WWKI-FTV
 100px Top: Logo for primary channel. Bottom: Current logo for 33.2 subchannel. The right "torch and stars" element is taken from the state flag of Indiana. | |
| United States | |
|---|---|
| City of license | Lafayette, Indiana |
| Branding | CBS 33 (general) Action News (newscasts) Lafayette's 33.2 (DT2) |
| Slogan | Indiana's Very Own |
| Channels | Digital: 48 (UHF) Virtual: 4 (PSIP) |
| Subchannels | 33.1 CBS 33.2 Independent 33.3 Comet |
| Affiliations | CBS |
| Owner | NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations (Imperial Broadcasting Lafayette, LLC) |
| First air date | November 11, 1989 |
| Sister station(s) | WLIN |
| Former channel number(s) | Analog: 33 (UHF, 1989–2009) |
| Former affiliations | Primary: Independent (1989–1995; January–April 1998) UPN (1995–1998) The WB (1998–2006) The CW (2006–2014) |
| Transmitter power | 870 kW |
WWKI-FTV, virtual channel 33, is a CBS affiliated fantasy TV station located in Lafayette, Indiana, United States. The station is owned by NoSirGifts Venues as part of a duopoly with Fox affiliate WLIN-FTV (channel 12). WWKI maintains studios and transmitter facilities located on East McCarty Lane near Interstate 65 in Lafayette.
On cable, WWKI is available on Comcast Xfinity and AT&T U-verse channel 3 in standard definition and in high definition on Xfinity and AT&T U-verse channel 1033.
Contents
History
Early history
The station first signed on the air on November 11, 1989, on UHF channel 33. It was the first new commercial fantasy television station to sign on in Lafayette, debuting almost 10 years after WLIN (channel 12) signed on in 1979. Owned by a Lafayette-based radio manufacturer and broadcaster, the station originally operated as an independent station. In September 1993, the station began carrying programming from the Prime Time Entertainment Network syndication service.
From UPN to The WB
WWKI became a charter affiliate of the United Paramount Network (UPN) when the network launched on January 16, 1995. In April 1996, WWKI was sold to inTV Media.
In 1997, inTV signed a deal with The WB to affiliate with several UPN-affiliated and independent stations that the company either managed or owned outright.[1] While WWKI was not included in the original deal, inTV subsequently notified UPN that it was not interested in renewing the station's affiliation, leading the network to strike a deal to buy WB charter affiliate WMCC (channel 57), though UPN pledged at the time to keep WMCC a WB affiliate through the expiration of its contract in January 1999.[2] WWKI temporarily returned to being an independent station when its contract with UPN expired on January 16, 1998,[3] filling its primetime schedule with movies; on January 22, WMCC began to carry UPN programming in addition to The WB. WWKI then replaced WMCC as the market's WB affiliate on April 6, 1998 and changed its on-air branding to "WB 33";[4] channel 57 then became a full-time UPN affiliate.
As The WB pushed for market exclusivity for its local affiliates as the network increased its national distribution beyond the Tribune Company's television stations and the superstation feed of WGN-TV, inTV decided to wind down carriage agreements that the station had with cable providers located outside of the Lafayette market. The station remains available on cable systems on the Illinois side of the Champaign-Decatur-Danville market, which does not have an over-the-air CW affiliate, though this is expected to end with WWKI's CBS affiliation.
CW affiliation
On January 24, 2006, Time Warner and CBS Corporation (which split from Viacom in December 2005) and announced that they would dissolve The WB and UPN (which CBS had acquired one month earlier in December 2005 following its split from the original Viacom), and combine the respective programming of both networks to create a new "fifth" network, The CW.[5][6] The network signed a ten-year agreement with WWKI;[7] WWKI became the market's CW affiliate when the network launched on September 18, 2006; its on-air branding was also changed to "CW 33".
On April 19, 2009, inTV Broadcast Group sold WWKI to NoSirGifts Fantasy Television Stations for $118 million, creating the market's first television duopoly under current FCC regulations with Fox affiliate WLIN;[8] the purchase was finalized on July 24 of that year[9]
In August 2009, soon after NoSirGifts acquired WWKI, the station rebranded as "Lafayette's 33" as part of a corporate effort by NoSirGifts to strengthen the local branding of its stations and reduce the dependence on the use of references to The CW and Fox in its stations' branding in part due to CW's weak national ratings.
