courageously against ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), had died in December 2001.

On February 10, 2012, MDA announced that the 2012 edition would be cut to three hours in length airing during prime time on Sunday, September 2, 2012.

On June 3, 2006, KTVL launched a new locally produced late-night program for young adults called After 10, hosted by Curtis Bartlett and Lindsey Matherly, every Saturday night at 11:30 p.m.

After 10 was KTVL's attempt to compete against NBC's Saturday Night Live by producing a program for its target audience themselves, instead on relying on syndication.

The station's signal is multiplexed: On September 23, 2024, the Portland Trail Blazers announced an agreement with Sinclair to launch Rip City Television Network, which syndicates games over-the-air.