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"NBC 30" redirects here. For the NBC-affiliated television station operating on virtual channel 30 in Meridian, Mississippi, see WGBC.

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WVIT, virtual channel 30 (UHF digital channel 35), branded on-air as NBC Connecticut or NBC CT, is an NBC owned-and-operated television station licensed to New Britain, Connecticut and serving the Hartford–New Haven television market. The station is owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations subsidiary of NBCUniversal and is a sister station to Hartford-licensed low-powered, Class A WRDM-CD (channel 19). The two stations share studios are located on New Britain Avenue in West Hartford; WVIT's transmitter is located on Rattlesnake Mountain in Farmington, Connecticut. On cable, the station is carried primarily on channel 4 throughout the Hartford–New Haven television market.

History

Early years

WVIT signed on for the first time on February 13, 1953, as WKNB-TV, owned by the New Britain Broadcasting Company along with WKNB radio (840 AM, now WRYM).[1] The calls stood for Kensington–New Britain. It is Connecticut's second-oldest television station and the first on the UHF band.[2] It has been an NBC affiliate for nearly all of its history. However, during its first two and a half years, it carried CBS programming as one of two affiliates in Connecticut,[3] along with WNHC-TV (now WTNH) in New Haven. At the time, Hartford and New Haven were recognized by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as separate television markets; the Commission would merge them into one market in 1954.

In January 1955, NBC announced it would purchase the WKNB stations for just over $600,000.[4] Though the network was acquiring both radio and television outlets, the key to the deal was channel 30–as one of the first UHF stations to be owned by a major network, the FCC encouraged the networks to expand their owned-and-operated holdings to include outlets in the new band to help ensure its viability. Indeed, NBC made plans to boost channel 30's signal to cover the entire market.

WKNB-TV began carrying the full NBC programming schedule in October 1955. The FCC approved the sale to NBC in December 1956, nearly two years after it was first announced.[5] The network then renamed channel 30 WNBC (for New Britain, Connecticut) in January 1957.[6][7][8] In its first stint as an NBC-owned station, channel 30 failed to gain much headway in the ratings, largely because television manufacturers were not required to include UHF tuning capability until 1964. Viewers had to buy an expensive converter to watch WNBC, and even with one the picture was barely viewable. In addition, plans to relocate the station's tower and to boost transmission power never moved forward.

In September 1957, the Hartford-based Travelers Insurance Company signed on independent station WTIC-TV (channel 3, now WFSB), the state's second and last VHF station. Within a year of its debut (and despite its radio sister having been an NBC radio affiliate for over thirty years) WTIC-TV became Connecticut's CBS affiliate, replacing its owned-and-operated station, WHCT-TV (channel 18, now Univision affiliate WUVN). NBC then realized its UHF experiment was a lost cause (it had shut down its other owned UHF station in Buffalo, New York in October 1958), and in June 1959 sold WNBC and WKNB radio for $750,000 to Plains Television Inc., a joint venture of Transcontinental Properties and H & E Balaban Corporation (WKNB was spun off immediately afterward).[9][10] As part of the deal, Springfield Television, the owner of fellow NBC affiliate WWLP in Springfield, Massachusetts, was to have held a one-third share in channel 30; it abandoned this stake before the deal's completion after concerns arose over WWLP and WNBC's overlapping coverage areas, but continued to hold an option to reacquire it for some time afterward pending FCC approval.[11] In May 1960, channel 30's callsign changed again – this time to WHNB-TV (for Hartford-New Britain); NBC reclaimed the WNBC calls for its flagship radio and television combination (the former WRCA-AM-FM-TV) in New York City.[12][13]

In 1966, WHNB-TV became, once again, one of two NBC affiliates in Connecticut; the network signed with Waterbury-licensed WATR-TV (channel 20) in order to get its programming into New Haven on a strong signal.[14] By this time, television manufacturers were now required to include all-channel tuning. Channel 30 itself made up for the shortfall in its market coverage by operating two low-power translators (starting in 1971): W79AI (channel 79) in Torrington[15] and W59AA (channel 59) in New Haven.[16]

Later years

WVIT's NBC30 logo used from 2005 until July 16, 2009. The numeric "30" had been in use in one form or another since 1992.

