WTTA

Encyclopedia : W : WT : WTT : WTTA

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WTTA is a WB-affiliated television station in Tampa, Florida. Licensed to St. Petersburg, it broadcasts on channel 38, and is shown on Bright House and Knology cable channel 6, on Comcast cable channel 11 in Sarasota County, and on Comcast cable channel 29 in Hardee County. The station mainly runs syndicated shows, along with WB programming. WTTA is owned by Bay Televison, but is managed by the Sinclair Broadcast Group through a local marketing agreement. WTTA's affiliation with the WB will end in September 2006, when Time Warner and CBS Corporation "merge" their respective WB and UPN networks into the CW Television Network; WTOG, which is owned by CBS, has been confirmed as Tampa Bay's CW station. The future of WTTA in terms of programming was uncertain, until Fox announced the formation of My Network TV in February 2006. Several days later, Sinclair announced that WTTA along with 16 other Sinclair stations would affiliate with My Network TV (more may join over the spring and summer). Its transmitter is located in Riverview, Florida.

History

WSUN-TV channel 38, unrelated to the present-day WTTA, was Tampa Bay’s first television station, beginning to broadcast in 1953. During its first year the station was an independent station. Then in 1954, Peninsular Telephone (a forerunner of Verizon in Tampa Bay) established a microwave network, and made WSUN-TV the first station in the world to get its programming via microwave. The station originally got its programming from all four networks, but eventually affiliated with ABC after WFLA-TV and WTVT signed on in 1955, and after DuMont shut down. In September 1965, WSUN-TV became independent again, after a court battle which gave the ABC affiliation to WLCY-TV (now WTSP). WSUN struggled as an independent, with its broadcasting hours and programming quality dwindling. It ended up competing again by 1969, after the deeper-pocketed WTOG signed on in December 1968. In February 1970 WSUN-TV signed off for good. WSUN's license eventually expired without renewal.

In the late 1980s Channel 38 was given the new name of WTTA. In 1991, WTTA 38 began its regular broadcasting schedule, mainly of syndicated shows passed over by other stations, barter programming, uncleared network shows, and infomercials. Due to the station's low budget, weekend programming tended to consist entirely of infomercials. WTTA also presented a televised version of WRBQ's morning radio program, the "Q Morning Zoo", until that station changed to country music in the early 1990s.

WTTA was originally scheduled to sign on in the fall of 1990, with programming from the "Star Television Network" (which offered a mix of old programming and infomercials under the TV Heaven name). In September 1990, there was also an ad for "TV Heaven 38" in the Tampa-Sarasota edition of TV Guide magazine, but not only was the station not ready yet, but Star was in financial trouble (it went dark January 16, 1991).

In December of 1994, Fox programming moved from WFTS-TV to WTVT, as part of a group deal with WTVT's then-owners, New World Communications, however it did not pick up Fox Kids. At the same time, the E.W. Scripps Company, owners of WFTS-TV, cut an affiliation deal with ABC, which resulted in WFTS dropping most of its syndicated shows. Meanwhile, CBS would move from WTVT to WTSP (the previous ABC affiliate). At that point WTTA would acquire Fox Kids programming, a dozen off network sitcoms, and other strong programming that WFTS no longer had time to air.

In 1998, WTTA’s owner, Bay Television, entered into a management agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group, which in years to come would become one of the nation's largest broadcast companies. (It should be known that the owners of Bay Television are David Smith, J. Duncan Smith, Frederick Smith, Robert Smith, and Robert Simmons -- all but Simmons controlled most of the shares of Sinclair, making WTTA more of a Sinclair-owned station, rather than a locally-owned one. [link]) Also in 1998, WTTA became the Tampa Bay affiliate for The WB Television Network in a group deal with Sinclair stations. WTTA runs syndicated sitcoms and first run talk/court/reality shows, cartoons on weekends, along with sports programming and infomercials. It ran cartoons from WB during the week until January of 2006 when WB discontinued the weekday kids block.

In August of 2003 WTTA launched its news program: WB38 News at 10pm. Local news originates from WTTA's Tampa studios, with national news, sports and weather originating from Sinclair's headquarters in Baltimore. This had made WTTA one of a few WB stations to offer news. There were rumors that A.H. Belo Corporation would buy WTVZ-TV and sister station WTTA from Sinclair Broadcast Group. As of 2006, this has not occurred. There were also rumors that Fox would buy WTTA and create a duopoly with WTVT (as well as make WTTA a My Network TV O&O), as of 2006, this has not occurred either.

Meanwhile Sinclair announced that it shut down WTTA's news operations effective March 31, 2006, replacing it with syndicated programming. However, if sister stations are any indication, a newscast produced by another station could appear on WTTA in the future.

Logos

Image:Wtta1993.jpg|WTTA's first logo, used from 1991 until sometime in the mid-1990s. Image:WTTA 90's.PNG|Logo used from 1998 to 2003. Image:WTTAWB38.PNG|Logo used from 2003-2006, when WTTA had its News At Ten, powered by News Central.

External links

• [Query the FCC's TV station database for WTTA]
• [mcsittel.com: 1990s DX screengrabs from Tallahassee -- includes a 1992 WTTA ID]

Broadcast television in the Tampa / St. Petersburg / Sarasota market  [(Nielsen DMA #12)]
WEDU 3 (PBS) - WFLA 8 (NBC) - WTSP 10 (CBS) - WINK 11 (CBS) - WTVT 13 (Fox) - WLWA-LP 14 (TBN)  - WPDS-LP 14 (Edu.) - W15CM 15 (AS) - WUSF 16 (PBS)  WHRT-CA 17 (Ind) - WSVT-LP 18 (DS) - WARP-CA 20 (MTV2) - WCLF 22 (CTN) - WXAX-LP 26 (AZA) - WFTS 28 (ABC) - WTAM-LP 30 (TV Informa) - WMOR 32 (Ind)  W33CC 33 (Ind) - W34AW 34 (3ABN) - WSPF-CA 35 (St. Pete city access) - W36CO 36 (TBN) - WTTA 38 (The WB/MNTV) - WWSB 40 (ABC) - W43CE 43 (Ind)  WTOG 44 (UPN/The CW) - WYKE-LP 47 (FN) - W48CN 48 (TBN) - WZRA-CA 48 (Ethnic/A1/NTV/CTV) - WRMD-LP 49 (TEL) - WFTT 50 (TFU) - W56EB 56 (TBN)  W60CE 60 (TBN) - WVEA 62 (UNI) - WXPX 66 (i)
Local cable television channels
Bay News 9  -  SNN 6  -  Catch 47  -  FSN Florida  -  Sun Sports

The WB Television Network>WB Network Affiliates in the state of Florida Note: Networks in parenthesis indicate affiliations starting September 2006. Also, stations in bold are cable-only stations.
"WBPC" 9 / 46 / 60 / 66 (, ND)1 - "WBFL" 10 (, ND)1 - WCWJ 17 (, The CW) - WKCF 18 (, The CW) - WTTA 38 (, MNTV) - WBZL 39 (, The CW) - WTCN-CA 43 (, MNTV) - WTVK 46 (, The CW) - WFXU 57 / WTLF 24 (, ND)1
1The CW and My Network TV affiliations have already been decided in this market.
See also: , , , , , , , and stations in the state of Florida

 

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