| Buffalo, New York | |
|---|---|
| City of license | Buffalo, New York |
| Branding | Fox 29 |
| Channels | Digital: 14 (UHF) Virtual: 29 (PSIP) |
| Affiliations | Fox (1986-1989, 1990-present) |
| Owner | Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (WUTV Licensee, LLC) |
| First air date | December 21, 1970 |
| Call letters' meaning | UlTraVision (former owner) or UHF TeleVision (reference to its broadcast frequency) |
| Sister station(s) | WNYO-TV |
| Former channel number(s) | 29 (UHF analog, 1970-2009) |
| Former affiliations | independent (1970-1986, 1989-1990) UPN (secondary 1995-1997) |
| Transmitter power | 1,000 kW |
| Height | 299.5 m |
| Facility ID | 415 |
| Website | www.wutv.com |
WUTV, virtual channel 29, is the Fox-affiliated television station in Buffalo, New York. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 14. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, in a duopoly with the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate WNYO-TV. Its transmitter is located on Grand Island, New York at 951 Whitehaven Road.
As of February 2008, WUTV is the Fox network feed received on the Cayman Islands. It joined the Primetime 24 lineup in 2009, serving most of the Caribbean islands, thanks in large part to its international focus.[1]
Contents |
| Channel | Video | Format | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 29.1 | 720p | 16:9 | Main WUTV programming / Fox |
| 29.2 | 480i | 4:3 | The Country Network[1] |
WUTV completed its digital transition on February 17, 2009 at 11:59:59, making WUTV the first digital only television station in Buffalo.[2] The station maintained a "nightlight" service through March 3 before shutting off the analog service entirely. WUTV, along with PBS station WNED-TV were the only stations in Buffalo not terminating on the new June 12 date.
WUTV began operation on December 21, 1970 as a general entertainment independent station, airing cartoons like Astro Boy and Yogi Bear , sitcoms such as Ozzie and Harriet and The Munsters, Sci-Fi shows such as Lost in Space, Ultraman, Invaders and Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, along with old movies and drama shows. The station was owned by Ultravision Broadcasting Company, from which the "UTV" in the WUTV callsign originates. Ultravision was a company owned by Stan Jasinski, who also owned Buffalo's WMMJ (AM 1300) at the time; shortly thereafter, Jasinski spun off WMMJ to country musician Ramblin' Lou Schriver, who turned it into present-day WXRL. (The WUTV call sign was originally to be used for a station in Youngstown, Ohio with a construction permit on channel 21 that never aired; NBC affiliate WFMJ-TV purchased the permit and moved their station from channel 73 to their present-day channel 21 that the Youngstown WUTV permit originally was for).
Ultravision head and WUTV founder Stan Jasinski had first filed an application for the station's licence in 1963. WUTV was the only independent station in Buffalo for many years. The station was owned by Citadel Communications, a Bronxville-based company not related to the larger radio station owner Citadel Broadcasting, by the early 1980s. In 1986, WUTV became an affiliate of the new Fox Broadcasting Company, but this only lasted until 1989, when the affiliation shifted to WNYB. In 1989, Act III Broadcasting (which owned WNYB/49, now WNYO) offered to buy WUTV, and Citadel accepted. Act III then integrated WNYB's programming into WUTV's lineup, and sold WNYB to Tri-State Christian Television (Act III was known for such acquisition practices).
The sale was finalized in June 1990, and WUTV replaced WNYB to once again become the market's Fox affiliate. Abry became the owner of WUTV in 1994 following its purchase of the Act III group, and WUTV began to carry a secondary UPN affiliation in 1995 (the UPN affiliation subsequently moved to WNGS and WONS in 1997, then WNLO in 2003). Sinclair became the owner of WUTV in 1997 following its purchase of Abry, and bought WNYO in 2001, making WUTV and WNYO sister stations under more relaxed station ownership rules.
After Sinclair came to a retransmission consent agreement in February 2007 nationally with Time Warner Cable, WUTV and WNYO's HDTV signals are now carried by that cable provider locally. WUTV's high-definition signal is not available on the other cable provider in the region, Atlantic Broadband. The agreement expires at the end of 2010, and the two companies have not yet reached an agreement. In the event Sinclair pulls WUTV from the air, a separate agreement allows Fox programming to be piped in from out of market. This makes WUTV particularly vulnerable to a prolonged blackout, since much of its syndicated programming can be seen on other cable channels (such as TBS, WGN and TV Guide Network), the station has no local programming, and much of its daytime programming consists of infomercials.
Sinclair and Fox recently finalized a six-year affiliation contract extension for Sinclair's 19 Fox affiliates, including WUTV. WUTV's affiliation contract now expires in March 2012. [2]
Up until 2003, Rogers Cable carried WUTV in the Ottawa and London regions; after this date, Rogers switched to WJBK Detroit as the Fox affiliate available in these markets. The reason for the switch in Ottawa was twofold. The main reason was that MCI, the company which microwaved U.S. network television signals to Ottawa from Rochester, New York, had decided to discontinue this service (until 2003, the ABC, NBC, and CBS stations available in Ottawa had originated from Rochester). Secondly, Rogers chose Detroit as the new source for U.S. television network signals because Canadian broadcasters were concerned about the increased Canadian advertising revenues Buffalo stations would attract were they to receive an expanded viewing audience across Ontario. Since Detroit is a much larger market than either Buffalo or Rochester, advertising prices would be much higher and thus it would not be economical for Canadian advertisers to purchase advertising time on such stations.
Although WUTV was the Fox affiliate available in Ottawa, Rogers decided to switch to WJBK in order to ensure uniformity in the source cities for all U.S. network television signals. Rogers switched to WJBK in the London market because the signal for the CBS affiliate available in London, WSEE (Erie, Pennsylvania) was of lower quality than that of the Detroit CBS affiliate, WWJ. Hence, Rogers London switched from WSEE to WWJ and, as in Ottawa, decided to switch its Fox affiliate from WUTV to WJBK to ensure uniformity of the source city for all the U.S. network television signals.[3] Rogers continues to carry WUTV in both Standard and High Definition for customers in the Golden Horseshoe, including Toronto.
Cogeco Cable carries WUTV in Standard Definition for its customers in the Golden Horseshoe, but instead carries Detroit's WJBK in High Definition. For many years, WUTV was carried on cable in Quebec as far east as Gaspe. WUTV was once carried on Montreal cable up until 1997, when Vidéotron replaced WUTV with WFFF-TV in Burlington, Vermont (the Fox station that signed on the air at the time). Originally, its WUHF sister in Rochester was carried on cable in the Western Montreal suburbs for 1995 only. Those stations were the first Fox stations to be carried on Montreal cable. It also returned temporarily when WFFF-TV was off the air for a brief time in the mid-2000s.
Because of their Canadian coverage the station does play O Canada along with The Star Spangled Banner and a display of both the American and Canadian national flags during their early Monday morning sign-off for maintenance between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.
WUTV does not currently air a newscast (and has not done so since at least the late 1970s, if ever), making Buffalo the largest television market in the United States whose Fox affiliate does not offer news. (The station will very rarely pre-empt programs for Fox News-produced breaking news coverage when necessary.) Because WUTV airs no locally-produced programming whatsoever, it is sometimes referred to as the largest TV station in America without a camera.
With no newscast of its own to promote, WUTV regularly runs promotions for the WGRZ-produced newscast of sister station WNYO.
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