WCTX

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WCTX
kW
HAAT342 m (1,122 ft)
Transmitter coordinates41°25′22.2″N 72°57′4.9″W / 41.422833°N 72.951361°W / 41.422833; -72.951361
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.wtnh.com

WCTX (channel 59) is a

channel sharing agreement, the two stations transmit using WTNH's spectrum from a tower in Hamden, Connecticut
.

History

As early as 1953, a

). Although WHNB had boosted its power to cover New Haven a few months earlier, some areas in Southern Connecticut still could not get a good signal from the station.

On April 3, 1995, the station finally began broadcasting as a

Southwestern Connecticut were able to view the network's programs in-pattern via New York City-based superstation WPIX
.

Under the terms of the LMA, WTNH bought WTVU's entire broadcast day, giving the station a lineup of strong syndicated programs, mostly barter shows and second runs from WTNH. It also ran classic sitcoms and drama shows such as Hawaii Five-O, Perry Mason, M*A*S*H, I Love Lucy, Happy Days, The Honeymooners, The Andy Griffith Show, The Beverly Hillbillies, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched and Gilligan's Island among others that were removed from the schedules of WTXX (channel 20, now WCCT-TV) and WTWS (channel 26, now Ion Television affiliate WHPX-TV) some years back. It also picked up the over-the-air rights to Hartford Whalers hockey games, which aired on the station until the team became the Carolina Hurricanes in 1997.

On April 1, 1996, the station changed its call letters to WBNE (for "WB New England"). After Tribune Broadcasting (a minority owner of The WB) purchased then-UPN affiliate WTXX, WBNE and that station swapped network affiliations on January 1, 2001. With the new network relationship came the current WCTX calls and use of the on-air identity "The X". That identity was used in lieu of the conventional "UPN (channel number)" branding. LIN TV purchased WCTX outright in 2002. On September 19, 2005, WCTX became known as "UPN 9" (the same branding as fellow New York affiliate WWOR-TV), highlighting its cable channel position in some areas.

On January 24, 2006,

Warner Bros. Entertainment unit of Time Warner announced that UPN and The WB would cease broadcasting and merge their programming inventories to create a new network called The CW.[4][5] WTXX was chosen as Connecticut's CW affiliate after its owner Tribune announced a ten-year deal with the upcoming network leaving WCTX to tentatively become an independent station once again. However, on April 26, WCTX announced it would join MyNetworkTV (a second new network launched by News Corporation).[6]

MyNetworkTV began broadcasting on September 5, and as a result, the station did not carry the final two weeks of UPN programming. With its new network affiliation, the station changed its branding to the current "MyTV9". As of the

to broadcast select regular season games as well.

Until March 31, 2008, WCTX served as the default MyNetworkTV affiliate on

Charter Communications cable systems for the Springfield–Holyoke, Massachusetts market as that area did not have an affiliate of its own. On that date, ABC affiliate WGGB-TV added the network as a secondary affiliation on its new Fox-affiliated second digital subchannel. WCTX is still seen on Charter. WCTX was also repeated on W11BJ (now WFXQ-CD) from a transmitter on Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington
from 2004 until 2006 while LIN TV built a new transmitter for that channel and moved its city of license to Springfield.

On March 21, 2014, Media General announced that it would purchase LIN Media and its stations, including WTNH and WCTX, in a $1.6 billion merger.[7] The merger was completed on December 19.[8]

On September 8, 2015, Media General announced that it would acquire the

Nexstar Broadcasting Group
announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General, resulting in the termination of Meredith's acquisition by Media General.

On December 3, 2018, Nexstar announced it would acquire the assets of Chicago-based Tribune Media—which has owned Fox affiliate WTIC-TV (channel 61) since 1996 and CW affiliate WCCT-TV (channel 20) since 2001—for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. Nexstar was required to sell two of the stations (including one ranking in the top four in ratings) to a separate, unrelated company to comply with FCC ownership rules.[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22] On March 20, 2019, it was announced that Nexstar would keep the WTNH/WCTX duopoly and sell the WTIC/WCCT duopoly to McLean, Virginia-based Tegna Inc. as part of the company's sale of nineteen Nexstar- and Tribune-operated stations to Tegna and the E. W. Scripps Company in separate deals worth $1.32 billion; this would make the WTIC/WCCT duopoly the first television properties in Connecticut and southern New England for Tegna.[23][24]

Programming

Occasionally as time permits, WCTX may air ABC programs normally seen on WTNH in the event Channel 8 is unable to air them because of extended breaking news coverage or locally produced special programming on that station.

WCTX formerly carried Boston Red Sox games syndicated from the "Fox 25 Red Sox Television Network".[25]

Newscasts

Since 2000, WTNH has been producing a nightly prime time newscast at 10 p.m. on channel 59.

Big Three stations
.

