WPXW-TV

WPXW-TV (channel 66) is a television station licensed to Manassas, Virginia, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network to the Washington, D.C. area. The station is owned by Ion Media, and maintains business offices in Fairfax Station, Virginia; its transmitter is located on River Road in Bethesda, Maryland. WPXW-TV is one of two Ion outlets that serve the Baltimore market (alongside WMAR-DT5).

WPXW-TV
CityManassas, Virginia
Channels
BrandingIon
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
WWPX-TV, WMAR-TV
History
First air date
March 26, 1978 (1978-03-26)
Former call signs
  • WTKK (1978–1994)
  • WVVI (1994–1998)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 66 (UHF, 1978–2009)
  • Digital: 43 (UHF, 2001–2009), 34 (UHF, 2009–2020)
Call sign meaning
Pax Washington, D.C.
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID74091
ERP949 kW
HAAT234.1 m (768 ft)
Transmitter coordinates38°57′49.9″N 77°6′17.2″W
Translator(s)WWPX-TV 60 (12 VHF) Martinsburg, WV
Links
Public license information
Websiteiontelevision.com

WWPX-TV (channel 60) in Martinsburg, West Virginia, operates as a full-time satellite of WPXW-TV.

History

Channel 66 signed on as WTKK, an independent religious station owned by National Capital Christian Broadcasting, in 1978. The call letters stood for "Witnessing the King of Kings". In 1982, they added some classic sitcoms and very old movies to the lineup, but by 1986, they reverted to mostly religious. From 1984 until 1986, WTKK had a sister station in Richmond, WTLL. In 1994, WTKK was purchased by ValueVision, a home shopping network, and on June 6, 1994, the call letters were changed to WVVI. Paxson Communications purchased the station in 1997, and on January 13, 1998, the call letters were changed to the current WPXW. The station was an all-infomercial channel ("inTV") from the time that Paxson bought the station until the Pax network launched on August 31, 1998. The station had the rights to the 2005 season of Baltimore Orioles games in the Washington area that were produced by MASN. It was formerly known as "Pax 66", before the Pax network changed its name to i: Independent Television and later Ion Television.

Technical information

Subchannels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

Subchannels of WPXW-TV[2]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
66.1 720p16:9IONIon Television
66.2 BounceBounce TV
66.3 480iCourtTVCourt TV
66.4 LaffLaff
66.5 MysteryIon Mystery
66.6 ScrippsScripps News
66.7 JewelryJewelry Television
66.8 HSNHSN

Analog-to-digital conversion

WPXW-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 66, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal moved from its pre-transition UHF channel 43 to channel 34.[3] Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 66, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

References
  1. "Facility Technical Data for WPXW-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. "RabbitEars.Info". www.rabbitears.info. Archived from the original on August 21, 2017. Retrieved August 21, 2017.
  3. "DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 29, 2013. Retrieved March 24, 2012.
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