WUPL
Encyclopedia
WUPL, virtual channel
54, is the MyNetworkTV
-affiliated television station for the Greater New Orleans, Louisiana
area. It is licensed
to the Northshore community of Slidell
. It is currently owned by the Belo Corporation, in a duopoly with CBS affiliate WWL-TV
. It broadcasts on UHF digital channel 24.
WUPL operates its virtual channel
54.1 on UHF channel 24. On June 12, 2009, WUPL ceased broadcasting on channel 54 and continued broadcasting its HD 1080i signal on channel 24 to complete its analog to digital conversion. Through the use of PSIP
, digital television receivers will display WUPL's virtual channel as "54".
in 1997, which in turn sold the station to Paramount Stations Group
, which made WUPL a UPN owned-and-operated station.
Viacom, Paramount Stations Group's parent company, merged with CBS in 2000. Despite Viacom's ownership of WUPL, the market's CBS affiliation remained on WWL-TV, the highest-rated television station in New Orleans and CBS' strongest affiliate for over 20 years. Viacom briefly considered buying WWL-TV, thus creating a duopoly with WUPL. However, after Belo turned down Viacom's offer, Viacom decided instead to sell WUPL to Belo. WUPL and WWL-TV became sister stations under Belo ownership. Before then, WUPL was one of two network O&O's in New Orleans at the time (Tribune
-owned WNOL was the other).
On February 9, 2006, CBS Corporation
(which took over WUPL after Viacom split into two companies) filed a law suit against Belo Corp. over the failure to close on the sale of WUPL. The deal was slated to close by the end of 2005, but skidded to a halt when Hurricane Katrina devastated the market in late August. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6308569.html?display=John+Higgins&referral=SUPP On February 26, 2007, Belo announced that they would go forward with the purchase of WUPL from CBS. A Belo press release also said the sale - which has already received FCC approval - "settles litigation between Belo and CBS over the purchase that arose after Hurricane Katrina." At that time, Belo closed on WUPL, and later acquired its low-power repeater, WBXN-CA on channel 18 in New Orleans (previously a separate station, K10NG, affiliated with The Box and later MTV2
) on April 20, 2007. In mid-April 2007, Belo moved WUPL's operations into the WWL-TV facility. The URL for the former WUPL website, WUPLTV.com, now serves as a redirect to the WWL-TV website.
, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The merger would take effect on-the-air in September 2006, and former WB station WNOL was announced as the CW's New Orleans affiliate.
Even though the lawsuit with Belo Corp at the time (but has since been settled) provided some doubt, it was announced that WUPL would become an affiliate of MyNetworkTV
on July 12. Since News Corporation
owns Fox
and MNTV, CBS Corporation, which owned WUPL at the time of MNTV's launch, originally relented on allowing any of its current UPN affiliates to affiliate with the new network because News Corp's UPN stations were left out of the deal to affiliate with The CW.
WUPL may take on the responsibility of airing CBS prime-time shows when WWL-TV is not able to such as in a news-related emergency.
(which WWL-TV pre-empts in favor of its four-hour local newscast). WUPL also offered The Daily Buzz
and both shows were run under the umbrella title My Morning News. Currently the station only carries The Early Show, with Better
leading into it.
On June 4, 2007, WUPL began airing a half-hour 9 p.m. newscast called My54 Eyewitness News
at 9 to compete against WVUE
's Fox 8 News at 9 and WGNO
's ABC 26 News at 9:00 on New Orleans' CW38. The newscast is produced by WWL-TV, and features the anchor lineup of Channel 4's 10 p.m. newscast Eyewitness News Nightwatch. Unlike the 9 p.m. newscast on WVUE, the WUPL newscast currently airs on weeknights only. WGNO cancelled the newscast it produced for WNOL after the June 4, 2010 edition due to dismal ratings; by that time, the newscast on WUPL had passed the WNOL newscast at a distant second behind WVUE.
As of September 2010, the 9 p.m. newscast is broadcast in 16:9
widescreen
standard definition — the same format as the newscasts on sister station WWL-TV.
My54 Eyewitness News
at 9
(weeknights 9-9:30 p.m.)
