KTXS-TV

Sweetwater–Abilene, Texas United States
City	Sweetwater, Texas
Channels	Digital: 20 (UHF) Virtual: 12
Branding	KTXS (general) KTXS News (newscasts) (pronounced "K-Texas") The CW Abilene (on DT2)
Programming
Affiliations	12.1: ABC (secondary until 1979) 12.2: CW+ 12.3: TBD
Ownership
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group (Sinclair Media Licensee, LLC)
History
First air date	January 30, 1956 (1956-01-30)
Former call signs	KPAR-TV (1956–1966)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 12 (VHF, 1956–2009)
Former affiliations	CBS (1956–1979)
Call sign meaning	Texas -or- Texas Sweetwater
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	308
ERP	530 kW 710 kW (CP)
HAAT	402 m (1,319 ft) 439.3 m (1,441 ft) (CP)
Transmitter coordinates	32°24′48.4″N 100°6′26.3″W / 32.413444°N 100.107306°W / 32.413444; -100.107306
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	ktxs.com
Satellite station
KTXE-LD
San Angelo, Texas United States
Channels	Digital: 22 (UHF) Virtual: 12
Branding	ABC 38 (general) KTXS News (newscasts) The CW San Angelo (on DT2)
Programming
Affiliations	12.1: ABC 12.2: CW+
Ownership
Owner	Sinclair Broadcast Group (Sinclair Media Licensee, LLC)
History
Founded	July 25, 1983
First air date	April 23, 2003 (2003-04-23)
Former call signs	K55AA (until 1997) KTXE-LP (1997–2014)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 55 (UHF, until 1997), 38 (UHF, 1997–2014) Digital: 38 (UHF, 2014–2021)
Call sign meaning	Disambiguation of KTXS
Technical information[2]
Facility ID	309
Class	LD
ERP	15 kW
HAAT	108.2 m (355 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	31°29′6″N 100°27′27″W / 31.48500°N 100.45750°W / 31.48500; -100.45750
Links
Public license information	LMS

KTXS-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Sweetwater, Texas, United States, serving the Abilene area as an affiliate of ABC and The CW Plus. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside low-power TBD owned-and-operated station KTES-LD (channel 40). Both stations share studios on North Clack Street in Abilene, while KTXS-TV's transmitter is located near Trent, Texas.

KTXE-LD (virtual channel 12; UHF digital channel 22) in San Angelo operates as a low-power satellite of KTXS-TV; this station's transmitter is located on West 26th Street in San Angelo.

History

The station signed on the air on January 30, 1956 as KPAR-TV. It was part of the West Texas Television Network, based at KDUB-TV (now KLBK-TV, channel 13) in Lubbock, and was a primary CBS affiliate with a secondary ABC affiliation. Due to the market not having a full-time ABC station at the time, viewers can watch full ABC programming via WFAA in Dallas. During the late 1950s, the station was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.^[3] The station's first studio was built on the eastern edge of Sweetwater; broadcasts from this location included a 6 p.m. newscast.

Grayson Enterprises bought the West Texas Television Network stations on October 12, 1961. Grayson opened a satellite studio in Abilene in the early 1960s and soon moved most of KPAR's operations there. This resulted in the first of many fines from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for violating "main studio" regulations. In 1966, the station moved most of its operations to a new studio in north Abilene, and the call letters were changed to KTXS.

Grayson nearly lost its stations, including KTXS, four times between 1968 and 1971 due to licensing issues. In 1977, their renewals were deferred pending a hearing. Grayson was accused of fraudulent billing, program, and transmitter log fabrication, main studio violations, failure to make required technical tests, and other problems.

The case was settled in what was then described as a "distress sale" where the stations were sold to a minority-controlled group (nowadays known as a historically underutilized group) at a reduced price. The company breakup helped define the parameters of such a sale. KLBK and KTXS were sold to Prima, Inc., which was granted a permanent waiver of the main studio rule. Sweetwater continues to be the FCC city of license with the KTXS Tower in nearby Trent.

In 1979, the station dropped CBS and became a full ABC affiliate after KTAB-TV (channel 32) signed on. Prima sold KTXS to Catclaw Communications in 1983. Catclaw, in turn, sold it to Southwest Multimedia in 1985. Southwest Multimedia then sold the station to Lamco Communications in 1986. Lamco sold KTXS including 4 of its stations—WCYB-TV in Bristol, Virginia, KRCR-TV in Redding, California, WCTI-TV in New Bern, North Carolina and KECI-TV in Missoula, Montana to Bluestone Television in 2004. In September 2006, KTXS started broadcasting The CW on digital subchannel 12.2. Bluestone Television sold its stations (including KTXS) to Bonten Media Group in December 2006 for $230 million.^[4] The sale was completed on May 31, 2007.^[5]

On April 21, 2017, Sinclair Broadcast Group announced its intent to purchase the Bonten stations for $240 million.^[6] The sale was completed on September 1.^[7]

News operation

KTXS-TV presently broadcasts 17 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with three hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).

On August 10, 2011, KTXS began broadcasting its newscasts in 720p high definition with a new set and new graphics.

Technical information

Coverage area

KTXS-TV serves as the ABC affiliate for 16 counties in West Central Texas that are part of the Abilene television market area (Brown, Callahan, Coke, Coleman, Eastland, Fisher, Haskell, Jones, Knox, Mitchell, Nolan, Runnels, Scurry, Shackelford, Stephens, Stonewall and Taylor). Through KTXE-LD, it also serves three counties in the San Angelo market (Concho, McCulloch and Tom Green).

KTXS also provides coverage for two other counties that are on the fringe of the actual assigned viewing market (Throckmorton in the Wichita Falls–Lawton market and Comanche in the Dallas–Fort Worth DMA. Throckmorton County was reassigned to the Wichita Falls–Lawton DMA from the Abilene DMA, as of September 2008.

References

External links

• Official website
• The CW Abilene
• This TV Abilene