KDFI, channel 27, is a
MyNetworkTVMyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
-affiliated station licensed to
Dallas, TexasDallas , with a population of 1,279,910, is the third-largest city in Texas and the 8th-largest in the United States. The city is the main economic center of the 12-county Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area that according to the March 2009 U.S. Census Bureau release, had a population of...
, and serving the Dallas/
Fort WorthFort Worth is the seventeenth-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city within the state of Texas. Located in and a cultural gateway into the American West, the city covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, and Denton counties, serving as the county seat for Tarrant...
area. The station is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the
News CorporationNews Corporation is the world's second largest media conglomerate as of 2008 and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009...
, and is a sister station to
FoxThe Fox Broadcasting Company , commonly referred to as Fox , is an American television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, from 2004 to 2009 Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the 18–49 demographic...
network outlet KDFW-TV (channel 4). Its transmitter is located in
Cedar HillCedar Hill is a city in Dallas and Ellis Counties in the U.S. state of Texas. It lies sixteen miles from downtown Dallas and is adjoined by Joe Pool Lake and Cedar Hill State Park to its west....
. KDFI is on channel 7 on most cable systems in the
Dallas/Fort Worth MetroplexThe Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area, a title designated by the U.S. Census as of 2003, encompasses 12 counties within the U.S. state of Texas. The metropolitan area is further divided into two metropolitan divisions: Dallas–Plano–Irving and Fort Worth–Arlington...
.
History
Channel 27 initially was granted a license as KLIF-TV in 1967 with a construction permit issued in 1968. However the station never formally signed on and by 1972 the license was deleted. Later in 1981, the station signed on as
KTWS-TV with religious shows, public-affairs shows, and
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
,
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices in Burbank,California...
, and
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
shows that were preempted by
WFAA-TVWFAA is a duPont-Columbia Award-winning and Peabody Award-winning ABC television affiliate serving the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, one of the top ten media markets in North America. The station is the flagship of Belo Corporation and the largest ABC affiliate not owned and operated by the network...
,
KXAS-TVKXAS-DT, Channel 5, is the NBC station for the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. The station was Texas' first TV station and made its debut on September 28, 1948. Its transmitter is located in Cedar Hill. KXAS broadcasts on channel 41, but uses PSIP to redirect to its former analog channel 5...
, and KDFW-TV respectively. Channel 27 aired some limited local news, anchored by former WFAA anchor Bob Gooding. The station also broadcast
public-domainThe public domain is a range of abstract materials—commonly referred to as intellectual property—which are not owned or controlled by anyone. The term indicates that these materials are therefore "public property", and available for anyone to use for any purpose...
movies during the day. At night, the station ran the
Preview (TV channel)Preview was a subscription television service, started in 1980, similar to ON-TV and SelecTV. Like ON-TV and SelecTV, Preview was a scrambled UHF Subscription channel requiring a special set-top box to decode....
, then later
VEUVEU was a subscription television channel owned by Golden West Broacasting. The channel was similar to ON-TV, another scrambled UHF service, and was carried by many stations including KAUT-TV in Oklahoma City, WVEU in Atlanta and KNBN in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The service began in 1980...
subscription TV services. The station was owned by Liberty Television. In August 1984, the station's
call signIn broadcasting and radio communications, a call sign is a unique designation for a transmitting station. In some countries they are used as names for broadcasting stations, but in many other countries they are not...
changed to the present
KDFI-TV.
In 1985, KDFI became a general entertainment station for the entire broadcast day. It began running low budget syndicated shows, old cartoons, and B Grade movies. The station continued to run pre-empted network shows as well, and had been able to balance its books.
In 1993, Argyle Television, which owned KDFW, began running programming on KDFI. KDFI was broadcasting mostly talk shows and newscasts delayed from KDFW.
When KDFW switched to Fox, the newscasts were dropped. KDFI continued the talk format while adding a few cartoons in the mornings and a few sitcoms as well. When Fox acquired KDFW in a group deal, the network moved Fox Kids programming to KDFI from
KDAFKDAF, channel 33, is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, and serving the Dallas-Fort Worth television market. The station is licensed to Dallas and owned by the Tribune Company and is located off the John W. Carpenter Freeway in northwest Dallas...
(Channel 33). By then, KDFI was a traditional
independent stationAn independent station is television terminology used to describe a television station broadcasting in the United States or Canada that is not affiliated with any network...
broadcasting cartoons, classic off network sitcoms, syndicated talk/reality shows, and movies.
The station continues this format today, though Fox Kids went to weekends only in 2002 and became
Fox Box (later
4Kids TV4Kids TV is a children's video website owned by 4Kids Entertainment. It was formerly a Saturday morning television programming block on the Fox Broadcasting Company. The block was part of the Fox Network schedule...
