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WUCF-TV

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+#REDIRECT [[WUCF-TV]]
-{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2012}}
-{{Infobox broadcast
-|  call_letters             = WMFE-TV
-|  city                     =
-|  station_logo             =
-|  station_slogan           =
-|  station_branding         = V-me
-|  analog                   =
-|  digital                  = 23 ([[ultra high frequency|UHF]])<br>[[Virtual channel|Virtual]]: 24 ([[PSIP]])
-|  subchannels              = 24.1–3 [[V-me]]
-|  other_chs                =
-|  affiliations             = [[V-me]]
-|  network                  =
-|  founded                  =
-|  airdate                  = March 15, 1965
-|  location                 = [[Orlando, Florida]]
-|  callsign_meaning         = [[Central Florida|'''M'''id<br>'''F'''lorida]]<br>'''E'''ducational
-|  former_callsigns         =
-|  former_channel_numbers   = '''Analog:'''<br>24 (VHF, 1965–2009)
-|  owner                    = Community Communications, Inc.
-|  licensee                 =
-|  sister_stations          = [[WMFE-FM]]
-|  former_affiliations      = [[National Educational Television|NET]] (1965–1970)<br>[[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]] (1970–2011)
-|  effective_radiated_power = 950 kW
-|  HAAT                     = 380.1 m
-|  class                    =
-|  facility_id              = 12855
-|  coordinates              = {{coord|28|36|8|N|81|5|37|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}|
-  homepage                 =
-}}
-'''WMFE-TV''', channel 24, is a [[V-me]] affiliated [[public television]] station located in [[Orlando, Florida]].  The station is a former member station of the [[Public Broadcasting Service]], and is co-owned with [[WMFE-FM]] (90.7&nbsp;MHz.) by Community Communications, Inc. On local cable, WMFE-TV can be seen on [[Bright House Networks]] analog channel 20 or digital channel 1024.
-In March 2012 WMFE-TV owner Community Communications cancelled a previously-announced sale of the station to [[Daystar Television Network]], a religious broadcaster, citing an unexpectedly lengthy sale process and an improving market for station sales. The station is still for sale, and Community Communications still intends to exit the public television business.<ref>[http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2012/03/deal-to-sell-wmfe-tv-is-off.html WMFE says deal to sell TV station is off, seeks better offer], Orlando Sentinel, March 16, 2012</ref> The decision came several days after the [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) on March 13 raised questions as to whether Daystar, through associated nonprofit companies, was qualified to purchase WMFE-TV and [[Waco, Texas]] station [[KDYW]].<ref name=fcc-dealquestioned>{{cite web|title=Re: Form 314 Application for Consent to Assignment of License of…|url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/prod/cdbs/forms/prod/getimportletter_exh.cgi?import_letter_id=32620|date=March 13, 2012|work=CDBS Public Access|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]|accessdate=March 17, 2012}}</ref>
-== History ==
-In 1963, the public school systems of [[Orange County, Florida|Orange]], [[Volusia County, Florida|Volusia]], [[Lake County, Florida|Lake]], [[Osceola County, Florida|Osceola]], [[Seminole County, Florida|Seminole]], [[Brevard County, Florida|Brevard]] and [[Flagler County, Florida|Flagler]] counties formed Florida Central East Coast Educational Television with the goal of winning the license for channel 24.  In the meantime, WDBO-TV (now [[WKMG-TV]]) and WLOF-TV (now [[WFTV]]) donated air time for [[Educational television]] Spanish and Florida history programs produced by the group.
-WMFE finally went on the air on March 15, 1965 from the campus of [[Mid-Florida Tech]].  After only two years of operation, the [[Orange County Public Schools|Orange County school board]] became the sole operator of the station.  In the early 1970s, the school district sold the station to a non-profit community board of trustees that still operates the station today.