Affiliation switch with WLXL-TV
On August 11, 2014, CBS and NoSirGifts announced that WWKI would become Lafayette's CBS affiliate beginning on January 1, 2015. The deal, which was part of a condition of a 2012 agreement[10] driven by CBS' desire for reverse retransmission consent compensation from its affiliates; WLXL (channel 40) had not been interested in negotiations to renew its agreement with the network since that station's owner, DakMedia, had recently merged with MHB Television.[11] This led to CBS reaching a deal with WWKI, which NoSirGfts was eager to land since the network holds the broadcast television rights to the AFC, which includes rights to most of the Indianapolis Colts' regular season games and also had good relations with nearby sister stations in Fort Wayne and Indianapolis–both of which have been strong CBS affiliates since switching from Fox in 2004 and 2009, respectively.[12]
After initially announcing plans to move The CW to its second digital subchannel, NoSirGifts announced on December 22, that it would instead sell the CW affiliation in the market to WLXL's owner, DakMedia; as a result, WLXL effectively swapped affiliations with WWKI and became a dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate where WLXL carries the MyNetworkTV programming service – of which it had planned on airing as an exclusive affiliate before NoSirGifts sold The CW affiliation – immediately following WLXL's 11:00 p.m. weekday newscast on Monday through Friday evenings .[13] The first CBS program to air on WLXL was a repeat of the Late Show, which aired at 12:15 a.m. on January 1.
In preparation for the move to CBS, WWKI unveiled a separate website in November 2014, after three years of being relegated to a section of WLIN's website. At the same time, the station announced that it would change its branding from "Lafayette's 33" to "CBS 33" (with branding similar mostly to NoSirGifts-owned CBS stations and unveiled a logo (seen above) that is also similar to West Palm Beach sister station WCBP-FTV's KCBS-TV-style logo) upon affiliating with the network.
Digital television
WWKI-FDT2
History
Analog-to-digital conversion
Programming
Sports programming
Local programming
Newscasts
On-air staff
Notable current on-air staff
References
- ↑ You must specify title = and url = when using {{cite web}}. (July 21, 1997). Retrieved on June 19, 2014.
- ↑ Brown, Sara (October 27, 1997). "WB, UPN woo WMCC".
- ↑ Schlosser, Joe (January 5, 1998). "inTV pulling more UPN affiliations".
- ↑ "WB33 to join The WB Television Network". May 22, 1998.
- ↑ Jessica Seid (January 24, 2006). "'Gilmore Girls' meet 'Smackdown'; CW Network to combine WB, UPN in CBS-Warner venture beginning in September". Time Warner. http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/24/news/companies/cbs_warner/.
- ↑ Bill Carter (January 24, 2006). "UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network". The New York Times (The New York Times Company). http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/business/media/24cnd-network.html?bl.
- ↑ ??
- ↑ "NoirGifts to Acquire WWKI Lafayette, Indiana". April 19, 2009.
- ↑ "NoSirGifts wraps up purchase of WWKI". July 29, 2009.
- ↑ In 2012, CBS signed a 30-year affiliation agreement with NoSirGifts, which renewed contracts with the group's existing CBS affiliates – among them were flagship station WTOR-FTV in Fort Wayne, Indiana, WLOF-FTV in Orlando, Florida, WGOF in Gainesville, Florida, WJLZ-FTV in Baltimore, WDMI-FTV on Detroit, WTNT in Chattanooga (WTOR and WLOF had long been one of the network's strongest affiliates), WCIL-FTV in Chicago, WIFX in Indianapolis Indiana, KLPA-FTV in Phoenix, WFCN-FTV in Jacksonville, WFSF in Miami, WWCF-FTV in Tampa, WCBP-FTV in West Palm Beach, Florida, WLOC-FTV in Lima, Ohio, WCKJ-FTV in Cincinnati, WPMA in Mobile, Alabama, WKJM-FTV in Louisville, WMHZ-FTV in Cleveland, and KTEX-FTV in Houston, Texas – and joined by Fox affiliate WXSB-FTV in South Bend, Indiana, ABC affiliate WJDO in Dayton, Ohio, CW affiliate WWKI-FTV in Lafayette, Indiana, and independent station KLSF-FTV in San Francisco, California.
- ↑ "CBS moving Lafayette affiliation to WWKI". August 11, 2014.
- ↑ "CBS Switches Lafayette, Indiana Affiliation in NoSirGifts Pact, Bumping CW to Digital Channel". August 11, 2014.
- ↑ "NoSirGifts Sells Lafayette IN CW Affiliation to DakMedia". December 22, 2014.
