Early years
This station first signed on the air on April 1, 1994, as KTAQ. During its early years, the station carried programming from shopping networks such as The Jewelry Network and Shop at Home. In 2000, the station affiliated with the America's Collectibles Network (now Jewelry Television), though most of the shopping programming was relegated to the nighttime hours. In 2004, the station switched to ShopNBC. In late 2006, KTAQ switched to a 24-hour religious programming format as the flagship station of the Promiseland Television Network after being acquired by Promiseland founder Mike Simons (through Simons Broadcasting, LP).
It was reported in February 2007 that KTAQ was fined $10,000 for failing to place its 2005 Biennial Ownership Report, all required TV issues/programs lists, and Children's Television Programming Reports in the station's public inspection file. The station admitted in its license renewal application that during the previous term, it had failed to timely place all of the documentation required by Section 73.3526 of the rules in its public inspection file.[1]
In November 2008, Simons Broadcasting, LP filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Texas in Waco.[2] Simons Broadcasting, LP debtor-in-possession sold the station to Platinum Equity, LLC in mid-2010.[3] In early November 2010, KTAQ switched to an infomercial format.
Purchase by London Broadcasting
Platinum Equity later sold the station to the Addison-based London Broadcasting Company, which changed the station's call sign to KTXD-TV. London Broadcasting retained Continental Television to act as "national and local [advertising] sales" for the station, which suggested that KTXD would adopt a general entertainment format rather than a brokered, or foreign language format. The purchase was completed on January 19, 2012.[4]
On March 16, 2012, KTXD (under the verbal "K-Tex" branding at the time) became an affiliate of MeTV (a digital broadcast network specializing in classic television series, which is nominally carried as a multicast channel in most markets, but is optionally carried as a main channel affiliation in a few cities), carrying its programming part-time on its main channel and MeTV's complete schedule on digital subchannel 47.4. Under London, the station also began to place an emphasis on locally produced lifestyle and entertainment programs.
On October 31, 2013, KTXD declined to renew its affiliation contract with MeTV and dropped the network's programming, which by association, resulted in the 47.4 subchannel going dark.[5] Channel 47 converted to a general entertainment independent station, effectively competing with KTXA (channel 21), featuring local programs as well as a mix of recent and classic television series (including some that have been carried in recent years on MeTV and one of its chief rivals,
Sale to Cunningham Broadcasting
On September 15, 2017, London agreed to sell KTXD-TV to Cunningham Broadcasting, a partner company of Sinclair Broadcast Group, for $9.5 million.[12] Sinclair, which at the time was seeking to acquire KDAF (channel 33) as part of its merger with Tribune Media (which was abandoned on August 9, 2018), indicated that it intended to use KTXD as a lighthouse station during the transition to the ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard.[13] The sale was completed on January 11, 2018.[14]
On March 7, 2018, KTXD replaced its general entertainment format with programming from Sinclair-owned digital network Stadium. There was no formal announcement of the programming change, except on Stadium's Facebook page, welcoming viewers in the Dallas area.[15]
