WEPT-CD

WEPT-CD
Channels
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerVenture Technologies Group, LLC
History
FoundedJanuary 24, 1996
First air date
December 1997 (27 years ago) (1997-12)
Former call signs
  • W39CE (1997–1998)
  • WVBX-LP (1998–2002)
  • WVBX-CA (2002–2003)
  • WNYA-CA (2003–2013)
  • WEPT-CA (2013–2014)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 39 (UHF, 1997–2003), 15 (UHF, 2003–2014)
  • Digital: 22 (UHF, 2014–2020)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID30429
ClassCD
ERP15 kW
HAAT200.6 m (658 ft)
Transmitter coordinates40°57′39″N 73°55′21″W / 40.96083°N 73.92250°W / 40.96083; -73.92250 (WEPT-CD)
Links
Public license information

WEPT-CD (channel 15) is a low-power, Class A television station in Peekskill, New York, United States, affiliated with Jewelry Television. The station is owned by Venture Technologies Group.

History

[edit]

The station originated on January 24, 1996,[2] as a construction permit for W02CJ,[3] which was to have operated on channel 2 in Manchester, Vermont, from a tower at the studios of radio station WJAN (95.1 FM, now WVTQ).[2] However, that facility was never built, and later that year owners Ronald and Jan Morlino, who also owned WJAN, transferred W02CJ to Vision 3 Broadcasting,[4][5] which on May 9, 1997, modified the permit to instead serve Easton, Glens Falls, Hudson Falls, and Saratoga Springs on channel 39 from Willard Mountain,[6] making the station W39CE.[3] The station was designed to be a repeater of WVBG-LP (channel 25) from Albany; however, when channel 39 signed on in December 1997 as an independent station, it was the first of Vision 3's three stations to launch,[7] ahead of W49BU (channel 49, later renamed WVBK-LP; now WHNH-CD channel 2) in Manchester, which signed on in March 1998,[8] and WVBG itself, which debuted in August 1998.[9] Channel 39 became WVBX-LP on April 10, 1998.[3]

On October 5, 1998, WVBX, along with parent station WVBG, became a UPN affiliate;[10] it already carried the UPN Kids block,[11] but the network's prime time programming had previously been seen in the Capital District through secondary affiliations with Fox affiliate WXXA-TV (channel 23)[11] and Pax station WYPX (channel 55),[12] as well as cable carriage of WSBK-TV from Boston.[10][12] However, from its inception, the station could not get carriage on Time Warner Cable,[11] which chose to continue its carriage of WSBK;[10] this was despite acquiring several sports packages, including Big East football and basketball, the Boston Red Sox (the telecasts of which were dropped following a territorial complaint by the New York Yankees),[13] and the Boston Celtics.[14]

Vision 3 did win must-carry rights in Washington County (in the WVBX coverage area) on December 3, 1999.[15] However, the UPN affiliation ended at the start of 2000 when cable-only "WEDG-TV" (known later as "UPN 4") signed on as a joint operation between Time Warner Cable and WXXA.[16] WVBX would then revert to being an independent station, heavily emphasizing its status as a primarily over-the-air station;[17] that June, Vision 3 put WVBG and WVBX up for sale,[18] and by 2001 much of the station's schedule was taken up by America One[19] and Resort Sports Network programming.[20]

In 2002, a year after parent station WVBG was sold to Wireless Access, Vision 3 was granted a construction permit to move WVBX to channel 15 from a transmitter on the Helderberg Escarpment in New Scotland, near the location of the WVBG transmitter, in effect moving the station to Albany.[21] The new facility was also granted class A status,[21] with the call sign WVBX-CA.[3] On May 22, 2003, Vision 3 sold WVBX to Venture Technologies Group,[22] who took channel 39 off-the-air that June.[23] During this time, Venture built the channel 15 facility, gave it the call letters WNYA-CA on June 30, 2003,[3] and announced that the station would serve as a repeater of WNYA (channel 51) from Pittsfield, Massachusetts, which Venture was in the process of launching; this resulted in the unusual circumstance of a repeater station older than its parent station.[24] Together, the two stations came on the air September 1, 2003, as the Capital District's new UPN affiliate (replacing "WEDG-TV"),[24] operated by Freedom Communications, then-owner of WRGB (channel 6), under a joint sales agreement.[25]

