Belo Corp.'s statewide 24-hour cable news channel. It was built in a converted newsprint warehouse in downtown Dallas, pooled the newsrooms of Belo's Texas TV stations and newspapers, and reached more than 1.5 million Texas homes.
Dallas (statewide) · Closure: shut down by owner Gannett in 2015 after 16 years
In 1998, Dallas-based Belo Corp., owner of The Dallas Morning News and a group of Texas television stations, turned a former newsprint warehouse in downtown Dallas into a fully equipped digital television facility. It held the studios, newsroom and offices for a new statewide channel, Texas Cable News. TXCN began transmitting news 24 hours a day on January 1, 1999, sending its signal to cable systems by fiber or satellite. Belo's annual report described the channel as using the news resources of the company's Texas television stations and newspapers. Start-up costs that year dragged down the earnings of Belo's smaller operations.
By mid-2002, TXCN's website listed a full broadcast day. TXCN Early Connect ran in the morning, Texas Now in the afternoon and early evening, Ford SportsTalk at 6 and again at 11, and TXCN Prime and TXCN Nightwatch at night. On weekends the channel ran the sports show State of the Game and The Big Movie Show with critic Gary Cogill. It was carried on channel 38 across most of Dallas-Fort Worth, from Arlington and Plano to Fort Worth and Weatherford. Time Warner systems carried it in Beaumont, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Laredo, Waco, Wichita Falls and the Rio Grande Valley, and on digital tiers in Austin, Houston and San Antonio. Broadcasting & Cable later noted that the channel had hosted statewide debates.
In 2004 TXCN scaled back its original programming and focused on time-shifted newscasts from its affiliated stations. Belo's annual report for that year still listed it as a cable news channel distributed to more than 1.5 million Texas homes, alongside Belo's NorthWest Cable News in Seattle and 24/7 NewsChannel in Boise. The report described TXCN's operations as based in a company-owned digital television facility in downtown Dallas.
The channel outlasted its founding company. By 2015, TXCN belonged to Gannett and replayed newscasts from WFAA in Dallas, KHOU in Houston, KVUE in Austin and KENS in San Antonio. In March 2015, Gannett announced that Texas Cable News would cease operations on April 1, after 16 years on the air. The company gave no reason.
| City | Where | Years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas | downtown Dallas: a former newsprint warehouse converted in 1998 into a digital TV facility housing TXCN's studios, newsroom and offices | 1999-2000s | ↗︎ |
| Belo converted a former newsprint warehouse in downtown Dallas into a digital television facility for TXCN during 1998; start-up costs reduced Belo's other operating cash flow that year. | ↗︎ |
| Distributed to more than 1.5 million homes in Texas, per Belo's 2004 annual report. | ↗︎ |
| In 2002 it was carried in dozens of Texas cities, on channel 38 across most of Dallas-Fort Worth and on Time Warner systems from El Paso to the Rio Grande Valley. | ↗︎ |