Affiliations Fox | ||
Branding Fox Central Oregon
NewsChannel 21 Slogan First and Local For
Central Oregon
Fox 39, it's your high desert Fox! Channels Digital: 39 (UHF) &
KTVZ-DT 21.3 (UHF) Subchannels 39.1 Fox
39.2 Telemundo Owner News-Press & Gazette Company
(NPG of Oregon, Inc.) | ||
KFXO-LD is the Fox-affiliated television station for Central Oregon that is licensed to Bend. It broadcasts a Class A digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter in the city on Awbrey Butte west of U.S. 97. The station can also be seen on BendBroadband channel 10 and in high definition on digital channel 610. Owned by the News-Press & Gazette Company, KFXO is sister to NBC affiliate KTVZ and low-powered Telemundo affiliate KQRE-LP. All three share studios on Northwest O.B. Riley Road in Bend. Syndicated programming on the channel includes: Family Guy, The Simpsons, Two and a Half Men, and America's Funniest Home Videos. KFXO can also be seen on KTVZ's third digital subchannel (UHF channel 21.3) from the same transmitter on Awbrey Butte.
Contents
Translators
The channel is rebroadcast on the following repeater stations.
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Through PSIP, it redirects to channel 39. It allows KQRE-LP to be seen on a digital signal because as a low-powered station, it does not offer one of its own.
History
The station began as K39DU on November 17, 1993 as a translator of Fox affiliate KPDX in Portland (then owned by First Media). On December 18, 1995, it upgraded to low-power level and became KFXO-LP. The Meredith Corporation acquired KFXO-LP and KPDX in 1997 when the company bought out First Media. In 2002 when KPDX became a UPN affiliate, KFXO-LP became its own self-sufficient station although some common operations between the two continued. On December 31, 2008, the retransmission agreement with local cable provider BendBroadband expired. Consequently, local viewers had to view the station using broadcast signals. Just before kickoff of the Fiesta Bowl on January 5, 2009, BendBroadband and KFXO-LP successfully negotiated a retransmission agreement that returned its signal to the cable provider in time for the game.
In late-2006, it was announced that Meredith would sell KFXO-LP to the News-Press & Gazette Company which occurred on May 24, 2007. BendBroadband filed a petition with Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to block the proposed sale but it was still approved. The channel has a construction permit which allowed it to perform a "flash-cut" to digital and upgrade to Class A level. It was not required by law to make the transition on June 12, 2009 because of its low-powered status. The station has since begun broadcasting in digital, and changed its calls to KFXO-LD.
The station's website is a sub-page of sister station KTVZ.
Newscasts
In 2002, the simulcast of KPDX's newscasts (by then canceled) were replaced with those of sister station and new Portland Fox affiliate KPTV. In January 2006, this was dropped in favor of KFXO's own separate news department which offered an hour-long prime time broadcast weeknights at 10. On June 22, 2007, the show was replaced by one produced by KTVZ. It was then reduced to a half-hour and expanded to seven nights a week. In September 2007, KTVZ began to air its newscasts in 16:9 widescreen enhanced definition and the broadcast on KFXO was included. While not true high definition, it matches the ratio of HD television screens. At some point in time, KTVZ began producing a two-hour extension of its weekday morning show on this station. As of October 14, 2013, the weekday edition of NewsChannel 21, First at 10:00 on FOX Central Oregon has been expanded to an hour. The weekend edition remains a half-hour and the extended portion of the weekday morning show on KFXO is now a rebroadcast of KTVZ's weekday morning show.