In the summer of 1977 Plains Television announced it would sell WHNB-TV to the original iteration of Viacom for $15 million. The former CBS Inc. subsidiary, now a leading television producer and distributor and the founder of Showtime, was making its first foray into broadcast station ownership.[17] Shortly after assuming control in the spring of 1978, channel 30's call letters were changed to the present WVIT (for "Viacom International Television") to reflect its new ownership.[18][19] Viacom immediately announced plans to boost WVIT's signal, and also made upgrades in the station's news department.[20] In 1980, channel 30 signed on with a new transmitter that more than doubled its coverage area, giving it a clear signal to much of New Haven for the first time, though the channel 59 repeater was kept in service. WVIT became the sole Connecticut-based NBC affiliate in March 1982, when WATR-TV's affiliation contract with NBC ended and the station became independent WTXX (it is now WCCT-TV).[21] The Torrington translator was turned off in 1987, and the New Haven repeater was shut down in the middle 1990s to allow full-powered WTVU (now WCTX) to begin operations.

Viacom purchased Paramount Pictures in 1994, and merged its five-station group (WVIT; KMOV in St. Louis; WHEC-TV in Rochester, New York; WNYT in Albany, New York; and KSLA-TV in Shreveport, Louisiana) into the Paramount Stations Group.[22][23] Shortly thereafter, the merged company decided to divest itself of all of its major network affiliates to focus on stations that carried its then-upstart United Paramount Network (UPN).[24] WVIT, the first television outlet Viacom purchased was the last station to be sold, as Viacom agreed to trade channel 30 to former owner NBC in return for future purchase rights to WWHO in Chilicothe, Ohio and WLWC in New Bedford, Massachusetts, two UPN-affiliated stations NBC was operating by way of local marketing agreements. The sale closed on December 8, 1997, making WVIT an NBC O&O for the second time in its history.[25][26]

On December 4, 2017, NBCUniversal announced that it would buy Telemundo affiliate WRDM-CD and its Springfield satellite station WDMR-LP from ZGS Communications, as with several other NBC O&Os, WRDM would become a sister station to WVIT, creating the third duopoly in the Hartford–New Haven television market, following the duopolies of Nexstar Media Group's WTNH/WCTX and Tribune Broadcasting's WTIC-TV/WCCT-TV (though as a low-power station, WRDM is exempt from FCC ownership caps, including the duopoly rule).[27] ZGS had sold WRDM's spectrum in the FCC's incentive auction for $10,574,516 and indicated that the station would enter into a post-auction channel sharing agreement, which occurred with WVIT at the start of the year.[28] The sale was officially completed on February 1, 2018.[29]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[30]
30.1 1080i 16:9 WVIT-HD Main WVIT programming / NBC
30.2 480i COZI-TV Cozi TV

Digital subchannel 30.2 carried NBC Weather Plus; national network operations for that service ended in December 2008. NBC Plus then aired on that subchannel. This channel utilized the same graphics as Weather Plus, with a new 'NBC Plus' logo and without the on camera meteorologist segments. WVIT was the last remaining NBC-owned station to continue to air NBC Plus. On December 20, 2012, WVIT replaced NBC Plus with Cozi TV, a new network featuring classic television series and lifestyle programming. Digital subchannel 30.3 carried Universal Sports; transition for a Digital-only broadcast network into a cable- and satellite-exclusive service was occurred on January 1, 2012 when the station deleted the subchannel along with its fellow affiliates to remove or replace the network from their digital signals. The digital subchannel was reactivated again in 2015, when WVIT added the Spanish-language digital network TeleXitos, a new network featuring classic television series dubbed in Spanish exclusively to the stations owned by Telemundo, making it the only NBC-owned station to carry the Spanish-language digital channel. Following the station's parent's official acquisition of Telemundo affiliated station WRDM-CD/WDMR-LP in February 2018, the TeleXitos affiliation was moved to the newly launched digital subchannel of WRDM-CD and WDMR-LP, with the subchannel was deleted again from their digital signal.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WVIT's NBC Connecticut first logo, used from July 2009 to July 2017

WVIT shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 30, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[31] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 35, using PSIP to display WVIT's virtual channel as 30 on digital television receivers. With the transition, the height of the station's transmitter tower was increased to 434 meters (1,424 ft).

Programming

On June 16, 2017, WVIT announced that it would not air that week's edition of Sunday Night with Megyn Kelly, which featured an interview with radio host Alex Jones. The station cited viewer, advertiser and management sensitivities to the views of Jones, as he had previously expressed a denial of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings.[32][33]

News operation

On June 13, 2016, WVIT became the second station in Connecticut to debut a 4:00 pm newscast.[34] On the same day, WVIT began using Artworks' new "Look N" standardized graphics that were first adopted by sister station WNBC, also its music was changed by begin using 615 Music's "The Tower", which is first adopted in 2000 by sister stations WMAQ-TV and KNBC.

