TBN repeaters in the Tampa Bay DMA

TBN Repeaters
in the Tampa Bay Market
W31CZ-D: Tampa, Florida
WDNP-LD: St. Petersburg, Florida
WSNN-LD: Sarasota, Florida
WALM-LD: Sebring, Florida
Branding TBN
Channels Analog: WDNP-LD: 36 (UHF)
WSNN-LD: 48 (UHF)
WALM-LD: 51 (UHF)
Digital: (future, respectively with above: 36/48/--)
W31CZ-D: 31 (UHF)
Affiliations TBN
Owner TBN
Founded unknown; early-1990s
Call letters' meaning (translator calls sequentially assigned by the FCC)
Former callsigns W31CZ-D: W56EB
WALM-LD: W60CE (to 12/2006)
W51DY (to 2014)
WSNN-LD: W48CN (to 09/2011)
WLWN-LP (to 2014)
Transmitter power W31CZ-D: 15kw
WDNP-LD: 3.8kw
WSNN-LD: 26kw
WALM-LD: 39.6kw
Website www.tbn.org

The Trinity Broadcasting Network operates four low-powered satellite stations in the Tampa Bay market. W31CZ-D channel 31 serves Tampa, while WDNP-LDP channel 36 serves St. Petersburg and Clearwater, WSNN-LD channel 48 serves the Sarasota-Bradenton area, and WALM-LD channel 51 serves Sebring and Avon Park. All programming is delivered directly from TBN's national satellite feed.

All four stations are currently owned by TBN.

The history of these stations are unknown, though W36CO originally signed-on in the early-1990s on channel 60. Also, W51DY was originally on channel 60 (as W60CE) until December 2006. WLWN-LP (formerly W48CN) was owned by National Minority Television, a TBN subsidiary, until 2008, when it was transferred to TBN directly.

In April and May 2006, TBN applied for construction permits for each of these repeaters to begin converting operations to digital television. Upon completion, each station will become a digital repeater of TBN, broadcasting all five TBN services. Some of these stations will broadcast at a lower power than they did at analog. Two of these will also have new channel reassignments—W56EB would move to channel 31, and W60CE would relocate to channel 51, in which it would become W51DY. This is due to channels 53 to 69 being phased out of television broadcasting.

None of these stations are available on cable; however, the national feed is available on Bright House digital channel 131. It is not available on Comcast systems.

In May 2009, TBN sold W36CO to Local HDTV.[1] The new owners planned to convert that repeater to digital and recall the station as WFHD-LD; programming would have included Mega TV programming on digital subchannel 36.2.[2]

TBN took W48CN silent April 2, 2010, due to declining support, which has been attributed to the digital transition;[3] the repeater was one of many donated to the Minority Media and Telecon Council, which in turn sold the transmitter to Citadel Communications in January 2011 for $149,757 cash.[4] Citadel changed its call letters to WLWN-LP.[5]

W36CO, whose sale to Local HDTV was never consummated, went silent April 13, 2010, for the same reason as W48CN.[6] The station was among those donated to the Minority Media and Telecon Council, who flipped the station to Luken Communications in June 2011.

W51DY has sinced been sold to Rehoboth Beach Communications, and has since changed its calls to WALM-LD.[7] W56EB moved to channel 31 and is now a digital low-power station, W31CZ-D.[8]

On October 15, 2014, WLWN-LD become WSNN-LD as the over the air station for longtime cable channel, the SNN: Suncoast News Network.

References

  1. ↑ FCC database: BALTT-20090327AHL
  2. ↑ Mega TV: "WFHD Mega TV Tampa"
  3. ↑ "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. May 10, 2010. Retrieved May 11, 2010.
  4. ↑ "MMTC spinning another donated low power television". RBR.com. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  5. ↑ "Media Bureau Call Sign Actions" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. September 30, 2011. Retrieved September 30, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. May 14, 2010. Retrieved May 17, 2010.
  7. ↑ http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=WALM-LD
  8. ↑ http://www.fcc.gov/fcc-bin/tvq?call=W31CZ-D

External links

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