WVIF,

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 ...

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...

channel 15, was a full-power

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 ...

serving the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

that was licensed to

Christiansted Christiansted is the largest town on Saint Croix, one of the main islands composing the United States Virgin Islands, a territory of the United States of America. The town is named after King Christian VI of Denmark. History The town was founded ...

Saint Croix Saint Croix; nl, Sint-Kruis; french: link=no, Sainte-Croix; Danish and no, Sankt Croix, Taino: ''Ay Ay'' ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorpo ...

. The station was owned by Corporate Media Consultants Group (CMCG), which is 49 percent owned by

Max Media Max Media is a company that owns radio stations throughout the United States. It is based in Virginia Beach, Virginia. History Max Media was founded in 2001. Prior to this, some of the company's management had run the TVX Broadcast Group from 1979 ...

. For much of its history, WVIF was silent, occasionally returning to the air as an

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 ...

. At one time, it had planned to affiliate with 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 ...

network.

History

Channel 15 signed on in 2000 as Pax TV (now

Ion An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by conven ...

)

owned-and-operated station In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station (frequently abbreviated as an O&O) usually refers to a television or radio station owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate ...

WPXO. WPXO was operated under a joint services agreement (JSA) with Alpha Broadcasting Corporation's

WSVI WSVI, virtual channel 8 ( UHF digital channel 20), is an Ion Television- affiliated station serving the United States Virgin Islands that is licensed to Christiansted, Saint Croix. The station is owned by Atlas News and Information Services, as ...

(channel 8) in Christiansted.FCC application for WVIF license renewal, 2007
/ref> Paxson Communications (now Ion Media Networks) sold WPXO (along with WMPX-TV, now WPFO, in

Waterville, Maine Waterville is a city in Kennebec County, Maine, Kennebec County, Maine, United States, on the west bank of the Kennebec River. The city is home to Colby College and Thomas College. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census the populatio ...

) to CMCG in December 2002. Soon afterward, the JSA with WSVI was dissolved due to station financial losses of over $250,000. Upon assuming control of the station in April 2003, CMCG changed the call letters to WCAV and temporarily discontinued operations, leaving channel 15 silent for 12 months less a day; the station returned to the air at 2 p.m. on April 4, 2004 as an independent station, relying largely on syndicated core programming, after having failed to obtain cable carriage and having lost its bid for the Fox affiliation (which ultimately went to

WEON-LP WEON-LP, UHF analog channel 60, was a low-powered Fox- affiliated television station serving the United States Virgin Islands that was licensed to Frederiksted, Saint Croix. Owned by Caribbean Broadcasting Network, it was a sister station to WVGN ...

). Shortly afterward, the station changed its call letters to WVIF (the

WCAV WCAV (channel 19) is a television station in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, affiliated with CBS and Fox. It is owned by Lockwood Broadcast Group alongside low-power ABC affiliate WVAW-LD (channel 16). Both stations share studios on R ...

call letters were then picked up by the CBS affiliate in

Charlottesville, Virginia Charlottesville, colloquially known as C'ville, is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Albemarle County, which surrounds the city, though the two are separate legal entities. It is named after Queen Ch ...

). The station again went silent in 2005 and remained silent throughout 2006-07 despite attempts to return to operation. Located in the University of the Virgin Islands Research and Technology Park, the station had two employees but, , broadcast antenna facilities had not been constructed.Consultants cash in on connections; $1 million in questionable spending, IAN MORRISON, VI Daily News, December 17th 2007
/ref> In 2007, the station's owner had estimated that construction of the necessary facilities "could take at least another year". The use of WVIF production facilities in engaging and training UVI students in various station operation tasks had also been promoted, but was never operational. As of September 2008, the station had moved to a new antenna tower, resuming analog television broadcast operation.WVIF's FCC DTV transition status report, Sep 2008
/ref> WVIF never operated a

digital television Digital television (DTV) is the transmission of television signals using digital encoding, in contrast to the earlier analog television technology which used analog signals. At the time of its development it was considered an innovative advanc ...

station. It had intended to apply to 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) for permission to turn off any analog signals and begin broadcast of a

digital signal A digital signal is a signal that represents data as a sequence of discrete values; at any given time it can only take on, at most, one of a finite number of values. This contrasts with an analog signal, which represents continuous values; at ...

on the same channel (called a "

flash-cut A flash cut, also called a flash cutover, is an immediate change in a complex system, with no phase-in period. In the United States, some telephone area codes were split or overlaid immediately, rather than being phased in with a permissive dia ...

") at the end of the digital TV conversion period for full-service stations (June 12, 2009). The station never did so, and its license was canceled on March 29, 2011.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wvif VIF Defunct television stations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 2000 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2009 2000 establishments in the United States Virgin Islands 2009 disestablishments in the United States Virgin Islands VIF