| Utica/Rome, New York | |
|---|---|
| Branding | The CW 11 (general) NewsChannel 2 |
| Slogan | TV to Talk About & Where the News Comes First |
| Channels | Digital: WKTV-DT 29.2 (UHF) Virtual: 2.2 (PSIP) |
| Affiliations | The CW (via The CW Plus) |
| Owner | Smith Media, LLC (Smith Media License Holdings, LLC) |
| Founded | September 1998 |
| Call letters' meaning | see WKTV |
| Former callsigns | "WBU" (1998-2006) |
| Former affiliations | The WB (1998-2006, via The WB 100+) |
| Transmitter power | 708 kW (digital) |
| Height | 402 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 60654 (digital) |
| Transmitter coordinates | (digital) |
WKTV-DT2 is the CW-affiliated television station for Central Upstate New York's Mohawk Valley. It is part of The CW Plus, a special CW feed broadcasting on cable and/or over-the-air on a digital signal. The station is a second digital subchannel of NBC affiliate WKTV owned by Smith Media, LLC. Over-the-air, WKTV-DT2 broadcasts a standard definition digital signal on UHF channel 29.2 (or virtual channel 2.2 via PSIP) from a transmitter in the Eatonville section of Fairfield and Herkimer. Known on-air as The CW 11, it can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 11 (hence the branding). WKTV-DT2's parent station has studios on Smith Hill Road in Deerfield (station address says Utica).
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The station signed-on in September 1998 alongside the creation of The WB 100+. WKTV partnered with the group to launch a cable-only WB affiliate. This new service replaced network flagship WPIX from New York City on Time Warner Cable systems in the Mowhawk Valley and it used the "WBU" (standing for The WB Utica) call sign in a fictional manner. On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the two networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be known as The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents "C"BS (the parent company of UPN) and the "W"arner Bros. unit of Time Warner.
On September 18, WKTV launched a new second digital subchannel to simulcast WBU and offer off-air access to CW programming. The station then began using the WKTV-DT2 calls in an official manner. Meanwhile, low-powered UPN affiliate WPNY-LP joined News Corporation-owned MyNetworkTV on September 5. Originally, this subchannel was known on-air as "Central New York CW" but was eventually re-branded to "Central New York CW 11" (and more recently "The CW 11") to reflect its location on Time Warner Cable systems. Due to an ongoing retransmission dispute, the cable company replaced WKTV with fellow NBC affiliate WBRE-TV from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania on December 16, 2010. WKTV-DT2 was also dropped and eventually replaced by HBO Family.
On the same date, rival ABC outlet WUTR began to be seen in the Burlington, Vermont/Plattsburgh, New York market on Time Warner Cable after sister station WVNY was dropped for the same reason. [1] The Nexstar Broadcasting Group, owner of WBRE and WUTR, opposed the use of their stations as replacement programming and requested the Time Warner Cable franchise for the affected regions be revoked. Incidentally, Nexstar's sister company Atlantic Broadband, is the only other company with operations in Upstate New York. WKTV and Time Warner reached an agreement, the terms of which both sides refused to reveal, on January 8, 2011 allowing WKTV and this CW subchannel to return to the cable system the next day.
In September 2001, WKTV entered into a news share agreement with Fox affiliate WFXV (then owned by Quorum Broadcasting). This arrangement resulted in a prime time newscast at 10 to debut on the latter station. Known as NewsChannel 2 on Fox, the show aired every night for a half-hour and mirrored programs seen on WKTV. The broadcast was supposed to originate live from WKTV's studios but there were technical problems beaming the show to WFXV's facility on Greenfield Road in Rome through microwave relay. Sometimes, WKTV personnel had to record the newscast in advance and physically deliver the videotape to WFXV which was a thirty minute drive.
When the outsourcing contract ended on August 31, 2004, the Fox outlet decided not to renew it. As a result, the prime time broadcast moved to cable-exclusive "WBU" the next day and reduced to weeknights. [2] [3] After WUTR's sale to Mission Broadcasting in 2004, speculation began circulating that the Nexstar Broadcasting Group (owner of WFXV and WPNY) would establish a combined news department for the three outlets in order to take on longtime dominant WKTV. Progress was not made until March 31, 2011 when the company announced it would launch a news operation for the three stations by mid-September.
The actual launch occurred on September 12 and there is a weeknight newscast at 10 on WFXV that can be seen for 35 minutes and competing with a show on WKTV-DT2 (known as NewsChannel 2 at 10 on The CW 11). Like all CW Plus affiliates in the Eastern Time Zone, this station airs the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz on weekdays from 6 until 9. During weeknight weather forecast segments, WKTV features live NOAA's National Weather Service Doppler weather radar data from several regional sites. On-air, this is known as "StormTracker 2 Live Doppler".
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