| Ann Arbor, Michigan | |
|---|---|
| Channels | Digital: 31 (UHF) 50 (UHF, future) |
| Subchannels | (see article) |
| Translators | W48AV 48 Detroit |
| Affiliations | Ion Television |
| Owner | Ion Media Networks, Inc. (Ion Media License Company, LLC) |
| First air date | January 12, 1981 |
| Call letters' meaning | PaX TV Detroit |
| Former callsigns | WRHT / WIHT (1981-1989) WBSX (1989-1998) |
| Former channel number(s) | 31 (UHF analog) (1981-2009) |
| Former affiliations | independent / Satellite Program Network / Financial News Network / IT (1981-1983) independent (1983-1989) HSN (1989-1998) Pax TV (1998-2005) i (2005-2007) |
| Transmitter power | 110 kW 345 kW (future) |
| Height | 328 metres (1,076 ft) |
| Facility ID | 5800 |
| Website | www.ionline.tv |
WPXD-TV (channel 31) is a television station licensed to Ann Arbor, Michigan. It is the Ion Television network affiliate for the Southeastern Michigan market.
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WPXD is currently broadcast on digital channel 31 (having converted their digital transmitter to their original analog channel after the latter closed on February 17, 2009). Its broadcast is multiplexed into three digital subchannels. WPXD will be moving to broadcast channel 50 in the near future.[1]
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 31.1 | Ion (airs in 16:9 1080i HD during primetime) |
| 31.2 | qubo |
| 31.3 | ION Life |
The station also operates a translator station in St. Clair Shores, Michigan on channel 48, W48AV. W48AV currently has an application to flash-cut to digital and become a low-power digital translator station.[2] Currently, the station is still broadcasting the primary digital ION feed (31.1) in analog, though experiences some co-channel interference from Toledo's WMNT-CA, also on 48.
According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) coverage maps for both WPXD and W48AV (,[3][4] ), neither the main WPXD signal nor the W48AV translator covers the entire Metro Detroit area. WPXD's main signal partially reaches Detroit, while its W48AV translator, on the shores of Lake St. Clair near the Grosse Pointes, is directional towards the west, covering Warren and Center Line and going as far west as Madison Heights, but only covering a small portion of northeastern Detroit.
During October 2008, the FCC accepted the station's petition to move its digital signal on the national transition date to channel 19, broadcasting at 1000 kilowatts from WKBD's tower in Southfield, vastly increasing its service area in the Metro Detroit and Windsor areas.[5] But on March 20, 2009, the FCC and Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) denied WPXD's application to move the channel 19 allocation from Ann Arbor to Detroit and to broadcast from WKBD-TV's tower in Southfield, in order to protect CKXT-DT-2 in London, Ontario, also on channel 19.[6] As the Canadian government ended up rejecting the channel switch, so WPXD has remained on Channel 31.
On or about May 11, 2009 a new application to modify a digital allotment was posted in the FCC database, in which WPXD would broadcast its digital signal on channel 50 from WKBD-TV's tower in Southfield at 345 kW. The FCC and the Canadian government have approved this allotment.[1] and barring further objection the station will eventually move to this new location. On October 21, 2009 the FCC granted a construction permit for the construction of WPXD's channel 50 Southfield facilities. WPXD believes the stronger signal will reach an additional 1.8 million viewers.[1]
CKXT itself left the air on November 1, 2011 potentially rendering the question of co-channel interference moot.
WPXD's analog transmitter was located on Highway M-52 in Lyndon Township, Michigan located in Washtenaw County seven miles north of the town of Chelsea, Michigan. The analog transmitter was actually closer to Lansing and Jackson than it was to Detroit, and was 55 miles from downtown Detroit. (Comcast systems in Lansing and Jackson get their Ion programming from Battle Creek's WZPX, however.) WPXD's analog signal could be picked up as far away as St. Johns, Flint, and Owosso, with its fringes making it close to Battle Creek, Coldwater and Toledo. WPXD's analog antenna was 1,079 feet in height.
WPXD's pre-transition digital channel assignment was 33[7] using a relatively low wattage (110 kW). The channel 33 digital signal originated from the same transmitter location as the analog channel 31 signal in Lyndon Township, Michigan, interfering with Detroit's W33BY a low-power Class-A station currently on channel 33. The initial plan was to go back to channel 31 after its analog cutoff on February 17, 2009.
Although the DTV Delay Act officially delayed the shutdown of analog stations until June 2009, WPXD turned off its analog signal on February 17 as originally planned.[8] WPXD was the only Detroit market station that was allowed to go fully digital on February 17.
WPXD-TV also has plans for a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 31.1.[9][10]
The station signed on as WRHT on January 13, 1981 as an independent station. The first program it aired was, oddly enough, a basketball game between Texas Tech and Baylor, picked up from the TVS Television Network, a nationwide sports syndication network. This was done largely to test the satellite equipment, which would be utilized further after the switch to In-Home Theatre (see below).
Most of TV31's early programming, as WRHT and the later WIHT, was either locally produced or outsourced by other production companies; it also carried live news from cable financial network FNN (now known as CNBC), as well as some programs from the Satellite Program Network.[11]
WRHT's callsign was changed to WIHT on February 1, 1981; IHT stood for "In-Home Theater", more commonly known as IT, an over-the-air subscription pay-TV service. WXON, Channel 20 in Detroit offered a similar service, ON-TV, at that time; but unlike ON-TV, which was generally limited to evening hours, IT's programming was broadcast over WIHT at least 14 hours each day, and had a wider selection of movies.[12] However, while IT was available in Lansing, Jackson and Flint, it was not available in the eastern Detroit suburbs or Windsor, Ontario, due to the transmitter's location and signal power.
Non-subscribers that tuned into WIHT during IT's airtime were treated to audio programming from NOAA Weather Radio station WXK-81 in Onondaga, Michigan.
IT and ON-TV both faded away in 1983 as cable TV (which includes premium movie channels such as HBO) became more prevalent in the Detroit area.
Channel 31 was purchased by Blackstar television and their call letters changed to WBSX on July 14, 1989; local/syndicated programming was phased out in favor of home shopping programming. On February 4, 1998, Paxson Communications of Palm Beach, Florida (now ION Media Networks) purchased WBSX to be part of a new "family network" called PAX (renamed to i in July 2005 and ION Television on January 29, 2007) and changed its call letters to WPXD-TV and moved it from its offices in Ann Arbor, to a location in downtown Detroit, before moving back to its office in Ann Arbor.
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