WNFM-TV

"WNFM"
Fort Myers/Naples, Florida ; United States
Branding	My TV 8
Slogan	Southwest Florida's; My TV 8
Channels	Analog: cable channel 8
Affiliations	MyNetworkTV ; This TV
Owner	Comcast
Founded	January 11, 1995(24 years ago)
Last air date	July 2015(4 years ago)
Call letters' meaning	Naples/Fort Myers
Former callsigns	"WSWF" (1995–1998); WEVU-LP (official, 1998–2004)
Former channel number(s)	cable channel 10 (1995–1998)
Former affiliations	The WB (1995–1998); UPN (1998–2006); Jewelry Television (overnights)

Last updated November 22, 2019

"WNFM" was a MyNetworkTV-affiliated cable channel serving Fort Myers and Naples, Florida, United States. The call sign is fictional as the channel was not licensed by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). It was broadcast exclusively on Comcast channel 8 (hence the My TV 8 branding) and was operated from Comcast's Southwest Florida headquarters south of Naples Manor on Tower Road along SR 951/Collier Boulevard. WNFM was the largest cable-only MyNetworkTV affiliate.

MyNetworkTV, is an American television network/syndication service that is owned by Fox Corporation, operated by its Fox Television Stations division, and distributed through the syndication structure of 20th Television. MyNetworkTV began operations on September 5, 2006 with an initial affiliate lineup covering about 96% of the country, most of which consisted of stations that were former affiliates of The WB and UPN that did not join the successor of those two networks, The CW. Under the ownership structure of Fox Corporation, the service is incorporated as a subsidiary company known as Master Distribution Service, Inc.

In the broadcasting industry, a network affiliate or affiliated station is a local broadcaster, owned by a company other than the owner of the network, which carries some or all of the lineup of television programs or radio programs of a television or radio network. This distinguishes such a television or radio station from an owned-and-operated station (O&O), which is owned by the parent network.

Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fiber-optic cables. This contrasts with broadcast television, in which the television signal is transmitted over the air by radio waves and received by a television antenna attached to the television; or satellite television, in which the television signal is transmitted by a communications satellite orbiting the Earth and received by a satellite dish on the roof. FM radio programming, high-speed Internet, telephone services, and similar non-television services may also be provided through these cables. Analog television was standard in the 20th century, but since the 2000s, cable systems have been upgraded to digital cable operation.

History

This channel began on January 11, 1995 as a WB affiliate. It aired exclusively on MediaOne channel 10 (then Southwest Florida's cable provider) and was not available over-the-air. It used the fictional call letters "WSWF" and was branded as "WB 10". In March 1998, WSWF switched affiliations with WTVK (now WXCW) and became a UPN affiliate.

The WB Television Network was an American television network first launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995, as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of Time Warner and the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Company, with the former acting as controlling partner. The network principally aired programs targeting teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 34, with the exception of its weekday daytime and Saturday morning program block, Kids' WB, which was geared toward children ages 7 to 12. The common metonym of the network called "The Frog", referring to a former mascot Michigan J. Frog.

MediaOne Group, Inc. was created by US WEST Inc, one of the original Baby Bells Regional Bell Operating Companies, acquisition of Boston-based Continental Cable and combined with its previously acquired Atlanta-based Wometco/GTC. Wometco/GTC had adopted the MediaOne name a year earlier. Media One Group was acquired in 2000 by AT&T Broadband, and was subsequently acquired by Comcast in 2002.

WXCW, virtual channel 46, is a CW-affiliated television station serving Fort Myers, Florida, United States that is licensed to Naples. Locally owned by Sun Broadcasting, WXCW is sister to two low-powered stations: Univision affiliate WUVF-LD and Azteca América affiliate WANA-LD, both also licensed to Naples. Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, which owns Fort Myers-licensed CBS affiliate WINK-TV, operates WXCW, WUVF and WANA under a shared services agreement (SSA). The four stations share studios on Palm Beach Boulevard in northeast Fort Myers; WXCW's transmitter is located north of Fort Myers Shores, near the Charlotte–Lee county line.

However, anyone in the market that did not have cable could not get "TV 10" as it was later called, so UPN made an affiliation deal with low-powered WEVU-LP which would allow for additional coverage over-the-air. Several months later, WEVU owner Caloosa Television made a deal with MediaOne to have the cable system take over programming of the off-air station on analog VHF channel 7.

