Roku / news_and_weather / KXNEWS+ KXMB BISMARCK NEWS
REVIEW
KXNEWS+ does the one job a local-news channel has to do.
Nexstar's Bismarck CBS affiliate ships a free, ad-supported Roku channel built around the 5pm and 10pm newscasts. It is small, focused, and exactly what a North Dakota household actually wants on the TV.
BY THE APP COMRADE DESK · MAY 10, 2026 · 3 MIN READ
KXNEWS+ KXMB Bismarck News
NEXSTAR BROADCASTING, INC.
OUR SCORE
7.0
ROKU
★ 5.0
PRICE
Free
A local-news Roku channel is a narrow product with a narrow audience, and KXNEWS+ knows it. The app exists for one reason: to put the KXMB Bismarck newscast — and the wider KX News coverage that feeds it from Minot — onto a television without making the viewer sign in, pay anything, or pick a tier. That is the entire pitch, and on those terms the channel works.
Nexstar Broadcasting, which owns KXMB along with roughly 200 other US local stations, has spent the last year rolling out a unified ”+” streaming app across its affiliates. KXNEWS+ launched in November 2025 as part of that rollout. It is not a reimagining of local news; it is a free, ad-supported delivery vehicle for the same newscasts the station has been producing for decades, now on the device most North Dakotans actually use to watch television.
The bar for a channel like this is not Netflix. It is whether the 10pm newscast plays without a fight. KXNEWS+ clears it.
The bar for a local-news Roku channel is not Netflix. It is whether the 10pm newscast plays without a fight. KXNEWS+ clears it.
FEATURES
KXNEWS+ is the streaming channel for KXMB, the CBS affiliate serving Bismarck and the broader KX News footprint across central and western North Dakota. The channel is free, ad-supported, and signs in to nothing — install it from the Roku Channel Store and the home screen loads straight into the latest news block.
Programming centres on the station's flagship newscasts (early-evening and late-night), with on-demand replays of weather, sports, and the long-running KX Conversation interview segment. A live linear feed runs continuously, looping the most recent broadcast between fresh hits. Severe-weather coverage from KX Storm Team pre-empts the regular schedule, which on the Northern Plains is the use case that justifies installing the channel in the first place.
No account, no subscription, no in-app purchase. Ads are mid-roll within news segments, served through Nexstar's national ad stack.
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
The channel is built for the right user — a Bismarck household that wants the 5pm or 10pm newscast on the living-room TV without paying for cable. Launch is fast, the player is stable, and the on-demand index is organised by show rather than by topic, which is how local-news viewers actually search.
Nexstar's recent push (the channel launched in November 2025) has standardised the "+" branding across its 200-plus affiliates, which means KXNEWS+ behaves the same way as the company's other local Roku channels. Familiar layout, familiar remote interactions, no learning curve for anyone who has already installed a sibling station's app.
ROOM TO IMPROVE
The Roku store lists no written description and no editorial copy at all, which makes discovery hard for anyone outside the immediate market who doesn't already know what KX News is. The channel relies entirely on word-of-mouth and the Nexstar corporate brand push to find an audience.
Ad load during the newscast replay is heavier than on the over-the-air broadcast, and the mid-roll insertions sometimes interrupt the same segment twice on different viewings. Closed captioning is present on the live feed but inconsistent on the on-demand replays, which is the one accessibility miss that matters for a news app.
CONCLUSION
If you live in Bismarck, Mandan, Minot, or anywhere KXMB and KXMC reach over the air, install it — it is the easiest way to get the local newscast on a TV without an antenna or a cable bill. Outside the market it has no reason to exist for you. Watch for whether Nexstar wires the KX Storm Team radar into the channel as a standalone tile; that would push the score into the 7.5 range.