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WICZ-TV

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Coordinates: 42°3′22″N 75°56′38″W / 42.05611°N 75.94389°W / 42.05611; -75.94389
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WICZ-TV
Channels
Branding
  • Fox 40
  • My 8 (on DT2)
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
November 1, 1957 (67 years ago) (1957-11-01)
Former call signs
WINR-TV (1957–1971)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 40 (UHF, 1957–2009)
  • Digital: 8 (VHF, until 2020)
  • NBC (1957–1996)
  • ABC (secondary, 1957–1962)
  • UPN (secondary, c. 1999–2000)
Call sign meaning
Henry Guzewicz (former owner)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID62210
ERP28 kW
HAAT372.9 m (1,223 ft)
Transmitter coordinates42°3′22″N 75°56′38″W / 42.05611°N 75.94389°W / 42.05611; -75.94389
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.wicz.com

WICZ-TV (channel 40) is a television station in Binghamton, New York, United States, affiliated with Fox and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Imagicomm Communications, the station has studios on Vestal Parkway East (NY 434) in Vestal, and its transmitter is located on Ingraham Hill Road in the town of Binghamton.

History

[edit]

The station signed on November 1, 1957, as WINR-TV, the area's second television station, and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 40. The station was originally owned by the then-Rochester-based Gannett Company, which purchased the station's construction permit along with NBC Radio Network affiliate WINR (680 AM) in January of that year.[2][3][4][5][6] The WINR stations were part of a newspaper-broadcast combination owned by Gannett in Binghamton, operating alongside the Binghamton Press. Upon its purchase of WINR, the Press went to work towards completing the construction of channel 40, and used its pages to educate readers on how to receive the new UHF signal.[7][8][9] At its sign-on, WINR-TV was primarily an NBC television affiliate, though it also carried some ABC programming before WBJA-TV (channel 34, now WIVT) went on the air in 1962.[10]

Gannett announced on July 30, 1970, that it would sell its Binghamton broadcasting interests, while retaining the Binghamton Press. Broadcast tower manufacturer Stainless, Inc. acquired WINR-TV as part of this divestiture.[11][12] Upon receiving approval of the sale, the station changed its call letters to the current WICZ-TV (for company owner Henry Guzewicz) on April 7, 1971.[13][14][15][16] That fall, the station moved to an 870-foot (270 m) tower on Ingraham Hill;[17] it had previously shared a transmitter location with WINR radio.[16]

In November 1995, WICZ-TV announced it would be dropping its NBC affiliation and switching to Fox; the station stated that the switch would allow it to expand its news programming.[18] WICZ already had a secondary affiliation with Fox to carry Fox Kids,[18] which resulted in the station beginning to preempt much of NBC's programming (especially its daytime soap operas). Prior to the station's affiliation with Fox, the network's two closest over-the-air affiliates were Syracuse affiliate WSYT and Scranton affiliate WOLF-TV, neither of which had a strong signal to cover the city of Binghamton proper owing to the area's rugged terrain. The majority of Fox's programming was only available on cable via Foxnet, WOLF-TV, or New York City owned-and-operated station WNYW, depending on the location.[18] The affiliation change took place April 4, 1996, after WICZ's contract with NBC expired.[18] NBC programming was then seen on cable via a localized version of Elmira's WETM-TV;[19] the network regained an over-the-air affiliate in Binghamton a year later when WETM's owners, Smith Broadcasting, purchased WBGH-LP (channel 8, now WBGH-CD channel 20) and made it a semi-satellite of WETM.[20]

Stainless, whose holdings by this point included its tower manufacturing business, WICZ-TV, and KTVZ in Bend, Oregon, was sold to Northwest Broadcasting for $17 million in 1997.[21][22] Though Northwest would sell the Stainless tower company to SpectraSite Holdings in 1999,[23] it would still own WICZ under the Stainless Broadcasting name. During the late 1990s, WICZ added a secondary affiliation with UPN;[24] in 2000, Northwest bought W10CO (channel 10), changed its call letters to WBPN-LP, and moved UPN programming there.[25]

