WVNC-LD

WVNC-LD (channel 45) is a low-power television station in Watertown, New York, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, the station maintains studios at Public Square in downtown Watertown, and its transmitter is located on Miser Road in the town of Rutland.^[3]

WVNC-LD

Watertown, New York United States
Channels	Digital: 24 (UHF) Virtual: 45
Branding	NBC Watertown Antenna TV Watertown (45.2)
Programming
Affiliations	45.1: NBC for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner	SagamoreHill Broadcasting (SagamoreHill of Watertown Licenses, LLC)
History
Founded	March 24, 2015
First air date	December 1, 2016 (8 years ago) (2016-12-01)
Former call signs	W45EI-D (2015–2016)
Former channel number(s)	Digital: 45 (UHF, 2016–2020)
Call sign meaning	Watertown Television North Country
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	188838
Class	LD
ERP	15 kW
HAAT	107.2 m (352 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	43°58′4.6″N 75°48′21.2″W
Links
Public license information	LMS
Website	www.nbcwatertown.com
Translator
WVNV-LD
Potsdam, New York
Channels	Digital: 26 (UHF) Virtual: 45
History
First air date	August 26, 2016 (8 years ago) (2016-08-26)
Former call signs	W26EP-D (2016–2023) WNGF-LD (2023–2024)
Call sign meaning	disambiguation of WVNC
Technical information[2]
Facility ID	182618
ERP	0.075 kW
HAAT	64.4 m (211 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	44°38′54.8″N 75°1′6.4″W
Links
Public license information	LMS

Due to WVNC-LD's low-power status, its broadcast radius only covers the immediate Watertown area. Therefore, it relies on cable and satellite to reach the entire market.

WVNV-LD (channel 45) in Potsdam operates as a translator of WVNC-LD; this station's transmitter is located on Bagdad Road southwest of Potsdam.

History

Although the channel 45 frequency had never been used in Watertown prior to 2015, the adjacent channel 46 was the home of WLOT-LP, Watertown's UPN affiliate, until its owner died in 2005 and the station went dark (its frequency has never been reactivated and would eventually be taken out of service in the late-2010s spectrum reallocation).

On August 28, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the transfer of control of a low-power digital television license in Watertown, W45EI-D, from Sunrise, Florida–based DTV America Corporation to SagamoreHill Broadcasting.^[4] The new owners promptly renamed the station WVNC-LD and signed it to an affiliation deal with NBC, giving the Watertown area its first locally-based full-time NBC affiliate. The new station signed on December 1, 2016. Prior to WVNC-LD's sign-on, North Country cable systems received either WSTM-TV in Syracuse or WPTZ in Plattsburgh, depending on the location. WWNY-TV previously had a secondary affiliation with the network until 1995.^[5] WPTZ and WSTM-TV are still available on cable along with WVNC-LD.

Programming

WVNC-LD's main channel clears the entire NBC schedule, including The More You Know, NBC's E/I-compliant block which, as a low-power station, it is not required to clear.

Former WVNC-LD as both an Antenna TV and MyNetworkTV affiliate.

In addition to NBC programming, WVNC-LD operates the Watertown market's Antenna TV affiliate on its LD2 subchannel. Until recently,^[when?] WVNC-LD2 also carried programs from the MyNetworkTV programming service, filling in programming for all time slots outside of the MyNetworkTV programming schedule with the Antenna TV schedule.^[6][7]

Local programming

WVNC-LD airs no local news programming, despite station officials stating at its launch that planning was underway to open a news department by early 2018. The station does, however, stream events of local interest on its YouTube channel.

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WVNC-LD^[3] and WVNV-LD^[8]

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming
45.1	1080i	16:9	WVNCNBC	NBC
45.2	480i		Antenna	Antenna TV
45.3			ION	Ion Television
45.4			GritTv	Grit
45.5			Bounce	Bounce TV
45.6			CourtTv	Court TV
45.7			QVC	QVC