WHTV

WHTV, virtual channel 18 (UHF digital channel 34), was a television station licensed to Jackson, Michigan, United States, which served the Central Lower Peninsula of Michigan, including the capital city of Lansing. The station was owned by Venture Technologies Group. WHTV's studios were located on West Saint Joseph Street (along I-496) in downtown Lansing, and its transmitter was located on M-52 in Lyndon Township, Washtenaw County (in the Detroit market).

This article is about the television station in Lansing, Michigan. For the religious network, see World Harvest Television. For the CBS affiliate in Meridian, Mississippi that formerly used the WHTV call letters, see WMDN.
WHTV
(defunct)
Jackson/Lansing, Michigan
United States
CityJackson, Michigan
ChannelsDigital: 34 (UHF)
Virtual: 18 (PSIP)
BrandingWHTV
Programming
AffiliationsDefunct
Ownership
OwnerVenture Technologies Group
(Spartan TV, LLC)
History
FoundedMarch 25, 1993 (1993-03-25)
First air date
August 20, 1999 (1999-08-20)
Last air date
August 31, 2017 (2017-08-31) (18 years, 11 days)
Former channel number(s)
Analog:
18 (UHF, 1999–2008)
Analog/DT1:
Bloomberg Television/Jewelry TV (1999–2000)
UPN (2000–2006)
MyNetworkTV (2006–2017)
DT2:
Jewelry TV (2015-2017)
Call sign meaning
TeleVision
Technical information
Facility ID29706
ClassDT
ERP185 kW
HAAT263 m (863 ft)
Transmitter coordinates42°22′25.5″N 84°4′10.2″W

Through its history, WHTV was mainly affiliated with UPN, followed by MyNetworkTV, and had a secondary affiliation with Jewelry TV that became primary several times. WHTV sold its spectrum in the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s incentive auction and ceased operations at 11:59 p.m. on August 31, 2017.

History

The station signed on August 20, 1999, with programming from Bloomberg Television and Jewelry Television (then known as the America's Collectibles Network). It aired an analog signal on UHF channel 18 from a transmitter near Onondaga on the Ingham and Jackson county line. It became a UPN affiliate on October 16, 2000; prior to this, programming from that network was seen on area cable systems from Detroit's WKBD (channel 50; now a CW owned-and-operated station).

From 2002 until 2006, WHTV's internal operations (such as advertising sales) were housed at the studios of ABC affiliate WLAJ (channel 53), which was then owned by Freedom Communications, on South Pennsylvania Avenue in Lansing. It then relocated to the facilities of CBS outlet WLNS-TV (channel 6) on East Saginaw Street after entering into a joint sales agreement with WLNS' then-owner Young Broadcasting. While managed by Young, WHTV occasionally carried CBS programming preempted by WLNS, including the CBS Sports feed of the US Open Tennis Championship while WLNS aired the Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon on Labor Day, as well as programs preempted by WLNS in the event of a local special or breaking news. WHTV also occasionally carried Saturday NCAA football games from ABC when they conflicted with WLAJ's commitment to broadcast the ESPN Plus Big Ten football and basketball packages; this ended with the launch of the Big Ten Network for the 2007–2008 season.

WHTV's logo under its former MyNetworkTV affiliation

WHTV would place its digital transmitter at Van Atta Road in Meridian Charter Township. The station had a construction permit to substantially increase power and relocate its transmitter to a tower previously used by Detroit's Ion Television owned-and-operated station WPXD-TV in Lyndon Township. Essentially, the new transmitter would be located in the Detroit market but the station would continue to serve as a Lansing–Jackson market television outlet. The planned move date of its signal to the new antenna was scheduled to occur on November 1, 2012, but the parts delivery for the new transmitter was delayed until December 20.

On December 4, 2012, WLAJ was sold from the Sinclair Broadcast Group to Shield Media, LLC (owned by White Knight Broadcasting Vice President Sheldon Galloway). Shield then entered into certain shared services and joint sales agreements with Young Broadcasting. At some point in February 2013, WLAJ moved from its studios into the WLNS facility. In effect, this move reunited WHTV's intellectual unit with WLAJ, due to WHTV's existing relationship with WLNS and its prior partnership with WLAJ. Young Broadcasting would merge with Media General on November 12, 2013.[1] As a result of these changes, WHTV announced that it would not renew its operational outsourcing agreement with WLNS.[2] In July 2014, it entered into a new local marketing agreement with WSYM and relocated its advertising sales operation to the Fox affiliate's studios.[3]

In April 2017, WHTV announced that it would shut down on April 30, 2017,[4] later revised to May 17, 2017, then May 31, 2017, and then August 31, 2017, following the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s incentive auction.[5] The station sold its spectrum for $13,906,280.[6] On May 1, 2017, WHTV dropped the MyNetworkTV affiliation and Scripps LMA with WSYM-TV and elected to air Jewelry Television in the interim, effectively discontinuing the 18.2 subchannel. After the final revision to their off-air date, the station signed off for the last time several minutes before midnight on August 31. WHTV's license was cancelled at the station's request on September 11, 2017.[7]

The programming which formerly aired on WHTV, including MyNetworkTV, remained in limbo for several months. On September 18, 2017, it was announced that WSYM would launch a fourth subchannel on October 9, containing both a MyNetworkTV affiliation and much of WHTV's previous programming.[8]

Digital television

Digital channel
Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming
18.1720p16:9WHTVMain WHTV programming / MyNetworkTV

Analog-to-digital conversion

WHTV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 18, on December 1, 2008.[9] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 34, using PSIP to display WHTV's virtual channel as 18 on digital television receivers.

Programming

Syndicated programming on WHTV until May 1, 2017 included Two and a Half Men, The Middle, Jerry Springer, and Divorce Court among others. The only remaining non-Jewelry Television content until August 31, 2017 was E/I programming on weekday mornings.

References
  1. "Media General, Young Now Officially One". TVNewsCheck. November 12, 2013. Retrieved November 12, 2013.
  2. http://apps.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/view?id=7520938710
  3. http://www.jrn.com/fox47news/news/sports/New-Brand-Coming-to-FOX-47-Partner-Station-My18-Launching-this-September-269377541.html
  4. Hansen, Logan T. (April 12, 2017). "WHTV going off-air due to FCC spectrum auction, other channels affected". Jackson Citizen Patriot. MLive Media. Retrieved March 9, 2018.
  5. Hansen, Logan T. (April 12, 2017). "WHTV going off-air due to FCC spectrum auction, other channels affected". MLive.com. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  6. "FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction Auction 1001 Winning Bids" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. April 4, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  7. "Cancellation Application". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017.
  8. Hughes, Mike (September 18, 2017). "Local stations grapple for slots to make a mark". Lansing State Journal. Retrieved September 19, 2017.
  9. "List of Digital Full-Power Stations" (PDF).
  • WHTV in the FCC's TV station database
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