company showed a net loss of $44 million for the first three quarters of 2001, more than double its losses during the same period the previous year. In an attempt to reduce debts, Granite started looking for a buyer for Detroit WB affiliate WDWB (now WMYD) in October 2001; that station would not be sold until 2014. As an NBC O&O (2001–present) On December 17, 2001, NBC announced another twist on the deal: it bought KNTV from cash-strapped Granite for $230 million, effectively separating itself from KBWB (which remained under Granite ownership; it was sold in 2018). The network was already in the process of acquiring San Jose-based Telemundo station KSTS and wanted to create a duopoly in the Bay Area. KNTV officially joined NBC at 11:35 p.m. Pacific Time on December 31, 2001. Jay Leno officially welcomed NBC's newest station in a ceremony on The Tonight Show (leading an area-wide 10-second countdown, as the show served as KNTV's first NBC program), followed later that morning by a segment on the Today show in which Al Roker introduced KNTV's anchors. With NBC's move to channel 11, it became the only major network in the Bay Area to switch from one station to another. KNTV is the third Bay Area station to affiliate with NBC, as primary CBS affiliate KPIX-TV had carried the network as a secondary affiliation upon its sign-on in 1948 until KRON debuted the following year. NBC formally took control of KNTV in April 2002. This was not NBC's first attempt at purchasing a station in the Bay Area; a plan to purchase KTVU in 1961 was canceled following antitrust objections from KRON-TV, along with an FCC hearing designation surrounding all applications related to NBC's ownership of radio and television stations in Philadelphia. After the affiliation switch to NBC, Granite switched the station's on-air numerical branding to "NBC 3" to reflect its position on cable channel 3 on nearly every cable provider in the Bay Area. After the sale to NBC, its new ownership addressed issues involving confusion with Sacramento's NBC affiliate, KCRA-TV (which broadcast on channel 3), and rebranded the station as "NBC 11" in September 2002. Initially as the station built up its newsgathering resources in San Francisco and the East Bay, KNTV newscasts were perceived to be infotainment due to the focus on much more accessible crime and entertainment news, but by late 2002 the