WLNY-DT
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| WLNY-DT | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Riverhead, New York | |
| Branding | WLNY TV-10/55 |
| Channels | |
| Translators | W27CD Stamford CT WLIG-LD 26 Mineola NY W17DC-D Morristown NJ |
| Affiliations | independent |
| Owner | WLNY Limited Partnership |
| First air date | April 28, 1985 |
| Call letters’ meaning | Long Island New York |
| Former callsigns | WLIG (1985-1996) WLNY (1996-2005) |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 55 (1985-2005) |
| Transmitter Power | 425 kW |
| Height | 193.7 m |
| Facility ID | 73206 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | |
| Website | www.wlnytv.com |
WLNY-DT is a full-service, independent television station, licensed to Riverhead, New York, with studios in Melville. It broadcasts exclusively in digital on UHF channel 57, but per FCC guidelines, identifies itself via PSIP as channel 55, its defunct analog assignment. WLNY's primary over-the-air signal serves most of Long Island, except for the extreme eastern tip and the boroughs of New York City, and reaches into southern Connecticut.[1] WLNY further extends its coverage in the New York City metropolitan area and Connecticut using low-power digital repeaters WLIG-LD 26 Mineola, New York and W17DC-D Morristown, New Jersey, and low-power analog repeater W27CD Stamford, Connecticut. The station is carried on channels 10 or 55 on most local cable systems, and brands itself as WLNY TV-10/55, reflecting its cable television channel assignments.[2]
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[edit] History
The station, known as TV-55, signed on the air April 28, 1985 under the call letters WLIG. It was the first Long Island-based independent television station since the demise of WSNL some 10 years earlier. During its first year of operations, WLIG employed a number of gimmicks to attract viewers, such as a Watch 'N Win contest in which viewers were shown a "code word" on-screen during a particular show and had to send in a postcard with that word for the chance to win a prize,[citation needed] and offering 100,000 free loop antennas to non-cable viewers who couldn't receive the station clearly. The efforts paid off, as WLIG gradually became a solid ratings player. By June 1987, WLIG was estimated to reach 200,000 viewers, and was carried on eight of nine cable television systems on Long Island.[3] The lone exception was Nassau County Cablevision, the largest system in Long Island. Cablevision claimed that TV-55 added nothing to the service they already offered, and so, refused to carry it.[4] A cable subscriber advocacy group, New Yorkers for Fair Cable, claimed that the real reason was that WLIG-TV competed with services that Cablevision owned and offered, such as News Channel 12 (now News 12 Long Island), AMC and Bravo[5] In October 1987, BQ Cable Company began offering WLIG to subscribers in Brooklyn and Queens.[6]
During its early years, WLIG relied heavily on old movies and reruns of classic television shows, and positioned itself as a station offering family-friendly entertainment consistent with the philosophy of its owner, a fundamentalist Christian. It featured a daily newscast at 10 PM, and other local programming, such as a political talk show called Focus on Long Island. Sports programming and some first-run syndicated programming rounded out the broadcast day.[3] By the late 1980s, WLIG had dropped its local news broadcasts, except for a 5-minute newcast that continued to air until a new full-fledged 10 PM newscast debuted in 1993. The station also aired several half-hour feeds of CNN Headline News until the mid-1990s, providing its only broadcast outlet for Long Island residents without cable. In the meantime, the station gradually began adding newer films and stronger syndicated programming to its lineup, eventually scoring a major victory in early 1991 when they landed Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and The Oprah Winfrey Show, the top three syndicated programs on television, which paved the way for later acquisitions of other highly-rated syndicated shows.[citation needed]
On September 1, 1996, WLIG changed its call letters to WLNY and rebranded itself as NY 55.[7] Still, its location on the fringes of the New York City television market made cable television coverage of the station an ongoing concern. Although the FCC imposed "must carry" rules on cable companies in 1992, in 1997, they allowed some cable systems in New Jersey to exclude WLNY from carriage. WLNY, along with WRNN-TV and WPXN-TV, appealed, but the courts upheld the FCC decision.[8] In spite of these difficulties, WLNY still receives cable coverage from Northern New Jersey to Southern Connecticut, and on satellite television.
