Local Channels in California: Every TV Market, Station and Way to Watch

California TV markets and their channels

A TV market is the set of counties that receives the same local stations, and Nielsen calls it a DMA. California's eleven markets each have their own ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX affiliates. Our guide to local channels by state explains how the system works across the country. The Yuma-El Centro market is also covered from the Arizona side in our Arizona guide.

We built the table on October 29, 2026 from the transmission records on RabbitEars, which log the number each station sends to your TV, and compared it with the list of California TV stations.

Market	Main cities	ABC	CBS	NBC	FOX
Los Angeles	Los Angeles, Orange County, the Inland Empire, Ventura	7	2	4	11
San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose	San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose, the North Bay	7	5	11	2
Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto	Sacramento, Stockton, Modesto, Davis	10	13	3	40
San Diego	San Diego, Chula Vista, Oceanside, Escondido	10	8	39	69
Fresno-Visalia	Fresno, Visalia, Clovis, Hanford, Merced	30	47	24	26
Bakersfield	Bakersfield and Kern County	23	29	17	58
Santa Barbara-Santa Maria-San Luis Obispo	Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo	3	3.2	6	12.2
Monterey-Salinas	Monterey, Salinas, Santa Cruz	8.2	46	8	46.2
Palm Springs	Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Indio	42	38	36	39
Chico-Redding	Chico, Redding, Red Bluff, Oroville	7	12	24	7.2

A subchannel is an extra stream a station broadcasts beside its main one, numbered like 8.2. Several California stations are better known by a brand than by the number your TV shows. San Diego's NBC is "NBC 7/39" and its FOX station is "Fox 5", but they appear as 39 and 69 after a scan. The Central Coast CBS is "KCOY 12" yet sits on 3.2, and Monterey's FOX is "Fox 35" on 46.2. In Palm Springs, CBS ("CBS Local 2") and FOX ("Fox 11") come from low-power stations on 38 and 39.

Two smaller markets complete the map. In Eureka, NBC is 3 (KIEM) and ABC is 23 (KAEF). In Yuma-El Centro, which covers Imperial County, FOX is 9 and ABC 9.2 on KECY, and CBS is 13 on KYMA.

Where California's TV signals come from

California's three biggest cities each broadcast from a mountain or tower you can see from downtown, and that decides where an antenna should point. We matched every full-power station's transmitter coordinates in its FCC record, as listed by RabbitEars, to the known sites:

Market	Main site	What broadcasts from it
Los Angeles	Mount Wilson, in the San Gabriel Mountains	24 of 26 full-power stations, including CBS 2, NBC 4, KTLA 5, ABC 7, KCAL 9, FOX 11, Univision 34 and Telemundo 52
San Francisco Bay Area	Sutro Tower, San Francisco	FOX 2, KRON 4, CBS 5, ABC 7, KQED 9 and most others; NBC 11 transmits from San Bruno Mountain
San Diego	Mount Soledad (La Jolla) and San Miguel Mountain (east county)	CBS 8 and ABC 10 from Mount Soledad; NBC 7/39, FOX 5, KUSI and KPBS from San Miguel Mountain

Our finding: Los Angeles is the easy case: point at Mount Wilson and almost every station is in front of you. San Diego is the hard one. Its stations are split between two hills on opposite sides of the city. A directional antenna aimed at Mount Soledad for CBS 8 and ABC 10 can face away from San Miguel Mountain, where NBC and FOX broadcast. In much of San Diego, an omnidirectional antenna or two antennas work better than one aimed antenna.

In the Bay Area, Univision 14, Telemundo 48 and KICU 36 transmit from the hills above San Jose instead of Sutro Tower. Viewers in the East Bay or South Bay may need a slightly different aim for them.

