WFFF-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WFFF-TV
city =
station_
station_slogan = Your Fox Station
station_branding = Fox 44
Fox 44 Local News
analog = 44 (UHF)
digital = 43 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = Fox
The CW (on DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = August 31, 1997
location = Burlington, Vermont /
Plattsburgh, New York
callsign_meaning = We're Fox Forty Four
former_callsigns =
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Smith Media
licensee = Smith Media License Holdings, LLC
sister_stations = WVNY
former_affiliations = The WB (1999-2006)
The CW (2006-2007)
both secondary on main channel
effective_radiated_power = 750 kW (analog)
47 kW (digital)
HAAT = 577 m (analog)
839 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 10132
coordinates = coord|44|34|27.2|N|73|40|29.1|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (analog)
coord|44|31|33|N|72|48|55|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (digital)
homepage = [http://www.fox44.net/ fox44.net]

WFFF-TV, channel 44, is the Fox-affiliated television station for the state of Vermont (except Bennington County) and Upstate New York that is licensed Burlington. Its analog transmitter is located on Terry Mountain in Peru, New York. The station's digital transmitter is located on Mount Mansfield, Vermont's highest elevation. Owned by Smith Media, WFFF is sister to ABC affiliate WVNY that is owned by Lambert Broadcasting of Burlington, LLC. Smith Media operates that station through a local marketing agreement (LMA). The two stations share studios on Mountain View Drive in Colchester. Syndicated programming on WFFF includes: "Two and a Half Men", "Friends", "That '70s Show", and "Roseanne".

The station operates the area's CW affiliate on its second digital subchannel. On cable, that station is offered on Comcast channel 20 in Vermont. In Upstate New York, it is available on Charter channel 11. In the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire, the station is offered on Comcast digital cable channel 167. On cable, WFFF can be seen on channel 9 via Comcast systems in Vermont and via Charter systems in Plattsburgh. On Vidéotron systems in Montreal, the station can be seen on channel 46 in west Montreal and channel 36 in central / east Montreal. It can also be seen on channel 54 via Illico digital.

Digital television

The station's digital signal on UHF channel 43 is multiplexed.

History

WFFF began broadcasting on August 31, 1997 immediately taking the Fox affiliation. Prior to WFFF's sign-on, the Burlington / Plattsburgh market was the last top-100 television market without a primary Fox affiliate. Prior to 1997, CBS affiliate WCAX-TV cleared some Fox shows (in 1996) while the full schedule was available on most Vermont cable systems via Foxnet. In New York State, the network was offered on cable via WNYW from New York City. In Canada, the Fox network was offered on cable via either WUTV from Buffalo or WUHF from Rochester, New York. Originally, WFFF was owned by Smith Broadcasting but was operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group (then owner of NBC affiliate WPTZ) under a LMA. In 1998, Sinclair sold WPTZ and its LMA with WFFF to Sunrise Television who in turn swapped both stations and the LMA to Hearst-Argyle Television in July of that year. WFFF began operating as an independently-controlled station in 2000 when the LMA with WPTZ was terminated.

In 1998, WFFF gained secondary WB affiliation after WBVT dropped The WB to become a UPN affiliate. For a time, the 2 hours of prime time programming from The WB aired in separate two hour long blocks weeknights at 5 and 10 o'clock. WFFF switched the entire 2 hours of programming to a continuous block on a delayed basis at 10 P.M. after Fox prime time. This block was named "The WB Time". The WB was also offered on cable via WPIX from New York City. In February 1999, WFFF began broadcasting 30 second daily vignettes called "Vermont's Most Wanted" along with sister program "Citizen's Patrol". This effort was in cooperation with local law enforcement and the Champlain Valley branch of the national Crimestoppers non-profit organization.

In 2005, the death of Bob Smith (the head of family-owned Smith Broadcasting) led to the family's decision to sell their group of stations to an investment group. This group entitled themselves Smith Media, LLC. After researching the markets that they now had ownership in, it was discovered that WVNY was up for sale. Finding a way to satisfy the FCC's ownership rules, Smith Media partnering with Lambert Broadcasting, LLC and became the senior partner in a local marketing agreement with WVNY. Smith Media shut down WVNY's studios on Shelburne Road in South Burlington (a.k.a. U.S. 7), reduced redundant staff, and relocated operations into WFFF's Colchester facilities.

During the 2004 / 2005 television season, the broadcast time of Kids' WB on WFFF was moved from the weekday morning 6 to 8 o'clock time slot to 2 to 4 in the afternoon. It also continued to air during the 5 to 8 A.M. time slot on Saturdays. The WB discontinued the weekday airing of Kids' WB in January 2006 and replaced it with reruns of "ER", "8 Simple Rules", and "Reba". In the Fall of 2006, WFFF began broadcasting the Saturday Kids' WB schedule in hour-long blocks on weekday mornings.

