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WXXA-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Upstate New York's Capital District and Western New England. Licensed to Albany, it broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 7 (or virtual channel 23.1 via PSIP) from a transmitter in the Helderberg Escarpment southwest of New Scotland's Voorheesville section. Owned by Shield Media, WXXA is operated through joint sales and shared services agreements by Media General. This makes it a sister outlet to ABC affiliate WTEN and the two outlets share studios on Northern Boulevard in Albany's Bishop's Gate section. Syndicated programming on WXXA includes ''The Big Bang Theory'', ''The Simpsons'', ''Family Guy'', ''Seinfeld'', ''Judge Judy'' and ''The People's Court'' among others. ==History== WXXA was signed-on July 30, 1982 and aired an analog signal on UHF channel 23. It was the first new commercial station to launch in the Capital District in 28 years. A construction permit had been issued for channel 23 in the 1950s with the calls WPTR-TV; that permit was canceled in 1960. Rumors had previously abounded that NBC would move its programming to the new channel 23 after WRGB switched to CBS in 1981. However, the network ended up affiliating with WNYT. The station's original owner was Albany TV 23, Inc. which in turn, was owned by a group of investors led by Founding President and Station Manager Jim Boaz, Hollywood director Arthur Penn, and former FDIC director William Seidman. Through Penn, it was able to secure financing from movie production company Orion Pictures. On October 9, 1986, it became a charter affiliate of Fox. Shortly afterward, Albany TV 23 sold the station to Heritage Broadcasting. The station picked up programming from the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN) block in 1993. In 1994, Heritage sold the station to Clear Channel Communications, predating Clear Channel's sizable expansion of television assets in the Northeast in the following years. Clear Channel soon moved WXXA from its original studios on Central Avenue/NYS Route 5 in Albany (now a car dealership) to an expanded facility on Corporate Circle in Albany's Dunes section). When UPN launched on January 16, 1995, WXXA dropped PTEN and aired programming from UPN off-hours on weekends. Cable viewers in virtually the entire market were also able to watch UPN in pattern on WSBK-TV in Boston, which had been available on cable in the area for decades. WXXA's secondary affiliation ended at the start of the 1997-1998 television season when UPN affiliated with low-powered WVBG-LP in Greenwich. The network was picked up again by WXXA after this station, in partnership with Time Warner Cable, launched cable-only affiliate "WEDG-TV" in January 2000. Eventually known on-air as "UPN 4" after its channel location, the station signed-off in August 2003 concurrent with the sign-on of over-the-air UPN affiliate WNYA which was operated by WRGB. WXXA-DT began airing on VHF channel 7 on December 20, 2005. A combination of objections from analog co-channels WABC-TV (in New York City) and WWNY-TV (in Watertown), whose signals reach the fringes of the Albany area, was the primary reason for the late and delayed sign-on. On April 20, 2007, Clear Channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television station group to Providence Equity Partners' Newport Television (the deal closed in March 2008). On July 19, 2012, Newport Television announced the sale of 22 of its 27 stations to the Nexstar Broadcasting Group, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Cox Media Group.〔(Newport Sells 22 Stations For $1 Billion ), ''TVNewsCheck'', July 19, 2012.〕 While most of WXXA-TV's New York State sisters were sold to Nexstar, that company opted not to buy WXXA because it already owns or controls 10 stations there. Sinclair could not purchase WXXA-TV because it already owned CBS affiliate WRGB and The CW affiliate WCWN. While Nexstar and Sinclair passed on buying WXXA, the station eventually found a new owner on July 27, 2012 when Newport Television announced the sale of the station to Shield Media, LLC (owned by White Knight Broadcasting Vice President Sheldon Galloway) for $19.2 million. Shield then entered into certain shared service and joint sales agreements with Young Broadcasting, owners of ABC affiliate WTEN.〔(Shield Buying Newport's WXXA For $19.4M ), ''TVNewsCheck'', July 27, 2012.〕 The FCC granted the transaction on October 23,〔()〕 and it was finalized on December 14. After consummation of the sale, WXXA moved from its Corporate Circle facility into WTEN's studios on March 23, 2013. On November 8, 2013, Media General shareholders approved the company’s merger with New Young Broadcasting, which was completed on November 12. The merged company kept the Media General name, and will continue its shared service and joint sales agreements with Shield Media. 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「WXXA-TV」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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