WTBY-TV

WTBY-TV

Poughkeepsie/New York, New York United States
Channels	Digital: 27 (UHF) Virtual: 54 (PSIP)
Subchannels	(see article)
Affiliations	TBN
Owner	Trinity Broadcasting Network (Trinity Broadcasting of New York, Inc.)
First air date	April 6, 1981
Call letters' meaning	Trinity Broadcasting (the station's owner) New York
Former callsigns	WFTI-TV (1981–1983)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 54 (UHF, 1981–2008)
Former affiliations	Independent (1981–1983)
Transmitter power	800 kW
Height	357.7 m (1,174 ft)
Class	DT (Digital Television)
Facility ID	67993
Transmitter coordinates	41°29′20″N 73°56′53″W / 41.48889°N 73.94806°W
Licensing authority	FCC
Public license information:	Profile CDBS
Website	www.tbn.org

WTBY-TV, channel 54, is a television station licensed to Poughkeepsie, New York, USA. WTBY is owned and operated by Trinity Broadcasting Network, and serves as TBN's owned and operated station in the New York City television market. Its studios are located on Union Square in Midtown Manhattan, while its transmitter is located near Beacon.

History

The station signed on April 6, 1981 as WFTI-TV. The station was initially owned by Family Television, Inc., founded by Keith Houser in 1979, and headquartered in the Poughkeepsie Plaza Mall on U.S. Route 9 in the city of Poughkeepsie. WFTI's early programming including reruns of The Lone Ranger and The Cisco Kid, and the station originated coverage of Army Cadets sports (except the Army-Navy college football game); Family TV also produced Valley Magazine a nightly 30 minute program with interviews of local celebrities, such as James Cagney.

After Irving Trust, the station's sole banking source, experienced financial problems and prematurely called the station's loan in 1982 (Irving Trust was ultimately shut down by the Federal Reserve), Family Television sold the station to the Trinity Broadcasting Network in June 1982,^[1] though the sale would not be completed until over a year later, in July 1983. TBN then changed the station's call letters to the present WTBY and moved the station's operations to studios in the village of Fishkill.

While Poughkeepsie is part of the New York City television market, WTBY's over-the-air signal can only be seen clearly in the northern fringes of the area. Most of the core of the New York area, including the Five Boroughs, gets only a rimshot signal even in digital, and it completely misses most of Long Island. For most of its first quarter-century as a TBN-owned station, the bulk of its viewership was in the Albany/Schenectady/Troy market. Until 2010, WTBY operated two translators in that market--W52DF channel 52 to reach Albany and the Capital District, and W47CM on channel 47 to reach Glens Falls and the Adirondacks. Both stations ceased broadcasting due to declining support, which has been attributed to the digital transition, with W52DF shutting down on March 13^[2] and W47CM shutting down one month later.^[3] W52DF's license, along with 43 other silent TBN repeaters, was canceled on December 1, 2011 for remaining silent over a year.^[4]

Until 2007, it was not carried on the two main cable systems in New York City itself (Cablevision and Time Warner Cable), and its cable penetration is still spotty at best on the New Jersey and Connecticut sides of the market. It is not available on DirecTV or Dish Network's New York City local feeds; only the national version is available.

Despite its modest cable penetration in the area, TBN has poured significant resources into WTBY in recent years. In 2007, when TBN opened a new studio in the former Century Center for the Performing Arts near Union Square in Manhattan, WTBY's studio/office operations were moved to that location.

Local programming

Locally produced programs include versions of TBN's flagship program Praise the Lord and Joy in Our Town, a public affairs program. WTBY also carries programs produced by local pastors, notably A.R. Bernard of Christian Cultural Center, and Floyd H. Flake of the Greater Allen A. M. E. Cathedral of New York.

Digital television

Digital channels^[5]

This station's digital signal, like most other full-service TBN owned-and-operated stations, carries five different TBN-run networks.

Channel	Video	Aspect	PSIP Short Name	Programming
54.1	480i	4:3	TBN	Main TBN programming
54.2			TCC	The Church Channel
54.3			COMBO	JUCE TV/Smile of a Child TV
54.4			Enlace	Enlace USA
54.5			SALSA	TBN Salsa

TBN-owned full-power stations permanently ceased analog transmissions on April 16, 2009.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WTBY-TV elected to keep RF channel 27 permanently for digital operation during the first round of digital channel elections in February 2005. The station discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 54, on October 1, 2008.^[6] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 27, using PSIP to display WTBY-TV's virtual channel as 54 on digital television receivers, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

The shutdown initially caused the station to be dropped from Service Electric's systems in New Jersey due to difficulty in receiving the signal at the cable headend. Service Electric replaced it with the national TBN service.

References

1. "Changing Hands." Broadcasting. June 21, 1982, pg. 73
2. "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. April 16, 2010. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
3. "Notification of Suspension of Operations / Request for Silent STA". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. May 14, 2010. Retrieved May 17, 2010.
4. "Re: Applications for Assignment of License…" (PDF). CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. November 30, 2011. Retrieved December 3, 2011.
5. RabbitEars TV Query for WTBY
6. List of Digital Full-Power Stations

External links

• TBN website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WTBY