It is owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company (NPG) alongside low-power, Class A dual Fox/Telemundo affiliate KFXO-CD (channel 39).

It was started by former owners Ray Johnson of KMED-AM-TV (now KTVL) in Medford and C. Howard Lane from KOIN-TV in Portland who formed Ponderosa Broadcasting, Inc.

By 1997, KTVZ discontinued CBS programming since KOIN in Portland (now seen through semi-satellite KBNZ-LD, channel 7) already had full translator and cable coverage in the Bend area.

BendBroadband filed a petition with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to block the proposed sale but it still went through.

In January 2007, that station completed a transmitter move that brought it closer to Bend making the rebroadcast redundant.