WUPL features additional news personnel from WWL-TV. See that article for a complete listing.
}
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
54, 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 for the Greater New Orleans, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
area. It is licensed
City of license
A city of license or community of license, in American and Canadian broadcasting, is the community that a radio station or television station is officially licensed to serve by that country's broadcast regulator....
to the Northshore community of Slidell
Slidell, Louisiana
Slidell is a city situated on the northeast shore of Lake Pontchartrain in St. Tammany Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 25,695 at the 2000 census. The Greater Slidell Community has a population of about 90,000...
. It is currently owned by the Belo Corporation, in a duopoly with CBS affiliate WWL-TV
WWL-TV
WWL-TV, virtual channel 4, is the CBS-affiliated television station serving New Orleans, Louisiana, southeast Louisiana and parts of southern and coastal Mississippi, and is the primary CBS station for South and Coastal Mississippi. It broadcasts on UHF digital channel 36...
. It broadcasts on UHF digital channel 24.
Digital television
| Channel | Video | Aspect Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,... |
Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 54.1 | 720p 720p 720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan... |
16:9 16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ... |
WUPL | Main WUPL programming / MyNetworkTV |
WUPL operates its virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
54.1 on UHF channel 24. On June 12, 2009, WUPL ceased broadcasting on channel 54 and continued broadcasting its HD 1080i signal on channel 24 to complete its analog to digital conversion. Through the use of PSIP
Program and System Information Protocol
The Program and System Information Protocol is the protocol used in the ATSC digital television system for carrying metadata about each channel in the broadcast MPEG transport stream of a TV station and for publishing information about television programs so that viewers can select what to watch...
, digital television receivers will display WUPL's virtual channel as "54".
History
The station signed on in June 1995 as the market's UPN affiliate. Along with UPN programming, the station ran a general entertainment format, offering vintage off-network sitcoms, talk shows, court shows, and other syndicated shows. WUPL was sold to Cox EnterprisesCox Enterprises
Cox Enterprises is the successor to the publishing company founded in Dayton, Ohio, United States, by James Middleton Cox, who began with the Dayton Daily News. He was the Democratic candidate for the President of the United States in the election of 1920...
in 1997, which in turn sold the station to Paramount Stations Group
Paramount Stations Group
Paramount Stations Group was a television broadcasting company that was renamed from the TVX Broadcast Group in 1991 after Paramount Pictures gained full ownership of the group. At the time, it owned several Fox affiliates and independent stations...
, which made WUPL a UPN owned-and-operated station.
Viacom, Paramount Stations Group's parent company, merged with CBS in 2000. Despite Viacom's ownership of WUPL, the market's CBS affiliation remained on WWL-TV, the highest-rated television station in New Orleans and CBS' strongest affiliate for over 20 years. Viacom briefly considered buying WWL-TV, thus creating a duopoly with WUPL. However, after Belo turned down Viacom's offer, Viacom decided instead to sell WUPL to Belo. WUPL and WWL-TV became sister stations under Belo ownership. Before then, WUPL was one of two network O&O's in New Orleans at the time (Tribune
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
-owned WNOL was the other).
On February 9, 2006, 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...
(which took over WUPL after Viacom split into two companies) filed a law suit against Belo Corp. over the failure to close on the sale of WUPL. The deal was slated to close by the end of 2005, but skidded to a halt when Hurricane Katrina devastated the market in late August. http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6308569.html?display=John+Higgins&referral=SUPP On February 26, 2007, Belo announced that they would go forward with the purchase of WUPL from CBS. A Belo press release also said the sale - which has already received FCC approval - "settles litigation between Belo and CBS over the purchase that arose after Hurricane Katrina." At that time, Belo closed on WUPL, and later acquired its low-power repeater, WBXN-CA on channel 18 in New Orleans (previously a separate station, K10NG, affiliated with The Box and later MTV2
MTV2
MTV2 is a cable network that is widely available in the United States on digital cable and satellite television, and is progressively being added to analogue cable lineups across the nation...
) on April 20, 2007. In mid-April 2007, Belo moved WUPL's operations into the WWL-TV facility. The URL for the former WUPL website, WUPLTV.com, now serves as a redirect to the WWL-TV website.
