KPEJ-TV


KPEJ-TV, virtual channel 24, is a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Odessa, Texas, United States and serving the Permian Basin area. The station is owned by Marshall Broadcasting Group; Nexstar Media Group, which owns Midland-licensed ABC affiliate KMID, operates KPEJ under a shared services agreement. The two stations share studios on Windview Street in southwestern Odessa and transmitter facilities on FM 1788 in rural southeastern Andrews County.
On cable, KPEJ is carried on channel 8 on most systems in the market.

History

The station first signed on the air on June 16, 1986; it originally operated as an independent station. However, despite not officially identifying as a Fox affiliate, it did carry the few Fox prime time programs that aired in the network's early years. In 1990, KPEJ became the Midland–Odessa market's Fox affiliate. In 1998, the station began carrying programming from the United Paramount Network as a secondary affiliation; UPN programming moved to CBS affiliate KOSA-TV in 2003, when that station launched a second digital subchannel. In August 2007, KPEJ changed its on-air branding from "Fox 24" to "Fox West Texas"; the following year, it reverted to the "Fox 24" brand, but continued to use the "Fox West Texas" brand for its website and other special promotions.
On April 24, 2013, the Communications Corporation of America announced the sale of its television stations to the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, owner of ABC affiliate KMID. Since the Odessa–Midland market has only eight full-power stations, Nexstar could not legally purchase KPEJ. In addition, KMID and KPEJ are two of the four highest-rated stations in the market in monthly total-day viewership, respectively ranking at third and fourth place. As a result, Nexstar planned to sell KPEJ's license assets to Mission Broadcasting, with Nexstar assuming the station's operation under a shared services agreement, which would have formed a virtual duopoly with KMID.
However, on June 6, 2014, Nexstar announced that it would instead sell KPEJ-TV, along with two other Fox affiliates—sister station KMSS-TV in Shreveport, Louisiana and KLJB in Davenport, Iowa—to the Marshall Broadcasting Group for $58.5 million. The minority-owned Marshall intends to fund the acquisitions through borrowings guaranteed by Nexstar, and are subject to FCC approval of the other stations Nexstar plans to acquire from ComCorp, White Knight Broadcasting and Grant Broadcasting; Marshall plans to launch news operations and provide sports and minority-oriented public affairs programming to KMSS and the other two stations, with Nexstar providing sales and certain non-programming services. The sale was completed on January 1, 2015.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
24.1720pKPEJ-TVMain KPEJ-TV programming / Fox
24.2480iKPEJ-SDEstrella TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

KPEJ-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 24, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 23. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 24.

Programming

After Fox acquired the rights to the NFL's National Football Conference in 1994, KPEJ has carried preseason football games from the Dallas Cowboys, along with team owner Jerry Jones' weekly game discussion program. In 2010, KPEJ also acquired the rights to Houston Texans preseason games, which aired on tape delay if the game started while a Cowboys pre-game broadcast or preseason game telecasts was ongoing. KPEJ lost the Dallas Cowboys preseason games to NBC affiliate KWES-TV in 2011, resulting in KPEJ broadcasting Texans preseason games live. In 2014, KMID acquired the rights to the Dallas Cowboys preseason games. When conflicts exist that won't allow KMID to air the games KPEJ has been given the rights to air the Dallas Cowboys preseason games. When Dallas plays Houston in the pre-season, KMID airs the Dallas broadcast while KPEJ airs the Texans broadcast.