WFFF-TV (channel 44) is a
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 to
Burlington, Vermont
Burlington is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Vermont and the seat of Chittenden County. It is located south of the Canada–United States border and south of Montreal. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 44,743. It ...
, United States, serving as the
Fox
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–
Plattsburgh, New York
Plattsburgh ( moh, Tsi ietsénhtha) is a city in, and the seat of, Clinton County, New York, United States, situated on the north-western shore of Lake Champlain. The population was 19,841 at the 2020 census. The population of the surrounding ...
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
* Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
* Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, a ...
. It is owned by
Nexstar Media Group
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...
, which provides certain services to
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate
WVNY
WVNY (channel 22) is a television station licensed to Burlington, Vermont, United States, serving the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a shared services ...
(channel 22, also licensed to Burlington) under a
shared services
Shared services is the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group, where that service had previously been found, in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and th ...
agreement (SSA) with
Mission Broadcasting. Both stations share studios on Mountain View Drive in
Colchester, Vermont, while WFFF-TV's transmitter is located on Vermont's highest peak,
Mount Mansfield. However,
master control
Master control is the technical hub of a broadcast operation common among most over-the-air television stations and television networks. It is distinct from a production control room (PCR) in television studios where the activities such as switc ...
and some internal operations are based at
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
–licensed Nexstar
sister station
In broadcasting, sister stations or sister channels are radio or television stations operated by the same company, either by direct ownership or through a management agreement.
Radio sister stations will often have different formats, and somet ...
and
NBC affiliate
WWLP
WWLP (channel 22) is a television station in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW Plus. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station has studios at Broadcast Center in the Sandy Hill section of Chicopee at the ...
's studios in
Chicopee.
Like other network stations serving Burlington and Plattsburgh, WFFF-TV has a large audience in southern
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
, Canada. This includes
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...
, a city that is 10 times more populous than the station's entire U.S. viewing area, as well as the
Montérégie
Montérégie () is an administrative region in the southwest part of Quebec. It includes the cities of Boucherville, Brossard, Châteauguay, Longueuil, Saint-Hyacinthe, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Salaberry-de-Valleyfield and Vaudreuil-Dorion.
The ...
region. Most
Vidéotron systems in southern Quebec carry WFFF-TV as their Fox affiliate.
History
Early years
WFFF-TV signed on August 31, 1997.
Prior to the station's launch, the Champlain Valley was the last top-100 television
market
Market is a term used to describe concepts such as:
* Market (economics), system in which parties engage in transactions according to supply and demand
* Market economy
*Marketplace, a physical marketplace or public market
Geography
*Märket, a ...
without a primary Fox affiliate;
CBS affiliate
WCAX-TV aired
Fox Sports and
Fox Kids
Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's block programming, programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channel ...
programming, while the network's full schedule was available on cable systems in most of Vermont via
Foxnet; the extreme southern portion of the Champlain Valley (corresponding to the
Glens Falls metropolitan area
The Glens Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of two counties in Upstate New York, anchored by the city of Glens Falls. It is considered to be a part of the greater Capital Di ...
) was well served by Albany Fox affiliate
WXXA-TV, which was not receivable at all in northern New York or
southern Quebec.
Cable systems in
northeastern New York had imported
network flagship WNYW from
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, while Canadian cable systems carried
WUTV from
Buffalo or
WUHF from
Rochester.
Between 1995 and 2001, Fox programming was available over-the-air in northern
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
via
WMUR-LP, a
repeater of ABC affiliate
WMUR-TV. WFFF-TV was originally owned by Champlain Valley Telecasting, but was operated by
Heritage Media, owner of
NBC affiliate
WPTZ
WPTZ (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Plattsburgh, New York, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Montpelier, Vermont†...
, through an LMA.
[
WFFF-TV originally planned to broadcast its analog channel 44 signal from Mount Mansfield; however, while the ]Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...
(FCC) granted a construction permit
Planning permission or developmental approval refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. It is usually given in the form of a building perm ...
, the station was unable to secure approval from the Mount Mansfield Collocation Association. As a result, after three years of attempts, it was forced to transmit from WPTZ's tower on Terry Mountain in Peru, New York under special temporary authority
Special Temporary Authority (STA) in U.S. broadcast law is a type of broadcast license which temporarily allows a broadcast station to operate outside of its normal technical or legal parameters. In the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) stat ...
, resulting in less over-the-air coverage of the eastern portion of the market than anticipated. WFFF-TV, along with the other Burlington–Plattsburgh stations, were able to sign their digital signals on the air from Mount Mansfield in 2006, but its analog signal remained on Terry Mountain until 2009.
