WICZ-TV

WICZ-TV, virtual channel 40 (VHF digital channel 7), is a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Binghamton, New York, United States, serving the Eastern Twin Tiers of Southern Upstate New York and Northern Pennsylvania. Owned by Atlanta-based Cox Media Group, it is a sister station to low-powered MyNetworkTV affiliate WBPN-LP, analog channel 10 (which is simulcast in high definition on WICZ's second digital subchannel). The two stations share studios on Vestal Parkway East (NY 434) in Vestal; WICZ-TV's transmitter is located on Ingraham Hill Road in the town of Binghamton. On cable, the station is available on Charter Spectrum channel 3 in both standard and high definition.

WICZ-TV
Binghamton, New York
United States
ChannelsDigital: 7 (VHF)
Virtual: 40 (PSIP)
BrandingFox 40 (general)
Fox 40 News
My 8 (on DT2)
Programming
Affiliations40.1: Fox (secondary, 1995–1996)
40.2: MyNetworkTV
40.3: Ion Television
Ownership
OwnerCox Media Group[1][2]
(Stainless Broadcasting, L.P.)
WBPN-LP
History
First air date
November 1, 1957 (1957-11-01)
Former call signs
WINR-TV (1957–1971)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
40 (UHF, 1957–2009)
Digital:
8 (VHF, until 2020)
Primary:
NBC (1957–1996)
Secondary:
ABC (1957–1962)
UPN (c.1999–2000)
Call sign meaning
Henry GuzeWICZ (former owner)
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID62210
ClassDT
ERP8 kW (STA)
40 kW (CP)
HAAT369.8 m (1,213 ft)
Transmitter coordinates42°3′22″N 75°56′38″W
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.wicz.com

History

The station signed on November 1, 1957 as WINR-TV, the area's second television station, and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 40. The station was originally owned by the then-Rochester-based Gannett Company, which purchased the station's construction permit along with NBC Radio Network affiliate WINR (680 AM) in January of that year.[3][4][5][6][7] The WINR stations were part of a newspaper-broadcast combination owned by Gannett in Binghamton, operating alongside the Binghamton Press. Upon its purchase of WINR, the Press went to work towards completing the construction of channel 40, and used its pages to educate readers on how to receive the new UHF signal.[8][9][10] At its sign-on WINR-TV was primarily an NBC television affiliate, though it also carried some ABC programming before WBJA-TV (channel 34, now WIVT) went on the air in 1962.[11]

Gannett announced on July 30, 1970, that it would sell its Binghamton broadcasting interests, while retaining the Binghamton Press. Broadcast tower manufacturer Stainless, Inc. acquired WINR-TV as part of this divestiure.[12][13] Upon receiving approval of the sale, the station changed its call letters to the current WICZ-TV (for company owner Henry Guzewicz) on April 7, 1971.[14][15][16][17] That fall, the station moved to an 870-foot (270 m) tower on Ingraham Hill;[18] it had previously shared a transmitter location with WINR radio.[17]

In November 1995, WICZ-TV announced it would be dropping its NBC affiliation and switching to Fox; the station stated that the switch would allow it to expand its news programming.[19] WICZ already had a secondary affiliation with Fox to carry Fox Kids,[19] which resulted in the station beginning to preempt much of NBC's programming (especially its daytime soap operas). Prior to the station's affiliation with Fox, the network's two closest over-the-air affiliates were Syracuse affiliate WSYT and Scranton affiliate WOLF-TV, neither of which had a strong signal to cover the city of Binghamton proper owing to the area's rugged terrain. The majority of Fox's programming was only available on cable via Foxnet, WOLF-TV, or New York City owned-and-operated station WNYW, depending on the location.[19] The affiliation change took place April 4, 1996, after WICZ's contract with NBC expired.[19] NBC programming was then seen on cable via a localized version of Elmira's WETM-TV;[20] the network regained an over-the-air affiliate in Binghamton a year later when WETM's owners, Smith Broadcasting, purchased WBGH-LP (channel 8, now WBGH-CD channel 20) and made it a semi-satellite of WETM.[21]

Stainless, whose holdings by this point included its tower manufacturing business, WICZ-TV, and KTVZ in Bend, Oregon, was sold to Northwest Broadcasting for $17 million in 1997.[22][23] Though Northwest would sell the Stainless tower company to SpectraSite Holdings in 1999,[24] it still owns WICZ under the Stainless Broadcasting name to this day. During the late 1990s, WICZ added a secondary affiliation with UPN;[25] in 2000, Northwest bought W10CO (channel 10), changed its call letters to WBPN-LP, and moved UPN programming there.[26]

On September 16, 2013, it was announced that Mission Broadcasting would acquire WICZ-TV and WBPN-LP from Stainless Broadcasting. Upon the deal's completion, the stations' operations would have been taken over by Nexstar Broadcasting Group, making them sister stations to WIVT and WBGH-CA.[27] Stainless withdrew the license assignment application on March 18, 2015, following the deal's cancellation.[28]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[29]
40.1720p16:9WICZ-HDMain WICZ-TV programming / Fox
40.2WBPN-DTSimulcast of WBPN-LP / MyNetworkTV
40.3480iIONIon Television

Analog-to-digital conversion

WICZ-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 40, on April 16, 2009. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 8.[30] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 40.

Programming

Syndicated programming on WICZ-TV includes The Big Bang Theory, Two and a Half Men, and The People's Court among others.

News operation
News logo from August 2012 to December 2017.

Since switching networks, WICZ has consistently maintained lower viewership than rival CBS outlet WBNG-TV and remains ranked at second, but that gap has closed slightly in recent years. The big three affiliate has always been a ratings powerhouse in Binghamton. For the most part, WIVT has always been a non-factor in the local newscast race. The ABC outlet has spent most of its history as the third station in what was originally a two-station market (since WIVT did not sign-on until November 1962) and virtually gained no benefit when WICZ joined Fox.

