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October 28, 2008

KBTV makes move to Fox

Programming may change schedule

By Amy Moore

The News staff writer

New faces on a new station at a new time — all this and more comes with the change of KBTV 4 to a Fox affiliate.

One thing won’t change — where you can catch your KBTV station, Brian Jones, corporate executive vice president of Nextar Broadcasting Group, owner of KBTV, said.

“At this particular point, there will be no effect in where you see the station,” Jones said of the deal with Fox. “The station will still be KBTV channel 4, it will just be Fox instead of NBC. You’ll see Fox programming in primetime and then see our news at 9 p.m.”

The change comes after KBTV was unsuccessful in renewing the company’s agreement with NBC. Instead, Jones said, the station made a deal with Fox.

“The agreement was set to expire at the end of this year,” Jones said. “It’s still early, but it’s something we’re excited about.”

An advantage to the move, he said, is having a newscast one hour earlier than Southeast Texans are accustomed to.

“The market doesn’t have 9 p.m. news and some folks like to get their news a little earlier,” he said. “It allows us to do some good things, expand some things. We’re not limited to 30 minutes between the end of primetime and the Tonight Show.”

Though Jones said it’s too early to talk programming schedules, he said he’s confident KBTV will continue to serve Southeast Texas and even enhance their coverage.

Chris Pruitt, general manager of the station, said changes are already being seen at the office.

“We’re starting a brand new morning show Thursday at 5:30 a.m.,” he said. “We’re making some changes, getting new faces, a new look and looking at it being more conversational more than just hard news and weather. It will be a lighthearted way to start the day.”

Set to be called 4 Today, Pruitt said the show will feature three anchors.

“The idea here behind the show is to have a good representation of the whole entire audience,” he said. “We’ll have a female from here in the community, she’s married with kids; a new person in the community, he’s a single young man; and another gentleman coming on board who offers a perspective for mature adults.”

Pruitt said the anchors will cover all demographics with varying perspectives.

“Like ABC and The View,” he said.

Jones said while changes are still taking place, the company is trying to ascertain what exactly its needs will be as it moves into a programming schedule different than other years.

“We’ve got to put together our schedule with news and surrounding shows and networks,” Jones said. “It’s all about being in Southeast Texas and being able to provide folks with local contact. The ultimate beneficiary is the viewers.”

There are no definite answers yet on how KBTV’s move from NBC to Fox will change programming — including broadcasting of major sporting events and television shows.

Calls to Time Warner Cable went unanswered as of press time.

Contact this reporter at amoore@panews.com.

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