WQMY
Encyclopedia
WQMY is the MyNetworkTV
-affiliated television station
for Northeastern Pennsylvania
that is licensed to Williamsport
. It broadcasts a high definition
digital signal on UHF channel 29 from a transmitter on top of Bald Eagle Mountain
south of the city. The station can also be seen on Service Electric
channel 4 (HD on digital channel 504) and Comcast
channel 8 (HD on digital channel 811). Owned by New Age Media, WQMY is sister to Fox
affiliate WOLF-TV
and CW affiliate WSWB
(owned by Mystic Television of Scranton, LLC and operated through a local marketing agreement
). All three share studios on SR 315
in the Fox Hill section of Plains Township
.
Syndicated
programming on this station includes: The People's Court
, Judge Mathis
, The New Adventures of Old Christine
, and Family Feud
. Although its transmitter is in Williamsport, the station is considered part of the Scranton
/Wilkes-Barre
market
. However, its over-the-air signal does not reach those two locations. Therefore, WQMY is offered on WOLF-TV's third digital subchannel. This broadcasts on UHF channel 45.3 (channel 56.3 through PSIP) from a transmitter on Penobscot Knob
near Mountain Top
.
in Hazleton
dropped the network.
WSWB's first full-time satellite, WWLF in Hazleton, then switched to Fox and adopted the WOLF-TV calls. WSWB/WILF also picked up UPN
as a secondary affiliation. Select programming from the network aired on Saturday nights (since The WB did not offer programs then) without the branding. At 8, the channel would air America's Next Top Model
and at 9 would be WWE Friday Night SmackDown. Whenever America's Next Top Model was in repeats, it would air Veronica Mars
instead. All UPN programming in pattern was available on cable via WWOR-TV
from New York City
, WPSG
from Philadelphia, and WLYH-TV
from Harrisburg
.
Pegasus Television (then owner of WSWB/WILF and WOLF-TV) declared bankruptcy in June 2004 over a dispute with DirecTV
, which is co-owned with Fox by News Corporation
, over marketing of the direct broadcast satellite
service in rural areas. The Pegasus station group was sold in August 2006 to private investment firm CP Media, LLC of Wilkes-Barre for $55.5 million. Eventually, CP Media formed a new broadcasting company, New Age Media. For the first time in its history, WSWB was no longer co-owned with WOLF-TV. However, the new owner entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) so the stations could continue to be commonly operated.
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that the networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents CBS
(the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
unit of Time Warner
. On February 22, News Corporation
announced that it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This servive, which would be sister to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming Independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.
On May 1, 2006, it was made public WILF would become a separate station and become the area's charter MyNetworkTV affiliate. Also at that point, it became known that WSWB would affiliate with The CW. This was due to both UPN and The WB being offered on the main station. Since there was a limitation of WILF's signal in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, it was also announced that it would be added to a new third digital subchannel of WOLF-TV. WILF changed its call sign to the current WQMY on July 7 to reflect the upcoming affiliation change.
MyNetworkTV launched September 5 and this station introduced its first logo. As a WSWB full-time satellite, it did not have one. WSWB began airing The CW on September 18. On February 17, 2009, WQMY shut down its analog signal and became exclusively digital. Starting on May 8, 2010, it began re-broadcasting live Philadelphia Union MLS
telecasts from ABC
affiliate WPVI-TV
.
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
-affiliated television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
for Northeastern Pennsylvania
Northeastern Pennsylvania
Northeastern Pennsylvania is a geographic region of Pennsylvania that includes the Pocono Mountains, the Endless Mountains and the industrial cities of Scranton, Wilkes-Barre, Pittston, Hazleton and Carbondale....
that is licensed to Williamsport
Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Williamsport is a city in and the county seat of Lycoming County, Pennsylvania in the United States. In 2009, the population was estimated at 29,304...
