WTVX

WTVX first began operations as a CBS affiliate on April 5, 1966. Airing an analog signal on UHF channel 34, it was the market's third television outlet to sign on after NBC affiliate WPTV (channel 5) and ABC affiliate WEAT-TV (channel 12, now WPEC). It was originally owned by Indian River Television and based in a small building along US 1 just south of the St. Lucie–Indian River county line. The building and ownership of Indian River served as links to the station that preceded it, WTVI, which operated as a CBS affiliate on channel 19 in two unsuccessful stints between 1960 and 1962. Indian River had acquired the studio, built for WTVI in 1960, from Gene Dyer for $50,000,[2] and the principal of Indian River, Michael Beacom, had been a minority owner of WTVI.[3] (WTVX was built on the same allocation; the original application specified channel 19, which was changed to 34 when the FCC overhauled UHF allotments nationwide in 1965.[4]) Prior to signing on, Miami's WTVJ (then channel 4, now channel 6) was the market's default CBS affiliate. Even after WTVX launched, its comparatively weak signal (26 kW effective radiated power, boosted to 67 kW in 1974[4]) was not nearly as powerful as WTVJ's VHF signal, and the latter continued to be recognized as the CBS affiliate for the Palm Beaches.

WTVX survived a license challenge in the late 1970s. In 1976, it was alleged that the station engaged in "clipping", in which it replaced commercials from some network programs with its own;[5] the station ultimately had its license renewed and paid a $10,000 fine.[6] That allowed the sale of WTVX to Frank Spain, owner of WTWV in Tupelo, Mississippi, to proceed.[7] An investment of more than $5 million was put into WTVX, including newer and larger Fort Pierce studios on North 25th Street (SR 615)[8] and the commissioning of a 1,549-foot (472 m) tower after some early county opposition.[9] Broadcasting at 5 million watts, "Florida's most powerful television station" finally had a signal capable of reaching the Palm Beaches.[10] In addition, the more powerful WTVX began appearing on Palm Beach County cable systems that had not previously carried it, further extending its reach.[11]

WTVX's upgraded signal, however, came at a cost to the newly renamed "X-34". From 1972 to 1979, via special arrangement and with the approval of CBS and NBC,[13] WTVX carried Miami Dolphins home games that would have to be blacked out by West Palm Beach stations because their signals reached into the 75-mile (121 km) blackout radius around the Miami Orange Bowl; hotels on Singer Island invested in antenna systems to receive WTVX and attract patrons when Dolphins games were blacked out.[14] After fighting the Dolphins and the league in court for two years at an estimated cost to Spain of $250,000, the station lost its fight against NFL blackout policies in appeals court in 1982 and opted not to continue.[15]

In 1987, NBC bought WTVJ (however, it would have to run the station as a CBS affiliate for another year as its affiliation contract was not up yet). CBS then bought former Fox affiliate WCIX (channel 6, now WFOR-TV on channel 4), which had a Grade B signal in Fort Lauderdale and Broward County. In hopes of improving its coverage in Broward County, CBS persuaded WPEC to switch its affiliation to CBS. WPEC has a fairly strong city-grade signal in Broward County. This set up a three-way fight for the ABC affiliation among WTVX, WFLX (channel 29), and a station that was not yet on the air, WPBF (channel 25). In October, ABC shocked observers when it selected WPBF to be its new affiliate, effective January 1, 1989.[16] This left WTVX as an independent station; it bought a significant amount of WPBF's classic sitcom and cartoon inventory, since WPBF no longer would have time to air it.

During the day, the station showed movies, drama shows, and talk shows. By the summer of 1989, more sitcoms and cartoons were added to the schedule. In 1991, WTVX was sold to Krypton Broadcasting. Krypton filed for bankruptcy in 1993 and the station was acquired by Whitehead Media at an auction in 1994. Whitehead Media then entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Paxson Communications, then owner of WPBF.

On January 16, 1995, Paramount/Viacom joined with Chris Craft/United Television to form the United Paramount Network (UPN). WTVX immediately became an affiliate of this new network. When WPBF was sold to the Hearst Corporation in early 1997, Viacom's Paramount Stations Group acquired WTVX. However at that time, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) did not permit one entity to directly own two television stations in adjacent markets whose city-grade signals overlapped. Miami's WBFS-TV provided a city-grade signal to West Palm Beach (indeed, for years, WBFS identified as "Miami–Fort Lauderdale–West Palm Beach"), so Paramount could not retain both stations.