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would end broadcasting and merge to form a new network, The CW; the new network immediately named WEWB-TV (channel 45, now WCWN) its Capital District affiliate after then-owner Tribune Broadcasting signed a ten-year affiliation deal with the new network on most of its WB stations.[26] On February 22, News Corporation announced that it would start up another new broadcast television network called MyNetworkTV; on March 9, it was announced that WNYA (and in turn WNYA-CA) would join this network, which launched on September 5.[27] A few months after the affiliation change, on December 5, 2006, Freedom Communications purchased WCWN from Tribune, in effect giving it control over three stations in the Capital District;[28] in February 2007, the joint sales agreement with WRGB was terminated,[29] and WNYA moved from WRGB's studios in Niskayuna to a facility in Rotterdam that formerly housed WMHT-FM-TV.[30] In April 2011, WNYA-CA replaced WNYA's main programming with Antenna TV, simulcast from WNYA's second digital subchannel.[31]

On February 25, 2013, Hubbard Broadcasting announced that it would purchase WNYA to form a duopoly with its local NBC affiliate WNYT, for $2.3 million, pending FCC approval.[32][33] The sale did not include WNYA-CA, which remained with Venture Technologies.[34] Under a clause of the sale of WNYA that required WNYA-CA to use a new call sign that does not feature the letters "N" or "Y",[33] channel 15 became WEPT-CA on March 8, 2013.[3] On May 29, 2013, the FCC approved the sale of WNYA to Hubbard,[35] which was completed July 15;[36] that September, WEPT-CA dropped its WNYA-DT2 simulcast to join AMGTV,[37] moved its transmitter to New Baltimore, and changed its city of license to Kinderhook. Venture then filed on September 25 to construct a digital companion facility on channel 22 broadcasting from Overlook Mountain in Woodstock;[38] the permit was granted on December 23.[39] On December 18, 2014, the station was issued a license for digital operation, with its city of license moving from Kinderhook to Newburgh and its call sign changing to WEPT-CD. The station, which had remained in the Albany television market while licensed to Kinderhook,[40] became part of the New York City market following the move to Newburgh.[41]

On January 10, 2018, WEPT-CD went silent due to antenna and line issues.[42] Per an FCC filing on August 14, 2018, the station resumed operations as of August 7, 2018.[43] On October 22, 2018, WEPT went silent in preparation for the FCC's Phase 4 repack.[44] On March 25, 2020, WEPT-CD filed a Suspension of Operations and Request for Silence STA with the FCC due to what the station called in its filing, "reflective power issues" [45] On September 29, 2020, WEPT-CD resumed operations [46]

Subchannels

[edit]

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WEPT-CD[47]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
15.1 480i 4:3 WEPT-CD Jewelry TV
15.2 WEPT-2 Blank

