the network affiliate with KNXV-TV as a condition of remaining with the Detroit and Cleveland stations, or else it would affiliate with CBS in those markets. This was not something to which ABC was initially amenable. Its Phoenix affiliate of nearly four decades, KTVK, was the market leader in news and seen by the network as one of its model affiliates. ABC network president Bob Iger wanted to keep KTVK, but Tom Murphy, the CEO of Capital Cities/ABC, felt that he had to be able to offer the ABC affiliation in Phoenix to Scripps if necessary to avoid potential long-term damage to the ABC television network. Scripps refused $25 million from ABC to "take Phoenix off the table", having been described by network executive Bryce Rathbone as "[having] a gun to their head". Meanwhile, KNXV general manager Raymond Hunt was receiving calls congratulating him on KNXV's new CBS affiliation, even though no such deal had been made. On June 15, 1994, ABC officially gave KNXV-TV its affiliation for Phoenix, effective January 9, 1995, and agreed to affiliate with Scripps-owned stations in Tampa and Baltimore. KNXV was already in the process of building a local news department when the affiliation switch was announced; in September 1993, the station had hired its first news director, and the station's newly hired staff of 30 had reported to Phoenix in the weeks before the New World deal was announced. As a result of the switch and the consequent demand for more newscasts, the news staff swelled to 85, and the station delayed the launch of its newscast a month to August 1. KTVK's loss of the ABC affiliation was attributed to it being a standalone, family-run operation, while Scripps held substantial clout as a major broadcast chain. Over the second half of 1994, ABC programming migrated from KTVK to KNXV in stages as the outgoing affiliate shed a variety of its soon-to-be former network's offerings. When KTVK launched a local morning newscast at the end of August, Good Morning America was the first ABC program to move to KNXV. KNXV then picked up World News Tonight and Nightline on December 12, the day after the Fox affiliation ended. The rest of ABC's programming moved to KNXV on January 9, 1995. In 1999, the station moved to a new $31 million studio facility that included two studios and a helipad; KDRX-LP, the low-power Telemundo affiliate,