In analog, the channel 3 allocation was initially not awarded to either San Diego or Tijuana—despite a severe need for additional VHF television channels in the area—because any high-powered signal would be short-spaced over water to KEYT-TV in Santa Barbara, California. However, by the 1990s, Mexican stations using lower power could utilize the frequency. In 1995, Mexico notified the United States that it would be building channel 3, with a proposed 100 kW effective radiated power. Through American coordination, the power of the station was reduced and an antenna pattern was used to minimize the station's interference to the United States. As part of the IPN's program to build repeater stations to extend the reach of its then-Once TV, XHTJB-TV signed on August 2, 1999, analog channel 3, raising its power over several days to 40 kW of effective radiated power. It was the fourth repeater station built by the IPN itself, after stations in Cuernavaca, San Luis Potosí and Valle de Bravo. When XHTJB signed on in mid-1999, it immediately caused interference to those in San Diego who had their VCRs and other devices with output set to channel 3; international coordination forced the new station to ramp uppower levels gradually in order to help users rectify potential interference. Cox Communications and other San Diego stations even mounted an unsuccessful campaign to move XHTJB to another channel; however, no other channel was found that could adequately cover the Tijuana area.
XHTJB transitioned to digital in the late 2000s. Physical channel 46 remained after Tijuana's first-in-Mexico digital conversion occurred on July 18, 2013, using PSIP to display XHTJB's virtual channel as 3 on digital receivers. On October 27, 2016, in line with a major realignment of Mexican virtual channels, XHTJB and other Canal Once transmitters adopted virtual channel 11 nationwide. The station was able to do so because XHTJB's signal pattern does not overlap with Los Angeles stations. The move freed channel 3 for use by Imagen Televisión's Tijuana transmitter. In late 2017, XHTJB was approved to move to RF channel 15 for repacking purposes.