In 1997, WLNY was assigned UHF channel 57 for its digital television operations, making it one of eighteen full-service television stations in the country to have neither analog nor digital assignments within the new core television station spectrum, channels 2 - 51. The station began broadcasting in digital in 2002, with a low-power signal under Special Temporary Authority, then made news in 2005 when it struck a deal with Qualcomm to surrender its analog license and build full DTV facilities on channel 57, so that Qualcomm could begin to use channel 55 for its MediaFLO service. Approximately 92% of Long Island's population receives television service by cable or satellite, so the FCC approved the request, and on December 31, 2005, WLNY shut down its analog signal and became a digital-only station. The FCC has since changed the station's callsign to WLNY-DT.
WLNY-DT has requested channel 47 for its ultimate "in core" broadcast channel after February 17, 2009, which is the end of the DTV conversion, but the FCC ruled the election in conflict with another station and has not yet approved the conflict resolution.[9]
At some point since 1996, WLNY dropped its NY 55 branding in favor of TV-55, but on October 22, 2007 WLNY once again changed its branding, this time from TV-55 to TV 10/55 to reflect its most frequent cable and satellite assignments. The station also debuted a new set and graphics for their 11pm newscast, replacing the old set which dated back to the early 1990s.
[edit] Programming
WLNY carries mostly movies and syndicated shows, plus some religious programming and infomercials during overnights and the morning. The station enjoys widespread coverage on cable in New York City, parts of New York state, Connecticut, and New Jersey. While many of those areas see a separate feed due to SyndEx laws (similar to the old WOR EMI Service and Superstation WGN), except for subscribers in the metro New York City market who receive the station on DirecTV and Dish Network, (both of which carry the same clean feed seen on Long Island), Jeopardy! and Wheel of Fortune (some areas see America's Funniest Home Videos from 1990-1993, and before that, Matlock) are the only two programs preempted on the SyndEx feed. Otherwise, WLNY offers "second-chance" viewing of programs such as Oprah, Judge Judy, and Dr. Phil, as WLNY airs these shows in the late afternoon and evening, compared to earlier broadcasts on the main New York City stations. The station also carries a movie every night at 8:00 PM. Some are major Hollywood blockbusters, others less-so. On many nights, another movie airs at midnight. WLNY also broadcasts films on the weekends. Often, another local station will air the same movie within a day or so (movies had also previously aired in the 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM slots from the early 90s until the mid-2000s, when they were replaced by syndicated sitcom reruns and talk shows).
WLNY produces a weekday local news program which airs at 11 PM and is rebroadcast Tuesday through Saturday at 5 AM. WLNY also produces two weekly public affairs shows that air on weekends, The Cutting Edge, and News 55 Focus. The news and public affairs shows focus mostly on Long Island issues, aside from weather and sports coverage, which serve most of the New York City market.
Over the years, WLNY also broadcast professional and collegiate sports. WLNY carried Big East college basketball for many years until that conference moved its games exclusively to cable in the New York City market. For a number of years, WLNY also carried New York Islanders hockey games and New Jersey Nets basketball games as overrun when they could not be broadcast on regional sports networks due to conflicts with other games.
[edit] Coverage
WLNY-DT is carried on the following cable television systems:
| Cablevision | Comcast | DirecTV | Dish Network | RCN | Verizon FiOS | Time Warner Cable | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 10* | 55/893 | 55/8107 | 14 | 10 | 55 | |
- * Not caried by all Comcast systems in New York DMA
[edit] News/Station Presentation
 Former 1990s logo of WLNY-TV |
 Former logo of WLNY-TV/-DT, used from 1998-2000 |
 Former logo of WLNY-TV/-DT, used until 2007 |
 Current logo of WLNY-DT since October 22, 2007 |
[edit] Newscast Titles
- TV 10/55 News At Eleven (2008-Present)
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WLNY
- Query the FCC's TV station database for WLIG-LD
- Query the FCC's TV station database for W17DC-D
- Query the FCC's TV station database for W27CD
- BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WLNY-TV
[edit] References
- ^ Service Area Map. FCC. Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
- ^ WLNY TV Channel Guide. WLNY website. Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
- ^ a b Belkin, Lisa (1987-06-02). New TV Stations Seek to Be Found by Viewers. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
- ^ Ketcham, Diane (1988-09-04). Cablevision Attains Dominant L.I. Role. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
- ^ Congressional Help For Cable TV Fight. The New York Times (1990-04-22). Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
- ^ Ketcham, Diane (1987-10-11). Long Island Journal. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
- ^ WNLY-TV News 55 Publicity Photo
- ^ United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. FCC (1998-12-21). Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
- ^ WLNY channel election. FCC (2005-10-21). Retrieved on 2007-11-25.
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