 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(July 2013) |
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| City | Port Arthur, Texas |
| Channels | |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| KFDM | |
| History | |
First air date | October 22, 1957 (1957-10-22) |
Former call signs |
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Former channel numbers |
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Call sign meaning | "Beaumont Television" |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 61214 |
| ERP | 1,000 kW |
| HAAT | 252.8 m (829 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 30°9′20″N93°59′10″W / 30.15556°N 93.98611°W /30.15556; -93.98611 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | fox4beaumont |
KBTV-TV (channel 4) is atelevision station licensed toPort Arthur, Texas, United States, serving theBeaumont area with programming from the digital multicast networkRoar. It isowned and operated bySinclair Broadcast Group alongsideCBS/CW+/Fox affiliateKFDM (channel 6). The two stations share studios on Walden Road in southwest Beaumont; KBTV-TV's transmitter is located inVidor.
Channel 4 signed on October 22, 1957, as KPAC-TV, a primaryNBC affiliate owned by Texas Gulfcoast Television, Inc., itself jointly owned byPort Arthur College, owner of KPAC radio (1250 AM, nowKDEI; and 98.5 FM, nowKTJM), and the Jefferson Amusement Company. Channel 4 also airedABC programming untilKBMT-TV returned to the air this time on channel 12 in 1961 and became the market's exclusive affiliate.[2] Port Arthur College sold its stake in the station to the Jefferson Amusement Company in 1965; as Port Arthur College retained the radio stations, channel 4 changed its call letters to KJAC-TV (the call letters were derived from the company's name).[3][4] The callsign change occurred on January 20, 1966.[5]
The station was the first in the area to broadcast incolor, use video tape, and air live coverage of areahigh school football games. Among the original programming that originated at KPAC/KJAC's studios werewrestling, the kid'swestern showCowboy John, afternoonBingo, and theCircle 4 Club. During the 1950s, KPAC also had the only local teen dance program,Jive At Five. BothThe Cowboy John Show andJive At Five had "colored days", in whichAfrican Americans were permitted to participate.
Jefferson Entertainment Company sold KJAC to Clay Communications in 1973;[6] As part of the divestiture of the company's newspaper and television properties, on April 30, 1987, Clay sold its KJAC and its four sister television stations—NBC affiliateKFDX-TV inWichita Falls, and ABC affiliatesWAPT inJackson, Mississippi, andWWAY inWilmington, North Carolina—toNew York City–based Price Communications Corporation for $60 million; the sale was approved by theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) on June 23.[7][8][9][10][11] On August 23, 1995, Price sold KJAC and fellow NBC affiliatesKSNF-TV inJoplin, Missouri, and KFDX-TV toWakefield, Rhode Island–based upstart USA Broadcast Group for $42 million, retaining ABC affiliateWHTM-TV inHarrisburg, Pennsylvania, as its sole television property (USA soon renamed itself to U.S. Broadcast Group afterUSA Network filed a copyright infringement complaint against the broadcasting company).[12][13][14]
On January 12, 1998,Irving-basedNexstar Broadcasting Group acquired KFDX-TV, KBTV-TV and KSNF from U.S. Broadcast Group for $64.3 million. In 1999, the station took its present KBTV-TV callsign to align itself more with Beaumont, even though it is still licensed to Port Arthur. The call letters had previously been used by channel 9 inDenver (nowKUSA) and channel 8 inDallas (nowWFAA). KBTV-TV also shares its call letters withKBTV-CD channel 51 inSacramento, California. To go along with the call change, KBTV moved from its Port Arthur studios to studios inside Parkdale Mall in Beaumont, where it remained until it moved to KFDM's studios in April 2013. The station was one of the few television stations in the country to have studios located inside a major shopping center.
In October 2008, Nexstar reached an agreement withFox in which KBTV would become the new Fox affiliate for the Beaumont market. The move was made because Nexstar wanted to increase KBTV's news output. The affiliation switch took effect onJanuary 1, 2009, ending KBTV's 51-year affiliation with NBC. This caused a shakeup in the market as the NBC affiliation moved to a digital subchannel ofABC affiliateKBMT, whileKUIL-LP (a former satellite ofLake Charles–basedKVHP), which lost Fox, wentindependent at that time.[15] The now-KUIL-LD has since become operated by KBMT and affiliated withMyNetworkTV.With this switch, KBTV became the third Fox affiliate to serve southeastern Texas after both KVHP (which served as the network's affiliate of record for the Beaumont area for the network's first sixteen years of existence) and KUIL-LP.
