list on the rate card, which meant that the station would begin carrying some CBS programs (such as See It Now) whose sponsors did not buy into Phoenix. However, channel 10 took on ABC programming in early 1954. KOOL-TV then relinquished ABC to KTVK, which went on the air in February 1955, and became the new CBS affiliate on June 15 of that year—starting nearly four decades of independent television at channel 5. As an independent station, KPHO-TV programming consisted of movies—during the late 1950s, the station was briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network—and off-network series, as well as local news and other productions. The station moved its transmission facility from the Westward Ho to South Mountain (where channels 3, 10, and 12 were located) on July 15, 1960; the new, 100,000-watt signal at a greater height expanded the station's range, and it also resulted in the cable system in Flagstaff adding channel 5 for the first time. From 1966 to 1967, the station was the subject of a 13-month NABET strike, then the longest in state history, which ended when the workers disavowed the union by a vote of 49 to 3. In 1970, ground was broken on a new, studio facility on Black Canyon Highway south of Indian School Road, which the station occupied in 1971. During the 1970s, KPHO became a regional superstation that was available on cable television in much of Arizona and New Mexico, as well as parts of California. By 1979, the station was on 43 cable systems serving more than 76,000 total subscribers. While KPHO-TV gained its first independent competition in 1967, with the arrival of KPAZ-TV on channel 21, the new outlet focused more on specialty and Spanish-language programs. It was little competition for channel 5, which was found by an American Research Bureau survey in 1975 to be the number one independent station in the country in terms of viewing share. By this time, it was actually the third highest-rated station in Phoenix in total-day ratings, ahead of KTVK, long an underperforming ABC affiliate. It ultimately became a full-time religious outlet in 1977. Two years later, though, KNXV-TV channel 15, a hybrid independent and subscription television station, launched; it became a full-time independent in 1983. Even though channel 5 was the leading independent in the market, the upstart Fox Broadcasting Company opted to affiliate with channel 15 in 1986 after