In December 1968, KKTV relocated to a new studio facility on North Nevada Avenue in Colorado Springs, which had previously functioned as a film stage.[3] By the time the move was complete, a deal had been reached to sell KKTV to the Capitol Broadcasting Company of Jackson, Mississippi,[a] which owned radio and television properties in that city.Ackerley owned the station until early 1999 when it swapped KKTV to Benedek Broadcasting in exchange for KCOY in Santa Maria, California.On June 23, 2012, at around 2 p.m. MDT, KKTV began to provide live 24/7 continuous coverage of the Waldo Canyon fire in Colorado Springs.The coverage was praised by various critics, and won the Colorado Springs Independent's Best Local TV Newscast award for 2012,[5] ending a long streak in that category by KOAA.However, KKTV was the second TV station in the Colorado Springs–Pueblo market to broadcast an early morning newscast beginning in late 1992 originally running a full hour, while rival KRDO-TV continued to stick with a 15-minute length morning newscast (and would eventually extend the program's length beginning in early 1996).