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WEPA-CD,
virtual channel In most telecommunications organizations, a virtual channel is a method of remapping the ''program number'' as used in H.222 Program Association Tables and Program Mapping Tables to a channel number that can be entered via digits on a receiver's ...
59 (
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter (on ...
digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...
channel 16), was a low-powered, Class A
Cozi TV Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1960s to the 2000s. The network origina ...
- affiliated
television station A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity, such as an amateur television (ATV) operator, that transmits video content and audio content via radio waves directly from a transmitter on the earth ...
licensed A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, Pennsylvania,
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. The station was owned by
OTA Broadcasting OTA Broadcasting, LLC was a broadcasting company founded in 2011 by Michael Dell. The company is based in Fairfax, Virginia. History OTA Broadcasting was founded in 2011 by Michael Dell's MSD Capital. It had been rumored that Dell formed OTA Br ...
. The simulcast network gave it coverage similar to or greater than that of full-power television stations in that market. The stations were founded and owned by Bruno-Goodworth Network, Inc. until sold on August 26, 2013 for $7.25 million to OTA Broadcasting, LLC (a company controlled by
Michael Dell Michael Saul Dell (born February 23, 1965) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Dell Technologies, one of the world's largest technology infrastructure companies. He is ranked the 2 ...
's
MSD Capital MSD Capital is an American private investment firm that manages the capital of Michael Dell and his family. The firm, which is based in New York and has offices in Santa Monica and West Palm Beach, was formed in 1998. In 2009, the principals of ...
). After the sale, WEPA-CD became an affiliate of Cozi TV,
Movies! Movies! (also known as simply M!) is an American free-to-air television network, owned by Popcorn Entertainment, LLC, a joint venture between Weigel Broadcasting and the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corporation. The network's prog ...
and
Retro TV Retro TV (stylized as retrotv), formerly known as Retro Television Network, is an American broadcast television network owned by Get After It Media. The network mainly airs classic television sitcoms and drama series from the 1950s through th ...
. Because of the coverage it had, WEPA was one of the few Class A stations in the country that is "reportable" by
Nielsen Media Research Nielsen Media Research (NMR) is an American firm that measures media audiences, including television, radio, theatre, films (via the AMC Theatres MAP program), and newspapers. Headquartered in New York City, it is best known for the Nielsen rat ...
. However, on April 13, 2017, FCC announced that it had accepted OTA Broadcasting's bids totalling $73.9 million to sell the spectrum rights of WEPA-CD and four other Pittsburgh-area stations owned by OTA Broadcasting in the FCC spectrum incentive auction. By October 25, 2017, OTA Broadcasting ceased transmissions and surrendered to the FCC for cancellation the licenses of WEPA-CD and five other Pittsburgh-area stations (including one whose spectrum had not been sold), and also temporarily shut transmissions of its five remaining Pittsburgh-area stations, which did not provide adequate over-the-air coverage in Pittsburgh itself and closer suburbs. Movies! has since moved to
WOSC-CD WOSC-CD (channel 61) is a Class A low-power television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by The Videohouse, Inc. WOSC-CD primarily broadcasts national digital multicast networks. The station went on the air ...
, another Pittsburgh television station.


