WTTA
Encyclopedia
WTTA is the MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...

-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...

 for the Tampa Bay Area
Tampa Bay Area
The Tampa Bay Area is the region of west central Florida adjacent to Tampa Bay. Definitions of the region vary. It is often considered equivalent to the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area defined by the United States Census Bureau. The Census Bureau currently...

 of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 that is licensed to St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...

. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...

 digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter in Riverview
Riverview, Hillsborough County, Florida
Riverview is an unincorporated census-designated place in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. It is located near Brandon. The population was 71,050 at the 2010 census....

. Owned by Bay Television, the station is operated by the Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...

 through a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...

 (LMA). WTTA has studios at Bald Cypress Place in Tampa
Tampa, Florida
Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....

. Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...

 programming on the station includes: Seinfeld
Seinfeld
Seinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...

, The New Adventures of Old Christine
The New Adventures of Old Christine
The New Adventures of Old Christine is an American comedy series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus which ran for five seasons on CBS from March 13, 2006, to May 12, 2010...

, Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond
Everybody Loves Raymond is an American television sitcom that originally ran on CBS from September 13, 1996, to May 16, 2005. Many of the situations from the show are based on the real-life experiences of lead actor Ray Romano, creator/producer Phil Rosenthal and the show's writing staff...

, and The People's Court
The People's Court
The People's Court is a US television court show in which small claims court cases are heard, though what is shown is actually a binding arbitration....

. On cable, it can be seen on Bright House
Bright House Networks
Bright House Networks is a cable television company, the seventh largest cable operator and the sixth largest traditional multiple system operator in the United States owned by Advance/Newhouse, headquartered in Syracuse, New York...

 and Knology
Knology
Knology Inc. is a cable company that formed in 1994 by ITC Holding Company, Inc, a telecommunications holding company in West Point, Georgia that also founded Internet service provider Mindspring. In late 1994, shortly after Knology's inception, two employees made a $600,000 investment to make...

 channel 6, Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...

 channel 11 in Sarasota County
Sarasota County, Florida
Sarasota County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2008 estimate for the county was 372,057. Its county seat is Sarasota, Florida....

, and Comcast channel 29 in Hardee County
Hardee County, Florida
Hardee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 26,938. The U.S. Census Bureau 2005 estimate for the county is 28,286 . Its county seat is Wauchula, Florida. The county comprises the Wauchula, Florida, Micropolitan Statistical Area.- History :It...

.

Digital programming

On WTTA-DT2 is TheCoolTV
TheCoolTV
THECOOLTV is a United States over-the-air digital subchannel launched in March 2009. The network's current program schedule consists of an all-music video lineup that can be customized to meet an affiliate's preference, along with the three hours per week of E/I programming as required by the...

. It is only offered on Bright House digital channel 632. It cannot be seen on Comcast or Knology systems yet but will likely be added at some point.
Channel Programming
38.1 Main WTTA programming / MyNetworkTV
38.2 TheCoolTV

History

The analog UHF channel 38 allotment had previously been home to the area's first television station, WSUN-TV
WSUN-TV
WSUN-TV was a television station in St. Petersburg, Florida from 1953 to 1970 and was the first TV station in the Tampa/St. Petersburg television market.-Early history:...

, which operated from 1953 until 1970. That station also served as the area's first ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 affiliate until WLCY (now WTSP
WTSP
WTSP is a CBS-affiliated television station in St. Petersburg, Florida . It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 10....

) signed-on in 1965 making WSUN an Independent until going dark in 1970. In 1986, a local group won a new license for analog channel 38. 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
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...

 edition of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...

magazine. However, the station was not ready to broadcast yet since Star was in financial trouble and the network went dark on January 16, 1991.

On June 21 of that year WTTA began its regular broadcasting schedule as an Independent consisting mainly of syndicated shows passed over by other stations, barter programming, uncleared network shows, and infomercial
Infomercial
Infomercials are direct response television commercials which generally include a phone number or website. There are long-form infomercials, which are typically between 15 and 30 minutes in length, and short-form infomercials, which are typically 30 seconds to 120 seconds in length. Infomercials...

s. Due to its low budget, weekend programming tended to consist entirely of infomercials. WTTA also presented a televised simulcast of the WRBQ
WRBQ
WRBQ-FM is a commercial classic hits music formatted radio station in Tampa, Florida.-History:Formerly WPKM and later WEZX, 104.7 switched to a rock ’n roll format as Q105 in December 1973, home to the Q-Morning Zoo, Cleveland Wheeler, Scott Shannon, Dave Saint, Jack Harris, Bill Garcia, Uncle...

