KTXH
{{Infobox_Broadcast |
call_letters = KTXH| station_logo = [[Image:KXLN_Univision45.jpg|100px station_branding = Univision 20/CBS 20/ NBC 20| analog = 20 (UHF)| digital = 19 (UHF)| affiliations = Univision, CBS, NBC| founded = November 7, 1982 | location = Houston, Texas| callsign_meaning = K TeXas Houston | owner = Fox Television Stations Group| former_affiliations = Independent (1982-1995)
UPN (1995-2006) | homepage = www.univision20.com (Outdated)| }}
KTXH, channel 20, is currently the MyNetworkTV owned and operated station in Houston, Texas. It broadcasts its analog signal on UHF channel 20, and its digital signal on UHF channel 19. It is owned by the Fox Television Stations Group, a division of the News Corporation, and is one-half of the network O&O duopoly in Houston with KRIV (channel 26).
Along with programming from Univision, the station also airs cartoons, sitcoms, first run syndicated talk/reality shows, and some paid programming. Although the station does not carry a regular newscast, it will pre-empt its programming for news coverage from either KRIV or the Fox News Channel (both owned by Fox) when situations warrant.
History
KTXH began broadcasting on November 7, 1982, as an independent station originally known as "20 Vision." Channel 20 became the third independent station in Houston, after KRIV (then owned by Metromedia), and Gaylord Broadcasting's KHTV (channel 39, now KHCW). It was also the second station in Texas owned by Grant Broadcasting, which signed-on KTXA in Fort Worth in January 1981. It programmed a general entertainment format consisting of cartoons, vintage off-network sitcoms and dramas, old movies, westerns, and sports.
The fledgling station was broadcasting from a tower under construction that collapsed in 1982, killing five workers. It was eventually replaced by the Senior Road Tower.
Grant Broadcasting sold both KTXH and KTXA to Gulf Broadcasting in 1984. Several weeks later, Gulf sold its television broadcasting division to Taft Broadcasting. Even after going through three owners within the same year, the station did not change its programming format.
Hannah Storm, later a noted national broadcast personality, anchored the station's coverage of the NBA's Houston Rockets in the mid-1980's.
Taft sold its group of independent and Fox-affiliated stations, including KTXH and KTXA, to the TVX Broadcast Group in February 1987. Two years later Paramount Pictures purchased a minority ownership in TVX, which suffered from financial problems after the Taft purchase. Paramount bought out the remainder of TVX's shares in 1991. Under Paramount, the station added several first run syndicated shows in the mid-1990s and rebranded to "Paramount 20". (KTXA was branded similarly, with "21" in place of "20".) It eventually became an affiliate of the United Paramount Network at the network's launch on January 16, 1995.
KTXH came under the ownership of Fox Television Stations Group in 2001, as part of a corporate deal between Fox and Viacom (which has been Paramount's parent company since 1993). Viacom traded KTXH and WDCA in Washington, D.C. in exchange for KBHK-TV (now KBCW) in San Francisco. The transaction established the first television duopoly in Houston with KRIV and KTXH. Channel 20 also relocated its broadcasting facilities from the original studios on Kirby Drive near present-day Reliant Park to KRIV's studios.
From UPN to MyNetworkTV
On January 24, 2006, the UPN and WB networks announced that they would merge into a new network called The CW. The merger will take effect in September 2006, and current WB affiliate KHCW, owned by Tribune Broadcasting, was announced as The CW's Houston station. Eventually, on February 22, 2006, Fox announced that KTXH will be the Houston affiliate of a new primetime network called My Network TV, which launched on September 5, 2006. In the waning days of the network, KTXH dropped the UPN branding from its station branding, and revamped its logo to just feature the boxed "20", and also announced that they would no longer promote any UPN programming. Similar changes were also made to Fox's other UPN affiliates, as the CW network list does not include KTXH or its sister stations.
In June 2006, KTXH was rebranded as My20, even though the website still has the old UPN 20 logo.
KRIV recently revamped its newsroom and logo, and KRIV is soon to produce a 5:00 newscast for KTXH.
There were, for a period of time, rumors that KTXH would get a new website at www.my20.com, because the site showed the same thing KRIV's website showed before opening. This rumor turned out to be false, since this website is now obviously not KTXH's.
On Sept. 5, KTXH's affiliation switched from UPN to MyNetworkTV.
Occasionally as time permits, KTXH may now air Fox network programming whenever KRIV cannot in the event of an emergency.
Trivia
- Thanks to KTXH's former parent company, Paramount, having a part-ownership stake in UPN, the station was always considered owned and operated by the network itself. This continued under new ownership of Fox Television Stations Group, which renewed the contract to keep UPN on stations Fox bought from Chris-Craft and United. Thus KTXH is one of many stations to be owned by UPN and now Fox.
- The former upn20.com website under Paramount's ownership had various information about the station, programming, the network, and more. Unfortunately, it went from that to a simple placeholder with little to no information when Fox picked up the station; KRIV suffered this setback for years. However, KTXH.com, which formerly lead to the same placeholder page now redirects to the main MyNetworkTV network website.
