KTBU (channel 55) is a
television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth's s ...
licensed to
Conroe, Texas
Conroe is a city in and the county seat of Montgomery County, Texas, Montgomery County, Texas, United States, about north of Houston. It is a principal city in the metropolitan area.
As of 2024, the population was 114,581. Since 2007, t ...
, United States, serving as the
Houston
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...
area outlet for the
digital multicast network Quest.
It is
owned and operated by
Tegna Inc. alongside
CBS affiliate
KHOU
KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Conroe-licensed Quest station KTBU (channel 55). The two stations share studios on Westheimer Road near ...
(channel 11). The two stations share studios on
Westheimer Road near
Uptown Houston; KTBU's transmitter is located near
Missouri City, in
unincorporated northeastern
Fort Bend County. Previously, KTBU maintained separate facilities on Old Katy Road in the northwest side of Houston, while the KHOU studios only housed KTBU's
master control and some internal operations.
History
Lakewood Church and Humanity Interested Media's "The Tube" (1998–2006)
The station first signed on the air on July 15, 1998, from facilities located on Old Katy Road near
Memorial Park in northwest Houston. It was established as a for-profit corporation jointly owned by Charles Dowen Johnson's Humanity Interested Media, Inc. (later Shepherds for the Savior) and
John Osteen's
Lakewood Church. Lakewood Church bought a 49% share in the station for $2 million.
Joel Osteen ran the station until his father's death in 1999, when Joel began preaching at their church.
KTBU launched as an
independent station
An independent station is a broadcast station, usually a television station, not affiliated with a larger broadcast television network, network. As such, it only broadcasts broadcast syndication, syndicated programs it has purchased; brokered pr ...
with a general entertainment format including classic and syndicated television series, movies and sports, plus a slate of locally produced shows focusing on sports, history and other topics of interest to Houstonians. However, Shepherds for the Savior later stated,
The station started its first broadcast with a religious devotional. Lakewood Church, which previously broadcast their church services on the local CBS affiliate
KHOU
KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Conroe-licensed Quest station KTBU (channel 55). The two stations share studios on Westheimer Road near ...
, began broadcasting them on KTBU, and KTBU added religious programming from 6 a.m. to noon and 10 p.m. to midnight on Sundays, and from 6 to 7 a.m. every weekday from
Joyce Meyer and Walter Hallam's megachurch in Texas.
When interviewed in 1998, the Vice President of Marketing (and Joel Osteen's brother-in-law) Don Iloff said they would "reluctantly" broadcast sports shows with beer ads.
In 1999, they added a local news program with
The News of Texas and began broadcasting live telecasts of
University of Houston
The University of Houston (; ) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas, United States. It was established in 1927 as Houston Junior College, a coeducational institution and one of multiple junior colleges formed in ...
football, basketball, and baseball games and weekly shows featuring University of Houston coaches.
In 2000, KTBU added more local programming and briefly broadcast
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...
and
Houston Comets games. The station was not able to successfully broadcast the Houston Rockets and Comets games, and the sports teams ended their contracts early. The same year, KTBU also decided to end most local programming and layoff between 12 and 16 people. At that time, the General Manager was (later
Texas Lt. Governor)
Dan Patrick, who was simultaneously the General Manager at
KSEV AM radio station; he stepped down from the KTBU in 2001 after the programming problems and scaling back.
In 2004, Lakewood Church bought the remaining stake in the station for $6 million.
In 2006, they sold KTBU to
USFR Media Group for $30.5 million to pay down debts associated with their purchase of the former Compaq Center sports arena (now the
Lakewood Church Central Campus
The Lakewood Church Central Campus is the main facility of Lakewood Church, a Nondenominational Christianity, non-denominational Evangelicalism, evangelical Christianity, Christian megachurch in Houston, Texas, five miles southwest of Downtown Hou ...
).
USFR Media Group's "Houston's 55" (2006–2011)
Under the new ownership with
USFR Media Group, the station moved from its original studios on Old Katy Road to a purpose-built facility on Equity Drive in northwest Houston previously built for the ill-fated
News 24 Houston cable news channel, and changed its on-air moniker to "Houston's 55".
Spanish Broadcasting System's "Mega TV" (2011–2020)
In May 2011, the station was sold to the
Spanish Broadcasting System for $16 million. Upon the completion of the sale, KTBU dropped all local and national syndicated programs and joined SBS'
Mega TV network.
Tegna's "Quest" (2020–present)
On January 21, 2020,
Tegna Inc. agreed to acquire KTBU for $15 million. The sale was completed on March 24, 2020, making KTBU a sister station to Tegna's
CBS affiliate
KHOU
KHOU (channel 11) is a television station in Houston, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Conroe-licensed Quest station KTBU (channel 55). The two stations share studios on Westheimer Road near ...
. Three days later, KTBU's main channel flipped to the Tegna-owned
Quest multicast network,
and eventually KTBU's operations were moved into KHOU's studios near
Uptown Houston.
Upon becoming a Tegna property, it was announced that KTBU would take over as the official local television partner of
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...
's
Houston Dynamo. KTBU may air CBS network programming should it be preempted by KHOU for long-form breaking news or severe weather coverage or other special programming. Its main role however, is serving as a UHF rebroadcaster for KHOU via its DT11 subchannel, allowing full-market access to the station for viewers who only have a UHF antenna.
On February 22, 2022, Tegna announced that it would be acquired by
Standard General
Standard General L.P. is an American hedge fund headquartered in New York City. It was founded in 2007 by Soohyung "Soo" Kim and Nicholas Singer with seed capital from Reservoir Capital Group. Since 2013, Soo Kim has been the Managing Partner and ...
and
Apollo Global Management for $5.4 billion. As a part of the deal, KTBU and KHOU, along with their
Austin sister station
KVUE and
Dallas
Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
sister stations
WFAA
WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate for the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur, Texas, Decatur-li ...
and
KMPX, would be resold to
Cox Media Group
CMG Media Corporation (doing business as Cox Media Group) is an American media conglomerate principally owned by Apollo Global Management in conjunction with Cox Enterprises, which maintains a 29% minority stake in the company. The company p ...
.
The sale was canceled on May 22, 2023.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
multiplexed:
Analog-to-digital conversion
KTBU ended regular programming on its analog signal, over
UHF channel 55, on June 12, 2009, as part of the
federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.
[List of Digital Full-Power Stations](_blank)
The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 42,
[CDBS Print](_blank)
/ref>
''Houston Chronicle
The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Houston, Texas, United States. it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. ...
'', February 6, 2009. using
virtual channel 55.
See also
*
Channel 33 digital TV stations in the United States
*
Channel 55 virtual TV stations in the United States
References
External links
FCC Public Inspection File: KTBUTechnical and ownership information for KTBUat RabbitEars
{{Tegna
1999 establishments in Texas
Conroe, Texas
Quest (American TV network) affiliates
Tegna Inc.
Television channels and stations established in 1999
TBU
Vietnamese-language television stations in Texas