-FM 104.7 weekday morning show called Q Morning Zoo
Morning zoo
Morning zoo is a format of morning radio show common to English-language radio broadcasting. The name is derived from the "wackiness and zaniness" of the activities, bits, and overall personality of the show and its hosts...

until the radio station changed formats to country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 in the early-1990s. In December 1994, Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...

 programming moved from WFTS-TV
WFTS-TV
WFTS, virtual channel 28, is the ABC affiliate television station for the Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida market, owned by The E.W. Scripps Company. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 29. Its transmitter is located in Riverview, Florida.-History:...

 to WTVT
WTVT
WTVT, channel 13, is a television station in Tampa, Florida. It is an owned and operated station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the News Corporation...

 as part of a group deal with its then-owners, New World Communications
New World Communications
New World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s...

. Upon the changeover, that station did not pick up Fox Kids
Fox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...

 which was passed over to WTTA. Fox Kids later moved to rival WMOR-TV
WMOR-TV
WMOR-TV is an independent television station in the Tampa Bay television market . It is licensed to Lakeland, with studios in Tampa. The station is owned by the Hearst Corporation.-History:...

 that also aired the later 4KidsTV block on Sunday mornings until its shutdown on December 28, 2008. At the same time, the E.W. Scripps Company (owners of WFTS) cut an affiliation deal with ABC which resulted in WFTS selling most of its syndicated shows to WTTA. Meanwhile, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 would move from WTVT to WTSP.

In 1998, WTTA owner Bay Television entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with the Sinclair Broadcast Group that in years to come would become one of the nation's largest broadcast companies. However, Bay Television is effectively a subsidiary of Sinclair. It is owned by David Smith, J. Duncan Smith, Frederick Smith, Robert Smith, and Robert Simmons. The Smith brothers also control Sinclair making Bay Television a de-facto subsidiary of Sinclair. It could also be considered a shell corporation used for the purpose of circumventing Federal Communication Commission (FCC) ownership rules. Normally, this would apply to a duopoly that Sinclair operates but there is no second owned station in the Tampa Bay market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...

.

Also in 1998, WTTA became Tampa Bay's second affiliate for The WB after a group deal with Sinclair was made. WMOR had been the network's charter affiliate and reverted back to an Independent. This station used the on-air moniker "WB 38" and ran cartoons from Kids' WB
Kids' WB
Kids' WB! was Warner Bros. American childrens programing division brand for The WB Television Network. In September 2006, the block moved to The CW Television Network. The CW is the result of The WB's merger with UPN in 2006...

 during the week until January 2006 when the network discontinued its kids block. On January 24, The WB and UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...

 announced that the networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...

 unit of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...

. On February 22, News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...

 announced that it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be a sister network to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming Independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.

It was pretty much a given that Tampa Bay's UPN affiliate WTOG
WTOG
WTOG, channel 44, is a television station in St. Petersburg, Florida. Owned by the CBS Corporation, WTOG serves as the Tampa Bay Area station for the co-owned The CW Television Network. Its transmitter is located in Riverview, Florida.-Early years:...

 (that was an owned-and-operated
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...

 UPN station owned by the CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...

) would become the area's CW outlet. WTTA's future was uncertain until Sinclair announced that it, along with most of Sinclair's WB and UPN affiliates, would affiliate with MyNetworkTV. The station was branded as "My TV Tampa Bay" a week before the station began to air the new network which occurred on September 5.

On September 3, 2007, it began airing the controversial Live Prayer with Bill Keller
Live Prayer
Live Prayer is a Christian evangelical Internet and television ministry located in Tampa, Florida and run by Bill Keller.Currently the ministry is being operated out of a USED CAR LOT...