Notable former on-air staff

References

  1. ^ "New TV grantees prepare plans" (PDF). Broadcasting - Telecasting. February 23, 1953. p. 62. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  2. ^ Gross, Julian. "UHF is television too." Broadcasting - Telecasting, July 6, 1953, pp. 84, 86, 88, 90. Accessed January 5, 2019. [1][2][3][4]
  3. ^ "WKNB-TV signs; CBS-TV affiliation announced" (PDF). Broadcasting - Telecasting. January 5, 1953. p. 75. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  4. ^ "Power plays take shape in television networking" (PDF). Broadcasting - Telecasting. January 10, 1955. p. 27. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  5. ^ "NBC gets green light on New Britain buy" (PDF). Broadcasting - Telecasting. December 17, 1956. p. 81. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  6. ^ "NBC rechristens WKNB-TV to WNBC(TV) West Hartford" (PDF). Broadcasting - Telecasting. January 14, 1957. p. 100. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  7. ^ "WNBC (TV) advertisement" (PDF). Broadcasting - Telecasting. January 14, 1957. p. 77. Retrieved December 29, 2018.
  8. ^ "For the record–Station authorizations, applications–Existing TV stations–Call letters assigned" (PDF). Broadcasting - Telecasting. January 21, 1957. p. 108. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  9. ^ "NBC sells WNBC (TV) to Scheftel group." Broadcasting, June 29, 1959, pp. 73-74. Accessed December 30, 2018. [5][6]
  10. ^ "Changing Hands." Broadcasting, September 28, 1959, pp. 98-100. Accessed December 30, 2018. [7][8]
  11. ^ "Conn. sale protest dismissed by FCC." Broadcasting, November 30, 1959, pp. 70-71. Accessed December 30, 2018. [9][10]
  12. ^ "WRCA to be WNBC?" (PDF). Broadcasting. April 4, 1960. p. 88. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  13. ^ "For the record–Station authorizations, applications–Existing TV stations–Call letters assigned" (PDF). Broadcasting. May 9, 1960. p. 100. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  14. ^ "WATR-TV joining NBC-TV" (PDF). Broadcasting. July 25, 1966. p. 66. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  15. ^ W79AI
  16. ^ W59AA New Haven
  17. ^ "Viacom gets into station ownership" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 20, 1977. p. 28. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  18. ^ "For the Record–Call letters–Grants–Existing TVs" (PDF). Broadcasting. August 7, 1978. p. 67. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  19. ^ "WVIT/Katz Television Continental advertisement" (PDF). Broadcasting. June 12, 1978. p. 12. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  20. ^ "WVIT/Katz Television Continental advertisement" (PDF). Broadcasting. December 24, 1979. p. 2. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  21. ^ "WATR-TV decides to go it alone" (PDF). Broadcasting. February 22, 1982. p. 72. Retrieved December 30, 2018.
  22. ^ Foisie, Geoffrey, and Christopher Stern. "Viacom, Paramount say 'I do.'" Broadcasting and Cable, September 20, 1993, pp. 14-16. Accessed January 5, 2019. [11][12][13]
  23. ^ Foisie, Geoffrey. "At long last: Viacom Paramount." Broadcasting and Cable, February 21, 1994, pp. 7, 10, 14. Accessed January 5, 2019. [14][15][16]
  24. ^ Zier, Julie A., and Steve McClellan. "Minority-led group eyes Viacom stations." Broadcasting and Cable, November 7, 1994, pp. 6. Accessed January 5, 2019. [17]
  25. ^ McClellan, Steve (August 4, 1997). "NBC, Paramount swap stations" (PDF). Broadcasting and Cable. p. 12. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  26. ^ Keveney, Bill. "Managers, reporter fired in WVIT-TV shakeup". Hartford Courant. Retrieved November 24, 2018.
  27. ^ Miller, Mark K. (December 4, 2017). "NBCU Adding ZGS Stations To Telemundo". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  28. ^ "FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction Auction 1001 Winning Bids" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. April 4, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  29. ^ "NBCU Completes ZGS Stations Buy". TVNewsCheck. February 1, 2018. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  30. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WVIT
  31. ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations
  32. ^ Otterson, Joe (2017-06-16). "Connecticut NBC Station Will Not Air Megyn Kelly's Alex Jones Interview". Variety. Retrieved 2017-06-22.
  33. ^ Chris Ariens (June 16, 2017). "NBC Connecticut NBC Station Won't Air Megyn Kelly Interview with Alex Jones". TVNewser. AdWeek. Retrieved June 17, 2017.
  34. ^ "4 NBC Stations to Launch Afternoon Newscast". January 4, 2016.
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