Shortly before WFFF-TV began broadcasting, Heritage Media announced the sale of its broadcasting properties, including WPTZ and the LMA with WFFF-TV, to Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...
;[ soon after taking over in early 1998, Sinclair sold WPTZ and the WFFF-TV LMA to Sunrise Television. Sunrise promptly swapped WPTZ to ]Hearst-Argyle Television
Hearst Television, Inc. (formerly Hearst-Argyle Television) is a broadcasting company in the United States owned by Hearst Communications. From 1998 to mid-2009, the company traded its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol ...
, but transferred WFFF-TV's non-license assets to Smith Broadcasting (which, like Sunrise, was controlled by Robert Smith); soon afterward, the station began to operate independently of WPTZ. Smith bought WFFF-TV outright a year later.
In February 1999, WFFF-TV began airing thirty-second daily vignettes called ''Vermont's Most Wanted'' along with sister program ''Citizen's Patrol''. The efforts were produced in cooperation with local law enforcement and the Champlain Valley branch of the national Crimestoppers
Crime Stoppers or Crimestoppers is a community program that helps people to provide anonymous information about criminal activity. Often managed by non-profit groups or the police, it operates separately from the emergency telephone number sy ...
non-profit organization.
The WB era
The station added a secondary affiliation with The WB
The WB Television Network (for Warner Bros., or the "Frog Network", for its former mascot, Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. ...
in 1999, after WBVT-LP (now WGMU-LP) dropped that network in favor of UPN
The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that launched on January 16, 1995. It was originally owned by Chris-Craft Industries' United Television. Viacom (through its Paramount Television unit, which prod ...
. For a time, the two hours of prime time programming from The WB aired in separate two hour-long blocks weeknights at 5 and 10. WFFF-TV eventually moved the entire two hours of programming to a delayed basis at 10 p.m. after Fox prime time in continuous block named "The WB Time". WFFF-TV also cleared the Kids' WB blocks (as well as the Daytime WB block that replaced the weekday block in early 2006), in addition to Fox's own children's programming. Despite the secondary affiliation, area cable systems continued to carry WPIX
WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...
, New York City's WB affiliate.
The death of Bob Smith (head of family-owned Smith Broadcasting) in 2003 led to the family's decision in 2004 to sell its group of stations to an investment group called Smith Media, LLC. After researching markets where the company now had ownership in, it was discovered WVNY was up for sale. Finding a way to satisfy FCC ownership rules, Smith Media partnered with Lambert Broadcasting and became the senior partner in a local marketing agreement with WVNY. Smith Media shut down that station's longtime facilities in South Burlington
South Burlington is a city in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. Along with neighboring Burlington, it is a principal city of the Burlington metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the population was 20,292. It is home to the head ...
(which housed a news department between August 1999 and September 2003), reduced redundant staff, and relocated its operations into WFFF-TV's Colchester facilities. This arrangement placed WFFF-TV in the unusual position of being the senior partner as a Fox-affiliated station in a virtual duopoly with an ABC affiliate (most virtual or legal duopolies involving a Fox affiliate and a Big Three-affiliated station result in the Fox affiliate serving as the junior partner).
The change
When The WB and UPN were shut down to create The CW
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
in September 2006, WFFF-TV became a secondary affiliate of the new network, airing its prime time programming in the same block that formerly housed WB programming. CW programming moved to a new subchannel of WFFF-TV on September 27, 2007; the subchannel immediately replaced WPIX on Comcast
Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...
's Vermont systems, with Charter Communications in New York State following suit on December 31
It is known by a collection of names including: Saint Sylvester's Day, New Year's Eve or Old Years Day/Night, as the following day is New Year's Day. It is the last day of the year; the following day is January 1, the first day of the followin ...
. The subchannel continued to carry CW programming until March 4, 2013, when WPTZ's subchannel assumed the CW affiliation for the Burlington/Plattsburgh market, leaving WFFF-TV's subchannel with only syndicated programming until October 1, 2013, when it shut down and was replaced over the air with a standard definition feed of the main channel.[hey, what's happened to ur fox 44.2... - FOX44 Local News , Facebook]
October 1, 2013. Retrieved October 1, 2013
The station became digital-only effective February 17, 2009. As a result, some parts of the viewing area were left without a full-powered Fox affiliate including Enosburg in Franklin County, Vermont
Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,946. Its county seat is the city of St. Albans. It borders the Canadian province of Quebec. The county was created in 1792 and organi ...
as well as parts of Franklin
Franklin may refer to:
People
* Franklin (given name)
* Franklin (surname)
* Franklin (class), a member of a historical English social class
Places Australia
* Franklin, Tasmania, a township
* Division of Franklin, federal electoral d ...
and Essex
Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...
