Archive:List of Sacramento Cable channels (November 1990)
Sacramento Cable customers in Sacramento, California had access to 48 channels in November of 1990. In October of 1995, The E. W. Scripps Company, announced its sale of all of its cable television systems including Sacramento Cable to Comcast which wasn't fully completed until mid-late 1997. Today, it operates through Xfinity.
Legend
- CALL — The call letters of an over-the-air television station in bold text.
- CABLE — Cable channels in regular text.
- ## — Over-the-air channel number for stations within the Sacramento television market, according to current laws by the FCC and mapping of markets by Nielsen Media Research. Also, some stations may service areas outside of the television market as well.
- ## — Over-the-air channel number for distant out-of-market stations, including regional and national "superstations", according to current laws by the FCC and mapping of markets by Nielsen Media Research.
- Network affiliated stations will have the network's logo (of the corresponding era) next to them and independent stations are unmarked.
Market
The Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto television market includes 16 counties in California with market hubs in bold text:
- Counties: Amador, Calaveras, Colusa, El Dorado, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, San Joaquin, Sierra, Solano, Stanislaus, Sutter, Tuolumne, Yolo and Yuba
- Cities: Almanor, Alta Sierra, Angels Camp, Antelope, Arbuckle, Auburn, Beckwourth, Buckhorn, Cedar Vista, Ceres, Chester, Clio, Colusa, Crescent Mills, Davis, Empire, Forbestown, Georgetown, Glenbrook, Grass Valley, Green Valley, Groveland, Elk Grove, Empire, Esparto, Fair Oaks, Folsom, Fremont, Jamestown, Keyes, Lathrop, Lemon Hill, Lincoln Village, Live Oak, Lockeford, Lodi, Loma Rica, Loomis, Loyalton, Meadow Vista, Modesto, Morada, Nevada City, New Jerusalem, Oak Grove, Olivehurst, Orangevale, Parklawn, Pollock Pines, Portola, Quincy, Rancho Cordova, Rancho Murieta, Rio Linda, Rio Vista, Riverbank, Riverview, Rouse, Sacramento, Salida, San Andreas, Sierra City, Spring Garden, Stockton, Tahoe City, Tahoma, Taylorsville, Tracy, Trucklee, Tuolumne, Turlock, Vacaville, Vallecito, Vallejo, Valley Springs, Walnut Grove, West Modesto, Wheatland, Woodland, Yolo and Yuba
Lineup
| Broadcast OTA | General Cable† | Premium† | Local/Cable/Public Access |
- NOTE: †The status of channels at the time of the original publication. Such has likely changed in the years and decades since.
| CH# | Name | Notes/Today |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Music Television (MTV) | Owned by Paramount Global, it has shifted from strictly music and music videos in its early years to a mix of music, reality shows and dramas in recent years |
| 3 |  3 KCRA-TV Sacramento |
Then and now, still an NBC affiliate (Co-owned alongside dual CW and MyNetworkTV affiliate 58 KQCA (the former KSCH) by Hearst Television) |
| 5 | Cable News Network | CNN in Atlanta, an American multinational news channel, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery |
| 6 |  6 KVIE Sacramento |
Then and now, still a PBS station (Owned by KVIE, Inc., a non-profit (501(c)3) organization) |
| 7 | Video Hits One | Owned by Paramount Global, like its sister network, MTV, VH1 has also shifted from strictly music and music videos in its early years to a mix of music, reality shows and dramas in recent years |
| 8 |  40 KTXL Sacramento |
Still a Fox affiliate, owned today by Nexstar Media Group (The Sacramento Bee erroneously listed KTXL as an independent still by this time, when the station joined Fox in October of 1986 with the network's launch) |
| 9 | ESPN | A 24-hour channel devoted to local, regional, national and international sports (Owned as a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company at 80% and Hearst Communications at 20%) |
| 10 |  10 KXTV Sacramento |
Now an ABC affiliate, owned by Tegna Inc. (Swapped affiliations with 13 KOVR and has been an ABC affiliate since March of 1995) |
| 11 | 58 KSCH Sacramento | Currently a dual CW and MyNetworkTV affiliate as KQCA (Co-owned alongside NBC affiliate 3 KCRA by Hearst Television, KQCA assumed the CW affiliation from 31 KMAX-TV (the former KRBK) when it became an independent station on September 1, 2023, MNTV programming to be carried from Midnight to 2:00 AM Pacific Time) |
