Subchannels (see article) | Affiliations Fox | |
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Branding Fox 28 (general)
7 News (newscasts)
WWNY-TV 7 (on DT2) Channels Digital:
WNYF-CD: 35 (UHF)
WWNY-CD: 18 (UHF) &
WWNY-DT 7.2 (VHF)
Virtual: 28 (PSIP) Owner United Communications Corporation First air date 2001 (as separate station) | ||
WNYF-CD is a low-powered television station licensed to Watertown, New York, United States. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 (PSIP virtual channel 28) from a transmitter along State Street/NY 126. WWNY-CD is a Class A television station licensed to Massena. This broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 18 (PSIP virtual channel 28) from a transmitter southeast of South Colton along NY 56. Together, the two serve as the North Country's Fox affiliates.
Contents
The stations can also be seen on Charter Spectrum channel 2 and in high definition on digital channel 878. Owned by United Communications Corporation, WNYF is sister to CBS affiliate WWNY-TV and the two share studios on Arcade Street in Downtown Watertown. Syndicated programming on this station includes: My Name Is Earl, Everybody Loves Raymond, America's Funniest Home Videos and According to Jim. Since WNYF's two transmitters are not nearly strong enough to cover the entire market, WNYF can also be seen in standard definition on WWNY's second digital subchannel (VHF channel 7.2).
Digital channels
WNYF-CD 35 (Watertown - Champion Hill NY)
WWNY-CD 18 (Massena - South Colton NY)
History
Before becoming a separate entity, WNYF-CD and WWNY-CD were repeaters for ABC affiliate WWTI with the call signs W25AB and W28BC. During that time, WWTI and WWNY had secondary affiliations with Fox. WWNY's secondary affiliation was for NFL games during the years CBS did not have broadcasting rights of the league. When that network acquired the rights to the AFC, WWTI then aired NFC games from Fox, in addition to ABC's Monday Night Football (now on fellow Disney network ESPN).
In 2001, United Communications Corporation and WWNY entered into an agreement with Smith Broadcasting to make W25AB and W28BC full-time Fox affiliates; Smith formerly owned WWTI, but did not include the translators in that station's sale to Ackerley Group in 2000. W25AB then changed its call letters to WNYF-LP and eventually moved from channel 25 to channel 28; after the Watertown station upgraded to Class A status in October 2002 (making it WNYF-CA), W28BC inherited the WNYF-LP call sign. WNYF-LP's low-powered analog signal on UHF channel 28 aired from a transmitter on NY 420 in Massena.
An agreement with Time Warner Cable in Fall 2001 placed the station on channel 2. Normally, cable systems are not obligated to carry low-power stations. However, the FCC's must-carry rules also give full-power stations the option of "retransmission consent," or requesting compensation from cable systems to carry their station. In this case, WNYF is carried on North Country cable systems as part of the compensation for carrying WWNY. After a year of joint operation of WNYF by Smith Broadcasting and United Communications, the latter took complete ownership and made it a full sister to WWNY. Until September 18, 2006 when UPN shut down and merged with The WB to form The CW, WNYF also ran some programming from the network as a secondary affiliate.
On August 25, 2008, WNYF-CA received Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval to begin its own high definition digital broadcasts as WNYF-CD on UHF channel 35 after WWNY-DT returned to its former analog position on VHF channel 7 (which happened February 17, 2009). On September 14, WNYF-CD signed-on using WWNY-DT's existing UHF antenna structure. The change represented the first time WNYF was available over-the-air in high definition.
On June 30, 2009, United Communications applied to the FCC for a digital version of WNYF-LP on UHF channel 18. This allocation was formerly used for WNPI-DT's analog signal. It was approved for construction on June 8, 2010. Taking on the WNYF-LD call sign, it features Fox as well as a simulcast of WWNY on a second digital subchannel. This helps St Lawrence County viewers who had experienced difficulty receiving WWNY's digital signal after that station transitioned to digital-only broadcasts.
On December 16, 2010, WNYF began to be seen on Time Warner Cable systems in the Burlington, Vermont/Plattsburgh, New York market after the provider dropped that area's affiliate WFFF-TV because of an ongoing retransmission dispute. The dispute was eventually resolved and the home station was added back to the system.
On May 15, 2013, WNYF-CD and WNYF-LD swapped call signs, as the Massena station is licensed as a class A facility while the Watertown digital station, at that time, was not. On February 6, 2014, WNYF-CD changed its call letters to WWNY-CD; on March 13, 2014, the class A status for the Watertown station was transferred from the analog channel 28 license (which remains active as of 2014 and now holds the WNYF-LP call sign) to the digital channel 35 license (which is the digital companion channel to analog channel 28), retaking the WNYF-CD call sign. WWNY-TV and WNYF-CD both go off-the-air, for a couple hours, during overnights.
On February 9, 2016, WWNY announced on its website that it would begin carrying MeTV on WNYF's CD2 subchannel in the late summer. The deal, which took effect on September 1, did not affect WWNY-CD, which continues to simulcast WWNY on its CD2 subchannel. On-air, WNYF-CD2 is known as "MeTV North Country".
Newscasts
On April 11, 2001, WWNY began airing a 35 minute weeknight prime time broadcast at 10 on WNYF called 7 News Tonight on Fox. However, it was only seen by a handful of viewers able to receive that station's two low-powered over-the-air signals because WNYF was not yet being offered on cable. An agreement with Time Warner Cable in Fall 2001 placed the station on the system and the prime time news debuted for the rest of the area on October 4. WNYF simulcasts the 6 o'clock hour of WWNY's weekday morning news and then offers a second hour at 7 seen exclusively on WNYF while WWNY airs CBS This Morning. The simulcast and separate show is known on WNYF as 7 News This Morning on Fox. Although there is no weekday morning or noon meteorologist, news anchor Beth Hall presents the weather forecast. During the weeknight weather segment, the station features a live National Weather Service weather radar based in the Parkers section of Montague.