WMDE

WMDE (channel 36) is a television station licensed to Dover, Delaware, United States. Owned by WRNN-TV Associates, the station maintains a transmitter in the unincorporated community of Wye Mills in Talbot County, Maryland, 41 miles (66 km) southwest of Dover. Despite its physical location well east of the center of the market and across Chesapeake Bay, the station is assigned by Nielsen to the Washington, D.C. television market. With the repeal of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s Main Studio Rule in 2019, WMDE is fully automated out of WRNN-TV's studios in Rye Brook, New York, with no local presence whatsoever.

WMDE
CityDover, Delaware
Channels
BrandingWMDE 36
Programming
Affiliations36.1: ShopHQ
for others, see § Subchannels
Ownership
Owner
History
FoundedMay 4, 2011
First air date
May 24, 2013 (2013-05-24)
Soul of the South Network
Newsmax TV
Doctor TV
Call sign meaning
Washington (D.C.), Maryland, and Delaware
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID189357
ERP10 kW
HAAT145 m (476 ft)
Transmitter coordinates38°57′17.3″N 76°5′34.8″W
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.wmdetv.com

Outside of a morning rebroadcast of the Japanese network Fuji TV's News Catch program, the station's schedule on its main channel is made up of home shopping programming from ShopHQ, which also airs on the main channel of all of WRNN's stations.

History

WMDE signed on May 24, 2013. The station was originally owned by Western Pacific Broadcast LLC.[2]

Shortly after sign-on, Nielsen granted WMDE's request to be assigned to the Washington market instead of Philadelphia (where Dover is located) or Baltimore (where Wye Mills is located). WMDE is thus carried on every cable and satellite provider in the Washington market, with the exception of Cox Communications, which filed a complaint to the FCC seeking to avoid carriage and prevailed in 2015. Although the FCC's ruling called Nielsen's market modification decision "inexplicable", must-carry rules otherwise defer to Nielsen with respect to market assignment.[3]

WRNN-TV Associates agreed to acquire the station for $11.5 million on April 25, 2018;[4] the sale was completed on July 11, 2018.[5]

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WMDE[6]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
36.1 720p16:9WMDE.1ShopHQ
36.2 DefyDefy TV
36.3 480iHeartlaHeartland
36.4 RetroTVRetro TV
36.5 ArirangArirangTV
36.6 WMDE.6Blank
36.7 4:3WMDE.7OnTV4U
36.8 16:9ShopLCShop LC
36.9 CRTVNOST

References
  1. "Facility Technical Data for WMDE". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. "FCC Ownership Report Search Results - Facility ID 189358". FCC.gov. Federal Communications Commission.
  3. "In the Matter of CoxComm, LLC for Modification of the Market of WMDE, Dover, Delaware" (PDF). Federal Communications Commission. October 13, 2015.
  4. "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. May 1, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  5. "Consummation Notice". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. July 11, 2018. Retrieved July 25, 2018.
  6. "Digital TV Market Listing for WMDE". RabbitEars.Info. Retrieved April 11, 2023.
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