| Manassas, Virginia-Washington, D.C.-Potomac, Maryland | |
|---|---|
| Branding | ION Television |
| Channels | Digital: 34 (UHF) |
| Subchannels | 66.1 - ion HD (720p) 66.2 - qubo (480i) 66.3 - ion Life (480i) |
| Affiliations | Ion Television |
| Owner | Ion Media Networks, Inc. (Ion Media Washington License, Inc.) |
| First air date | March 26, 1978 |
| Call letters' meaning | PaX Washington, D.C. |
| Former callsigns | WTKK (1978-1994) WVVI (1994-1998) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 66 (UHF, 1978-2009) |
| Former affiliations | religious independent (1978-1994) ValueVision (1994-1997) inTV (1997-1998) Pax TV (1998-2005) i (2005-2007) |
| Transmitter power | 1000 kW |
| Height | 190 m |
| Facility ID | 74091 |
| Website | www.ionline.tv |
WPXW-TV is the Washington, DC area's Ion Television (formerly Pax TV and i) network affiliate, licensed to nearby Manassas, Virginia. The station broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 34. It is owned and operated by ION Media Networks (the former Paxson Communications). WPXW's schedule consists primarily of syndicated sitcom and drama re-runs, infomercials, paid religious shows, TV movies and kids shows on Friday afternoons.
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Channel 66 signed on as WTKK, an independent religious station, in 1978. The call letters stood for Witnessing The King of Kings. In 1982 they added some classic sitcoms and very old movies to the lineup but by 1986 they reverted to mostly religious. In 1994, the station was purchased by ValueVision, a shopping network, and on June 6, 1994, the call letters were changed to WVVI. Paxson Communications purchased the station in 1997 and on January 13, 1998, the call letters were changed to the current WPXW. The station was an all-infomercial channel ("inTV") from the time that Paxson Communications bought the station until the PAX Network began on August 31, 1998. The station had the rights to the 2005 season of Baltimore Orioles games in the Washington, DC area that were produced by MASN. It was formerly known as PAX66, before the PAX network switched its name to Ion.
On June 12, 2009, WPXW-TV left channel 66 and the pre-transition digital channel 43 and began broadcasting on channel 34 with an ERP of 1000kW to complete its analog to digital conversion. However, through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display WPXW-TV's virtual channel as "66".
WPXW's studios are located in Fairfax Station, VA and the transmitter is located in the tower complex near the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue, NW and 41st St., NW in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington, DC.
On April 20, 2009 it was announced that Washington, DC will be the first market to get free mobile digital television via cell phones and other mobile devices through Mobile TV. WPXW began testing mobile television on June 13, 2009 and was one of the first stations in the country to launch this new platform.
Like all of the DC-area Mobile DTV broadcasters, WPXW-TV commenced ATSC-M/H broadcasting on February 27, 2011. WPXW-TV also has a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 66.2, labelled "Qubo", with six encrypted video feeds of MSNBC (66.4), CNBC (66.5), MTV (66.6), Nickelodeon (66.7), and Comedy (66.8), broadcasting at 3.67 Mbps. This is the highest number of encrypted television signals of any DC-area television station mobile feed.[1][2]
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