Present and future
On January 24, 2006, the UPN and WB networks announced they would merge. The newly combined network would be called The CWThe CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
, the letters representing the first initial of its corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. The merger would take effect on-the-air in September 2006, and former WB station WNOL was announced as the CW's New Orleans affiliate.
Even though the lawsuit with Belo Corp at the time (but has since been settled) provided some doubt, it was announced that WUPL would become an affiliate of MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
on July 12. Since 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...
owns 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...
and MNTV, CBS Corporation, which owned WUPL at the time of MNTV's launch, originally relented on allowing any of its current UPN affiliates to affiliate with the new network because News Corp's UPN stations were left out of the deal to affiliate with The CW.
WUPL may take on the responsibility of airing CBS prime-time shows when WWL-TV is not able to such as in a news-related emergency.
Newscasts
Since early 2005, WUPL has broadcast CBS's The Early ShowThe Early Show
The Early Show is an American television morning news talk show broadcast by CBS from New York City. The program airs live from 7 to 9 a.m. Eastern Time Monday through Friday; most affiliates in the Central, Mountain, and Pacific time zones air the show on tape-delay from 7 to 9 a.m. local time. ...
(which WWL-TV pre-empts in favor of its four-hour local newscast). WUPL also offered The Daily Buzz
The Daily Buzz
The Daily Buzz is a nationally syndicated breakfast television news and infotainment program. The show is produced by Fisher Communications and is owned and distributed by ACME Communications; it is broadcast every weekday morning from studios at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida...
and both shows were run under the umbrella title My Morning News. Currently the station only carries The Early Show, with Better
Better (TV series)
Better is a syndicated lifestyle television show. It airs weekdays on 80 stations across the United States. The program is produced and distributed by Meredith Corporation which was first founded as a publishing company back in 1902. Better gets its name from Meredith's flagship publication, Better...
leading into it.
On June 4, 2007, WUPL began airing a half-hour 9 p.m. newscast called My54 Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News is a style of news broadcasting used by local television stations in different markets across the United States. It refers to a particular style of television newscast with an emphasis on visual elements and action video...
at 9 to compete against WVUE
WVUE
WVUE-DT, broadcasting on virtual channel 8, is a TV station in New Orleans, Louisiana, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company. WVUE is owned by Louisiana Media Company, with studios in the Gert Town section of New Orleans and transmitter in Chalmette, Louisiana.- Digital television :WVUE-DT...
's Fox 8 News at 9 and WGNO
WGNO
WGNO, channel 26, is the ABC-affiliated television station for the greater New Orleans, Louisiana metropolitan area, as well parts of southern and coastal Mississippi. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, and is the only Big Three network affiliate owned by the company.The station offers ABC...
's ABC 26 News at 9:00 on New Orleans' CW38. The newscast is produced by WWL-TV, and features the anchor lineup of Channel 4's 10 p.m. newscast Eyewitness News Nightwatch. Unlike the 9 p.m. newscast on WVUE, the WUPL newscast currently airs on weeknights only. WGNO cancelled the newscast it produced for WNOL after the June 4, 2010 edition due to dismal ratings; by that time, the newscast on WUPL had passed the WNOL newscast at a distant second behind WVUE.
As of September 2010, the 9 p.m. newscast is broadcast in 16:9
16:9
16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ...
widescreen
Widescreen
Widescreen images are a variety of aspect ratios used in film, television and computer screens. In film, a widescreen film is any film image with a width-to-height aspect ratio greater than the standard 1.37:1 Academy aspect ratio provided by 35mm film....
standard definition — the same format as the newscasts on sister station WWL-TV.
My54 Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News is a style of news broadcasting used by local television stations in different markets across the United States. It refers to a particular style of television newscast with an emphasis on visual elements and action video...
at 9
(weeknights 9-9:30 p.m.)
- Anchors: Karen Swensen and Dennis Woltering
- Weather: Carl Arredondo
- Sports: Jim Henderson
WUPL features additional news personnel from WWL-TV. See that article for a complete listing.
External links
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