The two stations share studios and offices in the Melcher Center for Public Broadcasting on the campus of the University of Houston; KUHT's transmitter is located near Missouri City, in unincorporated northeastern Fort Bend County.

[4] KUHT, co-located with FM station KUHF, originally operated from the Ezekiel W. Cullen Building on the UH campus.

When KNUZ-TV went dark, ABC affiliate (now owned-and-operated station) KTRK-TV (channel 13) used the facility from KTRK's inception in 1954, until it moved to its current studios on Bissonnet Street in 1961.

In 1970, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), the successor network to National Educational Television, began service, combining televised educational lectures with popular programs such as Sesame Street, NOVA and Masterpiece Theatre that remain PBS staples to this day.

In 1981, KUHT became Houston's first television station to provide closed captioning, and 10 years later, in 1991, it became the first station in Houston to offer Descriptive Video Service audio, and other services for the visually impaired as well as bilingual viewers via a secondary audio program feed.

KUHT was known on-air as "Houston Public Television" for many years before adopting the "HoustonPBS" moniker in the early 21st century.

These stations are members of Lark International, a public television production company, which owns the sunburst-on-square logo; however, they are not related to each other.

In late-August 2017, Tegna-owned CBS affiliate KHOU (channel 11) temporarily moved its news and broadcasting operations to Melcher Center.

[7] The station remained at the Melcher Center until their new facility at 5718 Westheimer Road near Uptown Houston was completed in February 2019.