| ATSC 3.0 station | |
|---|---|
 | |
| |
| City | Bay City, Michigan |
| Channels | |
| Branding | CW 46 |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
|
| Operator | Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| WEYI-TV,WSMH[1] | |
| History | |
| Founded | 2004 (2004) as a digital subchannel |
First air date | September 2006 (19 years ago) (2006-09) |
Former channel numbers |
|
| The WB (2004–2006) | |
Call sign meaning | WB Saginaw-Flint[2]or Bay City-Saginaw-Flint |
| Technical information[3] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 82627 |
| ERP | 600kW |
| HAAT | 365 m (1,198 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 43°13′1″N83°43′17″W / 43.21694°N 83.72139°W /43.21694; -83.72139 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | thecw46 |
WBSF (channel 46), brandedCW 46, is atelevision station licensed toBay City, Michigan, United States, serving northeastern Michigan as an affiliate ofThe CW. It is owned byCunningham Broadcasting, which maintains ashared services agreement (SSA) withSinclair Broadcast Group, owner ofFlint-licensedFox affiliateWSMH (channel 66), for the provision of certain services. Sinclair also operatesSaginaw-licensedNBC affiliateWEYI-TV (channel 25) under a separate SSA with ownerHoward Stirk Holdings.
The three stations share studios on West Pierson Road inMount Morris Township (with a Flintmailing address); WBSF's transmitter is located at its former studios on West Willard Road inVienna Township along theGenesee–Saginaw county line (with aClio mailing address).
A permit was issued by the FCC for a new station on channel 46 in Bay City to Vista Communications Group in late 2003. The station was expected to be theWB network affiliate for the Flint/Tri-Cities market.[4]
On October 1, 2004, the station'sconstruction permit was approved. In that same year,Barrington Broadcasting launched WBSF on cable and on WEYI's seconddigital subchannel, bringing The WB back to the market after a three-year absence (WB programming in-market was last seen on WEYI on a secondary clearance from 1999 to 2001). On February 2, 2005, the FCC transferred the permit toAcme Television then to Barrington.[5]
With the merger of The WB and UPN to becomeThe CW, WBSF became the area's network affiliate in September 2006 when the channel began broadcasting over the air.[5] As a result of the network change, WBSF rebranded from "Mid-Michigan's WB" to "CW 46 Mid-Michigan". However, its call letters were not changed as the "B" in the calls also stands for Bay City which is the station's city of license. "S" and "F" stand for Saginaw and Flint, respectively. WBSF signed-on its analog channel on September 13, 2006, although it continues to be seen on WEYI-DT2. It was the only full-power television station to be built and signed-on by Barrington Broadcasting.
On February 28, 2013, Barrington announced that it would sell its entire group, including WBSF and WEYI, toSinclair Broadcast Group. However, due to FCCduopoly regulations, since Sinclair already ownsFox affiliateWSMH, Sinclair transferred the license assets of WBSF toCunningham Broadcasting and of WEYI toHoward Stirk Holdings (owned by conservative talk show hostArmstrong Williams). WSMH took over the operations of both WBSF and WEYI throughlocal marketing agreements when the deal was completed[6] on November 25.[7]
WBSF has served as an alternate NBC affiliate. In 2006, the channel aired an episode ofFriday Night Lights on tape delay due to WEYI's broadcast of the second Michigan gubernatorial debate. The station may air any preempted NBC program should the preemption occur on WEYI for a local special, breaking news story, any other emergency, or beginning in August 2017,Detroit Lions preseason football.
WBSF once aired a weeknight newscast calledThe 7 O'Clock News on CW 46 which was produced by WEYI. This production was canceled in April 2008.[citation needed] The station, being operated by Sinclair and a CW affiliate, may carry sports from Sinclair Networks'Stadium as it was slated for its CW or My Network TV affiliated stations.[8]
The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on themultiplexed signals of sister stations WEYI and WSMH:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming | ATSC 1.0 host |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 46.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | CW | The CW | WEYI-TV |
| 46.3 | 480i | Charge! | Charge! | WSMH |
In June 2008, WBSF received its construction permit for its digital facilities with the station switching from analog to digital broadcasting on June 12, 2009.[5]
The station began broadcasting inATSC 3.0 on March 15, 2022, carrying the signal of that station along withWJRT-TV,WNEM,WSMH, and WEYI-TV.[9]
| Channel | Res. | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.1 | 1080p | WNEM | CBS (WNEM-TV) |
| 12.1 | 720p | WJRT | ABC (WJRT-TV) |
| 25.1 | 1080p | WEYI | NBC (WEYI-TV) |
| 46.1 | WBSF | The CW | |
| 66.1 | 720p | WSMH | Fox (WSMH) |
| 66.10 | 1080p | T2 | T2 |
| 66.11 | PBTV | Pickleballtv | |
| 66.20 | GMLOOP | GameLoop | |
| 66.21 | ROXi | ROXi |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the state ofMichigan | ||
|---|---|---|
Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Michigan | ||
| ABC | ||
| CBS | ||
| Fox | ||
| NBC | ||
| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
| Religious | ||
| Spanish |
| |
| Other | ||
| ATSC 3.0 | ||
| ||
| Stations |
|  | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Networks |
| |||||||||||||||||
| Programming | ||||||||||||||||||
| Acquisitions |
| |||||||||||||||||
** Owned by third parties and operated by Sinclair through various operating agreements. *** Owned by Sinclair and operated byMarquee Broadcasting. JV Joint venture. | ||||||||||||||||||