. Keller had been bounced from station to station in the Tampa Bay area and landed on WTTA after a sudden departure from WTOG. The show moved to Ion Television affiliate WXPX-TV in November 2007 after WTTA imposed new restrictions regarding live programming. Like most Sinclair-owned stations, this channel has been broadcasting digital-only since February 17, 2009. This station and competing CW affiliate WTOG moved back to their respective analog channels at the end of the U.S. analog shutdown
DTV transition in the United States
The DTV transition in the United States was the switchover from analog to exclusively digital broadcasting of free over-the-air television programming...

 in 2009 because of the FCC auctioning UHF channels 52-69 for non-television use. Originally, the station had aired a digital signal on UHF channel 57 before moving back to channel 38. In October 2009, the FCC approved the request by WTTA to relocate to UHF channel 32 to avoid adjacent channel problems from WFTV
WFTV
WFTV, channel 9, is the ABC-affiliated television station for Central Florida that is licensed to Orlando. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter between Bithlo and Christmas. Owned by Cox Enterprises, WFTV is sister to Independent WRDQ. The two stations...

 in Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...

. On August 23, 2010, WTTA completed the channel move.

Newscasts

On August 16, 2004, WTTA established a news department and began airing a weeknight prime time newscast at 10 in an attempt to compete with WTVT. Known as WB 38 News at 10, it was part of Sinclair's controversial centralized News Central
News Central
News Central was a primetime newscast on Sinclair television stations in the United States, mixing locally produced news with nationally produced news and an opinion segment from Sinclair's Hunt Valley, Maryland studios...

operation based at company headquarters on Beaver Dam Road in Hunt Valley, Maryland
Hunt Valley, Maryland
Hunt Valley is an affluent unincorporated community in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. It lies just north of the city of Baltimore, along Highway 145 off Interstate 83. Loch Raven Reservoir...

. Although national news, weather forecasts, and some sports originated from News Central, local news and sports operations were based at WTTA's studios. It also aired "The Point", a one-minute conservative political commentary, that was also controversial and a requirement of all Sinclair-owned stations with newscasts. Due to poor ratings, WTTA's news department was shut down on March 31, 2006. This was also due in part from poor financial planning by Sinclair. It occurred as part of the systematic shutdown of the company's news operations around the country. Syndicated programming replaced the newscasts.

On October 8, 2007, Sinclair and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 affiliate WFLA-TV
WFLA-TV
WFLA-TV, virtual channel 8, is the NBC-affiliated television station in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida. The station is the flagship station of its owner and operator, Media General. Its transmitter is located in Riverview, Hillsborough County, Florida. WFLA is the only station in the market to be...

 (flagship of owner Media General
Media General
Media General, Inc. is a media company based in the Southeastern United States. Its major properties include newspapers such as The Tampa Tribune, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, as well as numerous television stations, such as flagship station WFLA-TV.The company was...

) entered into a news share agreement resulting in a weeknight prime time newscast produced by that station called NewsChannel 8 at 10 on My TV Tampa Bay. Original personnel included news anchors Peter Bernard and Katie Coronado with weather from meteorologists Mace Michaels or Leigh Spann. The broadcast aired from WFLA's studios on South Parker Street in Downtown Tampa. This arrangement was similar to ones established at Sinclair stations in Raleigh
WLFL
WLFL is the CW-affiliated television station for North Carolina's Triangle licensed to Raleigh. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 27 from a transmitter located in Auburn, North Carolina. The station can also be seen on Time Warner Cable channel 2 and in high definition...

, Buffalo
WNYO-TV
WNYO-TV is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station in Buffalo, New York, serving the western region of New York state. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 49 from a transmitter at Ironwood Golf Course in Bennington's Cowlesville section. The station can also be seen...

, Flint
WSMH
WSMH is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Flint/Tri-Cities market that is licensed to Flint. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 16 from a 245 kilowatt, high transmitter on Aman Rd near St. Charles, Michigan...

, Charleston
WTAT-TV
WTAT-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for South Carolina's Lowcountry licensed to Charleston. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter in Awendaw. The station can also be seen on Comcast, Knology, and Time Warner channel 6...

, and Las Vegas
KVCW
KVCW, branded as The CW Las Vegas, is the CW-affiliated television station for Las Vegas. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 29 from a transmitter in Henderson, Nevada southwest of I-515/U.S. 93/U.S. 95...

. The news share and WFLA broadcasts ended on April 30, 2009.

External links

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