WPMT

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This article is about the Fox affiliate in York, Pennsylvania. For the former station in Portland, Maine, see WPMT (Maine).
WPMT
Chambersburg
Links
Public license information
Websitefox43.com

WPMT (channel 43) is a

Harrisburg–licensed PBS member WITF-TV (channel 33), the two stations transmit using WITF-TV's spectrum from an antenna in Susquehanna Township
.

WPMT is also rebroadcast on a translator, W34FM-D in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.

History

Early history

The station first signed on the air on December 21, 1952, as WSBA-TV, originally operating as an

VHF channel 12 five years later. This makes WPMT the second-oldest continuously broadcasting UHF station in the country, only behind WSBT-TV in South Bend, Indiana
(although WSBT moved from its original channel 34 to channel 22 in the late 1950s, making WPMT the oldest UHF station that broadcasts continuously on the same virtual channel number to this day).

In 1963, the station became a

WLYH-TV (channel 15) in Lebanon
to form the Keystone Network. The three stations provided a strong combined signal with about a 55% overlap. Initially, WHP-TV, WLYH, and WSBA aired the same programming despite separate ownership. By the late 1960s, while all three stations ran most of the CBS programming schedule, WHP-TV ran different local programming during non-network hours, while WLYH and WSBA continued to simulcast for nearly the entire broadcast day. WHP ran CBS shows that WSBA and WLYH preempted, while the latter two stations ran programming that WHP preempted, allowing most of the market to view the entire CBS schedule. All three ran most of the CBS lineup, duplicating over three-quarters of the network's programs. This arrangement was necessary for the days before cable gained significant penetration.

In April 1983, Susquehanna sold WSBA-TV to

westerns
.

As a Fox affiliate

In 1986, Mohawk sold the station to Renaissance Broadcasting. On October 9, 1986, WPMT became one of the charter affiliates of the newly launched Fox network. From 1990 to 2004, WPMT featured original children's programming hosted by the station's mascot, a clown named Pete McTee (a play on the station's call letters). The station was acquired by Tribune Broadcasting following the company's purchase of Renaissance in 1996.[2] A year earlier, WPMT had added programming from The WB, half-owned by Tribune, in off-hours. However, cable customers could watch the full WB schedule on sister station WPHL-TV from Philadelphia.

The station's newscasts were seen in a fictional sense in the 2010 film Unstoppable, which is set in the station's market area.

Former WPMT logo, used from 2007 to 2009.

Aborted sale to Sinclair Broadcast Group

On May 8, 2017,

Grand Rapids—to Standard Media Group (an independent broadcast holding company formed by private equity firm Standard General to assume ownership of and absolve ownership conflicts involving the aforementioned stations) for $441.1 million.[8][9][10][11][12]

Three weeks after the FCC's July 18 vote to have the deal reviewed by an

Delaware Chancery Court, alleging that Sinclair engaged in protracted negotiations with the FCC and the DOJ over regulatory issues, refused to sell stations in markets where it already had properties, and proposed divestitures to parties with ties to Sinclair executive chair David D. Smith that were rejected or highly subject to rejection to maintain control over stations it was required to sell. The termination of the Sinclair sale agreement places uncertainty for the future of Standard Media's purchases of WPMT and the other six Tribune- and Sinclair-operated stations included in that deal, which were predicated on the closure of the Sinclair–Tribune merger.[13][14][15][16][17][18]

Sale to Nexstar Media Group and resale to Tegna

On December 3, 2018, Irving, Texas–based Nexstar Media Group—which has owned ABC affiliate WHTM-TV (channel 27) since January 2017—announced it would acquire the assets of Tribune Media for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. Nexstar was precluded from acquiring WPMT directly or indirectly, as FCC regulations prohibit common ownership of two or more of the four highest-rated stations in the same media market. (Furthermore, any attempt by Nexstar to assume the operations of WPMT through local marketing or shared services agreements would have been subject to regulatory hurdles that could have delayed completion of the FCC and Justice Department's review and approval process for the acquisition.) As such, Nexstar was required to sell either WPMT or WHTM to a separate, unrelated company to address the ownership conflict.[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28] On March 20, 2019, McLean, Virginia–based Tegna Inc. announced it would purchase WPMT from Nexstar upon consummation of the merger, 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; along with Scranton sister station WNEP-TV (which was also acquired by Tegna as part of the spin-offs), this would make WPMT among the first television properties in Pennsylvania for Tegna.[29][30] The sale was consummated on September 19, 2019.[31]

News operation

WPMT presently broadcasts 47 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with nine hours each weekday and one hour each on Saturdays and Sundays); in regards to the number of hours devoted to news programming, it is the highest local newscast output of any television station in the Harrisburg–Lancaster–Lebanon–York market.