| 12 | 31 KRBK Sacramento | Once again an independent station, now with the call letters KMAX-TV (Owned by Paramount Global in a duopoly with CBS O&O 13 KOVR, KMAX disaffiliated from The CW and became an independent station once again with CW programming going over to 58 KQCA on September 1, 2023) |
| 13 |  13 KOVR Stockton |
Currently a CBS network owned-and-operated station (Swapped affiliations with 10 KXTV and has been an CBS affiliate since March of 1995 and a network O&O since April of 2005, co-owned alongside independent station 31 KMAX-TV (the former KRBK) by Paramount Global) |
| 14 | USA Network | Then and now, a general entertainment and sports channel, now owned by NBCUniversal |
| 15 | Lifetime | Programming geared towards women and women in lead roles of movies and shows (Owned by A&E Networks, a 50-50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and Disney Entertainment, a division of The Walt Disney Company) |
| 16 | The Family Channel | Sold to Fox becoming Fox Family in 1998 and then resold to The Walt Disney Company and renamed ABC Family in 2001 and rebranded and relaunched as Freeform in 2016 |
| 17 | 17 WTBS Atlanta, GA | The direct OTA feed at the time, now a CW affiliate as WPCH-TV, owned by Gray Television (Both the station and the TBS network (short for Turner Broadcasting System), were separated from each other in 2007, TBS today, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, WPCH is also sister to CBS affiliate 46 WANF, then an independent as WGNX and Telemundo affiliate 47 WKTB-CD) |
| 18 | Turner Network Television | Programming shifted from mostly classic movies towards drama movies and shows over the years with sporting events featured as well, nowadays only by the name TNT, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery |
| 19 |  19 KCSO Modesto |
Then and now, still a Univision affiliate as KUVS-DT (Now a network owned-and-operated station, co-owned alongside UniMás O&O 64 KTFK-DT (out of Stockton, then known as independent KFTL, owned by the late Harold Camping) by TelevisaUnivision) |
| 20 | 2 KTVU Oakland |
Then and now, still a Fox network affiliate (Co-owned alongside independent station 36 KICU-TV out of San Jose by Fox Television Stations, acquired along with KICU by Fox in 2014 in a swap with Cox Media Group in exchange for Fox O&Os 25 WFXT in Boston, Massachusetts and 13 WHBQ-TV in Memphis, Tennessee, KTVU was erroneously listed by the Sacramento Bee as still being an independent station even though it joined the network with its launch in October of 1986) |
| 21 | Nickelodeon | Today owned by Paramount Global, schedule then and now, still consists of programming towards children and teenagers up to 18 years of age |
| Nick at Nite | Programming initially consisted of 1950s and 1960s shows but shows from later decades added in the years and decades since, owned by Paramount Global | |
| 22 | 36 KICU-TV San Jose | Then and now, still an independent station (Co-owned alongside Fox O&O 2 KTVU (out of Oakland) by Fox Television Stations, acquired along with KTVU by Fox in 2014 in a swap with Cox Media Group in exchange for Fox O&Os 25 WFXT in Boston, Massachusetts and 13 WHBQ-TV in Memphis, Tennessee) |
| 24 | 9 WGN-TV Chicago, IL | The direct OTA feed at the time, then an independent, now a CW network owned-and-operated station, owned by Nexstar Media Group (Its later cable counterpart, WGN America, has since been rebranded and relaunched as NewsNation) |
| 25 | 9 WWOR-TV Secaucus, NJ | Now the MyNetworkTV flagship station (Co-owned alongside Fox network flagship 5 WNYW in New York City by Fox Television Stations) |
| 26 | 26 KTSF San Francisco | Multicultural (mostly Asian) programming |
| 27 | 44 KBHK San Francisco | Once again an independent station as KPYX (Co-owned alongside CBS O&O 5 KPIX-TV by Paramount Global, KBCW (the former KBHK) became an independent station once again on September 1, 2023, changing its call letters to the current KPYX while also sending The CW to 4 KRON-TV, which also carries MyNetworkTV as a secondary affiliate) |
| 28 | 42 KFCB Concord | Today a Tri-State Christian Television (TCT) network O&O as KTNC-TV |
| 29 | CNN Headline News | Once a companion network to CNN with news headlines, programming has shifted mostly to crime and law oriented shows and documentaries in recent years as HLN, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery |
| 30 | Educational Access | Status unknown, a local public access channel geared towards scholar and educational interests |
| 31 | Showtime | A premium subscription channel with movies, shows, documentaries and sporting events, owned by Paramount Global |
