WTVZ-TV
Encyclopedia : W : WT : WTV : WTVZ-TV
WTVZ-TV is the WB affiliate serving the Norfolk-Portsmouth-Newport News, Virginia (or Hampton Roads) television market. The station broadcasts on channel 33 and is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group. Beginning in the fall of 2006, WTVZ will become an affiliate of My Network TV after the WB is folded into the CW. Its transmitter is located in Suffolk, Virginia.
History
WTVZ began operations in 1979, and was founded by TVX Broadcast Group Incorporated, a locally-based firm controlled by Tim McDonald. The station ran a general entertainment format similar to its competitor, the Christian Broadcasting Network-owned WYAH-TV (channel 27, now WGNT), but with much less religious programming (although it ran the PTL Club between 10 AM and Noon). It aired a number of movies, sitcoms, and cartoons, and immediately surpassed WYAH as the top independent station in the market.TVX began expanding outside of Norfolk and launched WRLH-TV (channel 35) in nearby Richmond in 1982. TVX also bought independent stations in Raleigh and Greensboro, North Carolina, New Orleans, and Little Rock, Arkansas, and launched new independents in Nashville, Memphis, San Antonio and Buffalo, New York throughout the mid-1980s. In 1986, TVX affiliated all of its stations, including WTVZ, with the Fox Broadcasting Company; WTVZ carried the name "FOX33" for that time.
In February 1987 TVX purchased Taft Broadcasting's Fox affiliates and independent stations, all of which were located in larger markets such as Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and Miami. However, the company began to run into financial troubles due to debt incurred from the Taft purchase, and proceeded to sell its smaller-market stations one by one. In 1989, WTVZ was sold to Sullivan Broadcasting. The station was acquired by the Sinclair Broadcast Group in 1996, and was reunited with several of its former TVX sister stations which had also been purchased by Sinclair.
WTVZ lost its Fox affiliation to WVBT-TV (channel 43) in 1998, and became a WB affiliate in its place. There were rumors that the A.H. Belo Corporation would buy WTVZ and WTTA in Tampa, Florida, from Sinclair, essentially creating a duopoly in Hampton Roads with Belo-owned ABC affiliate WVEC-TV (channel 13). However, this has not yet occurred.
On January 24, 2006, the UPN and WB networks announced they would merge into a new service, to be called The CW, to take effect in September 2006. Current UPN affiliate WGNT will become the CW's Hampton Roads affiliate. On March 2, 2006, Sinclair announced that WTVZ and sixteen of its sister stations would become My Network TV affiliates, also effective in September. My Network TV is operated by Fox and its parent company, the News Corporation.
Logos
External links
| Terrestrial television>Broadcast television in the Norfolk / Virginia Beach / Newport News, Virginia (Hampton Roads) market [(Nielsen DMA #42)] | ||
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WUND 2 / WUNP 36 (PBS/UNC-TV) -
WTKR 3 (CBS) -
WSKY 4 (Ind) -
WAVY 10 (NBC) -
WVEC 13 (ABC) -
WHRO 15 (PBS) -
WHRE 21 (TBN) -
WGNT 27 (UPN/The CW) -
WTVZ 33 (The WB/My Network TV) -
WVBT 43 (Fox) -
WPXV 49 (i)
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| Local cable & satellite television channels | ||
| LNC5 | ||
| WB Network Affiliates in the state of Virginia | |
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| WWBT 12 (-secondary affiliate) - WFXR-DT 17.2 / WWCW-DT 20.2 () - WCYB-DT 28.2 () - WTVZ 33 () - "WBC" 33 () - "WBHA" 47 / 63 () | |
| See also: , , , , , and stations in Virginia | |
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Corporate Staff: David D. Smith (COB and President & CEO) | Frederick G. Smith | J. Duncan Smith | Robert E. Smith | Daniel C. Keith | Martin R. Leader | Lawrence E. McCanna | Basil A. Thomas | David B. Amy | Lucy A. Rutishauser | Barry M. Faber | David R. Bochenek | Nat S. Ostroff | Donald H. Thompson | Thomas I. Waters III | Darren Shapiro | Gregg Siegel | Jeff Sleete | M. William Butler | Steven M. Marks | Delbert R. Parks III | Joe DeFeo
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ABC Network Affiliates: KDNL | WCHS | WEAR | WGGB | WICD | WICS | WKEF | WLOS | WSYX | WXLV
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CBS Network Affiliates: KGAN | WGME
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Fox Network Affiliates: KABB | KBSI | KDSM | KOKH | WBFF | WDKY | WMSN | WPGH | WRGT | WRLH | WSMH | WSYT | WTAT | WTTE | WUHF | WUTV | WVAH | WYZZ | WZTV
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NBC Network Affiliate: WTWC
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UPN Network Affiliates: WABM¹ | WCGV¹ | WMMP¹ | WMYV¹ | WRDC¹ | WUXP¹
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WB Network Affiliates: KMYS¹ | KOCB² | KVMY¹ | WDKA¹ | WLFL² | WMYA¹ | WNAB² | WNYO¹ | WNUV² | WNYS¹ | WPMY¹ | WSTR¹ | WTTA¹ | WTTO/WDBB² | WTVZ¹ | WUCW² | WVTV²
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Independent Television Stations: KVCW² | WFGX¹
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¹ Stations that have been announced as My Network TV affiliates.
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² Stations that have been announced as CW affiliates.
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| Annual Revenue: .24 billion USD (2004) | Employees: Unknown at this time. | Stock Symbol: NASDAQ: [SBGI]| Website: [www.sbgi.net] |
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