WBFS-TV
FCC | |
Facility ID | 12497 |
---|---|
ERP | 1,000 kW |
HAAT | 296.9 m (974 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 25°58′8″N 80°13′19″W / 25.96889°N 80.22194°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
WBFS-TV (channel 33) is an
WBFS-TV was established in 1984, marking the fourth attempt at activating the channel for full-power use in Miami. The aggressive program purchasing and promotional tactics of its builder, the
History
Three unbuilt construction permits
Channel 33, allocated to
Gateway abandoned its bid by 1966,
"Florida's Super Station"
In 1977, Miami STV Inc., a company owned by the Block family of Milwaukee, filed with the FCC for authority to build channel 33. Like Gold Coast of a decade earlier, Miami STV was aligned with a subscription television operation, in this case SelecTV. Miami STV was granted a construction permit in July 1980, with the FCC turning down an application for a high-power satellite of WCIX in the process; the owners proposed a hybrid service of ad-supported and subscription programs, similar to what WKID was already broadcasting on channel 51.[11]
The call letters WBFS-TV were assigned under Block in February 1983;[12] that November, the Shlenker Group, which owned KTXH in Houston and KTXA in Fort Worth, Texas, filed to buy a majority stake in the unbuilt station from Miami STV for $46,250. Shlenker would finance construction; in exchange, plans for STV operation would be dropped.[13] At the end of 1983, the WCIX channel 33 translator was shut down.[14]
From the new Guy Gannett tower adjacent to
Grant bankruptcy and Combined ownership
The Grant Broadcasting System sold the Fort Worth and Houston stations in early 1985 and expanded to new startup independents in two larger markets, Philadelphia (
On December 8, 1986, all three Grant television stations filed for
In a March 1987 bankruptcy court proceeding in Philadelphia, Grant was allowed to continue operating its stations until at least July 1 through cash and accounts receivables to fund operations, denying a motion by the company's creditors to assume control of the stations or force their sale.[27] However, on July 7, Grant agreed to enter into receivership and turn over control of the company and its three stations to its television program suppliers and bondholders under a reorganization plan to repay $420 million in debt from the stations' operations by 1995, at which point the stations would be sold off. The reorganization plan was formally filed on October 13 and approved on March 30, 1988.[28][29][30] In July 1988, Combined Broadcasting, a creditor-controlled company, took over Grant and the three stations.[31]
Despite being run by a consortium of creditors, WBFS continued to do well under Combined's stewardship. It became the over-the-air home of the expansion
In 1993, Combined put WBFS and WGBO up for sale, seeking $90 million for the pair. Chris-Craft Industries expressed interest in both stations, and Renaissance Communications, owner of competing independent WDZL (channel 39), also looked into a bid to combine both stations' programming,[35] but Combined took them off the market later in the year.[36] Combined sold WGBO to Univision in early 1994 for $30 million; not all of the Spanish-language network's programming was airing in Chicago at the time.[37] In April 1994, Combined signed an affiliation agreement for WBFS-TV with The WB, a new television network slated to start in January 1995.[38]
Sale to Paramount and affiliation with UPN
In 1994, Combined reached an agreement to sell WBFS-TV and WGBS-TV to
As UPN expanded in programming offering, the sports teams left. The Heat had returned to WBFS-TV in 1993, but they signed a deal with
In 2000, Paramount's parent company
Since being consolidated with WFOR-TV, WBFS-TV has occasionally aired CBS network programming to accommodate the CBS station's coverage of news and weather events and Miami Dolphins preseason coverage (to which WFOR-TV holds the rights).[47][48]
Transition to MyNetworkTV
On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation (which had been formed from the split of Viacom in two) and
To serve affiliates of the two networks not selected for The CW—namely its own—
By 2023, the station no longer aired MyNetworkTV programming.[54]
Local programming
Newscasts
The first news of any kind on WBFS-TV came in the form of prime time news breaks supplied by WTVJ in 1993.[55]
Soon after the Viacom-CBS merger in 2001, and in the wake of the September 11 attacks, WBFS began to air a nightly 10 p.m. newscast from WFOR-TV. This was the third prime time news broadcast in the market after WSVN's long-established 10 p.m. newscast and a WTVJ-produced newscast in that slot on WB affiliate WBZL.[56] In 2003, the newscast was expanded from 30 minutes to a full hour, and the next year, WBFS added a two-hour-long extension of WFOR's weekday morning newscast, airing from 7 to 9 a.m., which replaced paid programming in that time slot and competed against WSVN's morning newscast Today in Florida.[57] The morning newscast failed to garner viewership and aired for the last time on October 17, 2008, when WBFS-TV's weekend newscasts were also dropped and several on-air talent and six behind-the-scenes employees were dismissed as part of budget cuts.[58] The newscast ended in September 2011.[59]
A prime time newscast, now airing at 9 p.m., was re-introduced in July 2022 using the new CBS News Now format.[60] The Now format was discontinued in 2023; WBFS would later reintroduce a locally produced 9 p.m. newscast anchored by Jim Berry and Najahe Sherman.[61] A morning newscast from 7 to 8 a.m. was restored in January 2024.[62]
Sports programming
In 2020, Inter Miami CF announced that, alongside WFOR-TV, WBFS would carry regionally televised matches.[63][a]
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
---|---|---|---|---|
33.1 | 1080i | 16:9 |
WBFS-TV | Main WBFS-TV programming |
33.2 | 480i | WBFSTV2 | Movies! | |
33.3 | WBFSTV3 | Charge! | ||
33.4 | WBFSTV4 | Comet | ||
33.5 | WBFSTV5 | Story Television |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WBFS-TV ended programming on its analog signal, on
Notes
- ^ All Major League Soccer local television rights agreements ended after 2022 to make way for MLS's 10-year deal with Apple.[64]
References
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Apple TV matches will not be shown on local television networks...
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