HXP-TV

HXP-TV, channel 9, is an owned-and-operated OK Network station serving New Cardiff and its greater metropolitan area, owned by the Independent Broadcasting System.

Until the fall of the TotalAccess network, HXP was owned by Unity Broadcasting; almost all of its former TA affiliates were divested after the shutdown of the network and sold to IBS.

History

1953-1995

Numerous bidders have set up applications for New Cardiff's channel 9 slot as early as 1950, during the time of the license allocation freeze. The Independent Broadcasting System (who ironically became HXP's owner in 2006) was interested, however it managed to win the bid for channel 4 really quickly. With three commercial networks being created by early 1953, chances were high for HXP to become independent. However, a deal with the Zircon Corporation would change the course of its existence.

The station signed on in 1953 by the New Cardiff Unity. It was the fourth television station in the market, and started as an independent station. It quickly became an affiliate of the Zircon Television Network, who had rejected the building permit for the license two years earlier.

When ZTN shut down, HXP became an independent station. The city had five television allocations, atranged in such a way that made it become one of the few such stations to exist in Hopeland, at a time where UHF broadcasting was far from being in the testing stages. HXP profited from its new status as an independent station, quickly attracting thousands of viewers from the three commercial network stations.

Rejecting MTN

The backbone of MTN, the former Metromedia Hopeland, already had channel 32, but wanted to buy channel 9. Unity Broadcasting rejected it, claiming that such a management would harm its longtime relationship with channel 9. Channel 32 ended up becoming an MTN affiliate by default at the start of the network's existence in October 1986.

TotalAccess affiliation (1995-2006)

On November 2, 1993, TotalAccess Enterprises and Unity Broadcasting announced the formation of the TotalAccess Television Network. Unity committed six of the seven independent stations it owned at the time to serve as charter affiliates of TotalAccess, though it initially exempted HXP-TV from the agreement, as station management had expressed concerns about how the network's plans to expand its prime time and daytime program offerings would affect HXP's sports broadcast rights and the impact that the potential of having to phase out its sports telecasts to complete its network commitments would have on the superstation feed's appeal to cable and satellite providers elsewhere around the Hopeland. Ironically, despite its concerns with taking the TotalAccess affiliation, HXP had also vied to become the New Cardiff affiliate of the XTN Television Network, a network owned by Hopelandian tech and media giant Comtam that announced its launch plans on October 21. On November 10, 1993, Comtam announced it had reached an agreement to affiliate XTN with then-Medianet Corporation-owned HXPR-TV, which, upon the network's January 16, 1995 launch, would become the largest XTN affiliate not to be owned by its parent company (Comtam bought the station in June 1996).

Given the fact that Unity Broadcasting was a major player in the structure of the TotalAccess television network, HXP joined the network on a charter basis in January 1995 as one of its O&Os. All network programming, including TA Kids, was cleared out, much to the infuriation of the news operation, and the downsizing of some of its news programs. As a consequence HXP bought times on a low-powered UHF television station to relay ANN (Arvonia News Network), HXP's cable sister channel, to make up for it, but the coverage area was insufficient.

2006-present

The turnaround for HXP was the bankruptcy of the Unity Broadcasting Company in early 2006, and the merger of TotalAccess and XTN into the OK Network. Since HXP was one of Unity's larger stations and was a de facto O&O of TotalAccess, IBS offered them the option of buying all HXP-branded properties (the station, HXP-AM, HXP-FM and HXP National - now HXP Hopeland) for H$40.000.000. HXP was a "test market" for the new OK Network, adopting the branding in July 2006. The last time it used TotalAccess branding was on September 17, when it broadcast TotalAccess' last night on air; at 10pm the station was rebranded OK 9.

Subchannel history

HXP-DT2

HXP-DT2 is the Antenna TV-affiliated second digital subchannel of HXP-TV. Over the air, it broadcasts in standard definition on UHF digital channel 19.2 (or virtual channel 9.2 via PSIP). On cable, HXP-DT2 is available on Echo channel 1260, UCS channel 268 and WOW! channel 79 in the New Cardiff area.

HXP-TV launched a digital subchannel on virtual channel 9.2 on June 19, 2006, which, through a groupwide agreement with IBS-owned OK stations, originally served as an affiliate of Cubenet. Cubenet ceased operations on October 1, 2007, at which time HXP-DT2 temporarily switched to a standard-definition simulcast of the station's main feed. On June 22, 2008, HXP-DT2 converted into an affiliate of the Latino-oriented bilingual network LATV. The 9.2 subchannel was converted into a charter affiliate of Antenna TV on January 1, 2011, upon the launch of the Tribune-owned classic television network.

HXP-DT3

HXP-DT3 is the This TV-affiliated third digital subchannel of HXP-TV. Over the air, it broadcasts in standard definition on UHF digital channel 19.2 (or virtual channel 9.2 via PSIP). On cable, HXP-DT3 is available on Echo channel 1260, UCS channel 268 and WOW! channel 79 in the New Cardiff area.

HXP-DT4

HXP-DT4 is a relayer of the Arvonia News Network, a cable channel founded in 1994 under Unity ownership. It is believed that once IBS expands its network of local IBS News channels, the channel will be renamed IBS News New Cardiff. It is unknown if it will remain on HXP's multiplex or if it will move to HXBM's.