WBSF

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For the television station in Orlando, Florida which formerly used this callsign, see WOTF-TV.

WBSF
Wbsflogo2007.png
Bay City/Saginaw/Flint, Michigan
United States
CityBay City, Michigan
ChannelsDigital: 23 (UHF)
Virtual: 46
BrandingCW 46 Mid-Michigan
.2: NBC 25
Programming
Affiliations
[1]
Ownership
OwnerCunningham Broadcasting
(Flint (WBSF-TV) Licensee, Inc.)
OperatorSinclair Broadcast Group
(via SSA)
WEYI-TV, WSMH,[1] Bally Sports Detroit
History
First air date
2004 (17 years ago) (2004)
(subchannel, cable)
September 2006 (15 years ago) (2006-09)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:
  • 46 (UHF, 2006–2009)
  • Digital:
  • 46 (UHF, 2008–2019)
Former affiliations
  • Cable/Analog/DT1:
  • The WB (2004–2006)
  • DT3:
  • Grit (2015–2017)
Call sign meaning
Bay City, Saginaw, and Flint
-or-
WB Saginaw-Flint
(reference to former affiliation)
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID82627
ERP600 kW
HAAT365 m (1,198 ft)
Transmitter coordinates43°13′1″N 83°43′17″W / 43.21694°N 83.72139°W / 43.21694; -83.72139
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websitethecw46.com

WBSF, virtual channel 46 (UHF digital channel 23), branded on-air as CW 46, is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Bay City, Michigan, United States and serving the Flint/Tri-Cities television market. The station is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting; the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which owns Flint-licensed Fox affiliate WSMH (channel 66), operates WBSF under a shared services agreement (SSA). However, Sinclair effectively owns WBSF as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith. Sinclair also operates Saginaw-licensed NBC affiliate WEYI-TV (channel 25) under a separate SSA with owner Howard Stirk Holdings.

The three stations share studios on West Pierson Road in Mount Morris Township (with a Flint mailing address); WBSF's transmitter is located at its former studios on West Willard Road in Vienna Township along the Genesee–Saginaw county line (with a Clio mailing address).

In addition to its own digital signal, WBSF is simulcast in high definition on WEYI-TV's second digital subchannel (UHF channel 30.2 or virtual channel 25.2). On cable, WBSF is available on Comcast Xfinity channel 15, and on Charter Spectrum channel 17.

History[]

A permit was issued by the FCC for a new station on channel 46 in Bay City to Vista Communications Group in late 2003. The station was expected to be the WB network affiliate for the Flint/Tri-Cities market.[2]

On October 1, 2004, the station's construction permit was approved. In that same year, Barrington launched WBSF on cable and on WEYI's second digital subchannel. On February 2, 2005, the FCC transferred the permit to Acme Television then to Barrington Broadcasting.[3]

With the merger of The WB and UPN to become The CW, WBSF became the area's network affiliate in September 2006 when the channel began broadcasting over the air.[3] Because of this, a chance existed that WKBD (which along with WBKP are the only other over-the-air CW affiliates in Michigan) would be dropped from this market's cable systems as both WBSF and WKBD would be CW affiliates. However, in the case of Midland, two CBS affiliates do coexist on the same cable system. This occurred on Charter's Tri-Cities systems which replaced WKBD with MyNetworkTV affiliate WNEM-DT2 that became the new home of Pistons basketball that year. As a result of the network change, WBSF rebranded from "Mid-Michigan's WB" to "CW 46 Mid-Michigan". However, its call letters were not changed as the "B" in the calls also stands for Bay City which is the station's city of license. "S" and "F" stand for Saginaw and Flint, respectively. WBSF signed-on its analog channel on September 13, 2006 although it continues to be seen on WEYI-DT2. As such, it is the only full-power television station to be built and signed-on by Barrington Broadcasting although Barrington acquired its construction permit from ACME Communications before construction began.

On February 28, 2013, Barrington announced that it would sell its entire group, including WBSF and WEYI, to Sinclair Broadcast Group. However, due to FCC duopoly regulations, since Sinclair already owns Fox affiliate WSMH, Sinclair will transfer the license assets of WBSF to Cunningham Broadcasting and of WEYI to Howard Stirk Holdings (owned by conservative talk show host Armstrong Williams). WSMH will take over the operations of both WBSF and WEYI through local marketing agreements when the deal is completed.[4] The sale was completed on November 25.[5]

Digital television[]

Digital channels[]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming[1]
46.1 1080i 16:9 CW Main WBSF programming / The CW
46.2 NBC Simulcast of WEYI-TV / NBC
46.3 480i Charge! Charge!

Analog-to-digital conversion[]

In June 2008, WBSF received its Construction permit for its digital facilities with the station switching from analog to digital broadcasting on June 12, 2009.[3]

Programming[]

Syndicated programming on WBSF includes Divorce Court, Maury, Dateline, Black-ish, and Family Guy, among others.

WBSF has served as an alternate NBC affiliate. In 2006, the channel aired an episode of Friday Night Lights (also on tape delay) due to WEYI's broadcast of the second Michigan gubernatorial debate. The station may air any preempted NBC program should the preemption occur on WEYI for a local special, breaking news story, any other emergency, or beginning in August 2017, Detroit Lions preseason football.

Newscasts[]

WBSF once aired a weeknight newscast called The 7 O'Clock News on CW 46 which was produced by WEYI. This production was canceled in April 2008.[citation needed] The station, being operated by Sinclair and a CW affiliate, may carry sports from Sinclair Networks' Stadium as it was slated for its CW or My Network TV affiliated stations.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Digital TV Market Listing for WBSF". RabbitEars.Info. Retrieved August 22, 2017.
  2. ^ "GM Town in Flux". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. November 30, 2003. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c "WBSF TV Channel 46 Bay City/Saginaw/Flint". Michigan Guide.com. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  4. ^ Malone, Michael (February 28, 2013). "Sinclair's Chesapeake TV Acquires Barrington Stations". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  5. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on December 3, 2013. Retrieved November 25, 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. ^ Deborah McAdams (July 17, 2014). "Sinclair Launches Sports Network". TV Technology. Archived from the original on July 21, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2014.

External links[]

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