. It broadcasts a high definition
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
digital signal on UHF channel 29 from a transmitter on top of Bald Eagle Mountain
Bald Eagle Mountain
Bald Eagle Mountain, once known locally as Muncy Mountain, is a stratigraphic ridge in central Pennsylvania, United States, running east of the Allegheny Front and northwest of Mount Nittany. It lies along the southeast side of Bald Eagle Creek, and south of the West Branch Susquehanna River, and...
south of the city. The station can also be seen on Service Electric
Service Electric
Service Electric Cable TV, Inc. is a cable television company serving eastern Pennsylvania and western New Jersey. Through three affiliates, the company operates systems in the Lehigh Valley and Wilkes-Barre , Kutztown, Hazleton, Sunbury, Mahanoy City and Bloomsburg , and Sparta, New Jersey...
channel 4 (HD on digital channel 504) and Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
channel 8 (HD on digital channel 811). Owned by New Age Media, WQMY is sister to Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
affiliate WOLF-TV
WOLF-TV
WOLF-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Northeastern Pennsylvania that is licensed to Hazleton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 45 from a transmitter at the Penobscot Knob antenna farm near Mountain Top. Owned by New Age Media, the station is sister to CW...
and CW affiliate WSWB
WSWB
WSWB is the CW-affiliated television station for Northeastern Pennsylvania licensed to Scranton. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 31 from a transmitter northwest of Scranton and I-476. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 7 and Service Electric channel 11...
(owned by Mystic Television of Scranton, LLC and operated through a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
). All three share studios on SR 315
Pennsylvania Route 315
Pennsylvania Route 315 is an long state highway located in Luzerne County in Pennsylvania. The southern terminus is at PA 309 in Wilkes-Barre...
in the Fox Hill section of Plains Township
Plains Township, Pennsylvania
Plains Township is a township in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania in the greater metropolitan area of the city of Wilkes-Barre. The population was 10,906 at the 2000 census. Plains Township is the location of Pennsylvania's first casino, Mohegan Sun at Pocono Downs...
.
Syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
programming on this station includes: The People's Court
The People's Court
The People's Court is a US television court show in which small claims court cases are heard, though what is shown is actually a binding arbitration....
, Judge Mathis
Judge Mathis
Judge Mathis is a syndicated television legal reality show produced originally by Black Pearl Productions. In 2008, it entered its tenth season produced by AND Syndicated Productions and Telepictures. It is taped at NBC Tower in Chicago, but includes cases and litigants from other U.S....
, The New Adventures of Old Christine
The New Adventures of Old Christine
The New Adventures of Old Christine is an American comedy series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus which ran for five seasons on CBS from March 13, 2006, to May 12, 2010...
, and Family Feud
Family Feud
Family Feud is an American television game show created by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. Two families compete against each other in a contest to name the most popular responses to a survey question posed to 100 people...
. Although its transmitter is in Williamsport, the station is considered part of the Scranton
Scranton, Pennsylvania
Scranton is a city in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania, United States. It is the county seat of Lackawanna County and the largest principal city in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area. Scranton had a population of 76,089 in 2010, according to the U.S...
/Wilkes-Barre
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Wilkes-Barre is a city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania, the county seat of Luzerne County. It is at the center of the Wyoming Valley area and is one of the principal cities in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area, which had a population of 563,631 as of the 2010 Census...
market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , 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...
. However, its over-the-air signal does not reach those two locations. Therefore, WQMY is offered on WOLF-TV's third digital subchannel. This broadcasts on UHF channel 45.3 (channel 56.3 through PSIP) from a transmitter on Penobscot Knob
Penobscot Knob
Penobscot Knob, also Penobscot Mountain, is a hill located near Mountain Top, Pennsylvania and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, that is best known as the site of many local television and radio station transmitters...
near Mountain Top
Mountain Top, Pennsylvania
Mountain Top is a census-designated place in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. As of the 2000 census, the CDP population was 15,269....
.
History
On December 30, 1988, the station signed-on an analog signal on UHF channel 53. It was the second full-time satellite of Fox affiliate WOLF-TV (then on analog UHF channel 38) owned by Scranton TV Partners. Using the call letters WILF, this station was established to improve coverage of its parent station in the northern and western parts of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre market. On November 1, 1998, WOLF-TV changed its call sign to the current WSWB. It became the area's second WB affiliate after low-powered WYLN-LPWYLN-LP
WYLN-LP is a Class-A television station in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, broadcasting locally as an America One affiliate on channel 35. It went on the air in 1989 as W35AT, and changed to the current WYLN-LP in 1996. It became the first affiliate of The WB in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre/Hazleton market...
in Hazleton
Hazleton, Pennsylvania
Hazleton is a city in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 25,340 at the 2010 census, an increase of 8.6% from the 2000 census count .-Greater Hazleton:...
dropped the network.
