FOX 7 (KTBC) Austin, Texas

FOX 7 (KTBC) Austin, Texas

KTBC, channel 7, is the Fox owned-and-operated television station in Austin, Texas. The station is owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of 21st Century Fox. Its studios are located in downtown Austin at the corner of 10th and Brazos Streets (a block away from the Texas State Capitol Building), and its transmitter is located on Mount Larson (located separately from most other station transmitters at the nearby West Austin Antenna Farm, KTBC shares this transmitter with its former radio partner KLBJ-FM). The station is carried on channel 2 on most cable providers in the Austin market.

KTBC signed on the air on November 27, 1952, becoming the first television station in Austin and Central Texas. It was originally owned by the Texas Broadcasting Company (from whom the call letters are taken) which was in turn owned by then-Senator Lyndon Johnson and his wife Lady Bird, alongside KTBC radio (AM 590, now KLBJ-AM) and FM 93.7, now KLBJ-FM). It carried all four major networks at the time: ABC, CBS, NBC and the now-defunct DuMont Television Network. KTBC was primarily a CBS affiliate until 1995, with roughly 65% of its programming being carried by the station in its early history; NBC and ABC roughly split the remaining coverage in half.

In December 1993, Fox outbid CBS to obtain the broadcast rights to football games from the National Football Conference of the NFL. In 1994, New World Communications signed a long-term affiliation deal with Fox, which was establishing itself as a major network and was looking for more VHF stations. In late 1994, most New World-owned stations (except for two) dropped their longtime "Big Three" affiliations and switched to Fox. On January 19, 1995, New World took over the operation of the Argyle stations through time brokerage agreements. Nearly three months later, New World completed its merger with Argyle.

KTBC presently broadcasts 45½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (8½ hours on weekdays, and an hour-and-a-half each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the largest local newscast output among the Austin market's broadcast television stations.  
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