, now
Weekend MarketplaceWeekend Marketplace is a two hour Saturday morning block on Fox that started January 3, 2009, replacing 4Kids TV. The block consists of infomercials, which usually air on networks and stations during late night hours; such programming, however, has not previously been scheduled on a regular basis...
) later in 2002. In 2000, when
duopoliesIn United States broadcast television and radio, duopoly is a term used to describe a single company which owns two or more stations in the same city or community....
in television became lawful, Fox bought KDFI outright.
My Network TV
On February 22, 2006, Fox announced that KDFI would be part of a new primetime network called
MyNetworkTVMyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
which launched on September 5, 2006. My Network TV is operated by Fox Television Stations, Inc. and Twentieth Television.
The station began identifying itself on-air as "my 27" shortly after the announcement, reflecting the new network's naming conventions. A temporary logo using the circular 27 symbol and the word 'my' was created. The KDFI website changed its slogan to "Shows I Like are on my 27" accordingly. On Friday, July 7, KDFI officially changed its logo to the MyNetwork style four-square 'my 27' on air. MyNetworkTV ads also began running heavily on this date.
In addition, KDFI may carry Fox network programming should it be preempted by KDFW in the event of a local special or an emergency such as a breaking news story.
Prior to this affiliation, KDFI was the only News Corp.-owned station to be an independent, while all other News Corp. stations were affiliated with Fox or
UPNUnited Paramount Network was a television network that broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States, being in production for over eleven years. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries. It was later owned by CBS Corporation. Its first night of broadcasting was...
.It is also the largest MyNetworkTV affiliate to not have been formerly affiliated with either UPN or The WB.
George LoweGeorge Lowe is an American voice actor/comedian.He is perhaps best known for his role as the voice of Space Ghost on the Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, talk show Space Ghost Coast to Coast, a role which he played for all 94 episodes spanning ten years before the series ended in 2004, along with its...
, the voice of
Space GhostSpace Ghost is a fictional character created by Hanna-Barbera Productions and designed by Alex Toth for CBS. He started out as a superhero who, with his helpers Jan, Jace and Blip, fought supervillains in outer space...
in Cartoon Network's
Space Ghost Coast to CoastSpace Ghost Coast to Coast is an animated spoof talk show. The show centers on numerous characters from the 60s Hanna-Barbera cartoon series Space Ghost, in which they return to host a humorous talk show purportedly shot and broadcast from Space Ghost's studio on the Ghost Planet in outer space...
, is the station's imaging voice.
Sports
Due to its Fox ownership, KDFI also broadcasts
Texas RangersThe Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in Texas, representing the Dallas-Ft.Worth metropolitan area. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Rangers have played in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, located in...
and
Dallas StarsThe Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team was founded in 1967 as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The franchise transferred to...
games not carried by
Fox Sports NetThe Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.-Beginnings:...
(with similar production).
The station also picked up the rights to air two
Dallas CowboysThe Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team that plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . They are headquartered in suburban Irving, Texas, which lies between Fort Worth and Dallas...
games that also aired on the
NFL NetworkNFL Network is an American television specialty channel dedicated to American football. It is owned and operated by the National Football League and is also shown in Canada and Mexico. It was launched November 4, 2003, only eight months after the league's 32 team owners voted unanimously to...
in the 2007-2008 season, along with the network's HDTV feed for those games. The games against the Green Bay Packers on November 29 and Carolina Panthers on December 22 were the highest-rated shows in the history of KDFI.
KDFI began airing a number of
Dallas StarsThe Dallas Stars are a professional ice hockey team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League . The team was founded in 1967 as the Minnesota North Stars, based in Bloomington, Minnesota. The franchise transferred to...
and
Texas RangersThe Texas Rangers are a professional baseball team in Texas, representing the Dallas-Ft.Worth metropolitan area. The Rangers are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Rangers have played in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington, located in...
games in high definition in early 2008.
Digital Television
Digital Television
| Virtual Channel |
Digital Channel |
Programming |
| 27.1 |
36.1 |
Main KDFI programming |
On June 12, 2009 KDFI ceased its analog transmissions on channel 27 and
continues KDFI digital broadcasts on channel 36.
PSIPThe Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch by...
is used to display KDFI-TV's
virtual channelIn telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel in North America, is a channel designation which differs from the actual radio channel or frequency on which the signal travels....
as 27 on digital television receivers.
Station Slogans
- Your Movie Station (1980s)
- The Talk Of Texas (1993-1996)
- Hot TV 27 (1996-1999)
- Cold Ice. Cool Game. Hot TV 27. (1996-1999; Used for its promotion of Dallas Stars games)
- Anything Can Happen (2002-2004)
- Get It On (2004-2005)
- Your Hometown Station (2005-2006)
- The Shows I Like Are On My27 (2006)
- My Shows...My Station...My27 (2006-Present)
External links