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WSPA-TV, virtual and VHF digital channel 7, is a CBS-affiliated television station located in Spartanburg, South Carolina, United States. The station is owned by Media General, as part of a duopoly with CW affiliate WYCW (channel 62). The two stations share studio facilities located on International Drive (near I-26 and I-85 Bus) in Spartanburg, which also serves as the master control hub for Media General's CBS-affiliated stations; WSPA maintains transmitter facilities located on Hogback Mountain in northeastern Greenville County (southwest of Tryon, North Carolina). ==History== The station first signed on the air on April 29, 1956. It was founded by Spartan Radiocasting (owned by broadcasting pioneer Walter J. Brown), owners of WSPA radio (950 AM, now WOLI at 910 AM; and 98.9 FM). The station has been a CBS affiliate since its sign-on. Spartan Radiocasting bought several other radio and television stations over the years, and was renamed Spartan Communications in 1995. WSPA began broadcasting a 24-hour schedule in July of that same year, after previously having signed off during the overnight hours on Fridays and Saturdays. The WSPA radio stations were sold off in 1998, but WSPA-TV remained the flagship of the company until it merged with Media General in 2000. Prior to this, channel 7 was the last remaining locally-owned television station in the market. The station shared some resources with WNEG-TV (now WGTA) in Toccoa, Georgia while that station was co-owned with WSPA beginning in 1995; this included that station receiving the CBS affiliation for northeast Georgia. This arrangement was terminated after WNEG was sold to the University of Georgia in 2008. Due to its transmitter location – just over above average terrain – WSPA has one of the largest signal coverage areas on the East Coast. WSPA's over-the-air signal can be received as far north as Blowing Rock, North Carolina, which has line-of-sight to Hogback Mountain despite being approximately away. However, WSPA is not carried on cable providers in that area. On March 1, 2009, WSPA's original tower on Hogback Mountain collapsed due to a combination of heavy icing and high winds, hitting the main auxiliary tower as it fell. WSPA's digital signal was restored using a digital subchannel of sister station WYCW (channel 62); while the station received a replacement antenna on March 4, it was without its analog signal for one week after the accident. A new tower was activated in September 2009. Prior to the March 2009 tower collapse, WSPA provided grade B coverage as far east as Charlotte. It appeared in the television listings inserts in the ''Charlotte Observer'' well into the 1990s. Before the arrival of the Carolina Panthers, WSPA was known to air a different NFL game than what aired on Charlotte's WBTV, giving Charlotte-area viewers a second option for NFL games. This was especially true when the Atlanta Falcons and Washington Redskins played at the same time. On September 8, 2015, Media General announced that it would acquire the Meredith Corporation for $2.4 billion, with the combined group to be renamed Meredith Media General once the sale is finalized. Because Meredith already owns WHNS, and the two stations rank among the four highest-rated stations in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Anderson-Asheville market in total day viewership, the companies will be required to sell either WSPA or WHNS to comply with FCC ownership rules as well as recent changes to those rules regarding same-market television stations that restrict sharing agreements; sister station WYCW is the only one of the three stations affected by the merger that can legally be acquired by Meredith Media General either by maintaining the existing duopoly with WSPA or forming a new duopoly with WHNS, as its total day viewership ranks below the top-four ratings threshold. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「WSPA-TV」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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