[edit]KUNS's logo from January 29, 2019, through December 31, 2023
On February 10, 1988, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a construction permit for television station KBEH. However, channel 51 did not begin its broadcasting operation until August 8, 1999, transmitting programs from the ValueVision network, which became ShopNBC in 2001 after NBC (now part of Comcast) acquired a 37% ownership stake in that network. In December 2000, the station changed its call letters to KWOG. Previously locally owned and operated and at one point being minority owned, the station was sold to Fisher Communications on September 29, 2006.[3]
On October 31, 2006, the station changed its call letters one more time, this time to the current KUNS-TV. On January 1, 2007, it rang in the year by going from broadcasting home shopping programs to broadcasting Hispanic programming as a Univision affiliate almost instantly, providing viewers with programs such as Sabado Gigante, Despierta América and El Gordo y La Flaca, in addition to an assortment of telenovelas, along with many other programs. The station also started its own local newscast, Noticias Noroeste with Jaime Méndez and Roxy de la Torre. The newscast originates from a studio at KOMO Plaza (formerly Fisher Plaza) in Seattle.
On August 21, 2012, Fisher Communications signed an affiliation agreement with MundoFox, a Spanish-language competitor to Univision that is owned as a joint venture between Fox International Channels and Colombian broadcaster RCN TV, for KUNS and Portland sister station KUNP to be carried on both stations as digital subchannels starting in late September.[4] On April 11, 2013, Fisher announced that it would sell its properties, including KUNS-TV, to the Sinclair Broadcast Group.[5] The deal was completed on August 8, 2013.[6]
On May 8, 2017, Sinclair Broadcast Group entered into an agreement to acquire Tribune Media—owner of Fox affiliate KCPQ (channel 13) and MyNetworkTV affiliate KZJO (channel 22)—for $3.9 billion, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in debt held by Tribune, pending regulatory approval by the FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division; the merger would have required divestitures in the Seattle market, as broadcasters are not currently allowed to legally own more than two full-power television stations in a single market.[7][8][9][10][11][12] On April 24, 2018, Sinclair disclosed that it would buy KZJO and sell KUNS-TV to Howard Stirk Holdings, while continuing to provide services to the station; KCPQ would concurrently be sold to Fox Television Stations, which would make KCPQ a Fox owned-and-operated station.[13][14][15]
Three weeks after the FCC's July 18 vote to have the deal reviewed by an administrative law judge amid "serious concerns" about Sinclair's forthrightness in its applications to sell certain conflict properties, on August 9, 2018, Tribune announced it would terminate the Sinclair deal, intending to seek other M&A opportunities. Tribune also filed a breach of contract lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court, alleging that Sinclair engaged in protracted negotiations with the FCC and the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division over regulatory issues, refused to sell stations in markets where it already had properties, and proposed divestitures to parties with ties to Sinclair executive chair David D. Smith that were rejected or highly subject to rejection to maintain control over stations it was required to sell. The termination of the Sinclair sale agreement places uncertainty for the future of Fox's purchases of KCPQ and the other six Tribune stations included in that deal, which were predicated on the closure of the Sinclair–Tribune merger.[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27]
On October 11, 2023, it was reported that KUNS-TV would become the Seattle market's new affiliate of The CW effective January 1, 2024, replacing KOMO-DT2, which reverted to a full-time affiliation with the Sinclair-owned diginet Comet.[28] The move was controversial within the local Hispanic community as it implied the discontinuation of the only local Spanish-language newscast in Western Washington; Sinclair did not confirm the discontinuation of Spanish-language content in general on KUNS until nearly a month later, having offered Univision a subchannel position that the network declined.[29] KUNS aired its last such newscast on December 31, with Bellingham-based KVOS-TV (channel 12) assuming the Univision affiliation the following day; former co-anchor Jaime Méndez started streaming his own newscast from his Lynnwood home on January 5, 2024, in response to the move.[30][31]
KUNS officially became a CW affiliate at 6 a.m. PST on January 1, 2024, with the Sinclair national news program The National Desk. When it switched to The CW, rather than any associated CW branding, Sinclair instead rebranded the station as "arc Seattle", with "ARC" standing for "authentic, relatable, community". arc Seattle became the new name of KOMO's daily advertorial program, which re-airs on KUNS.
