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After more than 70 years as a CBS affiliate, KXMC-TV in Minot will no longer be airing CBS programming as of Saturday, Aug. 1.
Nexstar Media Group, owner of KX television in North Dakota, said the North Dakota stations will switch to The CW Television Network.
"In July, Nexstar completed a multi-year agreement with CBS to extend its affiliations in 36 markets. We will be replacing the CBS affiliation with a CW affiliation in at least three markets (Jackson, MS, Bismarck/Minot, ND and Rapid City, SD)," Nexstar stated. "We will be elevating the CW affiliations from the digital subchannels they currently occupy to a premiere slot widely available over-the-air and across all major paid platforms."
KXMC released information on social media that it is to remain otherwise unaffected by the change, with local news and weather coverage continuing.
KXMC was North Dakota's first television station, launching as KCJB in 1953. Chester Reiten and John Boler bought the station in 1958, when it became KXMC. Reiten later bought out Boler, and the Reiten family owned the KX stations in Minot, Bismarck, Dickinson and Williston until selling to Nexstar in 2016.
CW launched in 2006 as America's fifth broadcast network, with programming targeting younger viewers, according to information on the network's website. Nexstar is the majority owner of CW, which was co-founded by CBS and Warner Bros.
Forum Communications in Fargo is reported to have entered an agreement with CBS. Forum Communications did not respond as of Wednesday to requests for information about how the change will impact the Minot market. The company owns the ABC affiliate, KMCY, in Minot.