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.[3][4] 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.[5]
KTBU launched as an
independent station 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.[6] However, Shepherds for the Savior later stated,[7]
The idea behind the acquisition of the TV license was to have a local Christian-based TV station that would generate enough income to support his ministry of spreading the message of Jesus by supporting ministries worldwide.
The station started its first broadcast with a religious devotional. Lakewood Church, which previously broadcast their church services on the local CBS affiliate
KHOU, 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.[8]
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.[8] In 1999, they added a local news program with
The News of Texas[9] and began broadcasting live telecasts of
University of Houston football, basketball, and baseball games and weekly shows featuring University of Houston coaches.[10]
In 2000, KTBU added more local programming and briefly broadcast
Houston Rockets and
Houston Comets games.[11][12] 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.[13][14]
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).[5]
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".
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.[15][16]
Tegna's "Quest" (2020–present)
On January 21, 2020,
Tegna Inc. agreed to acquire KTBU for $15 million.[17] The sale was completed on March 24, 2020, making KTBU a sister station to Tegna's
CBS affiliate
KHOU.[18] Three days later, KTBU's main channel flipped to the Tegna-owned
Quest multicast network,[2] 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's
Houston Dynamo.[19] 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.
^"Ownership Reports, KTBU". Licensing and Database Public Inspection File. United States Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
^"About Us". Shepherds for the Savior. Archived from
the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
^
abMcDaniel, Mike (July 15, 1998). "New TV station takes careful aim at family - Channel 55 Launches with Vintage Shows, Fresh Attitude". Houston Chronicle. Houston section. p. 1.
^McDaniel, Mike (February 23, 1999). "Channel 55 is Texas Network's new home". Houston Chronicle. Houston section. p. 6.
^Barron, David (August 16, 1999). "Channel 55 joins UH in sports partnership". Houston Chronicle. Sports section. p. 8.
^Stickney, W. H. Jr. (July 1, 2000). "Comets a welcome sight on the Tube". Houston Chronicle. Sports section. p. 6.
^Barron, David (November 9, 2000). "Station break Rockets back on Channel 20 after ending deal with Channel 55". Houston Chronicle. Sports section. p. 7.
^McDaniel, Mike (August 24, 2001). "Dan Patrick steps down at Channel 55". Houston Chronicle. Houston section. p. 8.
^McDaniel, Mike (September 19, 2000). "Patrick eager to dive into role as KTBU general manager". Houston Chronicle. Houston section. p. 6.