In 2005, WCTX began simulcasting the second hour of WTNH's weekday morning show (at 6 am), followed by a third hour from 7 to 8 a.m. that is seen exclusively on WCTX, except for simulcast

enhanced definition, with WCTX's newscasts being included in the upgrade. On October 4, 2010, WTNH became the third station in the market to begin broadcasting its newscasts in high definition; WCTX's newscasts also made the transition. On March 30, 2020, WTNH planned to launch an expansion of WCTX's prime time newscast to the three-hour entirety of prime time on weeknights and 90 minutes on weekends, presumably pushing back MyNetworkTV programming to the graveyard slot in late night, an increasingly common fate for the service.[28] This quickly shifted to launching on March 16 instead to provide continuing coverage of the local impact of the COVID-19 pandemic
.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is

multiplexed
:

Subchannels of WCTX on the WTNH multiplex[29]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
59.1 720p
16:9
WCTX-DT MyNetworkTV
59.2 480i COMET Comet

Until TheCoolTV was added on WCTX-DT2 in 2010 (which was subsequently dropped on July 15, 2013), the subchannel aired a 24-hour live feed of WTNH's regional

Justice Network aired on WCTX-DT3 from February 2016 until March 2018, when WTIC-TV added it on its DT4 subchannel. WCTX additionally carries live sports events of local interest from Sinclair's Stadium.[30]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WCTX shut down its analog signal, over

UHF channel 59, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[31] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 39, using virtual channel
59. In 2018, WCTX moved its digital signal to VHF channel 10, which it now shares with sister station WTNH.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WCTX". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "Application Search Results".
  3. ^ WTVU, Channel 59, Will Go On Air In April, Hartford Courant, March 28, 1995.
  4. CNNMoney.com
    , January 24, 2006.
  5. ^ UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network, The New York Times, January 24, 2006.
  6. ^ My LIN TV: 4 More For New Fox Net, Broadcasting & Cable, April 26, 2006.
  7. ^ Harrison, Crayton (March 21, 2014). "Media General To Buy LIN For $1.6 Billion". Hartford Courant. Bloomberg News. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  8. ^ Media General Completes Merger With LIN Media Archived December 19, 2014, at the Wayback Machine, Press Release, Media General. Retrieved December 19, 2014
  9. ^ "Media General Acquiring Meredith For 2.4 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. September 8, 2015.
  10. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (September 8, 2015). "TV Station Mega Merger: Media General Sets $2.4 Billion Acquisition of Meredith Corp". Variety. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  11. ^ "Media Merger Means WFSB Or WTNH Sale Likely". Hartford Courant. Tribune Publishing. Associated Press. September 8, 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  12. Journal Register Company
    . Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  13. ^ "Acquisition of Tribune Media Company" (PDF). Nexstar Media Group. December 3, 2018.
  14. ^ Miller, Mark K. (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar Buying Tribune Media For $6.4 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media.
  15. ^ White, Peter; Hayes, Dade (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar Confirms $4.1B Tribune Media Acquisition To Become Leading Local TV Station Owner". Deadline Hollywood. Penske Media Corporation.
  16. ^ Smith, Gerry; Ahmed, Nabila; Newcomer, Eric (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar to buy WGN owner Tribune Media for $4.1 billion". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. Bloomberg News.
  17. ^ Panchadar, Arjun; Rai, Sonam (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar to buy Tribune Media for $4.1 billion". Reuters.
  18. ^ Lafayette, Jon (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar Announces Deal to Buy Tribune for $6.4B". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media.
  19. ^ Jacobson, Adam (December 3, 2018). "It's Official: Nexstar Takes Tribune In Billion-Dollar Stock Deal". Radio-Television Business Report. Streamline-RBR, Inc.
  20. ^ Jessell, Harry A.; Miller, Mark K. (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar To Spin Off $1B In Stations". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media.
  21. ^ "Nexstar Media Group Enters into Definitive Agreement to Acquire Tribune Media Company for $6.4 Billion in Accretive Transaction Creating the Nation's Largest Local Television Broadcaster and Local Media Company". Nexstar Media Group. December 3, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  22. ^ "Nexstar Media Group Enters Into Definitive Agreement To Acquire Tribune Media Company". Tribune Media. December 3, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  23. ^ "Nexstar Selling 19 TVs In 15 Markets For $1.32B". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia. March 20, 2019. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  24. Bloomberg, L.P.
  25. ^ "Boston Red Sox Schedule". Major League Baseball. Archived from the original on May 1, 2002. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
  26. ^ WBNE To Add 10 p.m. Newscast, Hartford Courant, January 13, 2000.
  27. ^ WBNE Begins 10 p.m. News, Hartford Courant, April 17, 2000.
  28. ^ Lafayette, John (March 10, 2020). "WCTX Launching 3-Hour News Block in Primetime; Newscasts produced by Nexstar sister station WTNH in Hartford". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved March 11, 2020.
  29. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WCTX
  30. ^ Minium, Harry (August 27, 2014). "ODU's opener with Hampton to be televised in 66 markets". HamptonRoads.com. The Virginian-Pilot. Retrieved September 8, 2014.
  31. ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations

External links

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