History
KXMD signed on October 25, 1969, as a semi-satellite of KXMC-TV in Minot. Previously, Williston viewers had to pick up CBS programming on cable from KOOK-TV in Billings, Montana, although KUMV-TV had not been above breaking away from the KFYR/KMOT feed when CBS had something very important to present.
John Boler sold his interest in the KX stations to Chester Reiten in 1971. Steve Reiten, Dave Reiten, Kathleen Reiten Hruby, Tim Reiten, and Melanie Reiten Shonkwiler, Chester's children, still owned the stations until 2017 (including KXMA-TV in Dickinson, which he bought in 1985).
The KX stations previously had a secondary affiliation with ABC before full-time ABC affiliate KMCY signed on in 1986. During the late 1950s, the stations were also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network.[2]
Until 1986, KXMD was carried by cable systems across neighboring Saskatchewan, even operating a sales office in Saskatoon, as did KUMV and Great Falls ABC station KFBB-TV. These arrangements ended in 1986 when the Canadian cable companies were granted permission to replace the North Dakota signals with network affiliates from Detroit and Toledo, Ohio.
In 2006, the stations began a web portal-like website called KX Net, with each station's website displaying a localized front page. The stations continue to be branded as "KX Television" and as "KX News" on the air, but also use the "KX Net" moniker on the air. KXNet.com combined the previous domains kxma.com, kxmb.com, kxmc.com and kxmd.com under one umbrella. The original domains are still active. KXNet.com won the 2007 Teddy Award for Best Website and the 2007 Eric Severaid Award for best website small market television in a 6 state region.
In October 2007, KXNet.com along with Midkota Solutions launched DakotaPolitics.com, a web site focusing on North Dakota political news coverage. DakotaPolitics featured profile information, voting records and some analysis. DakotaPolitics also launched weekly tracking polls for the 2008 elections. In 2008 KXNet.com became the first web site in North Dakota to deliver a live news broadcast over the Internet when they streamed a 1-hour special coverage of the 2008 Presidential Caucuses from Bismarck.
In July 2008, Reiten Television began a joint agreement to sell television commercial slots on both its existing stations and KMCY, Minot's ABC affiliate owned by Forum Communications Company. KMCY became available in Williston on a full-power signal on KXMD's second digital subchannel in 2009.
Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced its $44 million purchase of the Reiten Television stations, including KXMD-TV, on September 17, 2015.[3] The sale was completed on February 2, 2016.[4] As result of the acquisition, Nexstar decided to terminate the joint sales agreement with KMCY.[5]
