FOX Moves to Subchannel in Cedar Rapids

Sinclair Broadcast Group has moved its FOX affiliation in the Cedar Rapids market to a subchannel of its CBS affiliate.

Second Generation of Iowa’s KFXA/28.1 (Cedar Rapids) had been the market’s primary FOX affiliate since it signed on in 1988, except for a period of silence in the mid-`90s.

On New Year’s Day, FOX programming was moved to channel 2.2 of Sinclair’s KGAN (Cedar Rapids) but is also still being simulcast on KFXA-DT1. It’s unclear from the station’s brief announcement if FOX will remain on both stations permanently or if it will leave KFXA eventually.

Sinclair has operated KFXA since the early 2000s and purchased its programming and equipment in 2008, but Second Generation of Iowa retained the KFXA license due to FCC ownership rules that prohibit the owner of one top-four station from buying another top-four station. However, ownership rules do not count subchannels as separate licenses, so KGAN-DT1 (CBS) and KGAN-DT2 (FOX) are considered to be the same license for regulatory purposes.

The stations switched to a joint news brand of “Iowa’s News Now” in early 2020.

The New Year’s Day change also resulted in a subchannel shuffle: getTV moved from 2.2 to 2.3, Comet moved from 2.3 to 28.5, and DABL moved from 2.4 to 28.6. Charge!, Grit, and Stadium continue on KFXA’s other subchannels.