Ownership of channel 29 shifted to TVX Broadcast Group in 1987 as part of its purchase of Taft's five large-market independent stations; the call sign was changed to WTXF-TV the next year.

The deal left TVX highly leveraged and ultimately led to the station's sale in two parts between 1989 and 1991 to Paramount Pictures.

[4][5] In August 1962, William Fox, whose family owned WIBF-FM (103.9) in Jenkintown as well as real estate interests there,[6] received a construction permit from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a new television station on channel 29.

[22] This would prove to be a major factor in the decision to sell WIBF-TV to Cincinnati-based Taft Broadcasting, a transaction which closed in May 1969 for $4.5 million, including assumption of debt (equivalent to $30.1 million in 2023 dollars), at the time the most spent for a UHF facility;[23][24][25] an article in Variety declared of the purchase price, "For many it symbolizes the 'arrival' of UHF in the television scheme of things.

[29] The call sign change was part of a wider plan to improve every aspect of the station's operation, from programming to facilities.

The Phillies had been broadcast on WPHL-TV since 1971; that station's owner, the Providence Journal Company, had increased its rights fees for 1979 just so the team could sign free agent Pete Rose.

[47] The Philadelphia independent market contracted in 1983 when WKBS-TV went off the air, a victim of corporate infighting amid the dissolution of Field Communications.

[48][49][50] Two years later, a third independent was added back to the Philadelphia lineup with the sale of WWSG-TV (channel 57) to Milton Grant and its relaunch as WGBS-TV.

[51] On October 9, 1986, WTAF-TV became a charter affiliate of the fledgling Fox television network, which initially only offered late-night and weekend prime time programming.

[53] The arrival of Fox to channel 29—announced in early August—was overshadowed later that month when Taft announced it was likely to put its five independent stations up for sale to pay down the large debt its 1985 purchase of Gulf Broadcast Group had generated, fend off activist investors such as Robert Bass, and concentrate on its portfolio of network affiliates.

[64] The company was to pay Salomon Brothers $200 million on January 1, 1988, and missed the first payment deadline, having been unable to lure investors to its junk bonds even before the Black Monday stock market crash.

[65] While TVX recapitalized by the end of 1988,[66] Salomon Brothers reached an agreement in principle in January 1989 for Paramount Pictures to acquire options to purchase the investment firm's majority stake.

"[74] With a switch that would have taken place in April 1994, at the end of channel 29's Fox affiliation agreement, WGBS-TV was also seen as likely to start a local newsroom, providing the first competition to WTXF's 10 p.m.

[83] As FCC approval did not come before the planned January 30, 1994, completion of the WGBS-TV deal, Combined walked away from the sale a few weeks later after one extension, preserving WTXF's Fox affiliation.

[85] When Group W instead entered into a partnership with CBS—resulting in an affiliation switch at KYW-TV and the sale of CBS-owned WCAU-TV (channel 10)—a second such opportunity emerged.

[94] The station renamed itself "Fox 29" again in 2003; Philadelphia Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky noted that most people had continued to call it by its channel number anyway.

[95] Fox began a major renovation of the building in 2005, now occupying all four floors including space once utilized by an insurance agency and a bank.

In the petition, Padden wrote, "...Fox has undermined our democracy and has radicalized a segment of our population by presenting knowingly false narratives about the legitimacy of the 2020 election.

[98] Later in August, former FCC commissioner Alfred C. Sikes and Jamie Kellner, the architect of the Fox network in the 1980s, also filed informal objections to the renewal: Sikes warned that the FCC had let the requirement to operate in the public interest become "perfunctory" and called for the renewal to be "closely scrutinized in public hearings and courtrooms", while Kellner wrote, "If the character requirement for broadcast licensees is to have any meaning, the FCC must designate the application for a hearing to evaluate the Murdochs'/Fox's character qualifications to operate WTXF on the public airwaves.

"[99] In an opposition, Fox criticized the relief sought by the petitioners as "a violation of the First Amendment" and emphasized the lack of specific evidence against WTXF-TV itself.

[101] Fox highlighted letters of support from elected politicians of both parties, including U.S. representatives Brendan Boyle and Brian Fitzpatrick and three members of the Philadelphia City Council.

[102][103] The FCC dismissed the WTXF petition to deny on January 16, 2025, as well as three other challenges that it felt were politically motivated where the behavior was protected under the First Amendment.

Roger LaMay was recruited from KTTV in Los Angeles to run the newsroom, which was set up in a former film library in the basement of the Center City studios,[105] and former KYW-TV sports anchor Howard Eskin was signed as channel 29's first marquee news personality.

[107] The Ten O'Clock News debuted on February 17, 1986, as the first prime time newscast in Philadelphia since WKBS-TV discontinued its effort in 1970.

[110] The program was extended to an hour in 1990—delayed by the Paramount acquisition of TVX[105]—with original reporter Jill Chernekoff returning to the station after a year at Headline News to co-anchor the expanded newscast.

[120] Beginning in 2006, WTXF-TV began filling out the rest of its broadcast day with newscasts in key time slots as part of a strategy to increase its local news visibility.

[124] In November 2008, after a trial between WCAU and WTXF, Fox Television Stations and NBC Local Media entered into an agreement to test a system that would allow stations owned by Fox and NBC to pool news resources ranging from sharing field video to sharing aerial helicopter footage, in an attempt to reduce costs.

[130] Humphries departed in 2022 and joined the startup newsroom at WWJ-TV in Detroit;[131] she was replaced at WTXF by Shiba Russell, who had last worked in Atlanta.

[134] In addition to its own newscasts, on July 8, 2013, WTXF began airing Chasing New Jersey, a daily New Jersey-focused public affairs program.

[147] On December 29, 2014, WTXF-TV announced the launch of their Allentown translator on UHF channel 38 to allow northern tier viewers to better receive and watch Fox 29 and its sub-channels.