Counties in New York State.
Due to an ongoing retransmission dispute, Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...
replaced WFFF-TV with WNYF-CD
WNYF-CD (channel 28) is a low-power, Class A television station in Watertown, New York, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Carthage-licensed CBS affiliate WWNY-TV (channel 7). Both station ...
from Watertown Watertown may refer to:
Places in China
In China, a water town is a type of ancient scenic town known for its waterways.
Places in the United States
*Watertown, Connecticut, a New England town
**Watertown (CDP), Connecticut, the central village ...
and Massena, New York
Massena is a town in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. Massena is along the county's northern border, just south of the St. Lawrence River and the Three Nations Crossing of the Canada–United States border. The population was 12,8 ...
, on December 16, 2010. Its CW subchannel was also dropped, though the network remained available through WPIX. Sister station WVNY was simultaneously replaced with future sister station WUTR
WUTR (channel 20) is a television station in Utica, New York, United States, serving the Mohawk Valley as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains joint sales and shared services agreements (JSA/SSA) with Nexsta ...
from Utica, New York
Utica () is a Administrative divisions of New York, city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The List of cities in New York, tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 ...
. On the same date, sister station WKTV, the NBC affiliate in Utica, was replaced by another of WFFF-TV's future sister stations, WBRE-TV from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and its CW-affiliated subchannel with HBO Family for the same reason. WFFF-TV was restored on January 8, 2011, after a new deal (the terms of which both sides refused to reveal) was reached with Time Warner.
Nexstar era
Smith Media agreed to sell WFFF-TV to Nexstar Broadcasting Group
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...
on November 5, 2012. Concurrently, Lambert Broadcasting sold WVNY to Mission Broadcasting, whose stations are all operated by Nexstar through shared services agreements. On February 5, 2013, The FCC approved the sale of WFFF-TV. The transaction was completed on March 1, leaving Utica NBC affiliate WKTV as Smith Media's only remaining television station property.
On January 27, 2016, it was announced that Nexstar would buy Media General for $4.6 billion. WFFF and WVNY became part of "Nexstar Media Group", joining a cluster of television stations Nexstar owns in New England, including ABC affiliate WTNH
WTNH (channel 8) is a television station licensed to New Haven, Connecticut, United States, serving the Hartford–New Haven market as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WCTX (channel 59), al ...
in New Haven, Connecticut
New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...
, CBS affiliate WPRI-TV in Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...
, and NBC affiliate WWLP
WWLP (channel 22) is a television station in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW Plus. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station has studios at Broadcast Center in the Sandy Hill section of Chicopee at the ...
in Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is a city in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States, and the seat of Hampden County. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers: the western Westfield River, the ...
. In addition, WFFF and WVNY also became sisters with fellow Fox and ABC affiliates WXXA-TV and WTEN, respectively, in Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York City ...
. These stations also serve Bennington County, Vermont
Bennington County is a county in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,347. The shire towns (county seats) are jointly Bennington ("The Southshire") and Manchester ("The Northshire"), and the largest municipal ...
, making Nexstar responsible for Fox and ABC programming in 13 of the 14 counties in Vermont. The lone exception, Windham County, is served by Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
's WFXT
WFXT (channel 25) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, affiliated with the Fox network and owned by Cox Media Group. Its studios are located on Fox Drive (near the Boston-Providence Turnpike) in Dedham, and its t ...
and WCVB-TV
WCVB-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on TV Place (off Gould Street near the I-95/ MA 128/Highland Avenue int ...
, respectively (ABC programming in Windham County is also available through Manchester, New Hampshire's WMUR-TV).
On June 15, 2016, Nexstar announced that it has entered into an affiliation agreement with Katz Broadcasting for the Escape, Laff
Laff (legal name: Laff Media, LLC) is an American digital multicast television network headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and is owned by the Katz Broadcasting subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company. The network specializes in comedy programmi ...
, Grit, and Bounce TV
Bounce TV is an American digital multicast television network owned by Katz Broadcasting, a subsidiary of E. W. Scripps Company. Promoted as "the first 24/7 digital multicast broadcast network created to target African Americans", the channel fe ...
networks (the last one of which is owned by Bounce Media LLC, whose COO
COO or coo may refer to:
Business
* Certificate of origin, used in international trade
* Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official
* Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process
...
