WPXX-TV

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WPXX-TV
Memphis, Tennessee
United States
ChannelsDigital: 33 (UHF)
Virtual: 50
BrandingIon
Programming
Affiliations50.1: Ion Television
50.2: Court TV
50.3: Grit
50.4: Defy TV
50.5: True Real
50.6: Newsy
50.7: HSN
Ownership
OwnerInyo Broadcast Holdings
(Inyo Broadcast Licenses LLC)
History
FoundedJanuary 1, 1992
First air date
December 31, 1994 (27 years ago) (1994-12-31)
Former call signs
WFBI (1994–1998)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
50 (UHF, 1994–2009)
Digital:
51 (UHF, 2009–2018)
Analog/DT1:
HSN (1994–1998)
MyNetworkTV (secondary; 2006–2009)
DT2:
Qubo (until 2021)
Court TV Mystery (2021)
DT3:
Ion Plus (until 2021)
Court TV (2021)
DT4:
Ion Shop (until 2021)
Grit (2021)
DT5:
QVC (until 2021)
Call sign meaning
PaX TV
X = disambiguation from other Ion Television stations
Technical information
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID21726
ERP537 kW
HAAT312 m (1,024 ft)
Transmitter coordinates35°12′41″N 89°48′54″W / 35.21139°N 89.81500°W / 35.21139; -89.81500
Links
Public license information
Profile
LMS
Websiteiontelevision.com

WPXX-TV, virtual channel 50 (UHF digital channel 33), is an Ion Television-affiliated station licensed to Memphis, Tennessee, United States. The station is owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings. WPXX-TV's studios and transmitter are located on Brother Boulevard in Bartlett, Tennessee. The station also serves as the de facto Ion outlet for the Jackson, Tennessee and Jonesboro, Arkansas markets.

History[]

The station first signed on the air on December 31, 1994, under the call letters WFBI; it was owned by Flinn Broadcasting, a company owned by Memphis businessman, radiologist (and later Shelby County commissioner) George Flinn. The station initially aired programming from the Home Shopping Network (sharing the affiliation with Holly Springs, Mississippi-based WBUY-TV channel 40, now a TBN owned-and-operated station), until Paxson Communications (now Ion Media) began operating the station under a local marketing agreement in 1998, when the station became a charter affiliate of the upstart Pax TV network (now Ion Television). The station also carried a selected slate of Memphis Grizzlies games produced by Fox Sports Southeast from the team's inception until sometime in the late 2000s.

On February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced the launch of a new "sixth" network called MyNetworkTV, which would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television. MyNetworkTV was created to compete against another upstart network that would launch at the same time that September, The CW (an amalgamated network that originally consisted primarily of UPN and The WB's higher-rated programs) as well as to give UPN and WB stations that were not mentioned as becoming CW affiliates another option besides converting to independent stations.[1][2] Although WLMT (channel 30) had served as the market's UPN and WB affiliates, the MyNetworkTV affiliation instead went to WPXX, which officially joined the network (as a secondary affiliation) on September 5, 2006, branding itself as "My50 Memphis".

In mid-August 2007, Ion Media announced that it would purchase WPXX and sister station WPXL-TV in New Orleans outright from Flinn Broadcasting for $18 million.[3] The sale was approved by the Federal Communications Commission and was completed on January 2, 2008.[4]

On September 28, 2009, WPXX dropped MyNetworkTV programming as the network converted to a syndicated programming service. CW affiliate WLMT chose to pick up the MyNetworkTV affiliation, but only for the purposes of carrying WWE SmackDown (which it aired on Saturday evenings, rather than on its recommended Friday night timeslot), declining to run the remainder of the network's schedule. That lasted until SmackDown moved to the Syfy cable channel in October 2010, at which point WLMT's second digital subchannel picked up the full MyNetworkTV lineup while Retro Television Network programing (which would be dropped in November 2011 in favor of MeTV) outside of prime time.

Technical information[]

Subchannels[]

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect Short name Programming[5]
50.1 720p 16:9 ION Ion Television
50.2 480i CourtTV Court TV
50.3 Grit Grit
50.4 DeFy TV Defy TV
50.5 TruReal True Real
50.6 Newsy Newsy
50.7 HSN HSN

Analog-to-digital conversion[]

WPXX-TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 50, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.[6] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 51, using PSIP to display WPXX-TV's virtual channel as 50 on digital television receivers.

References[]

  1. ^ "News Corp. to launch new mini-network for UPN stations". USA Today. February 22, 2006. Retrieved January 21, 2013.
  2. ^ News Corp. Unveils MyNetworkTV, Broadcasting & Cable, February 22, 2006.
  3. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-10-16. Retrieved 2007-08-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-02-22. Retrieved 2008-01-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WPXX
  6. ^ List of Digital Full-Power Stations

External links[]

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