WUVG-DT

WUVG-DT, virtual channel 34 (UHF digital channel 18), is a Univision owned-and-operated television station licensed to Athens, Georgia, United States and serving the Atlanta television market. The station is owned by the Univision Local Media subsidiary of Univision Communications. WUVG-DT's studios are located on Peachtree Road NE in the Buckhead section of Atlanta, and its transmitter is located in North Druid Hills. On cable, the station is available on Charter Spectrum channel 15 in both standard and high definition, and on Comcast Xfinity channels 14 (SD) and 814 (HD).

WUVG-DT
Athens/Atlanta, Georgia
United States
CityAthens, Georgia
ChannelsDigital: 18 (UHF)
Virtual: 34 (PSIP)
BrandingUnivision 34 (general)
Noticias 34 Atlanta (newscasts)
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerUnivision Communications
(Univision Atlanta LLC)
History
FoundedFebruary 17, 1987
First air date
April 18, 1987 (1987-04-18)
Former call signs
  • WNGM-TV (1987–1999)
  • WHOT-TV (1999–2001)
  • WUVG (2001–2003)
  • WUVG-TV (2004–2009)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 34 (UHF, 1987–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 48 (UHF, until 2019)
Call sign meaning
UniVision Georgia
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID48813
ClassDT
ERP1,000 kW
HAAT328 m (1,076 ft)
Transmitter coordinates33°48′26.4″N 84°20′21.5″W
Translator(s)17 (UHF) Athens
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitewww.univision.com/local/atlanta-wuvg

WUVG-DT offers a Spanish-language programming format featuring news, talk shows, dramas, movies and other first-rate Spanish programming. The station is also active in many community outreach efforts and events throughout the year including several signature hosted celebrations—the two largest being Cinco de Mayo (May 5) and Fiestas Patrias (National Holidays) in September.

History

The station went on air on April 18, 1987 as WNGM-TV with the call sign standing for North Georgia Mountains. Initially the station ran a general entertainment format with cartoons, classic and recent sitcoms, country music blocks of programming, old movies and syndicated first-run shows.

The station's transmitter was located 60 miles (97 km) away from Atlanta, reaching Athens with a grade A signal while sending a very weak signal into eastern metro Atlanta. As a result, many syndicators sold the rights for shows that were already on the Atlanta stations to WNGM. The station provided an alternative to viewers in areas which had moderate VHF reception and poor UHF reception from Atlanta. However, the station floundered in the ratings. By late 1988, the station was running a blend of infomercials, low-rated syndicated shows and movies, and shop-at-home programming.

In 1989, after the Home Shopping Network failed to buy WVEU (now WUPA), it arranged for Whitehead Media to buy WNGM. The station started to air HSN's programming 24 hours a day.

In 1993, it moved its transmitter closer to Atlanta, covering the city with a grade A signal strength. This was the same radio tower as WFOX FM 97.1 and WYAY FM 106.7. Channel 34 was actually planned for this tower in 1984.

In 1996, it switched to an all-music video format as an affiliate of The Box.

The station was bought by USA Broadcasting (which was under the same ownership as HSN, under Barry Diller) in 1997. It became WHOT-TV in October 1999 (for Hotlanta, one of the city's nicknames) and changes its on-air name to "Hotlanta 34". WHOT gave the Atlanta market a second true independent station, the other one being WTBS, which was at the time a nationwide superstation as well. While WUPA was a UPN station and WATL was an affiliate of The WB, they too were semi-independent stations, being those networks only offered a couple hours of programming each night. WHOT added syndicated cartoons, off-network sitcoms, dramas, old movies and syndicated talk/reality shows to its lineup, and also picked up Fox Kids from WATL. (The successor to Fox Kids, 4Kids TV, later moved to WUPA after WHOT/WUVG became a Univision station until that station switched to The CW; afterwards, the block was not aired on any Atlanta station until it went off the air in December 2008. Today, Fox offers a replacement infomercial block, Weekend Marketplace, which currently airs on WATL.) This marked channel 34's return to independent status; though the station didn't receive spectacular ratings, it was still performing decently.

In 2000, WHOT obtained the rights to Atlanta Hawks basketball games. USA then planned to expand the independent format on its remaining stations; however, due to financial problems, the plans were eventually scrapped and USA placed its group of stations up for sale. Disney/ABC were the leaders in their bid, which would have created a partnership for Cox-owned ABC affiliate WSB-TV, but Univision outbid its competition in a close race. In markets which already had Univision affiliates, the newly acquired stations became affiliates of TeleFutura, a new network started by Univision. However, WHOT was Univision's only station in Atlanta (which had a relatively low, but growing, Spanish-speaking population). As such, the station changed its call sign to WUVG (for Univision Georgia) in November 2001 and became Atlanta's Univision affiliate on January 14, 2002.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[1]
34.11080i16:9WUVG-DTMain WUVG-DT programming / Univision
34.2UniMás
34.3480i4:3getTVGetTV
34.416:9MysteryCourt TV Mystery[2]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WUVG shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 34, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[3] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 48, using PSIP to display WUVG's virtual channel as 34 on digital television receivers.

The station airs UniMás on their digital subchannel 34.2, which is a rarity as Univision prefers their two networks to operate on two different channels rather than in multiplexed form. However, this is a legacy of analog television, the major disadvantage of sharing now being that 34.2 does not have the right to must-carry since the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) failed to implement it for digital TV stations, even for cable television systems that drop almost all analog channels to supposedly make more room for digital as Comcast has done locally.

As of August 2014, UniMás on 34.2 is being broadcast over the air in 1080i HD. On March 25, 2017, Escape was moved to WSB 2.2; at that point; 34.4 was removed, but moved back to 34.4 in late 2017.

News operation

WUVG launched its news department in April 2011, with twice daily half-hour evening newscasts at 6:00 and 11:00 p.m.—branded as Noticias 34 Atlanta (News 34 Atlanta)—anchored by Amanda Ramirez and Gianncarlo Cifuentes. The station also "Nuestra Georgia" (Our Georgia), hosted by Mariela Romero, airs Sundays at 6:00 p.m.. WUVG has received multiple Emmy awards from the Southeast Regional Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in recognition of excellence in television. The station also maintains a content partnership with the local Spanish language newspaper MundoHispanico.

References
  1. "Digital TV Market Listing for WUVG-DT". RabbitEars.Info. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  2. "Grit, Escape Diginets To Launch Aug. 18". TVNewsCheck. August 11, 2014. Retrieved August 12, 2014.
  3. List of Digital Full-Power Stations
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