Jonathan Katz is president/CEO of Katz Broadcasting), bringing one or more of the four networks to 81 stations owned and/or operated by Nexstar, including WFFF-TV and WVNY.
Simultaneous substitution problems
WFFF-TV has significant viewership in the much larger Montreal market because it is available over-the-air alongside other Vermont stations and used as the Fox station on Vidéotron's cable systems. As the youngest full-power station covering the entire market, it still relies heavily on Montreal for advertising revenue while the area's other stations have somewhat lessened their dependence on advertising. In 2003 and 2004, WFFF-TV was involved in a "commercial war" with Montreal's CJNT-TV. For some time, its commercials on non-network programs such as ''That '70s Show
''That '70s Show'' is an American television Period piece, period teen sitcom that aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox from August 23, 1998, to May 18, 2006. The series focuses on the lives of a group of six teenage friends living in the ficti ...
'' were blocked by simultaneous substitution
Simultaneous substitution (also known as simsubbing or signal substitution) is a practice mandated by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) requiring broadcast distribution undertakings (BDUs) in Canada to dist ...
(simsub) on Montreal cable systems. Under Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; french: Conseil de la radiodiffusion et des télécommunications canadiennes, links=) is a public organization in Canada with mandate as a regulatory agency for broadcasti ...
(CRTC) regulations, simultaneous substitution demanded the cable companies in Canada replace WFFF-TV's signal with CJNT-TV's signal when the same program and episode was running at the same time. This is the same practice as the FCC's syndication exclusivity
Syndication exclusivity (also known as syndex) is a federal law () implemented by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States that is designed to protect a local television station's rights to syndicated television programs b ...
rule in the United States.
In response, WFFF-TV frequently shifted its schedule to keep its commercials from being blocked in Montreal. In response to this station's schedule shuffling, CJNT moved its schedule accordingly to retain simsub rights. This resulted in a cat-and-mouse game of changing programming schedules every few weeks leaving viewers confused. The changes usually occurred with little to no advance warning, sometimes making local schedules in ''TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program
Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or t ...
'' (both U.S. and Canadian versions) outdated by the time they were published.[CJNT & WFFF-TV, ''A War over Canadian commercials heats up'']
TVHat. WFFF-TV eventually solved the problem by adding a second daily airing of ''That '70s Show'', giving it access to a second strip of programming from the distributor which was available only to stations carrying a full hour of the program. It would then flip the two airings so the exclusive strip was shown in the shared time slot, meaning CJNT could no longer simsub the program since WFFF-TV was not airing the same episode.
WFFF-DT2
WFFF-DT2 is the Ion Mystery–affiliated second digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
of WFFF-TV, broadcasting in standard definition on channel 44.2. The subchannel was formerly a CW-affiliated and later independent station
An independent station is an independent radio or terrestrial television station which is independent in some way from broadcast networks. The definition of "independence" varies from country to country, reflecting governmental regulations, market ...
. On cable, the subchannel is available on Charter
A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...
channel 11 (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 266 on former Time Warner Cable systems) and Comcast channel 20.
During its time as a CW affiliate, WFFF-DT2 carried the branding The CW Burlington, it changed it to 44.2 EFFF when it became independent. Syndicated programming on WFFF-DT2 included '' Family Feud'', '' Cops'', '' America's Funniest Home Videos'', and ''Friends
''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...
'' among others. There was no website for this station besides a link to program listings on its parent station's website. The station temporarily ceased programming after September 30, 2013, and was replaced over the air by a standard definition feed of its parent station a few days later.[ It resumed operations on August 23, 2016, as an affiliate of Escape (which is now known as Court TV Mystery).]
History
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the two networks would cease broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initials of corporate parents CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...
unit of Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
. Until The CW's launch on September 18, it was unknown if there would be an affiliate in Burlington and Plattsburgh. Just before the launch date, it was announced The CW would air on WFFF-TV on a delayed basis at 10 p.m. as did programming from The WB. Before it was officially confirmed it would be a secondary CW affiliate, there was a possibility new television station WCWF (now WYCI
WYCI (channel 40) is a television station licensed to Saranac Lake, New York, United States, serving the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Burlington-lice ...
) in Saranac Lake, New York would become affiliated with the network.
