WMYT-TV

WMYT-TV

Rock Hill, South Carolina / Charlotte, North Carolina
Branding	my TV12 (cable channel)
Channels	Digital: 39 (UHF) Virtual: 55 (PSIP)
Affiliations	MyNetworkTV SBN (DT3)
Owner	Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. (WMYT-TV, Inc.)
First air date	October 21, 1994
Call letters' meaning	MYNetworkTV
Sister station(s)	WJZY
Former callsigns	WFVT (1994-2001) WWWB (2001-2006)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 55 (1994-2009)
Former affiliations	independent (1994-1995) The WB (1995-2006) WGTB-LP (2007-2011) (DT3)
Transmitter power	200 kW (digital)
Height	595.3 m (digital)
Facility ID	20624
Transmitter coordinates	35°21′44.5″N 81°9′18.4″W
Website	www.wmyt12.com

WMYT-TV is the MyNetworkTV-affiliate in Charlotte, North Carolina. It broadcasts on digital channel 39 and virtual channel 55. Its branding refers to its position on channel 12 on Charlotte area cable systems. It is owned by Capitol Broadcasting Company along with WJZY. It is licensed to Rock Hill, South Carolina, making it the only commercial station licensed to the South Carolina side of the Charlotte market. However, it shares a studio with WJZY in northwest Charlotte, and maintains transmitter facilities in Dallas, North Carolina.

History

The station began on October 21, 1994 as WFVT, an independent station owned by "Family 55," an Indiana-based group. It was operated by WJZY through a local marketing agreement. It became a charter WB affiliate in 1995, and shortly after that rebranded itself as "WB55". After the FCC relaxed ownership restrictions in 2000, WJZY's owners bought the station outright and changed the calls to WWWB in 2001. Over the years, channel 55 was one of The WB's strongest affiliates. From 2000-2002 the station had a 10 pm newscast produced by WCNC-TV.

Shortly after My Network TV was announced, WWWB was announced as the network's Charlotte affiliate. Its sister station, WJZY, had already joined The CW, a merger of UPN and The WB, effective September that year.[1] This gave Charlotte the nation's first duopoly of The CW and My Network affiliates. For a time in 2006 and 2007, WMYT erected several advertising signs around the Charlotte area describing several Charlotte landmarks as "my ___."

On April 28, 2006, WWWB changed its call letters to WMYT-TV, in anticipation of its new affiliation. [2] WMYT has been the over-the-air home for the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats starting with the 2006-07 season.

Channel 55 had previously been home to a Rock Hill-based low-powered repeater of South Carolina Educational Television from 1974 to 1978, when SCETV programming moved to a full-powered satellite, WNSC-TV on channel 30.

Digital Television

Channel	Name	Video	Aspect	Programming	Branding
55.1	WMYT-HD	720p	16:9	Main WMYT-TV programming / MyNetworkTV	myTV12
55.2	WMYT-SD	480i	4:3	Currently dark	None
55.3	SBN			SonLife Broadcasting Network

The station's digital signal is multiplexed. WMYT-TV ended analog operations on June 12, 2009, as part of the DTV transition in the United States. The station continues broadcasting on UHF channel 39, as channel 55 has been re-allocated nationwide for Qualcomm's MediaFLO system. However, digital television receivers display its virtual channels as 55. In August 2011, it downgraded its HD signal from 1080i to 720p, as MyNetworkTV uses that particular format. The second subchannel was previously an SD simulcast of the main channel, but is now dark. In May 2007, it leased its third digital subchannel to WGTB-LP, a low-powered religious station. On December 5, 2011, WGTB-LP was replaced with SonLife Broadcasting Network (SBN).

Out-of-market cable carriage

In recent years, WMYT has been carried on cable in multiple areas outside of the Charlotte media market. That includes cable systems within the Columbia and Myrtle Beach markets in South Carolina, the Greensboro market in North Carolina, and the Tri-Cities market in Tennessee.

External links

• WMYT-TV website
• Query the FCC's TV station database for WMYT-TV
• BIAfn's Media Web Database -- Information on WMYT-TV