Why some California channels won't come in

VHF is the old TV band, channels 2 to 13, and it causes most missing-channel complaints in California. Small indoor antennas are built for UHF, so the stations below tend to drop first:

Market	Station on VHF	Shows as	Broadcasts on
Los Angeles	KABC (ABC), KTTV (FOX), KVCR (PBS)	7, 11, 24	VHF 7, 11, 5
San Francisco Bay Area	KGO (ABC), KNTV (NBC), KRCB (PBS)	7, 11, 22	VHF 12, 13, 5
Sacramento	KXTV (ABC), KVIE (PBS)	10, 6	VHF 10, 9
San Diego	KFMB (CBS), KGTV (ABC)	8, 10	VHF 8, 10
Bakersfield	KERO (ABC)	23	VHF 10
Monterey-Salinas	KSBW (NBC, with ABC on 8.2)	8	VHF 8
Chico-Redding	KIXE (PBS)	9	VHF 9
Eureka	KIEM (NBC), KEET (PBS)	3, 13	VHF 3, 11
Yuma-El Centro	KECY (FOX, ABC), KYMA (CBS, NBC)	9, 13	VHF 9, 13

Three of these have help built in. ABC 7 in the Bay Area also sends the same channel on UHF 35, and ABC 10 in Sacramento does the same on UHF 36. San Diego's ABC 10 has a UHF relay on channel 20. Your TV merges them under the usual number, so a UHF antenna can still find ABC. Fresno-Visalia, Palm Springs and the Central Coast have none of the big four on VHF at all.

KRON 4 is a special case. Its own VHF 7 signal is now an ATSC 3.0 host, and ATSC 3.0 is the next-generation standard sold as NextGen TV. Regular TVs receive KRON 4 from FOX 2's UHF signals instead. For anything else that won't tune, check the direction for your address on the FCC reception map, then rescan.

Ways to watch local channels in California

Spectrum, Xfinity and Cox are California's largest cable companies, and AT&T and Frontier also sell TV in parts of the state. Here is how the main ways to get your locals compare:

Option	What it costs	California locals	Watch out for
Antenna	One-time purchase	Every station in range	Hills and canyons that block the line to the towers
Cable (Spectrum, Xfinity, Cox)	Spectrum Stream TV Signature from $100 a month for the first year	All main locals	Broadcast and sports surcharges, box fees, the rate after year one (see the real cost of cable)
Live-TV streaming	YouTube TV $82.99 a month; DIRECTV Entertainment $89.99	The big-city stations in most ZIP codes	Smaller markets such as Eureka or El Centro may have gaps
Free station apps	Free	Local news	No network shows or games
IPTVZ	From $29.99 for 3 months, $74.99 for 12	Stations from Los Angeles to Chico-Redding	Needs a steady connection, about 15 Mbps per HD screen

Prices from spectrum.com, YouTube TV and DIRECTV, checked October 17, 2026. The 12-month IPTVZ plan works out to about $6.25 a month. For the full comparison of options, see the cheapest live TV with local channels and our IPTV vs cable guide.

California local channels on IPTVZ

IPTVZ carries local stations from every major California market. These are matched by call sign in our panel catalogue of October 16, 2026:

Market	Confirmed on IPTVZ
Los Angeles	CBS 2, NBC 4, KTLA 5, ABC 7, KCAL 9, FOX 11, KCOP 13, plus Univision, UniMás and Telemundo 52
San Francisco Bay Area	FOX 2, CBS 5, ABC 7, KQED 9, NBC 11, Telemundo 48, Univision
Sacramento	NBC 3, ABC 10, CBS 13, FOX 40, KQCA 58
San Diego	CBS 8, ABC 10, NBC 7/39, KUSI 51, Fox 5
Fresno-Visalia	NBC 24, FOX 26, ABC 30, CBS 47, Univision 21, Telemundo 51
Bakersfield	NBC 17, ABC 23, CBS 29
Central Coast and Monterey	ABC 3 and CBS (KCOY) Santa Barbara, NBC 6 San Luis Obispo, NBC 8 and CBS 46 Monterey
Palm Springs, Chico-Redding, Eureka, El Centro	ABC 42, NBC (KMIR) and FOX (KDFX) Palm Springs, ABC 7 and NBC 24 Chico-Redding, NBC 3 Eureka, FOX 9 El Centro and KYMA Yuma

KRON 4 in the Bay Area is the one big-city station we could not confirm by call sign, so it is left out. Look up any station by name in the IPTVZ channel list. Because the service streams over the internet, a Bay Area viewer can watch Los Angeles stations. A Californian who has moved away can keep their hometown news.

