Nexstar Broadcasting Group purchased KJAC from U.S. Broadcast Group in 1998. On June 11, 1999, the station took its present KBTV-TV callsign to align itself more with Beaumont, even though it is still licensed to Port Arthur. The call letters had previously been used by channel 9 in Denver (now KUSA) and channel 8 in Dallas (now WFAA). KBTV-TV also shares its call letters with KBTV-CD channel 51 in Sacramento, California. To go along with the call change, KBTV moved from its Port Arthur studios to studios inside Parkdale Mall in Beaumont, where it remained until it moved to KFDM's studios in April 2013. The station was one of the few television stations in the country to have studios located inside a major shopping center.