WSWB's first full-time satellite, WWLF in Hazleton, then switched to Fox and adopted the WOLF-TV calls. WSWB/WILF also picked up UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
as a secondary affiliation. Select programming from the network aired on Saturday nights (since The WB did not offer programs then) without the branding. At 8, the channel would air America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
and at 9 would be WWE Friday Night SmackDown. Whenever America's Next Top Model was in repeats, it would air Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars
Veronica Mars is an American television series created by Rob Thomas. The series premiered on September 22, 2004, during television network UPN's final two years, and ended on May 22, 2007, after a season on UPN's successor, The CW Television Network. Veronica Mars was produced by Warner Bros...
instead. All UPN programming in pattern was available on cable via WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
from New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, WPSG
WPSG
WPSG, channel 57, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WPSG is owned by the CBS Corporation and is the east coast flagship station for the CW Television Network, which is owned jointly by CBS and Time Warner...
from Philadelphia, and WLYH-TV
WLYH-TV
WLYH-TV is the CW-affiliated television station for South Central Pennsylvania licensed to Lancaster. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 23 from a transmitter on Butler Road in South Londonderry Township's Timber Hills section. The station can also be seen on Comcast...
from Harrisburg
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Harrisburg is the capital of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 49,528, making it the ninth largest city in Pennsylvania...
.
Pegasus Television (then owner of WSWB/WILF and WOLF-TV) declared bankruptcy in June 2004 over a dispute with DirecTV
DirecTV
DirecTV is an American direct broadcast satellite service provider and broadcaster based in El Segundo, California. Its satellite service, launched on June 17, 1994, transmits digital satellite television and audio to households in the United States, Latin America, and the Anglophone Caribbean. ...
, which is co-owned with Fox by News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
, over marketing of the direct broadcast satellite
Direct broadcast satellite
Direct broadcast satellite is a term used to refer to satellite television broadcasts intended for home reception.A designation broader than DBS would be direct-to-home signals, or DTH. This has initially distinguished the transmissions directly intended for home viewers from cable television...
service in rural areas. The Pegasus station group was sold in August 2006 to private investment firm CP Media, LLC of Wilkes-Barre for $55.5 million. Eventually, CP Media formed a new broadcasting company, New Age Media. For the first time in its history, WSWB was no longer co-owned with WOLF-TV. However, the new owner entered into a local marketing agreement (LMA) so the stations could continue to be commonly operated.
On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that the networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
(the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
unit of Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
. On February 22, News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
announced that it would start up another new network called MyNetworkTV. This servive, which would be sister to Fox, would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created in order to give UPN and WB stations, not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates, another option besides becoming Independent. It was also created to compete against The CW.
On May 1, 2006, it was made public WILF would become a separate station and become the area's charter MyNetworkTV affiliate. Also at that point, it became known that WSWB would affiliate with The CW. This was due to both UPN and The WB being offered on the main station. Since there was a limitation of WILF's signal in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area, it was also announced that it would be added to a new third digital subchannel of WOLF-TV. WILF changed its call sign to the current WQMY on July 7 to reflect the upcoming affiliation change.
MyNetworkTV launched September 5 and this station introduced its first logo. As a WSWB full-time satellite, it did not have one. WSWB began airing The CW on September 18. On February 17, 2009, WQMY shut down its analog signal and became exclusively digital. Starting on May 8, 2010, it began re-broadcasting live Philadelphia Union MLS
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer is a professional soccer league based in the United States and sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation . The league is composed of 19 teams — 16 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada...
telecasts from ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. WPVI has its studios located on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the...
.
Transmission
WQMY multiplexes its signal in order to broadcast WOLF in HD and WSWB to the Lycoming County, PA area. In mid 2010 WQMY started routing direct HD signals to various cable companies in northeast Pennsylvania. Non-HD programming is stretched to fill the 16:9 screen area on the HD feeds. HD programming is center cut on over the air channel 53.1 and 56.3.| Virtual Channel | Digital Channel | Video | Aspect Aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a shape is the ratio of its longer dimension to its shorter dimension. It may be applied to two characteristic dimensions of a three-dimensional shape, such as the ratio of the longest and shortest axis, or for symmetrical objects that are described by just two measurements,... |
Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 53.1 | 29.1 | 480 x 480i 480i 480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC... |
4:3 | main WQMY-TV programming / MyNetwork TV |
| 53.2 | 29.2 | 1280 x 720p 720p 720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan... |
16:9 16:9 16:9 is an aspect ratio with a width of 16 units and height of 9. Since 2009, it has become the most common aspect ratio for sold televisions and computer monitors and is also the international standard format of HDTV, Full HD, non-HD digital television and analog widescreen television ... |
WOLF-TV (FOX HD) |
| 53.3 | 29.3 | 704 x 480i | 4:3 | WSWB (The CW) |