WUPX-TV (channel 67) is a television station licensed to Richmond, Kentucky, United States, serving the Lexington area as an affiliate of Ion Television. The station is owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings, and maintains a transmitter on High Bridge Road north of Bryantsville, Kentucky.
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|---|---|
| City | Richmond, Kentucky |
| Channels | |
| Branding | Ion |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| History | |
| Founded | October 14, 1985 |
First air date | June 1, 1998 (in Morehead, Kentucky; license moved to Richmond in 2018[1]) |
Former call signs | WAOM (1998–2001) |
Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | Kentucky's Pax |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 23128 |
| ERP | 465 kW[3] |
| HAAT | 354.11 m (1,162 ft)[3] |
| Transmitter coordinates | 37°47′18″N 84°40′49″W / 37.78833°N 84.68028°W[3] |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | iontelevision |
History
editA construction permit for WAOM was issued on October 14, 1985.[4] Originally licensed to Morehead, Kentucky, the station signed on the air on June 1, 1998, with low-power UPN affiliate WBLU-LP (channel 62) signing on a year later. Both stations simulcast programming from UPN and The WB as well as infomercials until WAOM was sold off in 2001. After WAOM was sold, WBLU-LP lost both The WB and UPN in 2003 and 2004, respectively, to become independent, and at some point became affiliated with MyNetworkTV and RTV. WBLU-LP is no longer broadcasting as it went dark in 2009 after its parent company went bankrupt.
In 2001, WAOM-TV was sold to Paxson Communications (now Ion Media), became a Pax TV owned-and-operated station and changed its callsign to the current WUPX-TV. Pax TV became i: Independent Television in 2005, and then Ion Television in 2007.
On December 11, 2018, the FCC granted WUPX-TV's petition to change its city of license from Morehead to Richmond, Kentucky. The move was conditioned upon the station providing continued service to Morehead.[1]
Near sale to Scripps; sale to Inyo Broadcast Holdings
editOn September 24, 2020, the Cincinnati-based E. W. Scripps Company announced that it would purchase Ion Media for $2.65 billion, with financing from Berkshire Hathaway. With this purchase, Scripps would divest 23 Ion-owned stations, but no announcement was made as to which stations that Scripps would divest as part of the move. However, on October 16, 2020, it was announced that WUPX-TV would be one of the stations that Scripps would spin off as part of the merger. The buyer, revealed in an October 2020 FCC filing to be Inyo Broadcast Holdings, has promised to maintain the stations' Ion Television affiliations after the purchase. The proposed divestitures will allow the merged company to fully comply with the FCC local and national ownership regulations. This would have made it a sister station to NBC affiliate WLEX-TV (channel 18) if Scripps had decided to keep WUPX-TV, but Lexington has fewer than eight independently owned and operating full-power television stations, not enough to permit a duopoly in any case.[5][6][7] The transaction was finalized and closed on January 7, 2021.[8][5][6][7][9][10][11][12]
Technical information
editSubchannels
editThe station's signal is multiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67.1 | 720p | 16:9 | ION | Ion Television |
| 67.2 | 480i | Mystery | Ion Mystery | |
| 67.3 | Grit | Grit | ||
| 67.4 | Laff | Laff | ||
| 67.5 | IONPlus | Ion Plus | ||
| 67.6 | Jewelry | Jewelry TV | ||
| 67.7 | ShopLC | Shop LC | ||
| 67.8 | HSN | HSN | ||
| 67.9 | QVC | QVC |
Analog-to-digital conversion
editWUPX-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 67, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 21,[14] using virtual channel 67.
TV spectrum repack
editWUPX moved its channel allocation from digital channel 21 to channel 25 in 2019, but it remained on virtual channel 67.[15] The station relocated its transmitter to a tower southwest of Lexington formerly used by Fox affiliate WDKY-TV (channel 56).[3]
References
edit- ^ a b "Amendment of Section 73.622(i), Digital Television Broadcast Stations Morehead and Richmond, Kentucky" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. December 11, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WUPX-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ a b c d "Amendment to a Modification of a DTV Station Construction Permit Application". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. February 15, 2019. Retrieved February 16, 2019.
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- ^ a b "Breaking News – Scripps Creates National Television Networks Business with Acquisition of ION Media". TheFutonCritic.com. Retrieved May 6, 2022.
- ^ a b Cimilluca, Dana. "E.W. Scripps Agrees to Buy ION Media for $2.65 billion in Berkshire-Backed Deal". Retrieved September 24, 2020.
- ^ a b "E.W. Scripps scales up with $2.65 billion Berkshire-backed deal for ION Media".
- ^ Lafayette, Jon (January 7, 2021). "E.W. Scripps Completes Acquisition of Ion Media". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
- ^ "Scripps creates national television networks business with acquisition of ION Media," press release from Scripps.com, September 24, 2020
- ^ E.W. Scripps Co (SSP) SEC Filing 8-K Material Event for the period ending Wednesday, September 23, 2020 on Last10K.com (accessed October 15, 2020)
- ^ "Application Search Details". licensing.fcc.gov.
- ^ Miller, Mark (January 7, 2021). "Scripps Completes Acquisition Of Ion Media". TV News Check.
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info.
- ^ "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
- ^ "RabbitEars.Info".