WPXW-TV

WPXW-TV
Manassas, Virginia/Washington, D. C.
United States
Branding ION Television
Slogan Positively Entertaining
Channels Digital: 34 (UHF)
Subchannels 66.1 - Ion HD (720p)
66.2 - qubo (480i)
66.3 - Ion Life (480i)
66.4 - Ion Shop (480i)
66.5 - QVC (480i)
66.6 - HSN (480i)
Affiliations Ion Television
Owner Ion Media Networks, Inc.
(Ion Media Washington License, Inc.)
First air date March 26, 1978
Call letters' meaning PaX Washington, D.C.
Sister station(s) WWPX-TV
Former callsigns WTKK (1978–1994)
WVVI (1994–1998)
Former channel number(s) Analog:
66 (UHF, 1978–2009)
Former affiliations religious independent (1978–1994)
ValueVision (1994–1997)
inTV (1997–1998)
Pax TV (1998–2005)
i (2005–2007)
Transmitter power 1000 kW
Height 258 m
Facility ID 74091
Transmitter coordinates 38°57′01″N 77°04′47″W / 38.95028°N 77.07972°W / 38.95028; -77.07972
Website http://www.iontelevision.com/

WPXW-TV is the Washington, DC area's Ion Television (formerly Pax TV and i) network affiliate, licensed to nearby Manassas, Virginia. The station broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 34. It is owned and operated by ION Media Networks (the former Paxson Communications).

History

Channel 66 signed on as WTKK, an independent religious station, in 1978. The call letters stood for Witnessing The King of Kings. In 1982 they added some classic sitcoms and very old movies to the lineup but by 1986 they reverted to mostly religious. In 1994, the station was purchased by ValueVision, a shopping network, and on June 6, 1994, the call letters were changed to WVVI. Paxson Communications purchased the station in 1997 and on January 13, 1998, the call letters were changed to the current WPXW. The station was an all-infomercial channel ("inTV") from the time that Paxson Communications bought the station until the PAX Network began on August 31, 1998. The station had the rights to the 2005 season of Baltimore Orioles games in the Washington, DC area that were produced by MASN. It was formerly known as PAX66, before the PAX network switched its name to Ion.

WWPX-TV in Martinsburg, West Virginia serves as a full-time satellite of WPXW.

Digital television

Digital channels

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Network
66.1 720p 16:9 ION Ion Television
66.2 480i 4:3 qubo Qubo
66.3 IONLife Ion Life
66.4 Shop Ion Shop
66.5 QVC QVC
66.6 HSN HSN

Analog-to-digital conversion

On June 12, 2009, WPXW-TV terminated its analog signal, on UHF channel 66, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[1] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 34. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display WPXW-TV's virtual channel as 66, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

WPXW's studios are located in Fairfax Station, Virginia and the transmitter is located in the tower complex near the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue, NW and 41st St., NW in the Tenleytown neighborhood of Washington, DC.

On April 20, 2009 it was announced that Washington, DC would be the first market to get free mobile digital television via cell phones and other mobile devices through Mobile TV. WPXW began testing mobile television on June 13, 2009 and was one of the first stations in the country to launch this new platform.

Like all of the DC-area Mobile DTV broadcasters, WPXW-TV commenced ATSC-M/H broadcasting on February 27, 2011. WPXW-TV also has a Mobile DTV feed of subchannel 66.2, labelled "Qubo", with six encrypted video feeds of MSNBC (66.4), CNBC (66.5), MTV (66.6), Nickelodeon (66.7), and Comedy (66.8), broadcasting at 3.67 Mbit/s. This is the highest number of encrypted television signals of any DC-area television station mobile feed.[2][3]

References

External links

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