Spanish-language programming in prime time. Acquisition by Metromedia Six years after going on the air, Crest Broadcasting announced the sale of KDOG-TV to Metromedia for $11 million, including $6 million for the station itself and another $5 million in liabilities. The acquisition closed in April, and on April 17, 1978, the call letters were changed to the current KRIV, in honor of then-Metromedia executive Albert Krivin, who had convinced John Kluge to take a chance on the Houston station. Jerry Marcus, general sales manager of Metromedia's Washington, D.C. station WTTG, was hired to manage channel 26's operations, remaining there until his retirement in December 1999. Metromedia, among the top operators of independent stations, turned a station that was regarded as a "mangy mutt" into a top-rated outlet. An additional multi-million dollar investment in new programming was immediately apparent; in 1979, channel 26 became the new TV home of the Houston Astros. The Spanish-language entertainment programming, from the Spanish International Network, was moved out of prime time and reduced to make way for nightly movies and The Merv Griffin Show; the studios were expanded, and a new transmitter facility was constructed. A local newscast at 7 p.m. was added in 1983. As a Fox owned-and-operated station In 1986, Australian newspaper tycoon Rupert Murdoch purchased KRIV and the other five television stations in the Metromedia group, all of which became the founding owned-and-operated stations of his new television network, the Fox Broadcasting Company. Despite being a member of the new network, KRIV's schedule would not change that much, as at that time, Fox only aired a late-night talk show upon the network's launch; even when prime time programming followed in 1987, the network initially aired the lineup on Saturdays and Sundays. The primary changes were in local programming, where the new owners cut channel 26's existing local public affairs show, Houston Live, and a local children's program, and the move of KRIV's news to 9 p.m. to accommodate more Fox prime time programming. Ratings steadily increased, with total-day ratings tying NBC affiliate KPRC-TV by 1993. After having operated from the same quarters on Westheimer since its establishment, KRIV acquired a tract of land near the Southwest Freeway to build a new, facility that would provide sufficient space and parking for the expanding station. The $40 million facility went into full-time use at the end of 1997 and included new, digital equipment. This