On February 2, 2009, at 2 p.m., a fire destroyed KBTV's old studios in Port Arthur at 2900 17th Street,[16][17] a mere 12 hours from giving control to Nexstar's master control hub inLittle Rock, Arkansas.[citation needed] ATF investigated and no suspect has ever been found. Originally the station's home from its 1957 sign-on until 1999, the building primarily served after the move as a storage facility, though the station'sdoppler weather radar was still based there.[16] The building was demolished a few months later.
Nexstar filed to sell off KBTV-TV toDeerfield Media on August 22, 2012, making this Nexstar's first divestiture in the company's history. Upon the deal's completion on December 3, 2012, the station entered into ajoint sales agreement and ashared services agreement withSinclair Broadcast Group, making it a sister station toCBS affiliateKFDM.[18]
On May 8, 2017, Sinclair announced that it would be acquiringTribune Media in an all-cash transaction valued at $3.9 billion. Had it received regulatory approval from the FCC and theU.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, KBTV would have gained two more sister stations, DallasCW affiliateKDAF and Houston CW affiliateKIAH.[19][20] The deal was canceled by Tribune in August 2018.
On January 1, 2021, Sinclair began to migrate KBTV's Fox programming to a subchannel of KFDM; the transition period ended on February 1, 2021, with KBTV switching its primary subchannel toDabl.[21][22]
On July 28, 2021, the FCC issued a Forfeiture Order against Deerfield Media stemming from a lawsuit involving KBTV-TV. The lawsuit, filed byAT&T, alleged that Deerfield Media failed to negotiate for retransmission consent in good faith for KBTV and other Sinclair-managed stations. Deerfield was ordered to pay a fine of $512,228 per station named in the lawsuit, including KBTV.[23]
On July 1, 2025, Sinclair announced that it would acquire KBTV outright, creating a legal duopoly with KFDM.[24] The sale was completed on August 18.[25]
On August 1, 2025,Roar was moved from KBTV's second to the first digital subchannel.[26][27][28] Dabl was moved to the fifth digital subchannel, whileCharge! was moved to Roar's former subchannel position on 4.2.[29][30]
![[icon]](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aWiki_letter_w_cropped.svg) | This sectionneeds expansion with: Information on KBTV's news department prior to the affiliation switch to Fox. You can help byadding missing information.(May 2010) |
As a Fox affiliate, KBTV carried a total of23+1⁄2 hours of local newscasts each week (4+1⁄2 hours each weekday and a half-hour each on Saturdays and Sundays).
After KBTV affiliated with Fox, news was expanded from1+1⁄2 to three hours on weekday mornings, and the half-hour 5 and 6 p.m. newscasts were canceled and replaced with an hour-long 4 p.m. newscast. It also discontinued its 10 p.m. newscast, and moved it to 9 p.m. (and expanding it to one hour on weeknights), although some Fox affiliates in other markets maintain newscasts at both 9 and 10 p.m. KBTV had the distinction of being one of the smallest, if not the smallest Fox affiliate (in terms of market size) to carry late afternoon newscasts.
In September 2010, the 4 p.m. newscast was changed to a news/lifestyle format calledSoutheast Texas Live and a 5:30 p.m. newscast also debuted.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.1 | 480i | 16:9 | ROAR | Roar |
| 4.2 | Charge! | Charge! | ||
| 4.3 | Comet | Comet | ||
| 4.4 | TheNest | The Nest | ||
| 4.5 | Dabl | Dabl |
KBTV-TV shut down its analog signal, overVHF channel 4, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transitionUHF channel 40.[32] Through the use ofPSIP, digital television receivers display the station'svirtual channel as its former VHF analog channel 4.
Effective on or after August 1, 2025, KBTV-ROAR is replacing KBTV-DABL[.]
Effective on or after August 1, 2025, KBTV-ROAR is replacing KBTV-DABL[.]
Effective August 1, 2025, KBTV-Roar was replaced by KBTV-Charge![.]
Effective August 1, 2025, KBTV-Roar was replaced by KBTV-Charge![.]
Includes English-language stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Texas | ||
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| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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