involved an NBC affiliate, by way of that network holding a minority ownership interest in Pax. The rebroadcasts were discontinued on September 1, 2003, coinciding with the station's assumption of the UPN affiliation and the transfer of KPXJ to the Wray family's stewardship. On that date, KTBS began producing a half-hour newscast at 9:00 p.m. for channel 21 (under the title UPN 21 News at 9:00), which was the first locally produced prime time newscast to be offered in the Shreveport–Texarkana market. (On August 3, 2009, the 9:00 p.m. newscast to a full hour, making it the first hour-long late evening newscast in the market, at which time, it was renamed The KTBS 3 9:00 News Hour.) On September 12, 2005, KTBS began producing a half-hour weekday morning newscast for KPXJ (titled KPXJ 21 News at 7), predating the debut of a two-hour-long 7:00 a.m. newscast on Fox affiliate KMSS-TV (channel 33) – that station's first attempt at a local morning newscast, albeit produced by sister station WGMB in Baton Rouge – by two years. (The KPXJ newscast was expanded to one hour in February 2012.) The morning newscast was shifted to 9:00 a.m. in September 2013, placing it in direct competition with a half-hour newscast in that slot on CBS affiliate KSLA (channel 12). On August 22, 2016, KTBS began producing an hour-long weekday afternoon newscast at 4:00 p.m. for KPXJ (titled KTBS 3 News at 4:00 on KPXJ 21), making it the first television station in the market to offer a local newscast to air in that timeslot. (The program would soon gain a competitor when KSLA launched its own hour-long 4:00 p.m. newscast two weeks later on September 7.) On August 16, 2021, KPXJ began airing the first 3:00 p.m. newscast in the market, titled KTBS 3 3:00 News Hour on KPXJ CW21. Technical information Subchannels The station's digital signal is multiplexed: Analog-to-digital conversion Because it was granted an original construction permit after the FCC finalized the DTV allotment plan on April 21, 1997, the station did not receive a companion channel for a digital television station. In September 2005, KPXJ discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 21, and "flash-cut" its digital signal into operation on channel 21. The switchover caused an uproar with viewers that did not have the equipment to receive over-the-air digital broadcasts or subscribed to cable television. Three months