On September 16, 2013, it was announced that Mission Broadcasting would acquire WICZ-TV and WBPN-LP from Stainless Broadcasting. Upon the deal's completion, the stations' operations would have been taken over by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, making them sister stations to WIVT and WBGH-CA.[26] Stainless withdrew the license assignment application on March 18, 2015, following the deal's cancellation.[27]

In February 2019, Reuters reported that Apollo Global Management had agreed to acquire the entirety of Brian Brady's television portfolio, which it intended to merge with Cox Media Group (which Apollo is acquiring at the same time) and stations spun off from Nexstar Media Group's purchase of Tribune Broadcasting, once the purchases were approved by the FCC.[28] In March 2019 filings with the FCC, Apollo confirmed that its newly-formed broadcasting group, Terrier Media, would acquire Northwest Broadcasting, with Brian Brady holding an unspecified minority interest in Terrier.[29] In June 2019, it was announced that Terrier Media would instead operate as Cox Media Group, as Apollo had reached a deal to also acquire Cox's radio and advertising businesses.[30] The transaction was completed on December 17.[31]

On March 29, 2022, Cox Media Group announced it would sell WICZ-TV and 17 other stations to Imagicomm Communications, an affiliate of the parent company of the INSP cable channel, for $488 million;[32] the sale was completed on August 1.[33]

News operation

[edit]
News logo from August 2012 to December 2017.

Since switching networks, WICZ has consistently maintained lower viewership than rival CBS outlet WBNG-TV and remains ranked at second, but that gap has closed slightly in recent years. The big three affiliate has always been a ratings powerhouse in Binghamton. For the most part, WIVT has always been a non-factor in the local newscast race. The ABC outlet has spent most of its history as the third station in what was originally a two-station market (since WIVT did not sign-on until November 1962) and virtually gained no benefit when WICZ joined Fox.

On Memorial Day in 2009, in an attempt to increase its presence against WBNG, WICZ added a thirty-minute newscast weeknights at 6 joining their flagship nightly prime time broadcast at 10. WBNG already established a weeknight newscast in the prime time slot airing on its CW second digital subchannel. The prime time newscast on WBNG-DT2 would eventually be expanded to weekends at some point in time.

On June 5, 2009, there was an increase in viewership on WICZ (and to a larger extent on WBNG) when WIVT announced its plans to consolidate news operations with WETM-TV in Elmira. WIVT eventually began simulcasting some of WETM's newscasts featuring regional weather coverage but not a full news focus of the Eastern Twin Tiers region. A separate, taped newscast specifically covering the Binghamton area was subsequently brought back to WIVT on June 28. On August 19, 2012, WICZ became the market's first television station to upgrade local news production to high definition level. The transition included a new on-air look with state-of-the-art graphics and updated set design.

Technical information

[edit]

Subchannels

[edit]

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WICZ-TV[34]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
40.1 1080i 16:9 WICZ-HD Fox
40.2 720p WBPN-DT MyNetworkTV
40.3 480i ION Ion Television

Analog-to-digital conversion

[edit]

WICZ-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 40, on April 16, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 8,[35] using virtual channel 40.