| 32 | The Nashville Network (TNN) | A channel once focused on country music and lifestyle, it now operates as a general entertainment channel as Paramount Network, owned by Paramount Global |
| 33 | Arts & Entertainment | Once a channel focused on arts and history, the channel has shifted significantly towards reality shows, dramas and documentaries, now known only as A&E (The flagship network of A&E Networks, a 50-50 joint venture between Hearst Communications and Disney Entertainment, a division of The Walt Disney Company) |
| 34 | Home Box Office | A premium subscription network, still operates only as HBO, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery (Home Box Office is still used as the network's legal corporate name) |
| 35 | The Discovery Channel | Still operates today with a program mix of technology, science, nature and reality, and its name shortened to just Discovery (also occasionally known as Discovery Channel), owned by Warner Bros. Discovery |
| 36 | The Weather Channel | Owned by Allen Media Group, weather forecasting and science (Also with local weather alerts and local forecasts every ten minutes on the 8s of every hour, as well as weather related shows and documentaries added in the years since then) |
| 37 | Cinemax | A premium pay subscription channel with mainstream, independent and original shows, movies and documentaries (Sister and companion network to HBO, owned by Warner Bros. Discovery) |
| 38 | The Disney Channel | Originally a premium pay subscription channel, Disney is now a general cable channel |
| 39 | Financial News Network (FNN) | Defunct after being shut down by NBC by 1991 (A financial, consumer and business news and stock information channel, sold to NBC and absorbed/integrated into CNBC in 1991, CNBC is now owned by NBCUniversal) |
| FNN Score | Defunct after being shut down by NBC by 1991 (Sports programming from 6:00 pm to 1:00 am (Eastern Time) Weeknights (1985-1988) and 12:00 pm to 1:00 am on Weekends (1988-1991), shut down after NBC began integrating FNN into CNBC in 1991) | |
| 40 | The Movie Channel | A premium pay subscription channel with classic, mainstream and independent movies (Sister and companion network to Showtime (now known as Paramount+ with Showtime), owned by Paramount Global) |
| 42 | Bravo | Originally focused on film and performing arts (as a premium pay subscription channel), the channel has shifted towards lifestyle and reality shows as well as programming themed around the LGBTQIA+ community (as a general cable channel), owned by NBCUniversal |
| 43 | Black Entertainment Television | Then and now, still carries programming heavily targeting African-American audiences, though it nowadays goes only by the acronym BET, owned by Paramount Global |
| 44 | The Playboy Channel | Today known as Playboy TV, though still a premium pay subscription channel focused entirely on adult erotica and pornography |
| 46 | Country Music Television | Programming consisting of country music and lifestyle with some country-themed reality shows added in recent years, now known only as CMT, owned by Paramount Global |
| 47 | Community Access | Still operates today as Access Sacramento on Comcast channels 17 and 18, with a companion low-power radio station, KUBU-LP at 96.5 FM |
| 48 | American Movie Classics | Nowadays known only as AMC, it has shifted from originally exclusively classic movies (as a pay channel) towards movies, shows and original programming (as a general cable channel), the flagship network of AMC Networks |
| 62 | SportsChannel Bay Area | Then and now, still a local and regional sports channel (originally by pay subscription), now a general cable channel, sold to Fox Sports and again to Comcast, now as NBC Sports Bay Area |
| 66 | KVIE-Cable | Today operates as KVIE2, a secondary subchannel of KVIE |
| 67 | Telemundo | A Spanish general entertainment and sports network owned by NBCUniversal (Local affiliates and future network O&Os KCSO-LD and KMUM-CD (both out of Sacramento), and KMMW-LD (out of Stockton), all on 33 , were NOT yet on the air at the time) |
| 68 | C-SPAN | A channel entirely focused on federal government and public affairs pertaining to the United States House of Representatives, including live coverage of proceedings |
| 69 | C-SPAN2 | A channel entirely focused on federal government and public affairs pertaining to the United States Senate, including live coverage of proceedings |