WPXL-TV

WPXL-TV, virtual channel 49 (UHF digital channel 33), is an Ion Television owned-and-operated station licensed to New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. The station is owned by West Palm Beach, Florida-based Ion Media Networks (the former Paxson Communications). WPXL-TV's offices are located on Veterans Memorial Boulevard and Cleary Avenue in Metairie, and its transmitter is located off Paris Road (LA 47) near the Orleans–St. Bernard parish line. On cable, the station is available on Cox Communications channel 49 in both standard and high definition.

WPXL-TV
New Orleans, Louisiana
United States
ChannelsDigital: 33 (UHF)
Virtual: 49 (PSIP)
BrandingIon Television
SloganPositively Entertaining
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
OwnerIon Media Networks
(Ion Media New Orleans License, Inc.)
History
First air dateMarch 19, 1989 (1989-03-19)
(first incarnation)
May 25, 1994 (1994-05-25)
(current incarnation)
Last air dateMay 23, 1990 (1990-05-23)
(1 year, 65 days)
(first incarnation)
Former call signsWCCL (1989–1990; 1994–1998)
Former channel number(s)Analog:
49 (UHF, 1989–1990; 1994–2009)
Digital:
50 (UHF, until 2020)
Former affiliationsIndependent (1989–1990)
CBS (secondary) (1989–1990)
Dark (1990–1994)
HSN (1994–1998)
Call sign meaningPaX Louisiana
Technical information
Licensing authorityFCC
Facility ID21729
ERP1000 kW
HAAT311.2 m (1,021 ft)
Transmitter coordinates29°58′58″N 89°56′58″W
Links
Public license informationProfile
LMS
Websiteiontelevision.com

History

Early history

The station first signed on the air on March 19, 1989 as WCCL; it originally operated as an independent station with a general entertainment format, along with numerous CBS programs preempted by WWL. Due to financial issues, the station ceased operations and went off the air on May 23, 1990. Flinn Broadcasting Corporation purchased the station's license three years later and returned channel 49 to the air on May 25, 1994, carrying programming from the Home Shopping Network. The station changed its call letters to WPXL-TV on August 31, 1998; that same day, the station became a charter affiliate of the family-oriented network Pax TV (now Ion Television).

As part of the affiliation deal with Pax TV, Flinn Broadcasting entered into a time brokerage agreement with Pax TV owner Paxson Communications to operate the station. On July 30, 2001. Paxson entered into a joint sales agreement with Hearst-Argyle Television (now Hearst Television), owner of NBC affiliate WDSU (channel 6), to provide advertising and marketing services for WPXL.[1]

Hurricane Katrina

In early September 2005, shortly after Hurricane Katrina made landfall in southern Louisiana, WPXL partnered with WDSU, whose transmitter building in Chalmette was damaged due to flooding caused by the storm, to simulcast channel 6's programming.[2] The station also added programming from The Worship Network and the signals of the Tribune Broadcasting-owned duopoly of ABC affiliate WGNO (channel 26) and CW affiliate WNOL (channel 38) as subchannels on its digital signal for New Orleans area residents that had television sets with built-in digital tuners.

On March 29, 2008, almost a month after WGNO and WNOL resumed digital transmissions over WNOL's digital allocation on UHF channel 15, WPXL began to carry the Ion-owned children's network Qubo and lifestyle network Ion Life on digital channels 49.2 and 49.3; both networks had launched a year-and-a-half after Katrina hit the area.

Sale to Ion Media Networks

On August 21, 2007, Ion Media Networks announced that it would purchase WPXL-TV and Memphis sister station WPXX from Flinn Broadcasting outright for $18 million.[3] The sale was completed on January 2, 2008, with WPXL becoming an Ion Television owned-and-operated station.[4]

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Channel Video Aspect PSIP Short Name Programming
49.1720p16:9IONMain Ion Television programming
49.2480i4:3quboQubo
49.3IONPlusIon Plus
49.4ShopIon Shop
49.5QVCQVC
49.6HSNHSN

[5]

Analog-to-digital conversion

WPXL shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 49, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition UHF channel 50.[6] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 49.

Newscasts

In September 2001, as part of the JSA with that station, WPXL began airing tape delayed rebroadcasts of NBC affiliate WDSU's 10:00 p.m. newscasts each Monday through Friday evening at 10:30 p.m. (beginning shortly before that program's live broadcast ended on WDSU). The news share agreement ended on June 30, 2005 (coinciding with Pax's rebranding as i: Independent Television), due to Paxson Communications' decision to discontinue carriage of network affiliate newscasts as a result of Pax TV's financial troubles.

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References
  1. Pax, NBC reach four JSAs, Broadcasting & Cable, July 30, 2001.
  2. New Orleans Station Gets Boost From Paxson, Broadcasting & Cable, September 7, 2005.
  3. Ion Grabs Two Stations, Broadcasting & Cable, August 21, 2007.
  4. ION MEDIA NETWORKS COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF WPXX IN MEMPHIS AND WPXL IN NEW ORLEANS Archived 2008-02-22 at the Wayback Machine, Ion Media Networks, January 2, 2008.
  5. RabbitEars TV Query for WPXL
  6. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-08-29. Retrieved 2012-03-24.
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