KPXB-TV

KPXB-TV, virtual channel 49 (UHF digital channel 32), is an Ion Television owned-and-operated station serving Houston, Texas, United States that is licensed to the suburb of Conroe. The station is owned by the Ion Media Networks subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. KPXB-TV's transmitter is located near Missouri City, in unincorporated northeastern Fort Bend County.

"KTFH" redirects here. It is not to be confused with KFTH-DT.
KPXB-TV
Conroe/Houston, Texas
United States
CityConroe, Texas
ChannelsDigital: 32 (UHF)
Virtual: 49 (PSIP)
BrandingIon Television
SloganPositively Entertaining
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerIon Media Networks
(a subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company)[1][2])
(Ion Media Houston License, Inc.)
History
First air date
June 16, 1989 (1989-06-16)
Former call signs
KTFH (1989–1998)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
49 (UHF, 1989–2009)
Digital:
5 (VHF, 1998–2009)
Independent (1989)
Galavisión (1989–1995)
inTV (1995–1998)
Call sign meaning
PaXson Broadcasting
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID58835
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT579 m (1,900 ft)
Transmitter coordinates29°34′15″N 95°30′37″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websiteiontelevision.com

History

The station first signed on the air on June 16, 1989 as KTFH (not to be confused with present-day UniMás owned-and-operated station KFTH-DT, channel 67); mainly airing home shopping programming, before becoming an over-the-air affiliate of Spanish-language network Galavisión (which is primarily distributed through cable and satellite television) in November of that year.[3]

KTFH was sold to Paxson Communications in 1995. Paxson then dropped Galavisión and affiliated it with its Infomall Television Network (inTV) infomercial service on April 3, 1995;[4] its call letters were later changed to KPXB in early 1998. KPXB, along with other Paxson-owned stations, became a charter station of Pax TV (later i: Independent Television and now Ion Television) when the network launched on August 31, 1998.

From 1990 until 2009, KPXB was relayed on low-powered translator KBPX-LP (channel 33), which mainly served to improve KPXB's signal coverage in southern portions of Houston since the full-power analog transmitter site was located in the far northern suburbs.

On September 24, 2020, the Cincinnati-based E. W. Scripps Company announced it would purchase KPXB-TV's owner, Ion Media Networks, for $2.65 billion, with financing from Berkshire Hathaway.[1] Part of the deal includes divesting 23 stations nationally to an undisclosed third party maintaining Ion affiliations.[2]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming
49.1720p16:9IONMain Ion Television programming
49.2480iquboQubo
49.3IONPlusIon Plus
49.4ShopIon Shop
49.5LAFFLaff
49.64:3HSNHSN

Analog-to-digital conversion

KPXB-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 49, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[5] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 5 (it was later moved to UHF channel 32 due to signal issues common with low-band VHF digital channels), using PSIP to display KPXB-TV's virtual channel as 49 on digital television receivers.

After the digital transition, KPXB moved its transmitter from east of Splendora to the Houston-area antenna farm near Missouri City. KBPX-LP was shut down on June 30, 2009, two weeks after the digital transition, due to loss of access to the tower site.[6] However, since the main KPXB transmitter provides a signal comparable to the other Houston stations, the translator was redundant in any event. On November 22, 2010, KBPX-LP resumed operations on digital channel 46,[7] as an affiliate of The Country Network.[8]

Newscasts

From 2000 to 2005, KPXB aired rebroadcasts of CBS affiliate KHOU (channel 11)'s newscasts at 6:30 and 11:30 p.m. instead of airing newscasts from NBC affiliate KPRC-TV (channel 2).

References
  1. https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/e-w-scripps-nears-2-65b-takeover-of-ion-media-in-berkshire-backed-deal
  2. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/scripps-creates-national-television-networks-business-with-acquisition-of-ion-media-301137357.html
  3. Hodges, Ann (November 17, 1989). "Station to air Mexican newscasts". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  4. McDaniel, Mike (March 21, 1995). "Spanish-language TV station gets new owners, new format". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  5. List of Digital Full-Power Stations Archived 2013-08-29 at the Wayback Machine
  6. "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
  7. "Resumption of Operations". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
  8. "Houston, It's Your Country!". PR Newswire. Retrieved November 23, 2010.
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