Vermont Public Television

Vermont Public Television

statewide Vermont
Slogan	Educate, inform, entertain and inspire
Channels	Digital: see table below
Affiliations	PBS
Owner	Vermont ETV, Inc.
First air date	October 16, 1967
Call letters' meaning	see table below
Former affiliations	NET (1967-1970)
Transmitter power	see table below
Height	see table below
Facility ID	see table below
Transmitter coordinates	see table below
Website	www.vpt.org

Vermont Public Television (VPT) is the PBS member network for the state of Vermont. Originally owned and operated by the University Of Vermont, the network has been operating since October 16, 1967. Eventually, UVM sold off the station to Vermont ETV, Inc., a community-based nonprofit group. Until 1997, it was known as Vermont Educational Television, or Vermont ETV (which is still the station's corporate name).

VPT's studios and offices are in Colchester, near Burlington.

VPT stations

Station	City of license	Channels TV / RF	First air date	Call letters’ meaning	ERP	HAAT	Facility ID	Transmitter Coordinates
WETK	Burlington	33 (PSIP) 32 (UHF)	October 16, 1967	Educational Television	90 kW	830 m	69944	44°31′32″N 72°48′51″W
WVER	Rutland	28 (PSIP) 9 (VHF)	March 18, 1968	VERmont	15 kW	385 m	69946	43°39′31″N 73°6′25″W
WVTB	St. Johnsbury	20 (PSIP) 18 (UHF)	February 26, 1968	VT = postal abbreviation of Vermont B for Burke Mtn. Transmitter Site	75 kW	590 m	69940	44°34′16″N 71°53′39″W
WVTA	Windsor	41 (PSIP) 24 (UHF)	March 18, 1968	VT = postal abbreviation of Vermont A for Ascutney Mtn. Transmitter Site	55.7 kW	692 m	69943	43°26′14.7″N 72°27′7.7″W

VPT was also relayed on analog translators W36AX in Manchester and W53AS in Bennington, until those stations' licenses were cancelled by the Federal Communications Commission on December 28, 2011.

Digital television

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

Digital channels

Channel	Programming
xx.1	Main VPT programming / PBS
xx.2	SD Simulcast of VPT
xx.3	Create
xx.4	PBS World

"xx" = virtual channel number

Fundraising

VPT is the smallest PBS member in New England, and one of the smallest in the entire PBS system. Most of its viewership lives in Canada, principally in Montreal, a city which is ten times larger than the entire population of VPT's American viewing area. It relies heavily on its Canadian viewership for its survival; most of the major stations in Vermont have lessened their reliance on Canadian revenue in recent years. VPT not only takes its large Canadian audience into account in its programming, but it accepts Canadian dollars for its fundraising efforts even though most of them are targeted toward Vermont viewers.

As is true of Vermont's population as a whole, most of VPT's viewership lives primarily in rural areas or in towns and small cities. The only major urban area that its signal reaches is Montreal.

VPT shares much of its most valuable market (the Champlain Valley in Vermont and New York as well as the southern Quebec and Montreal area) with Plattsburgh, New York-based WCFE-TV.

The major stations in the Burlington/Plattsburgh market (including VPT, WCFE, WCAX-TV, WVNY, WPTZ and WFFF-TV) turned off their analog signals on February 17, 2009. For stations such as VPT, the cost of simulcasting during digital transition has been cited as an undue economic burden.

Broadcast area

Vermont Public Television's four transmitters cover almost all of Vermont and bordering regions of New York, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and southern Quebec, including Montreal.

On cable, VPT can be seen on Comcast, Burlington channel 6 and Bennington channel 7, and Charter Plattsburgh channel 3. On Vidéotron's cable systems in Montreal, it can be seen on channel 59 in west Montreal, channel 6 in central and east Montreal, and channel 55 on Illico digital cable.

Some VPT-produced programs can also be seen on WGBY-TV in Springfield, Massachusetts.

See also

• Vermont Public Radio (separate ownership from Vermont Public Television)

External links

• Vermont Public Television web site
• TV Hat : Trivial facts about Southern QC, Upstate NY and VT stations
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WETK
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WVER
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WVTA
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WVTB
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W36AX
• Query the FCC's TV station database for W53AS
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WETK-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WVER-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WVTA-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WVTB-TV