News Operation
In 2003, following the Wrays' purchase of KPXJ from Paxson Communications, KTBS began producing a nightly, half-hour 9 o'clock newscast (which has since been expanded to one hour) on that station. The broadcast consists of the same format as the 10 o'clock news on KTBS. Additionally, KTBS produces a half-hour, weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m. on KPXJ. KTBS had aired rebroadcasts of its 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts on KPXJ before the station switched its network affiliation from i: Independent Television affiliation to UPN. As of the May 2008 ratings period, KTBS is rated number one in several time periods.
In addition to their main studios, KTBS operates two news bureaus: the Texarkana Bureau is located on Jefferson Avenue in Texarkana, Arkansas. On weeknights at 6 and 10 o'clock, the station airs news segments from the East Texas area. On its second digital subchannel, KTBS airs weather updates from The Local AccuWeather Channel. On its third digital subchannel, KTBS operates a 24-hour news rebroadcast channel known as KTBS 24 Hour News. It is also offered on Comcast basic channel 30 and digital channel 201.
On October 15, 2008, KTBS began broadcasting its newscasts in a 16:9 standard definition widescreen format; becoming the first station in the market to do so. On June 28, 2010, KTBS expanded its 6 p.m. newscast to one hour, becoming the first station in the market to carry an hour-long 6 p.m. newscast (CBS affiliate KSLA began broadcasting an hour-long 6 p.m. newscast a short time later); As a result, KTAL is the only Big Three affiliate in the market to carry syndicated programming during the 6:30 half-hour.
In July 2010, KTBS also expanded the weekend edition of its 10 p.m. newscast to one hour. Again, KSLA quickly followed suit with an hour-long newscast at 10 p.m. on weekends. On August 30, 2010, KTBS expanded its weekday morning newscasts to 2½ hours, by moving its start time to 4:30 a.m. (one of the few stations in a non-Top 50 Nielsen market to begin their weekday morning newscast at 4:30). On October 14, 2010, KTBS became the first in the market to broadcast its local newscasts in high definition during their 5pm newscast. Rival KSLA, began producing news in high definition the next morning.
KTBS airs a total of 31½ hours of local newscasts a week (five hours on weekdays, and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays) on KTBS. In addition, KTBS produces morning and 9 p.m. newscasts for sister station; these programs add an additional 9½ hours of newscasts that KTBS produces each week (1½ hours on weekdays and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays). In total, KTBS produces 41 hours of local newscasts each week. This amount of news greatly exceeds any other station in the area and many in the nation.
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