KTXA

KTXA

Fort Worth–Dallas, Texas United States
City	Fort Worth, Texas
Channels	Digital: 18 (UHF) Virtual: 21
Branding	TXA 21
Programming
Affiliations	21.1: Independent for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	CBS News and Stations (Television Station KTXA Inc.)
Sister stations	KTVT
History
First air date	January 4, 1981 (43 years ago) (1981-01-04)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 21 (UHF, 1981–2009) Digital: 18 (UHF, 2000–2009; 2009–2011), 19 (UHF, 2009),[a] 29 (UHF, 2011–2019)
Former affiliations	ON TV (1981–1983) UPN (1995–2006)
Call sign meaning	"Texas"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	51517
ERP	1,000 kW
HAAT	533.7 m (1,751 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	32°32′36″N 96°57′33″W / 32.54333°N 96.95917°W / 32.54333; -96.95917
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.cbsnews.com/texas/

KTXA (channel 21), branded as TXA 21, is an independent television station in Fort Worth, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS outlet KTVT (channel 11). The two stations share primary studio facilities on Bridge Street (off I-30), east of downtown Fort Worth, and advertising sales offices at CBS Tower on North Central Expressway in Dallas. KTXA's transmitter is located in Cedar Hill, Texas.

KTXA began broadcasting in January 1981 and was one of three new television stations in the Metroplex in six months. All three broadcast advertiser-supported commercial programming during the day and scrambled subscription television (STV) at night; KTXA's service, from ON TV, was hamstrung by the most intense competition in any STV market in the United States and by a dispute over adult programming, closing after two years. The station found success as an independent in a hot market and was sold twice in rapid succession for large amounts. However, when the independent station trade, advertising market, and regional economy cooled, it was sold again for less than half of its previous value. The Paramount Stations Group acquired KTXA and other stations in two parts between 1989 and 1991, bringing much-needed stability.

KTXA was one of several Paramount-owned stations to be charter outlets for the United Paramount Network (UPN) in 1995 and merged its operations with KTVT in 2001 after a corporate buyout of CBS. When UPN merged into The CW in 2006, KTXA was not selected to affiliate with the network, and KTXA retooled its local programming around prime time news and professional sports coverage.

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).