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# Who's behind FOX 10? A field guide
- URL: https://postmarq.org/whos-behind-fox-10-a-field-guide/
- Published: 2026-10-27T03:13:03.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T05:07:25.000Z
- Description: FOX 10 is owned by its own network. Here's the ownership chain, how channel 10 got here, and what one hour of its morning show looked like.
- Author: Dave Contreras
- Tags: Field guides, Who do you trust?, #level-1, #ai-assisted, #color-blush

Unlike 12News and ABC15, FOX 10 is owned by the same company as its network: Fox Corporation. I timed one hour of its morning show. About 42 minutes were the show. About 18 were breaks. Weather filled nearly a third of the hour. Does knowing who's behind it change how much you trust it?

This is a field guide, part of an ongoing look at [who you trust for local news](https://postmarq.org/who-do-you-trust-when-it-comes-to-local-news/). It sticks to public records and one measured hour. Tell me where I'm wrong.

## Who owns it

FOX 10 is KSAZ-TV, channel 10\. Its FCC license is held by NW Communications of Phoenix, Inc., a company Fox Corporation lists as its own. \[1, 3\] Fox Television Stations owns 29 full-power stations, including FOX 10 and its Phoenix sister station, channel 45 (KUTP). \[2\] KUTP carries MyNetworkTV and airs FOX 10's newscasts, plus its own 7 p.m. news. \[7\]

Lachlan Murdoch is Fox Corporation's executive chair and CEO. A September 2025 settlement of a Murdoch family trust left voting control of the family's Fox shares with him alone. \[4, 5\] Locally, Michael Lewis became senior vice president and general manager of KSAZ and KUTP in 2023\. In 2025 he became a regional general manager, adding Fox's Seattle stations. \[10\]

## How it got here

Channel 10 first went on the air on Oct. 24, 1953, as KOOL-TV. At first it shared the channel with another station, KOY-TV, and the two took turns on the air. \[11, 12\] Channel 10 later became Phoenix's CBS station and stayed with CBS for about four decades. \[12\]

In 1994, a company called New World bought the station, and that December channel 10 switched from CBS to FOX. \[6, 13\] Fox took over the station itself when it finished buying New World in January 1997\. \[6\]

Good to know: in that same 1994–95 shuffle, channel 15 went the other way. ABC15 was Phoenix's FOX station until January 1995\. \[13\]

## What's changing

In August 2026, the FCC voted 2 to 1 to repeal its 39% cap on how many U.S. homes one company's stations can reach. It released the final order on Oct. 1, 2026\. Bigger station groups are now reviewed case by case. \[9, 14\]

In June 2026, Fox agreed to buy Roku, the streaming platform, for about $22 billion. \[8\] Shareholders of both companies approved the deal on Oct. 14, 2026\. It hasn't closed yet; Fox expects that in the first half of 2027\. \[2, 15\]

## Fox News isn't FOX 10

Many people bring their feelings about Fox News, the national cable channel, to the local station. Fox Corporation owns both, but they're separate operations with separate newsrooms.

Those feelings split along party lines. In a June 2025 Pew Research Center survey, 56% of Republicans said they trust Fox News as a source of news. Among Democrats, 19% said the same. \[16\] That survey asked about Fox News, not FOX 10\. We haven't found a survey that asks Phoenix viewers about FOX 10.

## What one hour looked like (a sample, not a study)

On Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026, I recorded FOX 10's morning show from 7 to 8 a.m. on Local Now, a free streaming service that carries FOX LOCAL Phoenix. This was the live show: it had a LIVE tag, an on-screen clock, and live tornado warnings. The stream swaps in its own promos during breaks, so I didn't count what was advertised, only how long each break ran. Because the show was live, it came back from each break on its own clock, so break lengths should match what aired on TV. Claude sorted every segment by type, and I checked the results.

- **Breaks:** 17.9 minutes (30%), in five breaks of 3 to 4 minutes. The first came 19 minutes into the hour. After that, the show ran 3½ to 9½ minutes between breaks.
- **Weather:** 13.8 minutes (23%), plus 4.7 minutes (8%) of storm damage reports and viewer video. There were tornado warnings near Prescott that morning.
- **Features:** 7.7 minutes (13%): Halloween decoration safety with SRP, a stingray feeding at OdySea Aquarium, viewer Halloween photos.
- **Arizona news:** 5.9 minutes (10%): Prop 319 explained, the Mayes–Heap voter dispute, the Phoenix Symphony suspending its season, a canvasser caught on camera taking a package.
- **National news:** 4.1 minutes (7%): Starlink and Ukraine, business news.
- **Teases and station promos inside the show:** 3.5 minutes (6%). **Traffic:** 2.4 minutes (4%).

That's one stormy morning, not every morning.

