KFXK-TV


KFXK-TV, virtual channel 51, is a Fox-affiliated television station serving Tyler, Texas, United States that is licensed to Longview. Owned by White Knight Broadcasting, it is a sister station to Tyler-licensed low-power MyNetworkTV affiliate KTPN-LD, channel 48 ; Nexstar Media Group, which owns Jacksonville-licensed NBC affiliate KETK-TV, operates KFXK and KTPN-LD under a shared services agreement. The three stations share studios on Richmond Road in Tyler; KFXK's transmitter is located near FM 125 in rural northwestern Rusk County.
Although KFXK operates a full-power signal, the broadcasting radius does not reach much of the southern part of the market. Therefore, it is relayed on low-power translator station KFXL-LD in Lufkin. This station's transmitter is located on SH 103 near Loop 287 northwest of Lufkin.

History

The station first signed on the air on September 9, 1984 as KLMG-TV; the station originally operated as a CBS affiliate, making it the first full-time affiliate of the network in the Tyler–Longview market since the short-lived KAEC-TV operated in Nacogdoches in the late 1960s. Until channel 51 signed on, CBS programming was relegated to joint primary status on KLTV, which also juggled programming with NBC and ABC for many years.
KLMG-TV made national news as its founding owner, Clara McLaughlin, was the first African American woman ever to own a television station in the United States. McLaughlin bought a vacant school building located near Interstate 20 in Longview and had it renovated into a studio facility for the station. KLMG was intended to be part of a network of stations serving East Texas that would be known as the "East Texas Television Network." To this end, McLaughlin also held construction permits for KLNL on channel 19 in Nacogdoches, KLPH-TV on channel 42 in Paris, and KLDS on channel 20 in Denison. However, this plan did not come to fruition and none of the other stations ever signed on the air. KLMG wound up filing for bankruptcy just a few years later, and shut down its news department.
In April 1991, the station changed its call letters to KFXK; it also became the market's Fox affiliate; prior to the switch, viewers in the Tyler-Longview market were only able to receive Fox programming via either the network's then-Dallas owned-and-operated station KDAF or Shreveport affiliate KMSS-TV. Conversely, the switch left the market without a CBS affiliate for the next thirteen years; Max Media would later purchase KLSB, a satellite of NBC affiliate KETK-TV, and converted it into CBS affiliate KYTX in 2004. In the interim, CBS programming was provided on cable via Shreveport affiliate KSLA-TV, although some cable providers in the western portion of the market carried KDFW or network-owned KTVT ; cable systems in Houston County carried KBTX-TV instead. By 1998, KFXK had signed on KFXL as a translator serving the Lufkin-Nacogdoches area. In January 2013, KFXL-LD migrated its operations to KETK and KFXK's studio facility in Tyler.
On April 24, 2013, the Communications Corporation of America announced the sale of its television stations, including KETK-TV, to Nexstar Broadcasting Group. KFXK and KTPN were planned be sold to Nexstar partner company Mission Broadcasting; in the case of KFXK, that station was being sold to Mission to comply with FCC duopoly rules. But on August 5, 2014, Mission withdrew its application to acquire KFXK. Nexstar continues to operate KFXK and KLPN under a shared services agreement with sister station KETK. The sale was completed on January 1, 2015.
Nexstar completed a $4 million renovation of studio and office facilities that KFXK shares with KETK in November 2017. A dedication and reception was held on November 16, which included the presence of Nexstar chairman/president/CEO Perry Sook, as well as Leslie Roberts, an anchorwoman who worked for KETK in the late 1980s, among other attendees.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
51.1720pKFXK-DTMain KFXK-TV programming / Fox
51.2480iKLPN-TVSimulcast of KTPN-LD / MyNetworkTV
51.3480iEscapeCourt TV Mystery
51.4480iLaffLaff

Analog-to-digital conversion

KFXK launched a full-power digital signal on UHF channel 31 on July 30, 2006, the station began testing high definition broadcasts of Fox programming on October 20, 2006, with Fox programs broadcasting in that format full-time five days later on October 25. On February 1, 2008, Longview Cable Television added KFXK's HD feed and KLPN-LP on digital cable channels 250 and 252.
KFXK-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 51, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 31, using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 51.

Availability

Paid services

On cable, KFXK is available on Suddenlink channel 12 and Longview Cable Television channel 8. There is a high definition feed offered on Suddenlink digital channel 705 and Longview Cable Television digital channel 235. KFXK can also be seen on DirecTV, Dish Network, and several smaller cable providers throughout East Texas.

Over-the-air

KFXK can be seen via over the air in cities throughout East Texas, such as Tyler, Longview, Pittsburg, Canton, Mineola, Lindale, Gilmer, Jefferson, Marshall, Athens, Kilgore, Jacksonville, Henderson, Carthage, Palestine, Rusk, Center, and Nacogdoches. Notable towns that cannot receive KFXK via OTA within the Tyler market are Lufkin and Crockett. However, as noted above, Lufkin is served by a low-power relay of KFXK.

Programming

programs broadcast by KFXK-TV include The People's Court, Mike & Molly, The Big Bang Theory, Modern Family, and Divorce Court, among others.

Newscasts

KETK-TV produces 12½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week for KFXK-TV. As a CBS affiliate, the station made two attempts at producing local newscasts; both were subsequently canceled. In 1998, KETK-TV began producing a weeknight 9:00 p.m. newscast for KFXK under a news share agreement; the program was the first prime time newscast in the Tyler-Longview market. The newscast initially received strong ratings, garnering a 3 share in only a month and a half of its debut, however, ratings fell subsequently after its original anchors left the station. The newscast was plagued with logistical problems, when Fox Sports programming scheduled during prime time hours resulted in the delay of the newscast, causing KFXK to air the program on a tape delay to allow KETK to produce its own 10:00 p.m. newscast on schedule. This occasionally led to the same meteorologist being seen on both stations simultaneously, causing some viewer confusion and giving away the fact that the KFXK newscast was not always live every night. This, coupled with the declining ratings, eventually caused station management to cancel the newscast.
KETK restored a prime time newscast on KFXK on January 28, 2008, with the debut of a half-hour 9:00 p.m. newscast, which airs only on Monday through Friday evenings. On April 23, 2010, KETK became the second television station in the Tyler-Longview market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition; the KFXK newscasts were included in the upgrade. KETK reportedly planned on producing a two-hour weekday morning newscast for channel 51, which would have debuted at the same time; a morning newscast did not debut on the station until September 2011, when the station launched a two-hour weekday newscast from 7:00 to 9:00 a.m..