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KTBN-TV (channel 40) is areligious television station licensed toSanta Ana, California, United States, serving theLos Angeles area as theflagship station of the locally basedTrinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The station's offices are located at TBN's headquarters in nearbyTustin, and its transmitter is located atopMount Wilson.

Channel 40 first launched on January 5, 1967, as KLXA-TV, licensed toFontana but operating from offices and studios at 816 North Highland Avenue inHollywood. It was Southern California's first bilingual television station. In its first months, KLXA broadcast most days from 4 to 11 p.m., withEnglish programming made up of oldmovies and 1950s-era reruns of network andsyndicated series such asThe Whirlybirds,The Phil Silvers Show andCircus Boy, ending with a Lyn Sherwood newscast from 8 to 8:15 p.m. Then, starting with an 8:15–8:30 p.m. newscast from Miguel Alonso, the remainder of the schedule would betelenovelas,variety shows and sporting events (most frequently bullfighting) inSpanish. By 1971, the entire schedule was changed to Spanish-language programming, directly competing withKMEX-TV (channel 34).

TBN founderPaul Crouch began purchasing time in 1973 on KBSA (channel 46, nowKFTR), then licensed toGuasti. He wanted to buy the station, but another organization bought it from under his offer. After that station was sold, Crouch began buying two hours of programming time a day on Channel 40 in early 1974; KBSA ran Spanish language entertainment programming several hours a day, with TBN buying two hours program time in the evenings. KLXA was then put up for sale shortly after. Paul Crouch then put in a bid to buy it for $1 million and raised $100,000 for a down payment. After many struggles, the Crouches managed to raise the down payment and took over the station outright. Initially, the station ran locally produced Christian programs about six hours a day. Paul,Jan Crouch, andJim Bakker hosted the daily religious programPraise the Lord. Other programs included Christian-themed children's programs, church services from their church, bible studies, andpublic affairs shows. Later in 1974, Jim andTammy Faye Bakker left TBN to launch their own show inCharlotte, North Carolina, early in 1975, which kept thePTL initials and was called thePTL Club. TBN used the full namePraise the Lord. The Crouches continued to expand their religious programming to twelve hours a day by 1975, and began selling time to outside Christian organizations to supplement their local programming.

Trinity Broadcasting continued to use the KLXA call sign until November 1977, when the station officially becameKTBN-TV. The station went to a 24-hour schedule by 1978. Its city of license was later relocated to Santa Ana in 1983. Today, as is the case with TBN's otherowned-and-operated stations, KTBN repeats the national TBN feed for almost the entire day. It only breaks off for Southern California–specific public affairs programs. Even when TBN bought other Christian stations (such asWHFT-TV inMiami, among others), the network ended local operations at those stations and replaced their programming with TBN's national feed.

Today, KTBN-TV serves the entireLos Angeles metropolitan area with a full-power signal. The station originally had a network oflow-powertranslators carrying the signal to other areas in Southern California; however, during 2010, these translators went dark due to declining support, which has been attributed to thedigital transition, and likely universal carriage of the network by the cable and satellite providers in the region. With the station being available on cable providers throughout Southern California, KTBN is not carried among the Los Angeles market stations available on eitherDish Network orDirecTV at TBN's request; the national feed is carried in its place instead.

The station's signal ismultiplexed:

TBN-owned full-power stations permanently ceased analog transmissions on April 16, 2009.

KTBN's digital signal, which went on the air in 2004, originally broadcast on channel 23. TBN's request to change the station's digital channel to (UHF) channel 33 was approved by theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) on February 5, 2009. This in effect changed the digital allotment for Santa Ana to channel 33.^[2] This decision ultimately displaced low-power stationKSMV-LP, which soon converted to digital on channel 23. Queries to the FCC database on KTBN indicated that the station had a construction permit for digital UHF channel 33, which the station used as its final post-transition digital allotment.

KTBN's over-the-air translatorsK15DB inLompoc,K21FP inBakersfield,K26GN inLancaster,KVVB-LP (channel 33) inVictorville, andK40ID inPalm Springs ceased operations as of 2012.^{[citation needed]}

• Official website

• 1967 establishments in California
• Mass media in Orange County, California
• Merit TV affiliates
• Television channels and stations established in 1967
• Television stations in Los Angeles
• Trinity Broadcasting Network stations
• Religious television stations in California

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