As a CBS affiliate, WSBA-TV ran a small news department branded as NewsWatch 43. In 1980, the station relaunched its news department as a much larger operation, and retitled its newscasts to TeleJournal News. The station's signal prevented the competitive newscast from being seen throughout the market, however, preventing it from adequately competing against the established news departments of the other local

Big Three network affiliates in the Susquehanna Valley
(including NBC affiliate and longtime market leader WGAL, ABC affiliate WHTM, fellow CBS affiliates WHP-TV and WLYH); as a result, the news department was discontinued in 1983.

With Fox preparing to heighten its profile once Fox took over the contractual rights to the

owned-and-operated and affiliated stations that had limited to no local news presence to develop full-scale news departments. Renaissance Broadcasting agreed to Fox's request and commenced development of a full-scale news department for Channel 43. Long-form newscasts would return to WPMT on September 12, 1994, when the station premiered its flagship prime time newscast, Fox 43 News at Ten. Originally airing Monday through Fridays for a half-hour, it was first anchored by Evan Forrester and Donya Archer, who were accompanied by weather anchor Susan Schrack and sports director Tom Werme. (As of 2021, the weeknight editions of the 10 p.m. broadcast compete with prime time newscasts on CW affiliate WHP-DT3 [channel 21.3], and MeTV affiliate WGAL-DT2
[channel 8.2].) Half-hour Saturday and Sunday editions of the newscast were subsequently added on January 7, 1995; this was followed by the expansion of the weeknight editions of the newscast to one hour on September 13, 1997, with the weekend editions following suit on January 9, 1999.

News programming on Channel 43 expanded on January 16, 2006, with the addition of the Fox 43 Morning News, an hour-long weekday morning newscast at 7 a.m.; the newscast, which was formatted to feature updated traffic and weather segments in 10-minute intervals, gradually expanded within the next decade: the Morning News added two additional hours (expanding it to run from 5 to 8 a.m.) by September 2007 and expanded to include an 8 a.m. hour in September 2008. On February 13, 2013, WPMT expanded the weekday morning newscast to five hours (moving its start time one hour early to 4 a.m.), becoming the first and only station in the market, and the fifth Tribune-owned station to begin its morning newscast at 4 a.m. (WGAL and WHTM start their morning newscasts at 4:30, while WHP's continues to start at 5 a.m.)[32] The weekday morning show later expanded to six hours (with the addition of a 9 a.m. block) on September 17, 2018.[33]

On September 4, 2009, WPMT began airing a local sports highlight program called High School Football Frenzy, that airs Fridays at 6 p.m. during the high school football season.[34] On September 21, 2009, the station debuted a half-hour weeknight newscast at 6:30, that competed against the national network newscasts on WHP, WGAL, and WHTM.[34][35] The station launched a weeknight 11 p.m. newscast on January 11, 2010.[36]

On January 15, 2011, WPMT became the first station in Central Pennsylvania and the last Tribune-owned Fox affiliate to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition (rival WGAL was the first station in the market to offer local newscasts in the

ENG
vehicles, satellite truck, studio and field cameras and other equipment in order to broadcast news footage from the field in high definition, in addition to segments broadcast from the main studio.

On January 9, 2012, WPMT expanded its early evening newscast to one hour with the addition of a half-hour at 6 p.m.[38] WPMT debuted two hour-long newscasts at 4 and 5 p.m. weekdays on August 5, 2013, while discontinuing its hour-long 6 p.m. newscast. The station's 11 p.m. newscast was discontinued the following month on September 6, and was replaced by the second incarnation of The Arsenio Hall Show (which was produced by Tribune) three days later.[39][40]

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is

multiplexed
:

Subchannels of WPMT
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
43.1 720p
16:9
 WPMT-DT Main WPMT programming / Fox
43.2 480i
4:3
 Antenna Antenna TV

On October 26, 2009, WPMT launched a

livestream link on their webpage.[42]
As part of a channel sharing agreement with WITF, the This TV subchannel on 43.3 was dropped.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WPMT discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over

UHF channel 43, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[43] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 47,[44][45] using virtual channel
43.

WPMT sold its spectrum for $50 million in the

2016–2017 FCC incentive auction and the station will have to cease broadcasting on its current digital channel 90 days after it receives payment from the FCC.[46] On August 31, 2017, it was announced that WPMT had entered into a channel sharing agreement with PBS member station WITF-TV.[47]