To solve the problem, Paramount sold the license and other FCC assets of WTVX to Straightline Communications, with WBFS taking over as WTVX's LMA partner. A similar arrangement existed in New England where Straightline Communications acquired the FCC assets of WLWC in New Bedford, Massachusetts with Viacom's Boston station WSBK-TV operating that station through a similar LMA.

By the late-1990s, like other stations affiliated with the smaller networks, WTVX started to move away from cartoons and sitcoms by adding more talk-reality and court shows. In the early-2000s, WTVX started to carry The WB on a secondary basis. Programming from that network, such as 7th Heaven, aired after UPN prime time.[17] However, the full WB schedule could be seen via Miami's WBZL-TV. WTVX soon re-branded from "UPN 34" to "TVX 34," which was based on its call letters.

Viacom would later buy WTVX and WLWC outright in 2001. After Viacom merged with the previous CBS Corporation, master control and some other internal operations of WTVX were integrated into WBFS and WFOR's studios on Northwest 18th Terrace in Doral. WFOR served as the flagship of the network-owned cluster, dubbed the "CBS South Florida Television Station Group". Throughout CBS ownership of WTVX and WTCN (as well as WWHB), the stations maintained local offices in West Palm Beach at Beacon Circle.[18]

In the fall of 2000, WTCN-CA (then a little-known community access channel) became the area's new WB affiliate after Viacom's acquisition of that station. As a result, WTVX reverted to solely being a UPN station and returned to the "UPN 34" branding. On January 24, 2006, Time Warner and CBS announced the WB and UPN networks would merge to form The CW, effective in September 2006. On February 22, News Corporation announced it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This new service, which would be a sister network to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its then-syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming independent.

On the same day The CW's formation was announced, it signed a ten-year affiliation agreement with eleven CBS-owned UPN stations, including WTVX. Even without the affiliation deal, its full-powered status made it the obvious choice as the new network's affiliate for the Gold and Treasure Coasts. This left WTCN to either revert to an Independent station or join MyNetworkTV. It chose the latter option and became part of the other new programming service on September 5 while WTVX officially launched The CW on September 18.

On February 7, 2007, CBS agreed to sell seven of its smaller-market stations to Cerberus Capital Management (including WTVX, WTCN, WWHB, and WLWC) for $185 million. Cerberus formed a new holding company for the stations, Four Points Media Group, which took over the operation of the stations through local marketing agreements in late-June 2007 until the group deal closed on January 10, 2008. At this point in time, local operations of WTVX, WTCN, and WWHB moved to offices on Palm Beach Lakes Boulevard.[19] However, master control was eventually moved to Four Points' hub facility at KUTV in Salt Lake City, Utah on February 25, 2008. On March 20, 2009, Nexstar Broadcasting Group took over the management of Four Points under a three-year outsourcing agreement.[20][21] Until the sale to Four Points, WTVX was one of three former CBS affiliates that later became CW stations that were owned by CBS. The other two are KSTW in Seattle and WPCW in Pittsburgh both of which are still owned by the network.

On September 8, 2011, the Sinclair Broadcast Group announced its intent to purchase Four Points from Cerberus Capital Management for $200 million. The former company then began managing the stations (including WTVX, WTCN, WWHB, and WLWC) under local marketing agreements following antitrust approval by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).[22]

Sinclair subsequently announced the acquisition of the television station division of Freedom Communications (owner of WPEC) which resulted in WTVX becoming a sister station to the CBS affiliate.[23] The deal with Sinclair acquiring Four Points was completed on January 3, 2012.[24] Although WTVX, WTCN, and WWHB initially retained separate operations from WPEC, they would eventually be merged into WPEC's studios.

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Due to their Class A status, WWHB and WTCN's signals only reach the immediate areas surrounding their transmitters. In order to expand their broadcasting radius, both stations are simulcast in standard definition on digital subchannels of WTVX. At one point in time, WTVX-DT4 carried the Retro Television Network (RTV) on its fourth digital subchannel and Comcast digital channel 225. This would subsequently be dropped in favor of LATV on June 29, 2010.[26] WHDT became the area's RTV affiliate several months later, although this affiliation was short-lived.

WTVX discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 34, before the June 12 cut-off date. The station's digital signal relocated from its pre-transition UHF channel 50 to channel 34.[27]