KFPX-TV

KFPX-TV is a television station licensed to Newton, Iowa, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network to the Des Moines area. Owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains offices on 114th Street in Urbandale, and its transmitter is located in Alleman, Iowa.

History

The station began broadcasting on August 31, 1998; it was built and signed on by Paxson Communications as a charter station of the family-oriented Pax TV network, with religious programming from The Worship Network airing during the overnight hours.
On September 24, 2020, the Cincinnati-based E. W. Scripps Company announced it would purchase KFPX-TV's owner, Ion Media, for $2.65 billion, with financing from Berkshire Hathaway. Part of the deal included divesting 23 stations nationally to Inyo Broadcast Holdings that would maintain Ion affiliations.

Newscasts

For a short time in 2001, KFPX ran a prime time newscast produced by NBC affiliate WHO-TV to compete with Fox affiliate KDSM-TV 's Fox News at Nine. After that newscast was canceled, KFPX reran WHO-TV's 10 p.m. newscasts on a 30-minute delay until early 2005.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
39.1	720p	16:9	ION	Ion Television
39.2	480i	16:9	CourtTV	Court TV
39.3	480i	16:9	Laff	Laff
39.4	480i	16:9	Mystery	Ion Mystery
39.5	480i	16:9	IONPlus	Ion Plus
39.6	480i	16:9	BUSTED	Busted
39.7	480i	16:9	GameSho	Game Show Central
39.8	480i	16:9	HSN	HSN
39.9	480i	16:9	HSN2	HSN2

Analog-to-digital conversion

KFPX-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 39, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station "flash-cut" its digital signal into operation UHF channel 39.

Former transmitter site

KFPX previously maintained transmitter facilities in Baxter, Iowa. Due to its short tower height, the station's broadcasting radius was largely confined to the immediate Des Moines area, although some southern and western suburbs may have had difficulty picking up the station's signal. Therefore, KFPX relied on cable and satellite carriage to reach the entire market. With the move to Alleman, KFPX now provides over-the-air coverage comparable to the market's other stations.