A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content. They can coincide or overlap with one or more metropolitan areas, though rural regions with few significant population centers can also be designated as markets. Conversely, very large metropolitan areas can sometimes be subdivided into multiple segments. Market regions may overlap, meaning that people residing on the edge of one media market may be able to receive content from other nearby markets. They are widely used in audience measurements, which are compiled in the United States by Nielsen Media Research. Nielsen measures both television and radio audiences since its acquisition of Arbitron, which was completed in September 2013.

WEVU-LP Former television station in Fort Myers, Florida

WEVU-LP was a low-power television station in Fort Myers, Florida, broadcasting locally on channel 4. The station was last owned by Silver Point Capital; it was most recently a satellite of Univision affiliate WUVF-LP.

Very high frequency The range 30-300 MHz of the electromagnetic spectrum

Very high frequency (VHF) is the ITU designation for the range of radio frequency electromagnetic waves from 30 to 300 megahertz (MHz), with corresponding wavelengths of ten meters to one meter. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted high frequency (HF), and the next higher frequencies are known as ultra high frequency (UHF).

MediaOne then discarded the faux WSWF call letters in favor of WEVU-LP (already is use officially as assigned by the FCC) and adopted the on-air moniker "UPN 8" after changing its cable channel to that location (previously used by over-the-air WEVU). MediaOne replaced the over-the-air station's non-network programming with its own thus unifying the UPN affiliates in the market. During this period, the network could also be seen in Naples on low-powered WBSP-LP on VHF channel 9 because this translator repeated WEVU-LP's weak signal to the market's southern locations.

The working relationship lasted until midnight on September 1, 2004 shortly after Holston Valley Broadcasting (then owner of over-the-air WEVU-LP) struck a deal for carriage of the station on DirecTV. However, this forced VHF channel 7 to seek UPN programming via microwave from UPN owned-and-operated station WTOG in St. Petersburg, Florida. Eventually, Comcast merged with MediaOne and took over as the area's cable provider. The company continued to operate the UPN affiliate on cable channel 8 which resumed using fictional call letters, "WNFM".

WKPT-TV Cozi TV affiliate in Kingsport, Tennessee

WKPT-TV, virtual channel 19, is a Cozi TV-affiliated television station licensed to Kingsport, Tennessee, United States, serving the Tri-Cities area of northeastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia. Owned by the Glenwood Communications Corporation, it is sister to low-powered Class A MeTV affiliate WAPK-CD and several radio stations, including WKPT. All of the outlets share studios on Commerce Street in downtown Kingsport; WKPT-TV's transmitter is located on Holston Mountain in the Cherokee National Forest. On cable, WKPT-TV can be seen on Comcast Xfinity channel 9 and Charter Spectrum channel 6.

DirecTV American direct broadcast satellite and streaming TV company

DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider based in El Segundo, California and is a subsidiary of AT&T. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, Americas and the Caribbean. Its primary competitors are Dish Network and cable television providers. On July 24, 2015, after receiving approval from the United States Federal Communications Commission and United States Department of Justice, AT&T acquired DirecTV in a transaction valued at $67.1 billion.

In the broadcasting industry, an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated. This distinguishes such a station from an affiliate, which is independently owned and carries network programming by contract.

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the merger of the two networks into the new network The CW in September 2006. On March 9, ACME Communications announced all of its WB stations (including WTVK) would affiliate with The CW, an effectively default decision as the group's CEO was a former WB executive. WNFM was unlikely to have any chance at a CW affiliation even without ACME's connections, as the network looked to have over-the-air carriage the cable channel would never have. WNFM would not confirm its affiliation with the competing Fox Television Stations-owned MyNetworkTV until August 10. At the network's inception on September 5, WNFM changed its branding to "My TV 8" and Comcast debuted a new website for the station featuring a new logo. At one point, WNFM was the official "broadcast" home of the Florida Everblades ice hockey team.

The CW Television Network is an American English-language free-to-air television network that is operated by The CW Network, LLC, a limited liability joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network (UPN); and AT&T, whose WarnerMedia subsidiary is the parent company of Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB. The network's name is an abbreviation derived from the first letters of the names of its two parent corporations.

ACME Communications was a United States-based broadcasting company that was involved in operations of television stations and programming from the late 1990s until 2013.

Jamie Kellner is a former American television executive. He was chairman and chief executive officer of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a division of Time Warner which includes TBS, TNT, and Cartoon Network. Kellner took over the post in 2001 and handed over the company to Philip Kent in 2003. He was the chairman of station ownership group ACME Communications, a post held from the company's founding until its folding in 2016.