On Memorial Day in 2009, in an attempt to increase its presence against WBNG, WICZ added a thirty-minute newscast weeknights at 6 joining their flagship nightly prime time broadcast at 10. WBNG already established a weeknight newscast in the prime time slot airing on its CW second digital subchannel. The prime time newscast on WBNG-DT2 would eventually be expanded to weekends at some point in time.

On June 5, 2009, there was an increase in viewership on WICZ (and to a larger extent on WBNG) when WIVT announced its plans to consolidate news operations with WETM-TV in Elmira. WIVT eventually began simulcasting some of WETM's newscasts featuring regional weather coverage but not a full news focus of the Eastern Twin Tiers region. A separate, taped newscast specifically covering the Binghamton area was subsequently brought back to WIVT on June 28. On August 19, 2012, WICZ became the market's first television station to upgrade local news production to high definition level. The transition included a new on-air look with state-of-the-art graphics and updated set design.

References
  1. "Apollo Global Management Acquires Cox's Television Stations Plus Radio & Newspapers In Dayton". RadioInsight. February 15, 2019. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  2. Jessell, Harry A. (March 6, 2019). "Cox TV Valued At $3.1 Billion In Apollo Acquisition". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheckMedia LLC. Retrieved March 6, 2019.
  3. "Press to buy WINR, push UHF television plans". Binghamton Press. Binghamton, NY. November 16, 1956. p. 3. Retrieved June 13, 2020.(subscription required)
  4. "Press TV, radio bid is approved". Binghamton Press. Binghamton, NY. January 10, 1957. p. 1. Retrieved June 13, 2020.(subscription required)
  5. "Press operating WINR, plans TV debut by July 1". Binghamton Press. Binghamton, NY. January 11, 1957. p. 3. Retrieved June 13, 2020.(subscription required)
  6. "FCC OKs UHF here, Elmira threat seen". Binghamton Press. Binghamton, NY. September 30, 1954. p. 3. Retrieved June 16, 2020.(subscription required)
  7. "WINR granted ch. 40 at Binghamton, N.Y." (PDF). Broadcasting - Telecasting. October 4, 1954. p. 54. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
  8. "Million-watt TV station by July 1 is Press goal (pt. 1)". The Sunday Press. Binghamton, NY. January 13, 1957. p. 1A. Retrieved June 16, 2020.(subscription required)
  9. "Million-watt TV station by July 1 is Press goal (pt. 2)". The Sunday Press. Binghamton, NY. January 13, 1957. p. 3A. Retrieved June 16, 2020.(subscription required)
  10. "WINR Radio-TV to get offices, studios in new building". Binghamton Press. Binghamton, NY. March 13, 1957. p. 27. Retrieved June 16, 2020.(subscription required)
  11. "WINR-TV Goes on Air Friday" (PDF). Broadcasting. November 4, 1957. p. 82. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  12. "WINR-TV, radio stations are sold". The Evening Press. Binghamton, NY. July 30, 1970. p. 9B. Retrieved June 13, 2020.(subscription required)
  13. "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting. March 8, 1971. p. 37. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  14. "WINR-TV to change call letters after sale". The Evening Press. Binghamton, NY. February 25, 1971. p. 1B. Retrieved June 13, 2020.(subscription required)
  15. "Channel 40 call letters shift Wednesday". The Evening Press. Binghamton, NY. April 3, 1971. p. 6B. Retrieved June 13, 2020.(subscription required)
  16. "For the Record" (PDF). Broadcasting. January 11, 1971. p. 60. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  17. Fybush, Scott (December 3, 2004). "Binghamton's Ingraham Hill Revisited". Tower Site of the Week. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  18. "More muscle for WICZ-TV" (PDF). Broadcasting. October 11, 1971. p. 54. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  19. Flint, Joe (November 26, 1995). "Fox Lures WICZ From Peacock Nest". Variety. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  20. Ross, Chuck (April 22, 1996). "TV STATION HOOKS UP WITH CABLE OUTLET; NEW YORK'S WETM CRAFTS LOCAL MARKETING AGREEMENT". Advertising Age. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  21. Fybush, Scott (September 11, 1997). "Fire at WVIP". North East RadioWatch. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  22. Kanaley, Reid (May 18, 1997). "Digital TV: It's A High-Tower Act". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved December 4, 2015. …Stainless, which owns UHF stations in Binghamton, N.Y., and Bend, Ore., is being sold to a Detroit-based partnership, Northwest Broadcasting, said Stainless counsel James J. Heffernan of Plymouth Meeting. He said the deal is worth $17 million.
  23. "Changing Hands" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. May 19, 1997. p. 38. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  24. "SpectraSite Holdings, Inc. Form 8-K" (TXT). Securities and Exchange Commission. January 21, 2000. Retrieved December 4, 2015.
  25. "UPN Affiliate Stations (New York)". UPN.com. Archived from the original on May 8, 1999. Retrieved December 20, 2015.
  26. Kucinski, Carla (August 17, 2000). "New Tier TV station bulks up with pro wrestling". Press & Sun-Bulletin. p. B8. Retrieved December 20, 2015. (preview of subscription content)
  27. Malone, Michael (September 16, 2013). "Nexstar to Acquire Citadel's Iowa Stations for $88 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved September 16, 2013.
  28. Corbett, Dennis P. (March 18, 2015). "Re: Withdrawal of File Nos. BALCDT-20130927A11G, BALTVL-20130927AHH, and BAPDTL-20130927AH1" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 24, 2015.
  29. RabbitEars TV Query for WICZ
  30. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-03-24.
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