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WEPT-CD". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ a b "Application Search Details (WEPT-CA, 1)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Call Sign History (WEPT-CD)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 1, 2015.
  4. ^ Pinckney, Barbara (July 22, 1996). "Trio of towers to beam new regional TV station". The Business Review. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  5. ^ "Application Search Details (WEPT-CA, 2)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  6. ^ "Application Search Details (WEPT-CA, 3)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 21, 2013.
  7. ^ Owen, Rob (December 9, 1997). "'Daily' takes shot at the whole year". Albany Times-Union. p. D6. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  8. ^ Owen, Rob (March 27, 1998). "WVBG channels make slow debut". Albany Times-Union. p. D4. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  9. ^ Pinckney, Barbara (August 31, 1998). "Most powerful of low-power trio of TV stations goes on air". The Business Review. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  10. ^ a b c McGuire, Mark (September 30, 1998). "Channel 25 is now affiliated with UPN". Albany Times-Union. p. D6. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  11. ^ a b c Owen, Rob (August 14, 1997). "Cable systems may not carry new TV station". Albany Times-Union. p. D4. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  12. ^ a b McGuire, Mark (September 4, 1998). "Pax TV, UPN form contradictory alliance". Albany Times-Union. p. D1. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  13. ^ Dougherty, Pete (September 18, 1998). "WVBG forced to stop showing Red Sox games". Albany Times-Union. p. C2. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  14. ^ Dougherty, Pete (February 19, 1999). "WVBG shoots airballs on two Celtics' telecasts". Albany Times-Union. p. C8. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  15. ^ McGuire, Mark (December 4, 1999). "FCC ruling helps WVBG". Albany Times-Union. p. D7. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  16. ^ McGuire, Mark (November 17, 1999). "WVBG hurt by UPN deal". Albany Times-Union. p. D5. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  17. ^ Pinckney, Barbara (February 14, 2000). "WVBG/TV 25 proving there is life after UPN". The Business Review. Retrieved March 24, 2013.
  18. ^ Pinckney, Barbara (June 12, 2000). "Vt. owner puts independent WVBG/TV 25 on the block". The Business Review. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  19. ^ "FCC 398 Children's Television Programming Report (WVBX-LP)". Federal Communications Commission. June 30, 2001. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  20. ^ McGuire, Mark (February 14, 2001). "Westminster purebreeds pure ratings for USA". Albany Times-Union. p. D1. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  21. ^ a b "WVBX gets FCC OK to move channel; will cover entire Capital Region". The Business Review. April 29, 2002. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  22. ^ "Application Search Details (WEPT-CA, 4)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  23. ^ "CapitalGold Dial Guide SoundBoard". June 20, 2003. Archived from the original on January 13, 2004. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  24. ^ a b McGuire, Mark (August 26, 2003). "New UPN station to debut Sept. 1". Albany Times-Union. p. D4. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  25. ^ Pinckney, Barbara (February 19, 2003). "WRGB to handle ad sales for new channel". The Business Review. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  26. ^ Sutel, Seth (January 25, 2006). "Failing networks merge to survive". Albany Times-Union. p. A1. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  27. ^ "With loss of UPN program, channel 15 to air MyNetworkTV". The Business Review. March 10, 2006. Retrieved March 25, 2013.
  28. ^ Pinckney, Barbara (December 11, 2006). "WRGB promises to put 10 p.m. news slot on Channel 45 schedule". The Business Review. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  29. ^ McGuire, Mark (February 16, 2007). "With self-reliance, station can transcend networks". Albany Times-Union. p. D1. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  30. ^ Churchill, Chris (March 14, 2008). "WNYA deal a likely home run". Albany Times-Union. p. C1. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  31. ^ "FCC 398 Children's Television Programming Report (WNYA-CA)". Federal Communications Commission. June 30, 2011. Retrieved March 8, 2013.
  32. ^ "WNYT Albany to Purchase MyNet WNYA". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
  33. ^ a b Application For Consent To Assignment Of Broadcast Station Construction Permit Or License Federal Communications Commission, March 8, 2013
  34. ^ Seyler, Dave (March 8, 2013). "Hubbard believes failure will allow it to double in Albany". Television Business Report. Retrieved March 27, 2013.
  35. ^ Rooney, Chris (May 29, 2013). "FCC approves sale of WNYA to WNYT". Albany, NY. WNYT NewsChannel 13. Retrieved May 29, 2013.
  36. ^ "CDBS Print". licensing.fcc.gov.
  37. ^ "FCC 398 Children's Television Programming Report (WEPT-CA)". Federal Communications Commission. September 30, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  38. ^ "Application for Authority to Construct or Make Changes in a Class A Television Broadcast Station". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. September 25, 2013. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  39. ^ "Application Search Details (WEPT-LD)". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved February 7, 2014.
  40. ^ "FCC 398 Children's Television Programming Report (WEPT-CA)". KidVid Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. October 10, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  41. ^ "FCC 398 Children's Television Programming Report (WEPT-CD)". KidVid Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. January 9, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  42. ^ "Licensing and Management System". enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov.
  43. ^ "CD Resumption Notice". enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  44. ^ "Licensing and Management System". enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov.
  45. ^ "Suspension of Operations and Silent Authority of a Digital Class A Station Application". enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov. March 25, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  46. ^ "Resumption of Operations of a Digital Class A Station Application". enterpriseefiling.fcc.gov. September 29, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2024.
  47. ^ "Digital TV Market Listing for WEPT-CD". RabbitEars.info. Retrieved May 10, 2024.
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