 Under Continental Television Network, KTMF (along with its sister stations) did not air local newscasts, but soon after Max Media acquired the stations, they began to make plans for a regional newscast for the stations, to debut in early 2002.They launched the newscast, produced by Independent News Network of Davenport, Iowa and branded "Big Sky News", in October 2002, but the newscast generated controversy, in part because it tried to simultaneously serve the needs of five communities over apart, and in part because the newscast did not actually originate in Montana, but rather, in a city approximately away, with only one reporter actually assigned to and located in Missoula.Max Media launched another attempt at a regional newscast for KTMF and its other stations in February 2005, this time branded "Montana News Network" but this time it was produced out of KFBB-TV in Great Falls (which the company had acquired in 2004).