### How we timed it

Claude pulled about 3,000 still frames from a 66-minute screen recording, one every 1 to 2 seconds, and marked where each break began and ended. Times were matched to the studio clock seen on air, within about 5 seconds. A break runs from the last moment of the show to its first moment back. Station promos inside a break count as break time; promos inside the show count as teases. Names came from on-screen graphics. The full segment log is available on request.

## What I saw

*My own experience, not reporting.*

FOX 10 feels local to me because of the people on it. Cory McCloskey, for one, did weather on FOX 10's morning show for more than 20 years before moving to evenings. \[17\] Faces I've seen for years make it feel like a source I know.

When I watch the local show, I don't hear much opinion. Like most stations, the first stretch of the morning is traffic, weather and crime. I know some people steer clear of FOX 10 because of how they feel about Fox's politics. In my experience, that's not what the local show sounds like.

## What we don't know

Which ads ran on TV during those breaks: the stream replaced them. Whether the stream's breaks always match the TV broadcast: not published. How much Fox Corporation shapes what FOX 10 covers: not published.

## What you can do

Look up FOX 10's public file at [publicfiles.fcc.gov](https://publicfiles.fcc.gov/tv-profile/ksaz-tv?ref=postmarq.org). Next time you watch, time the breaks with your phone's stopwatch.

## Tell us

**Where do you see bias in local news, if you see it at all?** Tell us in the comments. And if you spot something I got wrong, tell me and I'll correct it here.

## Sources

1. FCC public inspection file, KSAZ-TV (licensee NW Communications of Phoenix, Inc.; facility ID 35587). [publicfiles.fcc.gov](https://publicfiles.fcc.gov/tv-profile/ksaz-tv?ref=postmarq.org)
2. Fox Corporation, Form 10-K for fiscal 2026 (Aug. 2026): 29 stations, Phoenix stations KSAZ and KUTP, Roku agreement. [sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0001754301/000162828026053960/fox-20260630.htm?ref=postmarq.org)
3. Fox Corporation, Form 10-K for fiscal 2025, Exhibit 21 (subsidiary list). sec.gov
4. Fox Corporation, SEC filing on the Murdoch family trust, Sept. 8, 2025\. [sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1754301/000119312525198381/d931996dfwp.htm?ref=postmarq.org)
5. Fox Corporation, fiscal Q4 2026 earnings release (Lachlan Murdoch, executive chair and CEO). media.foxcorporation.com
6. NWCG Holdings (New World), Form 10-K for 1996: Fox merger completed Jan. 22, 1997\. sec.gov
7. FOX 10, livestreaming schedule and FAQ. [fox10phoenix.com](https://www.fox10phoenix.com/fox-10-livestreaming-schedule?ref=postmarq.org)
8. FOX 10, "FOX moves to acquire Roku in $22 billion deal," June 15, 2026\. [fox10phoenix.com](https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/fox-moves-acquire-roku-22-billion-deal?ref=postmarq.org)
9. FCC, "FCC Replaces National Broadcast Ownership Cap," Aug. 6, 2026\. [fcc.gov](https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DOC-424076A1.pdf?ref=postmarq.org)
10. TV News Check, "Fox Television Stations Designates New Regional Leadership," Aug. 2025\. [tvnewscheck.com](https://tvnewscheck.com/business/article/fox-television-stations-designates-new-regional-leadership/?ref=postmarq.org)
11. Southwest Museum of Engineering, Communications and Computation, "KOOL-TV / KSAZ-TV." [smecc.org](https://www.smecc.org/kool-tv.htm?ref=postmarq.org)
12. PNW Broadcasting History, "KOOL AM & FM/Phoenix." [qzvx.com](https://www.qzvx.com/kool-am-fm-phoenix/?ref=postmarq.org)
13. E.W. Scripps Company, Form 10-K for 1996 (KNXV was a FOX affiliate before January 1995). [sec.gov](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/0000832428/000083242897000002/0000832428-97-000002.txt?ref=postmarq.org)
14. Cahill Gordon & Reindel, "FCC Eliminates National TV Ownership Cap," Oct. 6, 2026\. [cahill.com](https://www.cahill.com/publications/client-alerts/2026-10-06-fcc-eliminates-national-tv-ownership-cap-moves-to-case-by-case-evaluation-of-broadcast-tv-ownership-what-you-need-to-know?ref=postmarq.org)
15. Variety, "Fox's $22 Billion Roku Deal Approved by Shareholders of Both Companies," Oct. 2026\. [variety.com](https://variety.com/2026/tv/news/fox-roku-acquisition-approved-shareholders-1236912437/?ref=postmarq.org)
16. Pew Research Center, "Which News Sources Republicans and Democrats Use and Trust," June 10, 2025\. [pewresearch.org](https://www.pewresearch.org/journalism/2025/06/10/the-political-gap-in-americans-news-sources/?ref=postmarq.org)
17. FOX 10, Cory McCloskey bio. [fox10phoenix.com](https://www.fox10phoenix.com/person/m/cory-mccloskey?ref=postmarq.org)

*Postmarq is not affiliated with any station.*