As was the case with the previous network, The CW would also be available on cable the area through affiliate WPIX from New York City. It was unlikely Class A UPN affiliate WGMU-CA would have been affiliated with The CW, since network officials were on record as preferring the "stronger" WB and UPN affiliates and, despite secondary status, WFFF-TV was by far the stronger station with its full-powered signal. (WGMU-CA would subsequently join MyNetworkTV, a programming service owned by Fox.)
On September 27, 2007, WFFF-TV moved The CW to its second digital subchannel. For Comcast viewers in Vermont, WFFF-DT2 immediately replaced WPIX. The subchannel was initially going to carry the branding The CW 20 after its channel location on Comcast in Burlington. At its launch, the station branded itself as The CW Burlington.
It was not until December 31, 2008, when Charter systems in New York State added the channel. It was not available on cable in Canada or some providers' basic tiers within its home market such as Saranac Lake where Time Warner Cable offered WPIX instead. Smith Media agreed to sell WFFF-TV (and thus WFFF-DT2) to the Nexstar Broadcasting Group on November 5, 2012.[ The sale was finalized on March 1, 2013.
Despite having a similar logo to ]CW Plus
CW may stand for:
Science and technology
* centiwatt (cW), one hundredth of a watt
* Cω, a programming language
* CW complex, a type of topological space
* Carrier wave, in radio communications
* CodeWarrior, an integrated development environm ...
affiliates and being on a digital subchannel, WFFF-DT2 was not part of that service during its tenure with the network.
On March 4, 2013, WPTZ-DT 5.2 assumed the CW affiliation for the Plattsburgh–Burlington market from WFFF-DT2. As a result, WFFF-DT2 replaced CW prime time programming with '' Extra'', ''omg! Insider
''The Insider'' is an American syndicated newsmagazine television program that was distributed by CBS Television Distribution. The program premiered in first-run syndication on September 13, 2004 and ended on September 9, 2017, as a spin-off ...
'', '' Access Hollywood'', and ''TMZ
TMZ is a tabloid news website owned by Fox Corporation. It made its debut on November 8, 2005, originally as a collaboration between AOL and Telepictures, a division of Warner Bros., until Time Warner divested AOL in 2009. On September 13, 202 ...
''. ''The Bill Cunningham Show
''The Bill Cunningham Show'' is an American television talk show hosted by radio host Bill Cunningham which aired for four of its five seasons on The CW as part of that network's daytime hour. ''The Bill Cunningham Show'', produced by ITV Studios ...
'', which was aired weekday afternoons via The CW, was replaced with a second episode of '' The Wendy Williams Show'', and the Saturday morning ''Vortexx
Vortexx was a short-lived American Saturday morning children's television programming block that aired on The CW from August 25, 2012 to September 27, 2014. Programmed by Saban Brands, it replaced Toonzai, a block that was programmed by 4Kids Ent ...
'' block was replaced with '' Litton's Weekend Adventure''. (WFFF-DT2 was the only non-ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
affiliate to carry ''Litton's Weekend Adventure''; the block was shared with sister station and ABC affiliate WVNY
WVNY (channel 22) is a television station licensed to Burlington, Vermont, United States, serving the Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a shared services ...
.) The station dropped the brand name "The CW Burlington" and began referring to itself on-air as "44.2 EFFF".
The station temporarily ceased programming as of October 1, 2013 and was replaced over the air with a standard definition feed of its parent station a few days later. Some of its programs were moved to WFFF-TV or WVNY.
On June 15, 2016, Nexstar announced that it has entered into an affiliation agreement with Katz Broadcasting for the Escape, Laff, Grit, and Bounce TV networks (the last one of which is owned by Bounce Media LLC, whose COO Jonathan Katz is president/CEO of Katz Broadcasting), bringing one or more of the four networks to 81 stations owned and/or operated by Nexstar, including WFFF-TV and WVNY. As a result, WFFF-DT2 resumed operations two months after that carrying programs from Escape (which is now known as Ion Mystery).
News operation
After WVNY moved into WFFF-TV's studios in 2005, Smith Media made an announcement the company was planning to establish a news department for the two stations.[ However, after the 2006 creation of The CW and WFFF-TV initially airing the network's programming in prime time at 10, there was some doubt as to the status of the local news operation launch. In May 2007, News Director Kathleen Harrington was hired to begin the creation of the news department. Construction of the newsroom and studio were underway by late summer and rehearsals began in August. On November 26, advertisements began appearing on WFFF-TV and WVNY for the launch of the 10 p.m. newscast which occurred December 3.
