WTAT-TV
FCC | |
| Facility ID | 416 |
|---|---|
| ERP | 450 kW |
| HAAT | 599.4 m (1,967 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 32°56′25″N 79°41′44″W / 32.94028°N 79.69556°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | foxcharleston |
WTAT-TV (channel 24) is a
History
The station began operations on September 7, 1985, as Charleston's first
In 1987, Charleston Television Community Ltd. sold WTAT-TV to
Abry Communications bought the Act III group in 1995, and formed Sullivan Broadcasting to operate the stations.
By the time Sinclair tried to acquire Sullivan's stations outright in 2001, it already owned WMMP, which it had purchased outright from Max Media Properties (a company partially related to the present-day Max Media) in July 1998. Sinclair could not legally own both WTAT and WMMP because Charleston has only six full-power stations—too few to legally permit a duopoly. Although WTAT was longer-established, Sinclair opted to keep WMMP and sold WTAT to Glencairn, Ltd. That company was owned by Edwin Edwards, a former Sinclair executive, and appeared to be a minority-owned company. However, nearly all of Glencairn's stock was controlled by the Smith family, founders of Sinclair. In effect, Sinclair now had a duopoly in the Charleston market in violation of FCC regulations. Glencairn and Sinclair further circumvented the rules by crafting a local marketing agreement with WMMP as the senior partner, allowing Sinclair to continue operating WTAT.
In 2001, the FCC fined Sinclair $40,000 for illegally controlling Glencairn. Later that year, this was renamed Cunningham Broadcasting. However, nearly all of Cunningham's stock is still controlled by trusts in the names of the children of the Smith brothers. Then as now, all of Cunningham's stations are located in markets where Sinclair cannot legally form a duopoly, and are operated by Sinclair stations via LMAs. Glencairn, and later Cunningham, have been accused of serving as a shell corporation that allows Sinclair to circumvent FCC ownership rules. On May 15, 2012, Sinclair and Fox agreed to a five-year extension of the network's affiliation agreement with Sinclair's 19 Fox stations, including WTAT, allowing them to continue carrying Fox programming until at least 2017.[7]
On March 20, 2014, as part of a restructuring of Sinclair's August 2013 deal to purchase Allbritton Communications (owner of ABC affiliate WCIV, then on channel 4) in order to address ownership conflicts with the deal involving WMMP's local marketing agreement with WTAT, Sinclair announced that it planned to terminate the shared services agreement with Cunningham Broadcasting (which would have made WTAT the first Cunningham station in which Sinclair would not hold any operational interest). Cunningham, which was to have acquired the non-license assets of WTAT, sought a shared services agreement with the prospective owner of WMMP, which Sinclair was to have sold in order to receive approval of its purchase of WCIV.[8][9] This plan never materialized as Sinclair retained WWMP (to which Sinclair moved the WCIV intellectual unit including its call sign), and WTAT continued to be operated by Sinclair until some point in 2019 or 2020, when Cunningham took full control of the station although it continues its news share agreement with WCIV.
News operation
In the early-1990s, Fox required most of its major market affiliates to add local newscasts or face disaffiliation. As a result, WTAT entered into a news share agreement with CBS affiliate WCSC-TV (channel 5, then owned by Crump Communications). The partnership resulted in a nightly half-hour prime time broadcast to debut on this station (currently titled The Fox 24 News at 10).
That program was one of the first prime time newscasts in South Carolina along with fellow Fox affiliate WACH in Columbia which established a similar outsourcing arrangement with NBC affiliate WIS in that market several years later. Eventually, an hour-long extension of WCSC's weekday morning show was added to WTAT. Known as The Fox 24 News at 7, this was seen until 8 offering the area's only local alternative to the national morning broadcasts aired on the big three networks.
WTAT's shows had no WCSC branding and originated from the CBS affiliate's studio (studio 2) on Charlie Hall Boulevard in Charleston's
On September 29, 2008, WCSC set a broadcasting benchmark in the area when it became the first television outlet to offer newscasts in high definition. The upgrade included new custom
On August 31, 2009, the weeknight prime time show at 10 was expanded to an hour while the weekend edition remained 35 minutes in length. It would not be until January 24, 2011, when the station completed a master control upgrade allowing the reception and transmission of local programming, including local news, in high definition. During weather forecasts, WTAT features WCSC's own Collins ADC
Since January 1, 2016, WTAT's newscasts have been produced by WCIV. This change also came with a new anchor for the 10 p.m. news hour and an expanded morning news (7–9 a.m.).
On January 9, 2017, WTAT's newscasts expanded to include a traditional newscast at 6:30 p.m. and a news magazine-type program at 11 p.m. (Fox 24 News Now) which is broadcast from their studios on Arco Lane in North Charleston.
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's signal is
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 24.1 | 720p | 16:9 |
WTATFOX | Fox |
| 24.2 | 480i | CrimeTV | True Crime Network | |
| 24.3 | COMET | Comet | ||
| 24.4 | Charge! | Charge | ||
| 24.5 | TBD | TBD | ||
| 4.1 | 720p | 16:9 | MeTV | MeTV (WGWG) |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WTAT-TV shut down its analog signal, over
References
- ^ "DTV Engineering STA Application". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. September 10, 2019. Retrieved September 24, 2019.
- ^ WTAT Request for STA
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WTAT-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- Broadcasting Magazine. July 27, 1987. p. 97. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
- ^ Flint, Joe (October 2, 1995). "ABRY CHOICE IS CLEAR; SULLIVAN TO TOP ACT III". Variety. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
- ^ Morgan, Richard (February 25, 1998). "Sinclair closes Sullivan buyout". Variety. Retrieved December 9, 2021.
- ^ Sinclair Reups With Fox, Gets WUTB Option, TVNewsCheck, May 15, 2012.
- TVSpy, March 21, 2014.
- PRNewswire), March 20, 2014.
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WTAT
- ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations