WWTI-DT2

Infobox_Broadcast
call_letters = WWTI-DT2 | station_
station_slogan =
station_branding = North Country CW
analog = Time Warner 14
digital = 21 (WWTI-DT 50.2)
affiliations = The CW (via The CW Plus)| founded = 1998
location = Watertown, New York
callsign_meaning = see WWTI - Watertown/Thousand Islands
owner = Newport Television
licensee =
sister_stations =
former_callsigns = "WBWT" (fictional, 1998-2006)
former_affiliations = The WB (1998-2006 via The WB 100+)
effective_radiated_power = 25 kW (digital)
HAAT = 331 m (digital)
facility_id = 16747 (digital)
coordinates = coord|43|52|47.2|N|75|43|9.7|W|type:landmark_scale:2000 (digital)
homepage = see below

WWTI-DT2 is the CW-affiliated television station for Watertown, New York. The station is part of The CW Plus, a special CW feed that broadcasts on cable and / or over-the-air on a digital signal. The CW Plus serves smaller television markets with a DMA rank above 100 (the Watertown has a rank of 177). WWTI-DT2 is a second digital subchannel of Watertown's ABC affiliate WWTI which is owned by Newport Television. Over-the-air, WWTI-DT2 broadcasts as a digital subchannel on UHF channel 21 from WWTI's transmitter which is located in Copenhagen. The station is also offered on Time Warner cable channel 14. It is known on-air as "North Country CW" and identifies itself by only its cable positions "14/31"; the over the air channel number (PSIP 50.2) does not appear in station branding.

WWTI-DT2's parent station has studios on Arsenal Street in downtown Watertown.

History

The station began broadcasting in 1998 when The WB deployed various stations outside the top 100 markets as cable-only channels. It first broadcast on Time Warner cable channel 31 before being moved to the more appropriate channel 14 slot. It had the fictional call sign "WBWT" and was branded as "Watertown's WB 14".

On January 24, 2006, UPN and The WB announced that they would cease broadcasting and merge. The new combined network would be called The CW. The letters would represent the first initial of its corporate parents: CBS (the parent company of UPN) and the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner. UPN programming was carried by WLOT-LP; that station is now defunct. On May 18, it was confirmed that WBWT would become an affiliate of The CW under The CW Plus (a similar operation to The WB 100+).

WWTI then created a new second digital subchannel to offer non-cable viewers access to CW programming. When the network launched on September 18, WBWT began to use the WWTI-DT2 calls officially. WLOT shut down its broadcasting.

On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television stations unit, including WBWT's parent station WWTI, to the private equity group Providence Equity Partners. The operation of the Watertown CW affiliate remained unchanged. Like most WB 100+ affiliates, WBWT offered the nationally syndicated morning show, "The Daily Buzz", on weekday mornings from 6 to 9. WWTI-DT2 continues this practice.

External links

* [http://www.yourcwtv.com/partners/watertown/ WWTI-DT2 "North Country CW"]
* [http://www.newswatch50.com/ WWTI "NewsWatch 50"]
* [http://www.cwtv.com The CW]