on weekends, while the station also threatened to stop airing ON TV's 'adults only' late-night fare. The station resisted a request to expand ON TV to start before 7:00 p.m. KNXV-TV also proved itself a tough partner for Oak's subscription service. In 1981, the Suns signed a 13-year agreement to telecast games through American Cable, resulting in the launch of the Arizona Sports Programming Network however, American Cable sub-licensed games to ON TV in part because they had not yet wired all of the metropolitan area. By July 1982, ON TV had 39,000 subscribers in Phoenix, but signs of trouble for the business were emerging rapidly. In Phoenix, ON TV held telecast rights at various times to ASU sports, the Phoenix Suns, Phoenix Giants minor league baseball and Los Angeles Kings hockey. One of the station's most memorable early promotions featured the 'Bluebird of Happinews', with the voice of Elroy 'Buzz' Towers (who was voiced by an early station master control/videotape operator) in an invisible sky-blue helicopter taking jabs at local news on other stations. KNXV-TV signed on September 9, 1979, more than four and a half years after the construction permit was granted. The catalyst and financial backer was Oak Industries, which would broadcast the ON TV subscription television service in evening hours while New Television would program the station during the day as a commercial independent, airing first-run and off-network syndicated shows and children's programs. In late 1978, firm plans were made for a 1979 launch of the station. Lasky would end up launching or purchasing three other stations: WTTO in Birmingham, Alabama WCGV-TV in Milwaukee and WQTV in Boston. In 1977, funding problems continued to stand in the way of getting KNXV-TV on the air, leading Cooperstein and his investors to sell a majority of New Television Corp.

Plans were soon delayed by the inability to secure financing in a difficult economy, and by the end of 1976, the station still had not been built. The lone legacy of this intended format was the station's call sign, KNXV, standing for 'Newswatch 15' (the 'XV' stood for 15 in Roman numerals). It was expected to begin broadcasting within a year and was intended to place a heavy emphasis on news programming, airing three 90-minute newscasts at different times between 4 p.m. In February 1975, pioneering UHF broadcaster Edwin Cooperstein, who had started New Jersey's WNJU in the 1960s before moving to Phoenix, announced that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had granted a construction permit to his company, New Television Corp., to build a television station in Phoenix on UHF channel 15. History As an independent station (1979–1986) 1.2 Scripps purchase and Fox affiliation.

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