WVEA-TV

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WVEA-TV
city = Venice, Florida
station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = Univision Tampa (general)
Noticias Univision Tampa (newscasts)
analog = 62 (UHF)
digital = 25 (UHF)
other_chs =
affiliations = Univision
LATV (on DT2)
network =
founded =
airdate = May 3, 1991
location = Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida
callsign_meaning = "vea" is Spanish for "I see" (present subjunctive)
former_callsigns = WBSV-TV (1991-2000)
former_channel_numbers =
owner = Entravision Communications Corporation
licensee = Entravision Holdings, LLC
sister_stations = WFTT-TV
former_affiliations = independent (1991-2001)
effective_radiated_power = 5000 kW (analog)
750 kW (digital)
HAAT = 476 m (analog)
472 m (digital)
class =
facility_id = 16788
coordinates = coord|27|49|10.9|N|82|15|38|W|type:landmark_scale:2000
homepage = [http://www.wvea.entravision.com/ www.wvea.entravision.com]

WVEA-TV, channel 62, is the Univision affiliate for Tampa Bay, Florida, licensed to Venice. The station is owned by Entravision Communications, and operates Telefutura affiliate WFTT-TV. The two stations share studios on Hillsborough Avenue in Tampa, in a former Barnett Bank building west of Armenia Avenue. Its transmitter is located at the antenna farm at Riverview.

WVEA can be seen on Bright House and Comcast cable -- channel 8 in Hillsborough, channel 7 in Pinellas and channel 15 in Manatee and Sarasota counties.

History

License history

Channel 62 first signed on May 3, 1991 as English-language WBSV-TV, the Sarasota area's own independent station, designed to compete against WWSB and the other stations in the Tampa Bay and nearby Ft. Myers markets. The call letters stood for Bradenton, Sarasota, and Venice, the three cities it primarily served. WBSV had a variety of syndicated and local programming, plus infomercials and home shopping programs; early on, it also produced a local newscast. However, the station was unprofitable, eventually relying more on home shopping and infomercials to keep the station afloat.

In 2000, Entravision bought WBSV with the intent of moving the transmitter from Venice to Riverview and upgrade its low-power Univision station, WVEA-LP (channel 61). WBSV's history ended in early 2001, when the station left the air for a few weeks to perform the move and establish WVEA's new studios. In March 2001, the station returned to the air with its current programming and call letters.

Intellectual property

WVEA was Tampa Bay's first Spanish-language TV station, beginning operations in the early-1980s as low-powered W50AC channel 50, which offered programming from the Spanish International Network, the forerunner of today's Univision. In 1988, to make way for new HSN flagship WBHS (now WFTT-TV), the station relocated to channel 61 and became W61BL; in 1994, the station changed its call letters to WVEA-LP. After Entravision bought channel 62, in March 2001, WVEA-LP's programming moved to that facility. WVEA-LP itself remains in operation on channel 46, carrying the Home Shopping Network.

Digital television

Currently, neither Bright House or Comcast carry the LATV subchannel.

External links

*TVQ|WVEA-TV
**TVQ|WVEA-LP
*BIA|WVEA|TV|TV
* [http://www.mcsittel.com/html/photos2.html mcsittel.com: 1990s DX screengrabs from Tallahassee -- includes a 1993 WBSV test pattern]