| dbo:abstract | - WOTV (channel 41) is a television station licensed to Battle Creek, Michigan, United States, serving West Michigan as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Grand Rapids–licensed NBC affiliate WOOD-TV (channel 8) and Class A MyNetworkTV affiliate WXSP-CD (channel 15). The stations share studios on College Avenue Southeast in Grand Rapids, while WOTV's transmitter is located on South Norris Road in Orangeville Township. WOTV brands itself as ABC 4 West Michigan based on its channel 4 position on most area cable systems, though it is on channel 41 on Dish Network, along with DirecTV and its IPTV service U-verse TV. The Grand Rapids–Kalamazoo–Battle Creek market is one of five American television markets that are served by two separate affiliates of the same network. Locally, ABC programming is also seen on WZZM (channel 13, owned by Tegna Inc.), which is based out of Grand Rapids. Although WZZM clears all network programming and operates a full news department, its digital signal cannot reach Battle Creek, Kalamazoo and other areas within the southern portions of the market. This is because its transmitter is located northwest of Grand Rapids in Grant, farther north than the area's other network stations. While WOTV once focused primarily on the southern portion of the market in an area between the respective signals of WZZM and South Bend, Indiana's WBND-LD, in recent years it has billed itself as a full-market ABC affiliate, including Grand Rapids in its coverage area despite WZZM serving as the ABC station of record for that city. Four of the five markets that have such dual-affiliate arrangements involve ABC affiliates, which exist in Grand Rapids–Kalamazoo–Battle Creek, Boston–Manchester, New Hampshire (WCVB-TV and WMUR-TV, the only such arrangement involving stations owned by the same company), Tampa–St. Petersburg–Sarasota, Florida (WFTS-TV and WWSB), and Lincoln–Hastings–Kearney, Nebraska (KLKN and KHGI-TV). The fifth market, Spokane, Washington–Lewiston, Idaho, has two CBS affiliates, KREM and KLEW-TV. (en)
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