WOTF-TV

WOTF-TV (channel 26) is a television station licensed to Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, serving the Orlando area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Grit. The station is owned by Entravision Communications, and has a transmitter near Orange City, Florida.

History

The station was assigned on February 9, 1987, with the call sign of WLSY. On December 10 of that year, the call sign was changed to WAYQ. In 1988, Beach TV Partners signed on WAYQ at channel 26 as a simulcast of Melbourne's WAYK, giving them a signal in Daytona Beach. In early August 1990, owner Beach Television Partners based in Vero Beach filed for Chapter 11 reorganization over an inability to renegotiation loan payment schedule. At the time, the station was only carried part-time on CableVision of Central Florida, Orlando's major cable system. WAYK was affiliated with the Beach TV investor, Harry Handley, who founded the Star Television Network.^[2] The network launched in September 1990 only to close down on January 14, 1991.^[3]

In 1992, WAYK and WAYQ were both sold to Robert Rich, who changed their format to feature more paid programming.^{[citation needed]} The two stations' callsigns were respectively changed to WIRB^{[citation needed]} and WNTO on July 22, 1996.

WVEN and WOTF

In 1996, the two stations were split up with Paxson Communications acquiring WIRB (whose call letters would be changed to the present day WOPX-TV), while WNTO was purchased by Entravision Communications. On November 23, 2000, WVEN-TV became the station's call sign and the station also affiliated with Univision.

On December 4, 2017, as part of a multi-market realignment, the programming and call signs of WVEN-TV and sister station WOTF were swapped: WVEN-TV and its Univision programming moved to the Univision-owned channel 43 facility, while Entravision's digital channel 49 and virtual channel 26 facility became the new home of UniMás affiliate WOTF-TV.^[4]

On October 13, 2021, Univision announced it would take over operation of WVEN, as well as Tampa Bay Univision affiliate WVEA-TV, effective January 1, 2022, coinciding with the end of licensing agreements on December 31, 2021, effectively ending WOTF's UniMás affiliation.^[5]

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's signal is multiplexed:

Analog-to-digital conversion

WOTF-TV (as WVEN-TV) ended programming on its analog signal, on UHF channel 26, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.^[7] The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 49, using virtual channel 26.

Former translators

WOTF-TV (as WVEN-TV) also previously operated low-power analog translator stations WVCI-LP (channel 16) in Orlando and W46DB (channel 46) in Melbourne.

References

External links