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WFLA-TV, virtual channel 8 (VHF digital channel 7), is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Tampa, Florida, United States and also serving the nearby city of St. Petersburg. It serves as one of two flagship television stations of owner Media General. WFLA maintains studio facilities (co-located with former sister properties ''The Tampa Tribune'' and TBO.com) on South Parker Street in downtown Tampa, and its transmitter is located in Riverview. ==History== The station first signed on the air on February 14, 1955, with a live broadcast of the Gasparilla Pirate Festival. It was originally owned by ''The Tampa Tribune'', along with WFLA radio (970 AM and 93.3 FM, now WFLZ). WFLA-TV has been an NBC affiliate since the station's inception. Largely because of its newspaper background, it was the early ratings leader in the Tampa market until WTVT (channel 13) passed it for first place in 1962. In 1966, Richmond Newspapers, publishers of the ''Richmond Times-Dispatch'' and part-owner of the ''Tribune'', acquired full control of the paper and the WFLA radio and television stations. Three years later, Richmond Newspapers changed its name to Media General, and WFLA-TV, the first television station owned and operated by the company, has been the flagship of its broadcasting group since then. The station's callsign was changed to WXFL on January 19, 1983, after the WFLA radio stations were sold (both radio stations are currently owned by iHeartMedia). At the time, Federal Communications Commission cross-ownership regulations forced Media General to sell the radio stations; however, the company was granted a permanent waiver permitting it to keep ''The Tampa Tribune'' and the television station. Channel 8 reverted to its original WFLA-TV call letters on January 1, 1989. That same year, it surged to first place in the Tampa Bay ratings and has stayed there for most of that time, led by one of the most popular anchor teams in the country. In the midst of a market shake-up in December 1994, which saw three Tampa area stations swapping network affiliations (CBS affiliate WTVT switching to Fox; ABC affiliate WTSP, channel 10, switching to CBS; and Fox affiliate WFTS-TV, channel 28, switching to ABC), WFLA was one of the few major stations in the market that did not change its network affiliation. As a result it became the highest-rated station in the market, a position formerly held by WTVT, which saw its ratings drop after switching from CBS to Fox. However, since NBC's ill-fated primetime experiment with "The Jay Leno Show" from September 2009 to January 2010, WTVT regained the top spot. WFLA and ''The Tampa Tribune'' remained corporate siblings until Media General sold the newspaper to Tampa Media Group Inc. in October 2012 as part of Media General's selloff of its newspaper holdings in a reorganization to alleviate the company's substantial debt load. (With the exception of the ''Tribune'', the company's other newspapers went to World Media Enterprises). Despite the split, the two outlets have continued a newsgathering partnership〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=U.S. News - National News )〕 and their operations remain located adjacent to one another at the downtown Tampa facility. In January 2013, as a result of the sale, WFLA began outsourcing its digital operations and website to Worldnow, as part of a group deal with the company.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.netnewscheck.com/article/23639/media-general-taps-worldnow-cms )〕 Following the takeover of the company by the principal staff of LIN Media, Media General's stations, including WFLA, have since migrated to the WordPress.com-based platform and site design previously introduced by LIN. On August 20, 2014, Media General announced that it would acquire MyNetworkTV affiliate WTTA channel 38 from Sinclair Broadcast Group. The deal made WTTA a sister station to WFLA. 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「WFLA-TV」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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