References

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  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WICZ-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "Press to buy WINR, push UHF television plans". Binghamton Press. Binghamton, NY. November 16, 1956. p. 3. Retrieved June 13, 2020.(subscription required)
  3. ^ "Press TV, radio bid is approved". Binghamton Press. Binghamton, NY. January 10, 1957. p. 1. Retrieved June 13, 2020.(subscription required)
  4. ^ "Press operating WINR, plans TV debut by July 1". Binghamton Press. Binghamton, NY. January 11, 1957. p. 3. Retrieved June 13, 2020.(subscription required)
  5. ^ "FCC OKs UHF here, Elmira threat seen". Binghamton Press. Binghamton, NY. September 30, 1954. p. 3. Retrieved June 16, 2020.(subscription required)
  6. ^ "WINR granted ch. 40 at Binghamton, N.Y." (PDF). Broadcasting - Telecasting. October 4, 1954. p. 54. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  7. ^ "Million-watt TV station by July 1 is Press goal (pt. 1)". The Sunday Press. Binghamton, NY. January 13, 1957. p. 1A. Retrieved June 16, 2020.(subscription required)
  8. ^ "Million-watt TV station by July 1 is Press goal (pt. 2)". The Sunday Press. Binghamton, NY. January 13, 1957. p. 3A. Retrieved June 16, 2020.(subscription required)
  9. ^ "WINR Radio-TV to get offices, studios in new building". Binghamton Press. Binghamton, NY. March 13, 1957. p. 27. Retrieved June 16, 2020.(subscription required)
  10. ^ "WINR-TV Goes on Air Friday" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 4, 1957. p. 82. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  11. ^ "WINR-TV, radio stations are sold". The Evening Press. Binghamton, NY. July 30, 1970. p. 9B. Retrieved June 13, 2020.(subscription required)
  12. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. March 8, 1971. p. 37. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  13. ^ "WINR-TV to change call letters after sale". The Evening Press. Binghamton, NY. February 25, 1971. p. 1B. Retrieved June 13, 2020.(subscription required)
  14. ^ "Channel 40 call letters shift Wednesday". The Evening Press. Binghamton, NY. April 3, 1971. p. 6B. Retrieved June 13, 2020.(subscription required)
  15. ^ "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 11, 1971. p. 60. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  16. ^ a b Fybush, Scott (December 3, 2004). "Binghamton's Ingraham Hill Revisited". Tower Site of the Week. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  17. ^ "More muscle for WICZ-TV" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 11, 1971. p. 54. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  18. ^ a b c d Flint, Joe (November 26, 1995). "Fox Lures WICZ From Peacock Nest". Variety. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  19. ^ Ross, Chuck (April 22, 1996). "TV STATION HOOKS UP WITH CABLE OUTLET; NEW YORK'S WETM CRAFTS LOCAL MARKETING AGREEMENT". Advertising Age. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  20. ^ Fybush, Scott (September 11, 1997). "Fire at WVIP". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  21. ^ Kanaley, Reid (May 18, 1997). "Digital TV: It's A High-Tower Act". Philadelphia Inquirer. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved December 4, 2015. …Stainless, which owns UHF stations in Binghamton, N.Y., and Bend, Ore., is being sold to a Detroit-based partnership, Northwest Broadcasting, said Stainless counsel James J. Heffernan of Plymouth Meeting. He said the deal is worth $17 million.
  22. ^ "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. May 19, 1997. p. 38. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  23. ^ "SpectraSite Holdings, Inc. Form 8-K" (TXT). Securities and Exchange Commission. January 21, 2000. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  24. ^ "UPN Affiliate Stations (New York)". UPN.com. Archived from the original on May 8, 1999. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  25. ^ Kucinski, Carla (August 17, 2000). "New Tier TV station bulks up with pro wrestling". Press & Sun-Bulletin. p. B8. Retrieved December 20, 2015. (preview of subscription content)
  26. ^ Malone, Michael (September 16, 2013). "Nexstar to Acquire Citadel's Iowa Stations for $88 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  27. ^ Corbett, Dennis P. (March 18, 2015). "Re: Withdrawal of File Nos. BALCDT-20130927A11G, BALTVL-20130927AHH, and BAPDTL-20130927AH1" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  28. ^ "EXCLUSIVE-Apollo nears $3 billion deal to buy Cox TV stations -sources" from CNBC (February 10, 2019)
  29. ^ Jessell, Harry A. (March 6, 2019). "Cox TV Valued At $3.1 Billion In Apollo Acquisition". TV News Check. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  30. ^ Jacobson, Adam (June 26, 2019). "It's Official: Cox Radio, Gamut, CoxReps Going To Apollo". Radio & Television Business Report. Retrieved June 26, 2019.
  31. ^ "Cox Enterprises Announces Close of Cox Media Group Sale to Affiliates of Apollo Global Management", prnewswire.com, December 17, 2019, Retrieved December 17, 2019.
  32. ^ Venta, Lance (March 30, 2022). "Cox Breaks Up Combined Radio/TV Cluster In Tulsa As Part Of Twelve Market Divestiture". RadioInsight. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
  33. ^ Winslow, George (August 1, 2022). "Cox Media Group, INSP Close Deal for Sale of Cox TV Stations to Imagicomm". TVTechnology. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
  34. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WICZ
  35. ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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