The broadcast, known as ''Fox 44 News at 10'', originally ran every night for a half-hour but the weeknight show eventually expanded to 45 minutes on September 7, 2009. This is followed by a fifteen-minute sports highlight show known as ''Sports Wrap''. The first ten minutes of the news portion of the program airs in a format called "10 Minute Advantage" where the top stories of the day and a complete weather forecast are shown before a commercial break. WFFF-TV is the area's first local news operation presented in high definition.
On March 3, 2008, WFFF-TV added a weeknight and Saturday broadcast at 7 on WVNY known as ''Fox 44 Local News on ABC''. As a result, that station became first in the area to offer local news in the time slot. The move to launch the show was due in part to tough competition of newscasts at 6 seen on WCAX-TV and WPTZ. As is the case on WFFF-TV, the WVNY broadcasts are aired in high definition. The Saturday edition eventually moved to 6:30 which has been the case on Sundays from the start in order to accommodate ABC programming. The WVNY broadcasts mark the return of local news on that station since it shut down its own news department on September 12, 2003. Initially, the only "ABC 22" identification seen during the show was in the intro package and the "bug" in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
On August 18, 2008, WFFF-TV began airing a two-hour weekday morning show called ''Fox 44 Local News This Morning''. Included in the launch were local news and weather cut-ins on WVNY during its airing of '']Good Morning America
''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...
''. This occurs at :25 and :55 past the hour, in which at those times the two stations simulcast each other. Eventually, an additional hour of the broadcast starting at 6 was added to WVNY and is known as ''ABC 22 This Morning''. That station has since expanded it to a traditional two-hour newscast. At some point in time, WVNY added nightly broadcasts at 6 and 11 becoming more of a big three affiliate offering local news competing with WCAX-TV and WPTZ even though WFFF-TV produces the broadcasts, since WFFF-TV is legally the senior partner in the duopoly. All newscasts seen on that station were formerly known as ''ABC 22 News'', but are now known as ''Local 22 News'', as has been the theme on many Nexstar stations as of late.
Due to the relatively new status of the news department, there is a Vermont focus in coverage. During weather forecast segments, WFFF-TV uses live NOAA
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (abbreviated as NOAA ) is an United States scientific and regulatory agency within the United States Department of Commerce that forecasts weather, monitors oceanic and atmospheric conditio ...
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
radar data from three regional sites. It is presented on-screen in a system known as "Sky Tracker HD Triple Doppler". Weather forecasts from WFFF-TV can be heard on WSNO (1450 AM), WMOO
WMOO (92.1 FM) (also known as "Moo 92") is an adult top 40 formatted radio station broadcasting from Derby Center, Vermont, United States. It is owned by Vermont Broadcast Associates, Inc. The station's main transmitter is near the intersection ...
(92.1 FM), WDOT (95.7 FM), WWFY
WWFY (100.9 FM, "Froggy 104.3 & 100.9") is a radio station licensed to serve Berlin, Vermont. The station is owned by Great Eastern Radio. It airs a country music format.
The station has been assigned these call letters by the Federal Communi ...
(100.9 FM), WCPV
WCPV (101.3 FM) is a commercial radio station broadcasting a country music radio format. Licensed to Essex, New York, United States, the station serves the Champlain Valley of New York and Vermont. Although licensed to Essex, New York, many li ...
(101.3 FM), WEXP (101.5 FM)/ WTHK (100.7 FM), WRFK (107.1 FM), WCFR
WCFR is an AM radio station licensed to Springfield, Vermont. It broadcasts hits from the 1980s and ’90s with 5,000 watts during the day. Programming is also simulcast on translator W293BH, 106.5 FM. The station carries Boston Red Sox baseball ...
(1480 AM / 106.5 FM), WEZF (92.9 FM), and WVTK
WVTK (92.1 MHz) is an FM radio station airing a classic hits radio format, licensed to Port Henry, New York, near the New York State/Vermont border. It is owned by Vox AM/FM, LLC.
WVTK has an effective radiated power of 18,000 watts, most of ...
(92.1 FM).
Technical information
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
Analog-to-digital conversion
WFFF-TV shut down its analog signal, over 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 ...
channel 44, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 43. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's 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 ...
as its former UHF analog channel 44.
As a part of the repacking process following the 2016–2017 FCC incentive auction, WFFF-TV relocated to UHF channel 16 on July 3, 2020, using PSIP to display its virtual channel number as 44.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Wfff-Tv
Television channels and stations established in 1997
FFF-TV
Fox network affiliates
Ion Mystery affiliates
Bounce TV affiliates
Antenna TV affiliates
1997 establishments in Vermont
Nexstar Media Group