| Manteo, North Carolina | |
|---|---|
| Branding | Sky 4 |
| Channels | Digital: 9 (VHF) |
| Affiliations | 4.1 independent 4.2 Universal Sports |
| Owner | Sky Television, LLC |
| First air date | October 19, 2001 |
| Call letters' meaning | the word SKY, named for its owner, SKY Broadcasting Inc. |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 4 (VHF, 2001-2006) Digital: 4 (VHF, 2006-2010) |
| Transmitter power | 70 kW |
| Height | 306 m |
| Facility ID | 76324 |
| Website | www.sky4tv.com |
WSKY-TV, which was launched in October 2001, is a full-power/full market television independent station serving the Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, VA television market (DMA) and the Outer Banks of North Carolina. The station, which is part of the Hampton Roads market, broadcasts on digital channel 9 and is licensed to Manteo, North Carolina. Its analog transmitter was located in Powells Point, North Carolina on the WCXL tower. WSKY-TV was the last station in the US to be licensed as an analog, VHF low-band channel.
WSKY-TV is carried on Cox Communications Hampton Roads, Hampton Roads' on channel 4, as well as 2 Charter systems in the DMA, Adelphia and Time Warner Cable services and Dish Network. On January 1, 2009, DirecTV removed the channel from its lineup following a failure to reapply for "must-carry" status[1]. Before its fall 2001 launch, channel 4 on Cox Cable housed LNC or Local News on Cable, WVEC-TV's 24-hour cable news television station. When WSKY launched, LNC moved up to channel 5 on Cox Cable lineups.
While the morning programming consists of mainly infomercials, the day, afternoon, and evening programming consists of local first run entertainment/news, sitcom/drama reruns (both syndicated and non-syndicated), and movies. WSKY also offers a fair amount of first-run syndicated programming, as well as major league and NCAA sporting events, including coverage of the Charlotte Bobcats (NBA) and the Norfolk Tides (Minor league baseball).
Despite the callsign and branding of "SKY 4", it is not affiliated in any way with British Sky Broadcasting of the United Kingdom, nor its parent company, News Corporation (who also owns the Fox network).
During the 2009 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship, WSKY-TV aired two weeknight 11 o'clock newscasts from CBS affiliate WTKR during that station's coverage of the basketball tournament. WTKR did broadcast late newscasts at Midnight when the coverage concluded. [2]
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The station's analog signal signed-off in late November 2006, as its digital signal was to sign-on from a new tower in Camden County, NC. WSKY had some challenges covering the Northern most area of the metro (Williamsburg, Newport News, Hampton) on its analog signal; which was to be remedied with its new digital tower.
Between 6 and 7 a.m. on the morning of March 2, 2007, in high winds during storms moving through the area, WSKY-DT's tower collapsed, also destroying the transmitter building. The tower was three weeks away from completion. [3][4]
The tower was rebuilt and finished in November 2007. WSKY-DT started broadcasting a test pattern on November 24, 2007.[5]. WSKY-DT started regular broadcasts on November 27, 2007.
In mid-May 2010, WSKY-TV moved from channel 4 to channel 9 to improve signal strength.
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