Call letters' meaning see WMDT | ||
Branding Delmarva CW 3
47 ABC News Channels Digital: WMDT-DT 47.2 (UHF)
Virtual: 47.2 (PSIP) Affiliations The CW
(via The CW Plus) Owner Marquee Broadcasting, LLC First air date 2000; 17 years ago (2000) | ||
WMDT-DT2 is the CW-affiliated television station for the Delmarva Peninsula, part of The CW Plus. It is a second digital subchannel of ABC affiliate WMDT which is owned by Marquee Broadcasting, LLC. Over-the-air, WMDT-DT2 broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 47.2 from WMDT's transmitter in rural Wicomico County, Maryland northeast of Mardela Springs. It is branded as Delmarva CW 3, a reference to its cable channel position on Comcast. WMDT-DT2's parent station has studios on West Main Street (although the address says Downtown Plaza) in Salisbury.
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History
In 2000, WMDT launched cable-only WB affiliate "WBD" (the call letters were fictional). It was part of The WB 100+ as a result of the Salisbury market being among the top 100 in the United States. The station was only available on Comcast and Mediacom channel 14 and, as a result, was known on-air as "WB 14". It replaced WPHL-TV's channel location on both systems. Several months after its launch, the station was relocated to Comcast channel 3 and renamed "WB 3". On Mediacom systems, it moved to channel 2. WBD frequently aired cross-promotions for the main channel's weeknight news programs.
On January 24, 2006, TimeWarner and CBS Corporation announced that they would combine resources of The WB and UPN by closing down the two networks to own a new network, entitled The CW. The letters would representing the first initial of its respective corporate parents. UPN was offered on WBOC-TV's second digital subchannel and Comcast channel 5. It was announced on March 28 that WBD would become an affiliate of The CW via The CW Plus (a similar operation to The WB 100+). WMDT would then create a new second digital subchannel to simulcast WBD and offer CW programming for non-cable viewers. WBOC announced on May 9 that its UPN subchannel would become a Fox affiliate beginning August 21. On September 18, The CW debuted on WBD (now officially using the WMDT-DT2 calls). The station began to be known on-air as "Delmarva CW 3".
In August 2013, Brechner Management Company announced the sale of WMDT (and thus WMDT-DT2) to Marquee Broadcasting.
Newscasts
When WBD became WMDT-DT2, the station began to simulcast the main channel's weekday Noon newscast. At some point in time, the first hour of WMDT's weekday morning show began to be simulcasted as well. When The CW launched, WMDT began producing a nightly prime time broadcast on WMDT-DT2 that competes with WBOC-DT2.
WMDT-DT2 features news personnel from WMDT. See that article for a complete listing.