-In 1978, WMFE moved to its current home in the [[Union Park, Florida|Union Park]] neighborhood east of Orlando, on the corner of [[Florida State Road 50|SR 50]] and O'Berry Hoover Road at the studios previously used by defunct independent station [[WOFL|WSWB-TV]].<ref>[http://www.wmfe.org/site/PageServer?pagename=contact ]{{dead link|date=June 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=WMFE |url=http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q=wmfe%20orlando&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl |title=wmfe orlando - Google Maps |publisher=Maps.google.com |date=1970-01-01 |accessdate=2012-06-07}}</ref>
-WMFE-TV signs off every night on its over the air, satellite and cable HDTV signal at approximately 1&nbsp;am.
-In Fall 2010, WMFE indicated that they were facing financial hardships that had led to furloughs.
-<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2010/10/wmfe-avoids-layoffs-asks-employees-to-go-on-two-week-furloughs.html |title=WMFE avoids layoffs, asks employees to go on two-week furloughs – The TV Guy – Orlando Sentinel |publisher=Blogs.orlandosentinel.com |date= |accessdate=2012-06-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2010/09/wmfe-fund-raising-radio-is-terrific-but-television-is-off.html |title=WMFE fund-raising: Radio is terrific, but television is off – The TV Guy – Orlando Sentinel |publisher=Blogs.orlandosentinel.com |date= |accessdate=2012-06-07}}</ref>
-===Sale to Daystar===
-On April 1, 2011, WMFE announced that it will sell channel 24 due to financial difficulties and "critical uncertainties in federal and state funding".  In preparation for the sale, the station has left PBS, which remains available to Orlando market viewers on [[WBCC]] from [[Cocoa, Florida|Cocoa]],<ref name=os-wmfenopbs>{{cite web|url=http://www.wmfe.org/site/DocServer/News_release.pdf?docID=2682 |title=WMFE press release: "WMFE Officials Announce Shift to Radio-Focused Public Media", April 1, 2011. |date= |accessdate=2012-06-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Boedeker |first=Hal |url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-wmfe-sale-20110401,0,1173689.story |title=WMFE selling its Orlando TV station |publisher=Orlando Sentinel |date=2011-04-01 |accessdate=2012-06-07}}</ref> which (like WMFE) also broadcasts from a transmitter site at [[Bithlo, Florida|Bithlo]].<ref name=WMFE-Q&A-040111>{{cite web|url=http://www.wmfe.org/site/DocServer/Q_A.pdf?docID=2681 |title=WMFE: "Questions & Answers about the Sale of WMFE-TV", April 1, 2011. |date= |accessdate=2012-06-07}}</ref> The announcement of the sale came shortly after WMFE-TV's March [[pledge drive]] was completed.<ref name=WMFE-Q&A-040111/>
-On April 4, 2011, it was revealed that "Community Educators of Orlando, Inc.", a licensee owned by the Daystar Television Network (a Christian broadcaster based in the [[Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex|Dallas-Fort Worth area]] of Texas), had agreed to purchase WMFE-TV for a reported price of $3 million.<ref name=WMFE-Q&A-040411>{{cite web|url=http://www.wmfe.org/site/DocServer/Q_A_4-4.pdf?docID=2701 |title=WMFE: "Questions & Answers about the Sale of WMFE-TV", April 4, 2011. |date= |accessdate=2012-06-07}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/04/wmfe-sale-dallas-religious-broadcaster-is-the-buyer.html |title=WMFE sale: Dallas religious broadcaster is the buyer – The TV Guy – Orlando Sentinel |publisher=Blogs.orlandosentinel.com |date= |accessdate=2012-06-08}}</ref> PBS programming aired on WMFE until the end of June, 2011.;<ref name=WMFE-Q&A-040111/> Upon Daystar's takeover of the station, WMFE-TV's call letters will be changed, as the sale does not include the rights to use the WMFE calls.<ref name=WMFE-Q&A-040411/> While WMFE-TV waits for FCC approval of the sale of the station to Daystar, WMFE-TV continues operations as an independent public television station.