On September 23, 1985, it became the area's ABC affiliate with "Monday Night Football" serving as the first program that the station aired as a network affiliate. Prior to this, area cable companies had piped in either WBRZ from Baton Rouge or KATC out of Lafayette, and local station KALB-TV (channel 5) had a secondary affiliation with ABC. Fortunes soon eroded for Cypress Communications over debts accrued during construction of KLAX, and the station was put up for sale in 1986 with former KPLC owner Russell Chambers seeking a co-ownership with Rollins Inc., but this deal fell through. Cypress Communications filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May 1987, and then they sold the station to Pollack/Belz Broadcasting on June 3, 1988.