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| City | Baytown, Texas |
| Channels | |
| Branding | KUBE-TV Houston |
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| Ownership | |
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| History | |
First air date | May 18, 1988 (37 years ago) (1988-05-18) |
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Call sign meaning |
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| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 70492 |
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| HAAT |
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| Transmitter coordinates | 29°34′16″N95°30′38″W / 29.57111°N 95.51056°W /29.57111; -95.51056 |
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Public license information | |
KUBE-TV (channel 57) is atelevision station licensed toBaytown, Texas, United States, serving theHouston area and owned byWRNN-TV Associates. KUBE-TV's studios are located on Fountain View Drive and Burgoyne Road on Houston's southwest side, and its transmitter is located nearMissouri City, in unincorporated northeasternFort Bend County.
The station first signed on the air on May 18, 1988, under the callsign KLTJ; it was founded by Eldred Thomas, who had earlier built radio station KVTT-FM (nowKKXT) and television station KLTJ (nowKSTR-TV) inDallas. The station originally operated from studios located inPasadena and a tower inAnahuac, and initially airedreligious programs from a variety of sources, including thePTL Satellite Network,Christian Television Network and theThree Angels Broadcasting Network.[4] The low-power signal and distance from Houston led to reception issues in the northern and western portions of the city; as a result, on May 18, 1989, Thomas moved the KLTJ programming and call letters to channel 22 on a tower based inAlvin.[5] With the move of the KLTJ calls to channel 22, channel 57 changed its callsign toKRTW. It later changed its call letters to KVVV (a callsign formerly used on now-defunct channel 16 from 1968 to 1969) in 1994, when it switched tohome shopping programming fromValuevision; it then became aFamilyNet affiliate as KAZH in 2000.
During its time as KAZH, the station was rebroadcast in Houston ontranslators KHMV-CA (channel 28) and KVVV-LP (channel 53); both of these translators were taken off the air in November 2007, due to ownerPappas Telecasting's ongoing financial problems (KHMV-CA was sold to Uniglobe Central America Network LLC on March 10, 2010, and currently broadcasts under the call signKUGB-CD;KVVV-LP was spun off to a liquidation trust and returned to the air in digital format in January 2012).
In 2002, KAZH affiliated withSpanish-language networkAzteca América. Early in 2007, then-owner Pappas Telecasting terminated KAZH's affiliation agreement with Azteca América, effective July 1.[6] Azteca América programming moved to a low-powered station,KUVM-CA, on June 30, 2007; and later, to another full-powered station,KYAZ (channel 51). KAZH then joined Pappas' independent Spanish-language network,TuVisión.[1]
On May 10, 2008, thirteen of Pappas' stations, including KAZH, filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Pappas cited "the extremely difficult business climate for television stations across the country" in papers filed with theU.S. Bankruptcy Court inWilmington, Delaware. Pappas was later ordered on September 10, 2008, to sell off the affected stations by February 15, 2009.[7] In January 2009, the Pappas stations involved in the bankruptcy auction, including KAZH, were sold to New World TV Group, after the sale received bankruptcy court approval.[8] On October 22, 2009, KAZH became the first affiliate ofVasalloVision, a new network founded byCarlos Vasallo and Miguel Banojian;[9] this followed the closure of TuVisión.
Citing a larger advertising market, the station changed to anEnglish-language general entertainment independent format on September 27, 2010.[10][11] The station's call sign changed to KUBE-TV on the same date.[12]
On January 18, 2013, NRJ TV announced that it would acquire KUBE-TV from New World TV Group for $19 million, as part of a two-station deal that also includedSan Francisco sister stationKTNC-TV.[13]
Syndicated programming in this era includedThe Doctors,Seinfeld,Hot Bench,Family Guy, andBob's Burgers, among others. During the2017 season, KUBE was the home of theMLS clubHouston Dynamo. Until 2019, the station carriedNCAAcollege football and men'sbasketball games from theAtlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
On December 9, 2019, it was announced that WRNN-TV Associates, owner ofNew York City–basedWRNN-TV, secured a deal to purchase seven full-power TV stations (including KUBE-TV) and oneClass A station from NRJ.[1] The sale was approved by the FCC on January 23,[2] and was completed on February 4, 2020.[14]
On May 20, 2021, RNN and iMedia Brands announced an agreement to affiliate most of RNN's television stations (including KUBE) with home shopping network ShopHQ. KUBE began carrying ShopHQ programming on June 28, 2021.[15]
Most of KUBE's syndicated programs have either moved to other Houston TV stations or are no longer cleared in the market.H-Town High School Sports is now seen Saturdays at 10:30 p.m. onKIAH since August 21, 2021.[16] Reruns ofSeinfeld from 7 to 8 p.m. were the last remaining holdover as the main channel transitioned to ShopHQ almost full-time.
Sometime in 2023,[when?] KUBE switched to airing programming from Shop LC.
KUBE-TV airs Shop LC programming for most of its broadcast schedule, with all other content also remotely added from the New York area, including WRNN'sRichard French Live and a Telco Productions–provided block of educational programming.
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 57.1 | 720p | 16:9 | KUBE-TV | Shop LC |
| 57.2 | 480i | ACE TV | Ace TV | |
| 57.3 | SBN | Sonlife | ||
| 57.4 | ShopLC | Shop LC | ||
| 57.5 | KUBE.5 | Havass (Spanish infomercials) | ||
| 57.6 | Mi Raza | Mi Raza TV(in Spanish) | ||
| 57.7 | CRTV | OnTV4U (infomercials) | ||
| 57.8 | 4:3 | JTV | Jewelry Television | |
| 57.9 | 16:9 | UChurch | Visión Latina | |
| 57.10 | AChurch | Advenimiento TV(in Spanish) | ||
| 57.11 | VieTV | VIETV(in Vietnamese) | ||
| 57.15 | ShopLC2 | Shop LC |
During the 2011Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, KUBE-TV added programming from PegasusTV on subchannel 57.4;[18] this was replaced byMeTV in 2012.Cozi TV was added to 57.4 on May 28, 2018, and was replaced byCharge! in June 2021.
KUBE-TV (as KAZH) ended regular programming on its analog signal, overUHF channel 57, on June 12, 2009, as part of thefederally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[19] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 41, usingvirtual channel 57.[20][21]
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