Spanish-language TV in California

Los Angeles is the largest Hispanic TV market in the country, and every large California market has its own Univision and Telemundo stations. Los Angeles has Univision 34, Telemundo 52, UniMás 46 and Estrella TV 62. The Bay Area has Univision 14, Telemundo 48 and UniMás 66. Fresno has Univision 21 and Telemundo 51, and Sacramento has Univision 19. In San Diego, stations from Tijuana, such as Las Estrellas, also come in over the air.

IPTVZ includes Univision and Telemundo from Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Fresno, plus UniMás from Los Angeles. Spanish-language sports come on TUDN, ESPN Deportes and FOX Deportes. Our explainer on how IPTV works covers what you need to watch them.

California sports on TV in 2026-27

FanDuel Sports Network shut down after the 2025-26 season, and several Southern California teams moved. The Bay Area teams stayed on NBC Sports:

• Lakers and Dodgers: the Lakers on Spectrum SportsNet, the Dodgers on SportsNet LA.
• Clippers: the team relaunched its ClipperVision service for 77 games in 2026-27, with 10 of them on KTLA 5 for free, per SVG.
• Kings and Angels: the Angels bought FanDuel Sports Network West and renamed it Angels Broadcast Television. It carries Kings games too, on the same cable channel numbers.
• Warriors and Giants: NBC Sports Bay Area. Sacramento Kings, Sharks and A's: NBC Sports California, with the A's in West Sacramento through 2027. Both networks stream through a $17.95-a-month Peacock add-on.
• Padres: games are produced and sold by MLB, on cable and the Padres.TV streaming service.
• Rams, Chargers and 49ers: regional NFL broadcasts go to each market's CBS or FOX station, and prime-time games to NBC, ESPN and Prime Video.

On IPTVZ you get the free-TV side of this list: KTLA for the Clippers' over-the-air games and every California CBS, FOX and NBC station for football, plus ESPN and the national sports channels. For football on a budget, see our guide to the cheapest way to watch the NFL.

Local channels in California FAQ

How many TV markets does California have?

Eleven Nielsen markets are based in California. The largest are Los Angeles, San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto and San Diego. Imperial County belongs to the Yuma-El Centro market, and a few border counties watch Reno or Medford stations.

Where should I point my antenna in Los Angeles?

Toward Mount Wilson, in the San Gabriel Mountains northeast of downtown. Nearly every Los Angeles station broadcasts from there, including CBS 2, NBC 4, ABC 7 and FOX 11.

Why can't I get FOX 11 or ABC 7 in Los Angeles?

Both broadcast on VHF, which small flat antennas handle poorly. An antenna with VHF-high elements, placed high and aimed at Mount Wilson, usually fixes it after a rescan.

What channel is FOX 5 in San Diego?

It is branded Fox 5, but over the air it shows as 69 (KSWB). NBC 7/39 shows as 39. Both broadcast from San Miguel Mountain, east of the city.

Where did KRON 4 go on my antenna?

KRON's own VHF 7 signal now carries only ATSC 3.0. Regular TVs get KRON 4 as a stream on FOX 2's UHF signals, so a rescan should bring it back as 4.1.

Can I watch Los Angeles channels in Northern California?

An antenna in Sacramento or San Jose will never reach Mount Wilson, so Los Angeles stations are out over the air. Streamed, they work anywhere: IPTVZ includes the Los Angeles and Bay Area stations along with other California markets.

Do I need cable for local channels in California?

No. Every network station broadcasts free over the air, and the same stations are available through streaming services and IPTV. Regional sports networks such as SportsNet LA and NBC Sports Bay Area are the part that needs a paid service.