WPXP-TV
WPXP-TV, virtual channel 67 (UHF digital channel 36), is an Ion Television-affiliated station licensed to Lake Worth, Florida, United States, serving the Gold and Treasure Coasts of South Florida. The station is owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings. WPXP-TV's transmitter is located near Greenacres, Florida. On cable, WPXP-TV is available on Comcast Xfinity channel 8 (in Martin, Palm Beach, Okeechobee, and southern St. Lucie counties) and channel 7 (in Indian River and northern St. Lucie counties), and in high definition on digital channel 439.
| Lake Worth/West Palm Beach, Florida United States | |
|---|---|
| City | Lake Worth, Florida |
| Channels | Digital: 36 (UHF) Virtual: 67 (PSIP) |
| Branding | Ion Television |
| Slogan | Positively Entertaining |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Inyo Broadcast Holdings (Inyo Broadcast Licenses LLC) |
| History | |
First air date | January 5, 1998 |
Former call signs | WHBI (unconstructed, 1987–1997) |
Former channel number(s) | Analog: 67 (UHF, 1998–2009) |
| inTV (January–August 1998) | |
Call sign meaning | PaX West Palm Beach |
| Technical information | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 27290 |
| Class | DT |
| ERP | 1,000 kW |
| HAAT | 385 m (1,263 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 26°35′20″N 80°12′44″W |
| Links | |
Public license information | Profile LMS |
| Website | iontelevision |
Until 2021, as the Ion owned-and-operated station for West Palm Beach, where Ion's headquarters are located, WPXP was considered one of the network's flagship stations, though it has never originated any content for the national network, either as Pax TV, i: Independent Television, or Ion Television.
History
The first application for the station was made in 1984, and the WHBI callsign was assigned in June 1987 until the end of 1997. In January 1998, it finally went on-air after more than a decade of modified and expired construction permits, and took its present call letters upon joining the fledgling Pax TV network.[1] All applications prior to 2003 were by Hispanic Broadcasting, Inc., before becoming Paxson West Palm Beach License, Inc. (a holding company, which is common in broadcasting), though there was no application listed to assign the station to another licensee.
WPXP and sister station WPXM carried Florida Marlins baseball games from 2002 to 2005.
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67.1 | 720p | 16:9 | ION | Main Ion Television programming |
| 67.2 | 480i | qubo | Qubo | |
| 67.3 | IONPlus | Ion Plus | ||
| 67.4 | Shop | Ion Shop | ||
| 67.5 | LAFF | Laff | ||
| 67.6 | 4:3 | HSN | HSN |
Analog-to-digital conversion
WPXP-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 67, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (sister station WPXM opted to do so on the original transition date of February 17). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 36.[3] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 67, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.
WPXP's digital signal has a much greater broadcast range than its now-defunct channel 67 analog signal. The analog transmitter was located within the western part of the city of West Palm Beach, and had a service contour that reached as far north as Port St. Lucie and as far south as Pompano Beach (immediately north of Fort Lauderdale). The digital transmitter is west-southwest of Lake Worth, and its service contour reaches as far north as Okeechobee and Fort Pierce, and far south as Kendale Lakes, including all of Palm Beach, Broward, and Martin counties; and northeast Miami-Dade, eastern Hendry, and southern/central St. Lucie counties.
References
- "Stations change call letters to reflect Paxson affiliation". The Miami Herald. 1998-01-13.
- RabbitEars TV Query for WPXP
- "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.