KCWX is the MyNetworkTV affiliate for San Antonio, Texas, broadcasting on PSIP virtual channel 2 over their digital channel 5. The station is licensed to Fredricksburg, with the transmitter located in Albert, 50 miles (80 km) north of San Antonio. The station is owned by Austin based Corridor Television, with studios are located at 1402 West Avenue in Austin. Although Fredericksburg is within the Austin DMA, the station's signal covers the San Antonio area and Bexar County.

Since KCWX-TV is broadcasting on digital channel 5, the signal reaches South of San Antonio and Southeast to Nixon, Texas, North to Lampassas and West to Junction, Texas.

The station airs on San Antonio Time Warner Cable systems on cable channel 4, the area's actual TV station WOAI-TV is on cable channel 3. An official KCWX-TV website is at kcwx.com, and the URL kcwx.tv is a redirect to kcwx.com.

Digital television[link]

Because it was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997 [1], the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. Instead, on June 12, 2009, which was the end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations, KCWX was required to turn off its analog signal and turn on its digital signal (called a "flash-cut").

KCWX elected to choose channel 5 as its final DTV channel selection [2]; however, it had to wait for KENS to turn off its analog signal before KCWX could turn on its digital signal, using PSIP to display KCWX's virtual channel as 2.

In late May 2009, in a filing with the FCC,^[1] Belo/Corridor stated that they would not have their digital broadcast signal ready to go on air on June 12, instead expecting it to be ready on July 10 due to weather delays. Cable viewers continued to view the station via Belo's direct fiber connection to the Time Warner Cable headend. Local cable viewers would continue to see KCWX because the cable company receives the KCWX signal via fiber. Corridor/Belo was able to negotiate with the tower installer to finish the tower work earlier than expected, and KCWX's digital signal finally signed on July 1, 2009. Shortly thereafter a digital subchannel consisting of This TV programming was launched on 2.2.

Since KCWX is operating on a VHF-low channel, KCWX filed with FCC to increase their power from 23.7 kW to 82.9 kW.^[2] It also applied for two 300 watt, channel 8, fill-in digital translators — one in the immediate part of Austin and the other in the immediate part of San Antonio.^[3][4]

History[link]

Establishment of channel 2[link]

KCWX went on the air in 2000 as KBEJ, the UPN affiliate for both San Antonio and Austin; in a rarity by modern standards (when most stations ask for a specific set of calls), the callsign was randomly assigned within the May 1998 FCC callsign change report.^[6] Previously, UPN had been available in San Antonio first on KRRT (now KMYS), then on late-night clearances on KMOL-TV. In Austin, it had been available on a group of low-powered stations known as the "Hill Country Paramount Network," or HPN.

Early programming[link]

KBEJ originally had a separate cable feed for Austin viewers. Under Belo, the KBEJ signal always originated from the company's headquarters in Dallas, but some of its programming was provided from KENS and content decisions were controlled from the KENS studios. KVUE provided the microwave link for the transmitter located in Stonewall and to the Austin cable system. Syndicated fare in general was at the time during the dual-market focus usually lower-value and older syndicated programming, in order to avoid Syndex blackouts in either market; since the station began to market exclusively to San Antonio the syndicated schedule has continued somewhat to air lower-profile programming, while the entire overnight schedule has been given over to paid programming. The KENS and KVUE master controls, located in their respective cities, were completely independent from the Dallas campus and KBEJ.

[edit] Austin viewership and Star Trek: Voyager

When KBEJ initially signed on, Time Warner Cable was not willing to place KBEJ on its Austin cable system, This caused significant protest from fans of Star Trek: Voyager, who were unable to watch the series' final season.

This led to many fans downloading illegal copies of the episodes from the Internet or trading taped copies with friends in other television markets. Although UPN frowned officially upon this practice, unofficially the network and its parent company, Paramount Pictures, turned a "blind eye" in this instance due to the circumstances of the situation. In 2001, Time Warner Cable agreed to carry KBEJ and viewers in the market were once again able to view UPN programming.

Becoming an affiliate of The CW[link]

On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN networks announced they would merge to form The CW, starting in September 2006. On March 28, KBEJ was announced as the CW affiliate for San Antonio.^[7][8] While the station was also expected to serve as the new network's Austin affiliate, on April 18, it was announced that KNVA would also be joining The CW.^[9] On April 7, 2006, KBEJ's call letters changed to KCWX to reflect its new affiliation.^[10]

Soon after The CW launched, Time Warner's Austin-area systems began blacking out CW programming on KCWX, as LIN Television proclaimed SyndEx exclusivity for KNVA, on October 2, 2006. KCWX's regular schedule outside of CW hours was still available in Austin up until April 3, 2007, when Time Warner officially dropped KCWX from its Austin cable channel lineup.

During its four-year run as a CW affiliate, KCWX aired the Kids' WB, and later The CW4Kids, children's programming blocks in pattern. However, when KMYS took over the CW affiliation, the block now called Toonzai also moved to KMYS, who airs the block over two days (early Sunday and Monday mornings).

Switch to MyNetworkTV[link]

In the 2009 annual report for Sinclair Broadcasting Group released in March 2010, that company disclosed that it had made an agreement to carry CW programming for the San Antonio area via KMYS beginning on September 1, 2010.^[11] The affiliation change was eventually moved up to August 30; at that time, MyNetworkTV, which had been carried on KMYS, moved to KCWX.^[12]

KCWX's run as a CW affiliate ended on August 28, 2010 with the conclusion of the network's Friday primetime programming (which the station had delayed to Saturday night to accommodate a Major League Baseball game). By that time, The CW had discontinued Sunday programming altogether. As a result, KCWX's last official day of its CW affiliation—August 29, 2010—was spent as an interim independent station carrying mostly time-shifted This TV programming. With the affiliation switch, WWE SmackDown briefly returned to KCWX for the first time since 2008 when it was aired on The CW; it moved to cable channel Syfy a month later. As had been the case with its CW affiliation, KCWX does not serve the Austin media market, as KBVO is that market's official MyNetworkTV affiliate.

KCWX is one of thirteen MyNetworkTV affiliates not to adopt the network's "blue TV" logo and/or branding style (the others being KAUT, KARZ-TV, KFVE, KPDX, KTRV-TV, WPME-TV, WSTR-TV, KSMO-TV, WPHL-TV, KZJO, KRBK, and Madison, Wisconsin's Digital subchannel of WISC-TV). WSTR-TV, KSMO-TV and WPHL-TV each currently use the blue MyNetworkTV logo but not the branding style.

In early 2011, KCWX launched a new Web site, www.kcwx.com

Programming[link]

In January 2011, KCWX began producing and airing the TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls bouts in a two hour format. The TXRD Lonestar Rollergirls is a banked track roller derby league based in Austin, Texas.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• History of establishing the Channel 2 license in San Antonio/Austin
• Query the FCC's TV station database for KCWX
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on KCWX-TV
• Program Information for KCWX at TitanTV.com