WZDC-CD
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2016) |
 | |
| |
|---|---|
| Channels | |
| Branding | Telemundo 44 (general) Noticiero Telemundo 44 (newscasts) |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | 44.1: Telemundo 44.2: TeleXitos |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| WRC-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | April 1994 |
Former call signs |
|
Former channel number(s) |
|
Call sign meaning | ZGS District of Columbia (former owner) |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 50347 |
| ERP | 1,000 kW |
| HAAT | 244 m (801 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 38°56′24″N 77°4′53″W / 38.94000°N 77.08139°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WZDC-CD (channel 44) is a Class A television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the market's outlet for the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group alongside NBC outlet WRC-TV (channel 4). WZDC-CD and WRC-TV share studios and transmitter facilities on Nebraska Avenue in the Tenleytown neighborhood of northwest Washington.
Despite WZDC-CD legally holding a low-power Class A license, it transmits using sister station WRC-TV's full-power spectrum. This ensures complete reception across the Washington, D.C. television market. WZDC-CD also hosts the master control for sister station WRTD-CD in Raleigh, North Carolina, along with its public file link on WZDC's website.
History
WZDC-CD signed on as W64BW on UHF channel 64 in April 1994, as the Telemundo affiliate in the Washington market. On December 1, 1995, the call letters were changed to WZGS-LP, reflecting the station's ownership, ZGS Broadcasting. On June 27, 2000, the call letters were changed to WZDC-LP. On June 3, 2002, the station began producing Spanish-language local newscasts at 6 and 11 p.m. weeknights.
On April 10, 2007, WZDC-LP moved to channel 25, as channel 64 was to be removed from television broadcasting as a result of the 2009 digital television transition.
The station received class-A status in September 2008, changing callsigns to WZDC-CA to match. An application to build a new digital signal on channel 26 was dismissed in the same month.[2] WZDC eventually received permission to flash-cut to digital on channel 25 in March 2011, and became WZDC-CD in doing so that September.[3]
In the 2016–17 incentive auction, WZDC-CD received $66,182,037 to leave the air, though it indicated that it would maintain over-the-air coverage by entering into a post-auction channel sharing agreement.[4]
On September 6, 2017, NBCUniversal internally announced that it would launch a Telemundo owned-and-operated station based out of WRC-TV (channel 4) in December; a Telemundo spokesperson stated that the sale of WZDC's spectrum "gave us the ability to take back the Telemundo affiliation for this market," without elaborating.[5][6] Subsequently, on December 4, 2017, NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group announced its purchase of ZGS' 13 television stations, including WZDC-CD.[7] As a result of the common ownership, WZDC-CD then entered into a channel-sharing agreement with WRC-TV, under which it ended broadcasts over its own signal on channel 25 and moved to WRC-TV's signal on channel 48.[8] NBCUniversal assumed the operations of WZDC on January 1, 2018 through a local marketing agreement.[9]
The channel-sharing agreement with WRC-TV took effect on March 7, 2018, at which time WZDC shut off its own signal.[10]
As the channel-share went into effect, WZDC's virtual channel number of 25 presented an issue. Virtual channel 25 is already in use by Hagerstown's WDVM-TV, which covers much of the western part of the Washington market and overlaps the signal of WRC-TV. The PSIP standard resolves virtual channel conflicts by assigning the new station a virtual channel number equal to the existing station's physical channel number. As WDVM-TV broadcast over physical channel 26 at the time, the rule would assign WZDC-CD virtual channel 26. However, WETA-TV already uses virtual channel 26 in the market, and there is no further remedy prescribed in the PSIP standard. NBC proposed as a second option virtual channel 64, corresponding to WZDC-CD's original analog channel. This introduces another conflict with WDPB, which overlaps the eastern portion of WRC-TV's coverage area. In this case, the same rule assigned virtual channel 44, which was available.[11]
Local programming
WZDC broadcasts 10 hours of locally produced newscasts each week, at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 11 p.m. on weekdays, along with morning cut-ins during Hoy Día.[12]
Until the 2023 shift of MLS regional rights to Apple TV+, the station carried D.C. United games in Spanish on its TeleXitos subchannel, in tandem with English coverage on NBC Sports Washington.[13]
Subchannels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 44.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | WZDC | Telemundo |
| 44.2 | 480i | XITOS | TeleXitos |
References
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WZDC-CD". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
- ^ "[D]WZDC-LD Facility Data". fccdata.org.
- ^ "WZDC-CD Facility Data". FCCData.
- ^ "FCC Broadcast Television Spectrum Incentive Auction Auction 1001 Winning Bids" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. April 4, 2017. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
- ^ Marszalek, Diana (September 11, 2017). "Telemundo Launching a Washington O&O in December". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
- ^ "Telemundo ends affiliate deal with ZGS to launch O&O in D.C." Media Moves. September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
- ^ Miller, Mark K. (December 4, 2017). "NBCU Adding ZGS Stations To Telemundo". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved December 4, 2017.
- ^ "Modification of a Licensed Facility for Digital Class A TV Station Application". FCC LMS.
- ^ Telemundo Station Group announces leadership team for Telemundo station in Washington, D.C. - NBCUniversal
- ^ "Suspension of Operations of a Digital Class A Station". FCC LMS.
- ^ "WZDC-CD Assignment of Virtual Channel 44". FCC LMS.
- ^ "WZDC Adds More Local News, Rebrands | TVNewsCheck.com". TVNewsCheck. March 8, 2018.
- ^ "D.C. United Announces Partnerships with NBC Sports Washington and TeleXitos".
- ^ RabbitEars TV Query for WZDC-CD