This made several potential owners skittish about the prospects for UHF in a market that stretched from Mason in the west to La Grange in the east, and also included much of the Hill Country.

KHFI-TV logically should have signed on as Austin's NBC station, since up to that time all three networks had been shoehorned on KTBC, then a primary CBS affiliate.

The Kingsburys would later bring in Henry Tippie as a partner and on January 15, 1973, were granted permission from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to move KHFI-TV to channel 36.

That station carried the network as a secondary affiliation (airing on KNVA on Monday through Saturday nights from 9 to 11 p.m.), known on-air as "MyNetworkTV on The CW Austin", from its launch on September 5, 2006.

The combined company would be known as Nexstar Media Group, and own 171 stations (including KXAN-TV), serving an estimated 39% of households.

[8][9] The merger also marked a re-entry into Austin for Nexstar, which had managed CBS affiliate KEYE-TV under a groupwide agreement with the Four Points Media Group before that company's stations were sold to Sinclair at the beginning of 2012.

[10] On September 3, 2013, KXAN began producing a two-hour extension of its weekday morning newscast for sister station KNVA.

[15] KXAN-TV shut down its analog signal on June 12, 2009, as part of the FCC-mandated transition to digital television for full-power stations.

KXAN and LIN TV were locked into a contract dispute with Suddenlink Communications, which serves portions of the Austin market, such as Pflugerville and Georgetown.

However, a press release from Suddenlink management indicated that the dispute included consideration for other stations owned by LIN TV outside of Texas.

[18] On January 3, 2008, Suddenlink began transmitting the signal of Temple-based NBC affiliate KCEN-TV to restore the network's programming to the affected areas.

Despite its cable carriage problems, the station surprised many observers by placing first in the 5–7 a.m. weekday time slot during the May 2008 sweeps period.

[19] KXAN and LIN TV were locked in another contract dispute with Time Warner Cable, which serves a very large majority of the Austin metropolitan area.

KXAN general manager Eric Lassberg stated that the cable company "does not have to pass that cost along to the viewers unless they want to".