WSPF-CA
| St. Petersburg, Florida | |
|---|---|
| Slogan | Your Government in the Sun Television Station |
| Channels | Analog: 35 (UHF) |
| Affiliations | Independent (St. Petersburg city public access) |
| Owner | City of St. Petersubrg (sale pending) |
| Call letters' meaning | W Saint Petersburg Florida |
| Former affiliations | Channel America |
| Transmitter power | 28 kW |
| Facility ID | 11559 |
| Website | http://www.stpete.org/wspf.htm |
WSPF-CA channel 35, is St. Petersburg, Florida's government-access television station, broadcasting City Council meetings and other public service programming for St. Petersburg residents, including the standard 3 hours weekly of children's E/I educational programming mandated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
St. Petersburg's city channel was first established in January 1990 as a cable television-only affair, on cable 15 (since moved to digital channel 615 in December 2007). Prior to then, the city presented some programs as part of a Local Origination channel on Paragon Cable (since succeeded by Bright House Networks).
Channel 35 originally had its start in the early-1990s as W35AJ, which presented general entertainment programming from the Channel America network (which owned the station). However, the station was on only intermittently, and would be off the air for weeks at a time. Ch.35 was already dark for a couple of years when St. Petersburg acquired the station in February 1995. In December 1999, the calls were changed to WSPF-CA.
WSPF-CA holds a Construction Permit to broadcast a digital signal on channel 38, the former frequency held by WTTA; ironically, the city of St. Petersburg originally founded the previous occupant of the channel 38 frequency, WSUN-TV, in 1953.
On November 3, 2011, it was announced that the City of St. Petersburg is in discussion of selling WSPF-CA to Prime Time Partners, a broadcaster based in Miami Lakes; the company has placed a $500,000 bid to buy the station. If the sale succeeds, Prime Time Partners plan to convert the channel to digital, with a Spanish-language service broadcasting on 35.1, and the city continuing to use the transmitter, but broadcasting on a subchannel. The city announced that the station was up for sale in July 2011, due to the expense of converting the station to digital. [1]
[edit] References
- ^ St. Petersburg Times: "City's TV channel may have a buyer", November 4, 2011.
[edit] External links
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