The CW

On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced that they would cease broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initials of its corporate parents, CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. Up until The CW's launch on September 18, it was unknown if there would be an affiliate in Burlington and Plattsburgh. Just before that date, it was announced that The CW would air on WFFF in a delayed basis at 10 P.M. (as did programming from The WB). As was the case with The WB, The CW was also available on cable in the area via WPIX from New York City. Before it was confirmed that WFFF would be a secondary CW affiliate, there was a possibility that a new television station, WCWF, was to become affiliated with the network. On September 27, 2007, WFFF moved The CW to its second digital subchannel. For Comcast cable viewers in Vermont, WFFF-DT2 immediately replaced WPIX. It was not until December 31 that Charter cable in New York State did the same thing. There is currently no website for this channel.

Programming

imultaneous substitution problems

Like the other Vermont television stations, WFFF has significant viewership in Montreal, which is some ten times larger than its American viewing area. As the youngest full-power station covering the entire market, it still relies heavily on the Montreal television market for advertising revenue while the area's other stations have somewhat lessened their dependence on Montreal advertising.

In 2003 and 2004, WFFF was involved in a "commercial war" with CJNT-TV in Montreal. For some time, its commercials on non-network programs, such as "That 70's Show", had been blocked by simultaneous substitution (simsub) on Montreal cable systems by CJNT. Simultaneous substitution demanded that the cable companies in Canada replace WFFF's signal with CJNT's signal when the same program and episode was running at the same time. In response, WFFF frequently shifted its schedule to keep its commercials from being blocked in Montreal.

In response to WFFF's schedule shuffling, CJNT moved its schedule accordingly to retain simsub rights. This resulted in a cat-and-mouse game of changing programming schedules every few weeks, which left viewers confused. These changes usually occurred with little to no advance warning, making the local schedules in TV Guide out of date. WFFF eventually solved the problem with "That 70's Show" by airing the second strip episode of the show in the designated time slot instead. CJNT would not have access to this strip without airing the show twice a day (which WFFF was doing).

ports

Vermont is part of New England and, as a result, is associated with sports teams from Boston. Two-thirds of the station's American audience is from Vermont counties and another one-sixth is from New Hampshire. However, the final one-sixth is from Upstate New York. That region is associated with teams from New York City. Thus, WFFF tends to air Boston Red Sox games when they appear on Fox Saturday Baseball, followed by the New York Yankees or Mets if the Red Sox are not chosen for national coverage. NFL coverage typically features the New York Giants, unless the New England Patriots play a home game against an NFC opponent.

News operation

Back in 2005, after WVNY moved into WFFF's studios, Smith Media made an announcement that it was planning to start a news department for the two stations. After the creation of The CW and WFFF airing that network's programming at 10 P.M., there was some doubt as to the status of the WFFF and WVNY news department launch. In mid-July 2007, however, planning for a nightly 10 o'clock newscast started with the posting of news department related jobs on WFFF's website. This development related to the fact that The CW moved to WFFF-DT2 instead of airing at 10 o'clock (in a delayed manner) on the main channel.

On November 26, advertisements started appearing on WFFF and WVNY for the launch of the 10 P.M. news which occurred on December 3. This newscast runs nightly for 30 minutes. There is a possibility of the news expanding to an hour long broadcast in the future. The news is the first high definition broadcast in the market. WFFF's 10 o'clock production is not the first in the market. Back on July 16, WCAX began producing a weeknight 10 o'clock newscast. It can be seen on the station's digital 24-hour local weather channel. During weather segments, WFFF uses live NOAA National Weather Service radar data from three regional sites. It is presented on-screen as "Sky Tracker Triple Doppler Radar".

On March 3, 2008, WFFF began to produce a weeknight and Saturday 7 o'clock newscast on WVNY. It is the first station in the market to offer news at that time. The move to launch this production was due in part to the tough competition of news at 6 o'clock on WCAX and WPTZ. As is the case on WFFF, the WVNY news is broadcasted in high definition. It airs on Sunday nights at 6:30 to accommodate ABC network programming. The WVNY broadcasts mark the return of local news on that station since it shut down its own news department on September 12, 2003. The only "ABC 22" identification on the news is in the intro package and the "bug" in the bottom left hand corner of the screen. On August 18, 2008, WFFF began airing a weekday morning newscast called "Fox 44 Local News This Morning" which runs from 7 to 9 A.M.

News team

Anchors
*Julia Dunn - weekday mornings
**reporter and fill-in anchor
*Greg Navarro - weeknights
*Lauren Maloney - weeknights
*Elissa Burnell - weekends
**reporter

"Sky Tracker Meteorologists"
*Jason Caterina - Chief seen on weeknights
*Nick Johnston - weekday mornings
**environmental reporter
*Kerrin Jeromin - weekends

Sports
*Kristian Read - Director seen on weeknights
*Whitney Brown - weekends
**sports reporter

Reporters
*Ben Kennedy - weekday mornings/evenings
*Michael Henrich - evenings
*Jaimarie Ely - evenings

External links

* [http://www.fox44.net/ WFFF-TV/DT "Fox 44"]
* [http://www.abc22.com/ WVNY "ABC 22"]
*TVQ|WFFF-TV