KOPX-TV


KOPX-TV, virtual channel 62, is an Ion Television owned-and-operated station licensed to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States. The station is owned by West Palm Beach, Florida-based Ion Media Networks. KOPX-TV's offices are located on Railway Drive in north Oklahoma City, and its transmitter is located near 122nd Street on the city's northeast side. On cable, the station is available on Cox Communications channel 17 in both standard and high definition, and also carried by AT&T U-verse on channel 62 in standard definition.

History

The station first signed on the air on March 16, 1996 as KMNZ; it originally operated as an affiliate of InTV, a network operated by Paxson Communications that specialized in paid programming. On August 31, 1998, KOPX became a charter station of the family-oriented Pax TV network, with programming from Christian television network The Worship Network airing during the overnight hours.

Digital television

Analog-to-digital conversion

KOPX-TV began transmitting a digital television signal on UHF channel 50 on November 1, 2002. The station discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 62, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 50, using PSIP to display KOPX-TV's virtual channel as 62 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.
As a part of the repacking process following the 2016–2017 FCC incentive auction, KOPX-TV will relocate to UHF channel 18 by 2020, using PSIP to display its virtual channel number as 62.

Newscasts

In November 2002, in relation to agreements between Pax TV and several major network affiliates, KOPX began airing tape delayed rebroadcasts of morning and late evening newscasts from NBC affiliate KFOR-TV. The 6 a.m. hour of the morning newscast aired on a one-hour tape delay, while the 10 p.m. newscast aired on a half-hour delay, with the latter beginning shortly before the live 10 p.m. newscast on KFOR-TV ended. The news share agreement ended on June 30, 2005, due to Paxson Communications' decision to discontinue carriage of network affiliate newscasts as a result of Pax's financial troubles.