History


As WBGN-CD

WEPA-CD began broadcasting in 1995 on channel 59 with the call sign W59BT, and later WBGN (WBGN-LP in 1998, WBGN-LD in 2009, and WBGN-CD in 2010) until November 2014. As WBGN-CD, the station broadcast a variety of programming including first run syndicated shows such as ''
Martha Martha (Hebrew: מָרְתָא‎) is a biblical figure described in the Gospels of Luke and John. Together with her siblings Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is described as living in the village of Bethany near Jerusalem. She was witness to ...
'', ''
Reno 911! ''Reno 911!'' is an American comedy television series airing on Comedy Central. It is a mockumentary-style parody of law enforcement documentary shows, specifically '' Cops'', with comic actors playing the police officers. Thomas Lennon, Rober ...
'', ''
Chappelle's Show ''Chappelle's Show'' is an American sketch comedy television series created by comedians Dave Chappelle and Neal Brennan, with Chappelle hosting the show and starring in the majority of its sketches. Chappelle, Brennan, and Michele Armour were th ...
'', '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'', ''
Temptation Temptation is a desire to engage in short-term urges for enjoyment that threatens long-term goals.Webb, J.R. (Sep 2014). Incorporating Spirituality into Psychology of temptation: Conceptualization, measurement, and clinical implications. Sp ...
'' and ''
Jury Duty Jury duty or jury service is service as a juror in a legal proceeding. Juror selection process The prosecutor and defense can dismiss potential jurors for various reasons, which can vary from one state to another, and they can have a specific ...
'', along with former network hits such as ''
Family Ties ''Family Ties'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on NBC for seven seasons, premiering on September 22, 1982, and concluding on May 14, 1989. The series, created by Gary David Goldberg, reflected the move in the United States f ...
'', ''
Hawaii Five-O Hawaii Five-O or Hawaii Five-0 may refer to: * ''Hawaii Five-0'' (2010 TV series), an American action police procedural television series * ''Hawaii Five-O'' (1968 TV series), an American police procedural drama series produced by CBS Productio ...
'', '' Mission: Impossible'', ''
The Nanny ''The Nanny'' is an American television sitcom that originally aired on CBS from November 3, 1993, to June 23, 1999, starring Fran Drescher as Fran Fine, a Jewish fashionista from Flushing, Queens, New York, who becomes the nanny of three chi ...
'', ''
Mad About You ''Mad About You'' is an American television sitcom starring Paul Reiser and Helen Hunt as a married couple in New York City. It initially aired on NBC from September 23, 1992, to May 24, 1999, winning numerous awards including four Golden Glob ...
'', '' The Outer Limits'', and ''
America's Funniest Home Videos ''America's Funniest Home Videos'', also called ''America's Funniest Videos'' (abbreviated as ''AFV''), is an American video clip television series on American Broadcasting Company, ABC, based on the Japanese variety show ''Kato-chan Ken-chan Gok ...
''. The prime-time lineup was rounded out with programming syndicated from Canada such as ''
Cold Squad ''Cold Squad'' is a Canadian police procedural television series that premiered on CTV on January 23, 1998, at 10 p.m., and ran for seven seasons. Led by Sergeant Ali McCormick (Julie Stewart), a team of homicide detectives from the Vancouver Pol ...
'', '' Stone Undercover'' and ''
ReGenesis ''ReGenesis'' is a Canadian science-fiction television series produced by The Movie Network and Movie Central in conjunction with Shaftesbury Films. The series, which ran for four seasons from 2004 to 2008, revolves around the scientists of No ...
''. The network also showed second-run movies, children's shows such as ''
Beakman's World ''Beakman's World'' is an American educational children's television program. The program is based on the Universal Press Syndicate syndicated comic strip ''You Can with Beakman and Jax'' created by Jok Church. The series premiered on Wednesday, S ...
'', live religious broadcasts and real estate shows. The station produced and/or aired a number of regularly scheduled local programs. It broadcast local news breaks and local high school and professional sporting events. In 2005, the station broadcast '' The It's Alive Show'', a local program showcasing horror films and B-movies. In May 2006, the station also produced two-minute news and 30-second weather segments which aired every half hour during prime-time hours. In 2013, WBGN-CD also started airing a professional wrestling show called PWX Unleashed from local McKeesport promotion
Pro Wrestling eXpress Pro Wrestling eXpress (PWX, also known as NWA East) is a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in North Versailles, Pennsylvania in 1994 by Jim Miller and Sean "Shocker" Evans. It is the longest-running promotion in the Pittsburgh met ...
. This is PWX's second TV show since their TV show which was held at
Eastland Mall (North Versailles, Pennsylvania) Eastland Mall was a two-level, enclosed shopping mall located in North Versailles, Pennsylvania, situated on of land at the peak of a hill overlooking the Monongahela River. The mall was home to such stores as Gimbels, J.C. Penney, F.W. Wool ...
.


Digital conversion

On July 12, 2009, WBGN-LD began broadcasting digitally in the Pittsburgh area on physical channel 16, the former analog designation of
WINP-TV WINP-TV (channel 16) is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the Ion Television network. Owned and operated by Ion Media, the station maintains transmitter facilities in Pittsburgh's Oakland n ...
. The station and its satellite stations signed off their analog signals on June 22, 2010, since many fell within the channel 52-Channel 69 spectrum that was freed up for other uses by the FCC. Like the main signal, the digital signal in New Castle aired on a former analog designation, in this case channel 27, the former analog home of
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
affiliate
WKBN-TV WKBN-TV (channel 27) is a television station in Youngstown, Ohio, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside low-power Fox affiliate WYFX-LD (channel 62); Nexstar also provides certain services to ABC affili ...
in
Youngstown, Ohio Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio, and the largest city and county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio, Mahoning County. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, Youngstown had a city population of 60,068. It is a principal city of ...
as did the digital signal in Greensburg which aired on the former analog designation of CW affiliate
WPCW WPCW (channel 19), branded on-air as Pittsburgh's CW, is a television station licensed to Jeannette, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the CW affiliate for the Pittsburgh area. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CB ...
Pittsburgh/Jeannette, PA. By July 2010, WBGN-CD, becoming Class-A, and most of its satellite stations including New Castle (WPCP-CD), Butler (WNNB-CD), Beaver (WJMB-CD), and Greensburg (WEMW-CD) were transmitting digitally.