References

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WPMT". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ Tribune Co. Looks to Boost Role in TV with Offer for Six Stations, Los Angeles Daily News, July 2, 1996.
  3. ^ Battaglio, Stephen (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast Group to buy Tribune Media for $3.9 billion plus debt". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  4. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast Group Sets $3.9 Billion Deal to Acquire Tribune Media". Variety. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  5. ^ Frankel, Todd (May 8, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast to buy Tribune Media for $3.9 billion, giving it control over 215 local TV stations". The Washington Post. Nash Holdings, LLC. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  6. ^ Baker, Liana; Toonkel, Jessica (May 7, 2017). "Sinclair Broadcast nears deal for Tribune Media". Reuters. Retrieved June 6, 2017.
  7. ^ Jessell, Harry A.; Miller, Mark K. (May 8, 2017). "The New Sinclair: 72% Coverage + WGNA". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media.
  8. ^ Jessell, Harry A. (April 24, 2018). "Sinclair Spins Off 23 TVs To Grease Trib Deal". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  9. ^ "Sinclair Enters Into Agreements to Sell TV Stations Related to Closing Tribune Media Acquisition" (PDF) (Press release). Sinclair Broadcast Group. April 24, 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 26, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  10. ^ "Sinclair Revises TV Spinoff Plans For Tribune Deal, Announces Deals For Several Stations". All Access. April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018.
  11. ^ "Station Trading Roundup: 7 Deals, $571.7M". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. May 1, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  12. ^ "Form of Transition Services Agreement". Federal Communications Commission. April 30, 2018. Retrieved May 2, 2018.
  13. News Corp.
    August 9, 2018.
  14. ^ Miller, Mark K. (August 9, 2018). "Tribune Kills Sinclair Merger, Files Suit". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media.
  15. Tronc
    .
  16. ^ Lee, Edmund; Tsang, Amie (August 9, 2018). "Tribune Ends Deal With Sinclair, Dashing Plan for Conservative TV Behemoth". The New York Times.
  17. ^ Lafayette, Jon (August 9, 2018). "Tribune Ends Deal with Sinclair, Files Breach of Contract Suit". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media.
  18. ^ Fung, Brian; Romm, Tony (August 9, 2018). "Tribune withdraws from Sinclair merger, saying it will sue for 'breach of contract'". The Washington Post. Nash Holdings LLC.
  19. ^ "Acquisition of Tribune Media Company" (PDF). Nexstar Media Group. December 3, 2018.
  20. ^ Miller, Mark K. (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar Buying Tribune Media For $6.4 Billion". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ 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.
  23. ^ Panchadar, Arjun; Rai, Sonam (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar to buy Tribune Media for $4.1 billion". Reuters.
  24. ^ Lafayette, Jon (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar Announces Deal to Buy Tribune for $6.4B". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media.
  25. ^ Jacobson, Adam (December 3, 2018). "It's Official: Nexstar Takes Tribune In Billion-Dollar Stock Deal". Radio-Television Business Report. Streamline-RBR, Inc.
  26. ^ Jessell, Harry A.; Miller, Mark K. (December 3, 2018). "Nexstar To Spin Off $1B In Stations". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media.
  27. ^ "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.
  28. ^ "Nexstar Media Group Enters Into Definitive Agreement To Acquire Tribune Media Company". Tribune Media. December 3, 2018. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  29. ^ Miller, Mark K. (March 20, 2019). "Nexstar Selling 19 TVs In 15 Markets For .32B". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media.
  30. Bloomberg, L.P.
  31. ^ "TODAY.... Nexstar Takes Control of Tribune". September 19, 2019.
  32. ^ WPMT Morning News Expands to 5 Hours, TVNewsCheck, February 11, 2013.
  33. Advance Local Media LLC
    . Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  34. ^ a b Stark, Eric (August 16, 2009). "Fox 43 adds third newscast". LancasterOnline. LNP Media Group, Inc. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  35. ^ WPMT York, Pa., Adding 6:30 P.M. News, TVNewsCheck, August 12, 2009.
  36. ^ WPMT FOX43 [@fox43] (November 4, 2010). "FOX43 News at 11 launches Monday, January 11, 2010" (Tweet) – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  37. Lancaster New Era
    , January 2, 2011.
  38. ^ WPMT Harrisburg Adds 6 p.m. Newscast, TVNewsCheck, December 6, 2011.
  39. ^ WPMT FOX 43 to start two new hours of News this August FOX43.com, May 14, 2013.
  40. ^ WPMT To Expand Evening News Lineup TVNewsCheck.com, May 14, 2013.
  41. ^ WPMT Launching Local 24-Hour News Ch., TVNewsCheck, October 16, 2009.
  42. ^ WPMT Livestream Page
  43. ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
  44. ^ FCC document: "APPENDIX B: ALL FULL-POWER TELEVISION STATIONS BY DMA, INDICATING THOSE TERMINATING ANALOG SERVICE ON OR BEFORE FEBRUARY 17, 2009."
  45. ^ CDBS Print
  46. ^ "Consumer FAQs: TV Spectrum Auction". April 12, 2017.
  47. ^ Modification of a Licensed Facility for DTV Application

External links

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