Channel 15, Omaha

Through the Years

• 1996

  June 10, 1996-  KXVO signs on as an affiliate of the WB network that debuted on January 11, 1996.
  Studio-Offices:  4625 Farnam Street in Omaha.  Tower/Transmitter:  Pflug Road, south of Gretna, NE and I-80.  (KPTM site)   Owner:  Cocola Broadcasting (Gary M. Cocola, President).  Operated by Pappas Telecasting ( Harry Pappas) under an LMA.  General Manager:  Howard Schrier.

• 2000

  Cocola Broadcasting sells to Mitts Telecasting Company (Visaliea, CA, Thomas F. Mitts, President/Director) for $972 thousand.  LMA with Pappas is retained in the sale.

• 2005

  December, 2005-  Half-hour 10 p.m. newscast debuts.  Called the KXVO 14 10 o’clock News.  The show is produced by KPTM.

• 2006

  April,2006-  Former MTV VJ and reality show host Brian McFayden is hired to acnhor the KXVO 15 10 O’Clock News, only to leave the show for Current TV a few months later.

  August, 2006- Comedian and Second Cit Training Center alumnus Matt Geiler is tapped to anchor the KXVO 15 10 O’Cloc News, which by that time becomes a hybrid of news content provided by the KPTM staff and sketch/improv comedy.

  September 18, 2006-  KXVO carries the CW network upon its launch date.  The CW is the merger of the WB and UPN networks.

• 2008

  May, 2008-  Thirteen of Pappas’ stations filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, including KPTM and KXVO.  Problems that led to the bankruptcy included poor performance of the CW network, Pappas’ now-former involvement with Azteca America, and preparations for the 2009 analog shutdown.  It was later ordered in September that the affected stations must be sold off by February 15, 2009.

• 2009

  January, 2009- It was announced that several Pappas stations, including sister station KPTM would be sold to New World TV Group, after the sale received United States bankruptcy court approval.  The LMA between KXVO and KPTM continued after the deal was finalized.

  June 12, 2009- KXVO shut down its analog signal over UHF channel 15 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.  The station’s digital signal remaine3d on its pre-transition UHF channel 38, using PSIP to display KXVO’s virtual channel as 15 on digital television receivers.

• 2013

  June, 2013-  Titan TV Broadcast Group (the renamed New World TV Group) announced the sale of most of its stations, including KPTM and the LMA with KXVO (which remained under the Mitts Telecasting ownership after the sale), to the Sinclair Broadcast Group.  Sinclair announced the closing of the sale on October 3, 2013.

• 2022

  March, 2022-  KXVO files to begin broadcasting in ATSC 3.0.  The existing subchannels are planned to be moved to KPTM, KMTV, and KETV to provide coverage for current ATSC 1.0 receivers pending agreements with Scripps and Hearst respectively for KMTV and KETV.