Station managers also grew concerned about the cost of converting to digital operations, something they were reluctant to pass on to their financial supporters. In 1997, the station was sold to Paxson Communications, and began to air infomercials from the Infomall TV Network (inTV) and programming from The Worship Network shortly thereafter, along with some religious programs. On April 28 of that year, the station also changed its call letters to KINB. On January 13, 1998, the station changed its callsign again, this time to KPXE; then eight months later on August 31, the station became a charter owned-and-operated station of Pax TV when that network launched. In 2001, KPXE entered into a joint sales agreement with NBC affiliate KSHB, as part of an agreement between Paxson Communications and three stations owned by the Cincinnati-based E. W. Scripps Company (which also involved KSHB sister stations WPTV in West Palm Beach, Florida and KJRH in Tulsa, Oklahoma). Sale to Scripps and resale to Inyo On September 24, 2020, Scripps (owner of KSHB-TV and KMCI-TV) announced that it would purchase Ion Media for $2.65 billion, with financing from Berkshire Hathaway. With this purchase, Scripps will divest 23 Ion-owned stations, but no announcement has been made as to which stations that Scripps will divest as part of the move (KPXE-TV is likely to be one of the divested outlets since Scripps already owns two stations in the Kansas City market). The proposed divestitures will allow the merged company to fully comply with the FCC local and national ownership regulations. Scripps has agreed to a transaction with an unnamed buyer, who has agreed to maintain Ion affiliations for the stations. Newscasts In September 2001, as part of its joint sales agreement with that station, KPXE-TV began airing tape delayed rebroadcasts of KSHB-TV's 6:00 and 10:00 p.m. newscasts each Monday through Friday evening at 6:30 and 10:30 p.m. (the latter beginning shortly before that program's live broadcast ended on KSHB). The news rebroadcasts ended on June 30, 2005, when the network's other news share agreements with major network affiliates throughout the United States were terminated upon the network's rebranding as i: Independent Television, as a result of the network's financial troubles. Technical information Subchannels The station's digital signal is multiplexed: Prior to January 31, 2010, KPXE offered The Worship Network on digital subchannel 50.4. KPXE began broadcasting its main 50.1 channel in high definition in