UHF independent station, prevailed in a years-long attempt to contest this arrangement and secure ABC programming in the market; KCST claimed that ABC should no longer be affiliated with a station located in Mexico when there was now a third U.S.-based station which could carry its programming. At the time of the switch, ABC was still the third-ranked network, behind second-rated NBC and perennial leader CBS.

Over the next several years, however, ABC began to experience