WTXX
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations. |
| WTXX | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Waterbury - Hartford - New Haven, Connecticut |
|
| Branding | CW 20 |
| Channels | Analog: 20 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | CW |
| Owner | Tribune Company (WTXX, Inc.) |
| Founded | September 4, 1953 |
| Call letters’ meaning | Waterbury (city of license) Television XX (20, channel number in Roman numerals) |
| Sister station(s) | WTIC-TV |
| Former callsigns | WATR-TV (1953-1982) |
| Former channel number(s) | 53 (1953-1962) |
| Former affiliations | DuMont (secondary, 1953-1956) ABC (secondary, 1953-1966) NBC (1966-1982) Independent (1982-1995) UPN (1995-2000) WB (2001-2006) |
| Transmitter Power | 2240 kW (analog) 1.7 kW (digital) |
| Height | 366 m (analog) 515 m (digital) |
| Facility ID | 14050 |
| Transmitter Coordinates | (analog) (digital) |
| Website | cw20.trb.com |
WTXX, channel 20, is a CW Television Network affiliate licensed to Waterbury, Connecticut, and serving the Hartford-New Haven television market. WTXX is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, and is the junior partner in a duopoly with Fox affiliate WTIC-TV (channel 61). The two stations share facilities at the channel 61 studios in Hartford, while channel 20's transmitter is located in Waterbury.
Contents |
[edit] History
The station commenced operations on September 4, 1953 as WATR-TV on channel 53, the second UHF station in Connecticut. It was owned by the Thomas family along with WATR radio (1320 AM). In 1962, the station relocated to channel 20 (channel 53 is now occupied by WEDN, a PBS station in Norwich). At the time, the station's signal only covered the southern portions of the state.
WATR-TV was originally a dual secondary affiliate of both the DuMont Television Network[1] and ABC, sharing them with New Haven-based WNHC-TV (channel 8, now WTNH-TV). DuMont ceased broadcasts in 1956, and shortly afterward, WNHC-TV became an exclusive ABC affiliate. WATR-TV then became an independent station on paper but picked up ABC shows turned down by WNHC-TV. In 1966, WATR switched networks and joined NBC. NBC's primary affiliate in Connecticut, WHNB-TV (channel 30, now WVIT) in New Britain, served Hartford and eastern Connecticut but its signal was not strong enough to cover New Haven and the southwestern portions of the state. In the 1970s, WATR-TV offered very little local news and instead aired older syndicated programs and religious shows, such as Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's The PTL Club when NBC programs were not offered.
When WVIT's transmission power was increased to reach New Haven in 1980, it became clear that WATR-TV would soon be forced to discontinue NBC programming. WVIT now had the advantage of a stronger signal to go along with a legitimate news department, a better lineup of syndicated programs, and fewer pre-emptions of NBC programming. However, channel 20's affiliation contract had close to two years remaining. In March 1982, in a move which coincided with the end of the station's network relationship, the Thomas family sold WATR-TV to Odyssey Television Partners (later to become Renaissance Broadcasting). The new owners subsequently changed the station's calls letters to the current WTXX and turned channel 20 into the state's first full-service independent since Hartford's WHCT-TV (channel 18, now WUVN) operated under the ownership of RKO General.
Odyssey also boosted the station's signal to a level comparable with the other major Connecticut stations. Programming consisted the typical independent fare of cartoons, off-network series, and movies. WTXX also carried some sports most notably New York Mets telecasts from WOR-TV (now WWOR-TV) in New York City and Boston Celtics games from WLVI-TV in Boston. WTXX prospered in its new status and continued to do so even after WTIC-TV signed on in 1984. This continued after WTIC took on the Fox affiliation two years later.
In late March 1993, Renaissance Broadcasting sold the station to a Roman Catholic group called Counterpoint Communications. Renaissance had recently purchased Chase Broadcasting, which owned WTIC-TV, and Federal Communications Commission regulations of the time did not allow common ownership of two stations in the same market. However, Renaissance retained the rights to all the programming it bought for channel 20. WTIC wanted a full-time local marketing agreement (LMA) with WTXX, which basically amounted to channel 20 being programmed by its competitor. Counterpoint balked, wanting only a part-time agreement. Renaissance then moved some of channel 20's stronger shows to channel 61, leaving WTXX with a considerably weakened schedule. Under the terms of the sale to Counterpoint, WTXX retained only some movies, a couple syndicated shows, and programming from the Home Shopping Network for fifteen hours a day (in daytime and prime time). In addition, channel 20 would air a daily Catholic Mass along with other Catholic religious programs for one hour per day. After being unable to negotiate an LMA with WTIC-TV, WTXX entered into an agreement with WVIT.
WTXX became Connecticut's UPN affiliate in April 1995. By the spring of 1996, the station began reacquire stronger syndicated programming, and soon after, HSN programming completely disappeared from the schedule. In 1998, WTIC-TV, now owned by Tribune Broadcasting, replaced WVIT as WTXX's LMA partner. The LMA change caused no impact on WTXX's daily broadcasts of the Catholic Mass which continues to the present day. Around this time, the station changed its on-air name from UPN 20 to Connecticut's 20. In 1999, WTXX and WTIC-TV consolidated their operations in a new facility in downtown Hartford.
On January 1, 2001, WTXX and WBNE (channel 59, now WCTX) swapped affiliations. WTXX became "Connecticut's WB" and later that year, Tribune purchased channel 20 outright, creating a duopoly with WTIC. Tribune, having already received a temporary waiver from FCC rules barring common ownership of a newspaper and a television station in the same area when it purchased the Hartford Courant a year earlier, received an additional waiver for their purchase of WTXX. Tribune had been seeking a waiver in anticipation of the FCC relaxing its rules to allow such media combinations to exist with the agency's blessing which would include television duopolies, and in March 2005 the FCC requested that Tribune sell WTXX to a new owner. In late 2007, the FCC loosened its restrictions on newspaper/broadcast cross-ownership, perhaps creating an opening for Tribune (purchased by investor Sam Zell in December 2007) to retain WTXX without a waiver.
On January 24, 2006, the WB and UPN announced that they would merge into a new network called the CW Television Network, owned jointly by CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner (parent of the former WB). The new network signed a ten-year affiliation agreement with most of Tribune's WB affiliates, including WTXX. The CW officially began operations on September 18, 2006.
WTXX is the television rights holder of WNBA's Connecticut Sun. The station also simulcasts some New York Mets games which aired by sister station WPIX in New York City.
[edit] Digital television
| Channel | Programming |
|---|---|
| 20.1 / 12.1 | main WTXX/CW programming |
[edit] Post-analog shutdown
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which is tentatively scheduled to take place on February 17, 2009[2], WTXX will move its digital broadcasts back to its present analog channel number, 20. [3]
[edit] Newscasts
In July 1993, WTXX began to air a nightly, half-hour 10:00 p.m. newscast produced by WVIT. When channel 20 switched LMA partners to WTIC-TV, channel 20 began simulcasting the first half-hour of WTIC-TV's 10:00 newscast. On April 24, 2006, WTXX began simulcasting the full WTIC news hour.
There is no separate news opening on WTXX for WTIC's newscasts. Today, whenever Fox programming or sports delays the news on WTIC, it is still shown on WTXX but under the name of News at Ten. There is also a "News at Ten" logo in place of "Fox 61 News". Beyond the Headlines, WTIC's weekly public affairs show, airs on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. on WTXX.
On March 3, 2008, WTIC launched a weekday morning newscast. However, unlike the 10:00 news, the morning news is not simulcasted on WTXX.
[edit] References
[edit] External links
|
|||||||||||