Station sale

On August 26, 2013, Bruno-Goodworth Network, Inc. completed the sale of all 11 of their stations to OTA Broadcasting, LLC for $7.25 million. During late 2014, the station moved its operations to 4802 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh PA, and became a full-time affiliate of
Movies! Movies! (also known as simply M!) is an American free-to-air television network, owned by Popcorn Entertainment, LLC, a joint venture between Weigel Broadcasting and the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corporation. The network's prog ...
,
Cozi TV Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1960s to the 2000s. The network origina ...
, and
Retro Television Network Retro TV (stylized as retrotv), formerly known as Retro Television Network, is an American broadcast television network owned by Get After It Media. The network mainly airs classic television sitcoms and drama series from the 1950s through th ...
. The only remaining local programs are a daily noon mass from St. Mary's Church in downtown Pittsburgh, ''
The Weird Paul Variety Show ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...
'', ''
Cappelli & Company ''Cappelli & Company'' is an American children's television series created by, and starring, children's songwriter/composer Frank Cappelli. The series was in production for four and a half seasons, from 1989 to 1992, originating from Pittsburgh ...
'', ''
Pro Wrestling Express Pro Wrestling eXpress (PWX, also known as NWA East) is a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in North Versailles, Pennsylvania in 1994 by Jim Miller and Sean "Shocker" Evans. It is the longest-running promotion in the Pittsburgh met ...
'', and '' The It's Alive Show''. On November 20, 2014, OTA Broadcasting changed the call sign on the station from WBGN-CD to WEPA-CD because the previous call sign was a direct reference to the station's previous owners.


Spectrum sale

On April 13, 2017, the FCC announced that five of OTA Broadcasting's Pittsburgh-area stations — WEMW-CD, WEPA-CD, WNNB-CD, WPCP-CD, and WVTX-CD — were successful bidders in the spectrum auction and would be relinquishing their spectrum; WEMW's spectrum was sold for $12,394,400, WEPA's spectrum was sold for $20,093,644, WNNB's spectrum went for $19,185,317, WPCP received $16,162,391 for its spectrum, and WVTX's spectrum went for $6,100,391. At the time, all five stations indicated they would enter into post-auction channel sharing agreements. WEMW-CD ceased operations July 20, 2017; OTA Broadcasting surrendered its license to the FCC for cancellation on July 21, 2017. WEPA-CD, WNNB-CD, WPCP-CD, WVTX-CD, and another station whose spectrum had not been sold, WJPW-CD, ceased transmissions October 25, 2017 and surrendered their licenses on October 26. On July 21, 2017, at the time of WEMW-CD's shutdown, WEPA-CD's station manager told the press that WEPA-CD, WNNB-CD, WPCP-CD, and WVTX-CD would later also be shut down, but, after that, WEPA-CD programming would continue to be broadcast by OTA Broadcasting's other Pittsburgh-area stations and carried on Verizon's FiOS, revealing no technical or commercial hurdles. However, on October 24, 2017, the same manager informed the press that, without WEPA-CD's signal to retransmit, the company's remaining Pittsburgh-area stations would also need to go off-air, and that the company would be seeking alternatives to bring them back in some form in the future. Before the shutdown, those remaining stations provided over-the-air coverage only to exurbs located south/southwest and north/northeast of Pittsburgh.
Movies! Movies! (also known as simply M!) is an American free-to-air television network, owned by Popcorn Entertainment, LLC, a joint venture between Weigel Broadcasting and the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of Fox Corporation. The network's prog ...
has since moved to
WOSC-CD WOSC-CD (channel 61) is a Class A low-power television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The station is owned by The Videohouse, Inc. WOSC-CD primarily broadcasts national digital multicast networks. The station went on the air ...
virtual subchannel 61.2 (RF channel 26 transmitting from WQED's antenna tower, where WEPA-CD's antenna was also located). In November 2017, OTA agreed to sell the remaining stations — WKHU-CD, WMVH-CD, WWKH-CD, WWLM-CD, and WJMB-CD — to
HC2 Holdings INNOVATE Corp. (formerly known as HC2 Holdings, Inc. and Primus Telecommunications Group, Inc.) is an American public financial services company founded in 1994. History Beginning (1994–1997) Primus commenced operations in 1994 intent on bei ...
for $275,000.


Stations

Before the shutdown, WEPA-CD provided three standard definition channels.


See also

* WJPW-CD Weirton, WV * WVTX-CD Bridgeport, OH


References


External links

* {{Other Pennsylvania Stations Television stations in Pittsburgh Cozi TV affiliates Movies! affiliates Retro TV affiliates Low-power television stations in the United States 1989 establishments in Pennsylvania Television channels and stations established in 1989 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2017 2017 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Defunct television stations in the United States EPA-CD