Kalpana Kalpana (Editor)

WBXZ LP

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Branding
  
56 WBXZ Buffalo

Affiliations
  
Cozi TV (2014–present)

Slogan
  
Buffalo's Superstation

Owner
  
Steven Ritchie

Channels
  
Digital: 17 (UHF) Virtual: 56 (PSIP)

Subchannels
  
56.1 Cozi TV 56.2 Ebru TV 56.3 Corner Store TV 56.4 Independent 56.5 Infomercials 56.6 AMGTV 56.7 Buzzr

WBXZ-LP is a low-power television station in Buffalo, New York, broadcasting locally on channel 17 as an affiliate of Cozi TV. It broadcast on channel 56 analog until it had to vacate that frequency when the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) removed it from the broadcast spectrum. It used to be an affiliate of The Box, from which the station gets its call sign. The station is owned by Steven Ritchie, a local retired police officer who acquired the station from Craig Fox in December 2013.

The station used to air on channel 56. After the digital transition, the station moved to analog channel 17 (the channel had been held by WBUF-TV from 1953 to 1959 and WNED-TV from 1959 to 2009) through a Special Temporary Authority approved by the FCC. The station returned to virtual channel 56 upon digital conversion, at which point it also planned to add several digital subchannels from Luken Communications, among them being Retro Television Network, PBJ and Heartland. WBXZ-LP returned to the air April 17, 2014 with test programming; on May 2, the station indicated it was having trouble securing a carriage agreement with Luken (mainly because Ritchie could not fit the necessary large satellite dish onto the One Seneca Tower where the station's transmitter is located but also in part due to Luken's financial problems) and was seeking other options. As of 2014, the station was carrying Cozi TV on 56.1 and "Throwback TV" (a locally programmed independent station programming mostly public domain series, infomercials and other assorted low-cost syndicated programs) is carried on 56.2 (later moved to 56.4). Retro and a new Luken subchannel known as Rev'n would be added to WBXZ-LP on December 1, 2014.

Luken's networks were pulled from WBXZ on June 28, 2016 after technical difficulties. Ebru TV and AMGTV were added as replacements.

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

WBXZ's Web site lists 56.5 as Tuff TV and 56.6 as being occupied by Jimmy Swaggart's SonLife Broadcasting Network.

References

WBXZ-LP Wikipedia