As time went on and MyNetworkTV went from a full network to a television service in the fall of 2009, Comcast began to reduce the syndicated programming on the station. By 2013, WNFM was effectively a near full-day affiliate of This TV, while continuing to carry MyNetworkTV's programming in prime time. As both programming agreements ended, Comcast quietly took WNFM off the air by the start of July 2015.^[1] MyNetworkTV would not return to southwest Florida until March 2019, when WINK-TV picked up the network for its second subchannel associated with Antenna TV.

This TV is an American free-to-air television network that is owned by ThisTV, LLC, a joint venture between Nexstar Media Group, and the MGM Domestic Television Distribution subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. The network maintains a large programming emphasis on films, but also airs other limited general entertainment content in the form of classic television series and children's programming.

WINK-TV, virtual channel 11, is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Fort Myers, Florida, United States and also serving Naples and Cape Coral. The station is owned by the McBride family and their Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, making it one of a handful of TV stations today to have locally-based ownership. Fort Myers Broadcasting also operates three Naples-licensed stations under a shared services agreement (SSA) with owner Sun Broadcasting: CW affiliate WXCW, low-powered Univision affiliate WUVF-LD, and low-powered Azteca América affiliate WANA-LD. The four stations share studios on Palm Beach Boulevard in northeast Fort Myers; WINK-TV's transmitter is located north of Fort Myers Shores, near the Charlotte–Lee county line. On cable, the station is carried on Comcast Xfinity channel 5 and in high definition on digital channel 433.

Antenna TV is an American digital multicast television network that is owned by Nexstar Media Group. The network's programming consists of classic television series from the 1950s to the early 2000s, most of which are sourced from the content library of Sony Pictures Entertainment, along with a selection of series from Universal Studios, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Carson Entertainment. Antenna TV's programming and advertising operations are headquartered in the Tribune Tower in Chicago, Illinois. The network's operations are overseen by Sean Compton, who serves as the president of strategic programming and acquisitions for Tribune Broadcasting.

Programming

At one point as a UPN affiliate, WNFM aired an hour-long lifestyle/entertainment magazine program called D'Latinos Morning News in Spanish on weekday mornings from 7 until 8. Eventually, the show moved to low-powered Azteca América affiliate WTPH-LP. In late-August 2006 through a news share agreement, ABC affiliate WZVN-TV began producing a nightly half-hour prime time newscast called ABC 7 Gulfshore News at 10 on My TV 8. This was the second show established in the time slot behind long dominant Fox affiliate WFTX-TV. Since WZVN shares a news department with NBC affiliate WBBH-TV, some personalities seen on that station were also seen on the WNFM broadcast.

On March 26, 2007, CBS affiliate WINK-TV began airing a 10pm newscast on WXCW only a few weeks after WINK entered into a shared services agreement with WXCW's new owner. Within mere days, it leapfrogged Gulfshore News at 10 and became competitive with WFTX in a manner WNFM's newscast couldn't. The show was quietly discontinued at the end of the 2006-07 television season on May 25, 2007.

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WFTX-TV, virtual channel 36, is a Fox-affiliated television station serving Fort Myers and Naples, Florida, United States that is licensed to Cape Coral. The station is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. WFTX-TV's studios are located on Southwest Pine Island Road in Cape Coral, and its transmitter is located near Punta Gorda near the Charlotte and Lee county line. The station is branded as Fox 4, in reference to its channel location on most cable systems in the market.

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References

↑ "STAY TUNED: What's happening: Brian Williams, Lester Holt and WNFM". NaplesNews.com.

External links

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[1] "STAY TUNED: What's happening: Brian Williams, Lester Holt and WNFM". NaplesNews.com.

Fort Myers/Naples, Florida United States

Branding	My TV 8
Slogan	Southwest Florida's My TV 8
Channels	Analog: cable channel 8
Affiliations	MyNetworkTV This TV
Owner	Comcast
Founded	January 11, 1995(24 years ago) (1995-01-11)
Last air date	July 2015(4 years ago) (2015-07)
Call letters' meaning	Naples/Fort Myers
Former callsigns	"WSWF" (1995–1998) WEVU-LP (official, 1998–2004)
Former channel number(s)	cable channel 10 (1995–1998)
Former affiliations	The WB (1995–1998) UPN (1998–2006) Jewelry Television (overnights)