<ref name=Current>{{cite web|author=Published in Current, April 18, 2011 By Dru Sefton |url=http://www.current.org/ptv/ptv1108wmfe.html |title="With WMFE out, there’s a hole in PBS map", April 18, 2011 |publisher=Current |date=2011-04-18 |accessdate=2012-06-07}}</ref> On June 2, 2011, it was announced that the primary affiliation for the Central Florida market will be taken over by WBCC, which begain broadcasting under the "WUCF-TV" branding on July 1, 2011. (Its legal calls as of that date are still WBCC.)<ref name="WUCF">{{cite news |url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-pbs-ucf-20110526,0,1309174.story |title=PBS to play on WUCF in Orlando |date=May 26, 2011 |accessdate=May 26, 2011 |work=Orlando Sentinel}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-wucf-pbs-20110601,0,372588.story |title=WUCF TV will be Central Florida's PBS station |date=June 2, 2011 |accessdate=June 2, 2011 |work=Orlando Sentinel}}</ref>  Although WMFE had indicated that [[WDSC-TV]] from [[Daytona Beach, Florida|Daytona Beach]], which also transmits from Bithlo, would also continue as a PBS station,<ref name=os-wmfenopbs/> that station announced on June 16 that it would also leave PBS on July 1 for financial reasons, though that station will continue to air programming from other non-CPB funded public television organizations such as [[American Public Television]].<ref name="wucf">{{cite news|last=Bodeker|first=Hal|title=PBS: Daytona Beach station will stop PBS lineup July 1|url=http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/06/pbs-daytona-beach-station-will-stop-pbs-lineup-july-1.html|accessdate=June 20, 2011|newspaper=[[The Orlando Sentinel]]|date=June 17, 2011}}</ref> These moves left WBCC as the only PBS station in the [[Central Florida]] television market.<ref name="wucf"/>
-In the interim period between dismembership from PBS and the FCC's decision on the sale to Daystar, [[V-me]] airs on WMFE's primary signal (the only such arrangement for the network), while [[Florida Channel]] was expected to replace one of WMFE's subchannels.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/06/what-happens-to-programming-at-former-pbs-stations-wmfe-wdsc.html|title=What happens to programming at former PBS stations WMFE, WDSC?|last=Boedeker|first=Hal|date=June 27, 2011|work=[[Orlando Sentinel]]|accessdate=June 30, 2011}}</ref> However as of mid-July 2011, V-me is replicated thrice on 24.1, 24.2 and 24.3, with the 24.1 signal remaining in HD despite V-me only being operated in standard definition.
-Sister station [[WMFE-FM]], which remains successful, will not be affected.<ref name=WMFE-Q&A-040111/>
-On March 16, 2012 an article appeared in the [[Orlando Sentinel]] that WMFE had called off the planned sale to Daystar Communications because "the current deal we had in place was being drawn out longer than we anticipated" and that "The market conditions have changed in a favorable way to be able to pursue other options for WMFE."<ref>[http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2012/03/deal-to-sell-wmfe-tv-is-off.html Orlando Sentinel Newspaper] (Retrieved April 28, 2012)</ref> Daystar's programming already appears on its own separate channel on [[Bright House Networks]], [[Cox Communications|Cox]] and [[Comcast]] cable systems in Central Florida which was one of the contentions of those cable systems that they would be duplicating the same programming on two separate channels.
-==Digital programming==
-WMFE's broadcasts have been digital-only since February 17, 2009.<ref>[http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/etan_on_tech/2009/02/wmfe-will-shut-off-its-analog-tv-signal-on-february-17.html ]{{dead link|date=June 2012}}</ref> As mentioned above, V-me airs on all three channels offered, with 24.4 discontinued after July 1.
-==References==
-{{Bare urls|date=June 2012}}
-{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}
-==External links==
-*{{TVQ|WMFE}}
-*{{BIA|WMFE|TV|TV}}
-{{Orlando TV}}
-{{Florida Spanish Stations}}
-{{DEFAULTSORT:Wmfe-Tv}}
-[[Category:Television stations in Florida]]
-[[Category:Channel 23 digital TV stations in the United States]]
-[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1965]]