 | This article needs to beupdated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(October 2023) |
| ATSC 3.0 station | |
|---|---|
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| Channels | |
| Branding | WMBQ FNX |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | 46.1:First Nations Experience |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| NJ PBS,WEER,WLIW,WLIW-FM,WNDT-CD,WNET | |
| History | |
| Founded | February 11, 1993; 32 years ago (1993-02-11) |
First air date | March 13, 1997 (28 years ago) (1997-03-13) |
Former call signs |
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Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | Manhattan,Brooklyn,Queens |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 14322 |
| Class | CD |
| ERP | 72 kW |
| HAAT | 495.6 m (1,626 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 40°42′46.8″N74°0′47.3″W / 40.713000°N 74.013139°W /40.713000; -74.013139 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | wnet |
WMBQ-CD (channel 46) is aclass A television station in New York City, affiliated withFirst Nations Experience (FNX). Owned by The WNET Group, it issister station to the city's twoPBS member stations,Newark, New Jersey–licensedWNET (channel 13) andGarden City, New York–licensedWLIW (channel 21), as well as WNDT-CD (channel 14).
Under achannel sharing arrangement, WMBQ-CD shares transmitter facilities with WLIW atOne World Trade Center. Despite WMBQ-CD legally holding alow-power class A license, it transmits using WLIW's full-power spectrum. This ensures complete reception across the New York Citytelevision market.
Aconstruction permit for UHF channel 22 inCranford, New Jersey, was granted toCraig Fox with alpha-numeric call-sign W22BM on February 11, 1993; it signed on in March 1997. The call-sign was changed to WLBX-LP on April 24, 1998. WLBX-LP was previously an affiliate ofThe Box until that network's acquisition byViacom in 2001; the station then carriedMTV2 like many other former Box stations. OnSeptember 11, 2001, WLBX-LP aired footage fromCNN andTechTV.
The call sign was changed to WMBQ-CA in 2004. In 2006, Renard Communications Corp. (the Craig Fox-controlled company that by then held the license) began transitioning to a new studio and transmitter they were constructing in Manhattan. Due to this change, WMBQ-CA was displaced from channel 22 to channel 46, and the city of license was changed from Cranford to New York City. On August 17, 2007, Renard Communications Corp. announced that would sell its three stations toEquity Media Holdings for $8 million.[2] However, the transaction had a closing deadline set for June 1, 2008, and either party could cancel the sale if it were not completed by then. The sale had not been consummated by June 19 of that year, as the company was making budget cuts elsewhere;[3] and later that year, Equity Media Holdings enteredChapter 11 bankruptcy. On January 3, 2008, WMBQ-CA wentdark, reportedly as a result of moving to a new transmitter site.[4]
In mid-2011, Renard sold WMBQ for $5,250,000 to Prime Time Partners LLC, whose main principals are Jose Rodríguez and Marisol Messir.[5]
The call sign was changed to WMBQ-CD on April 23, 2012, when the station completed its digital transition. Long-form infomercial programming was added full-time; however, later that year, Canal SOI was added after having been removed fromWNJU-DT3, which had aired it for a year. The SOI programming ended in 2013, and infomercial programming was once again added back to the subchannel, with just one local program airing, themorning showAl Día. This format continued through late December; Biz TV was then added, making WMBQ-CD the first station to air financial programming in the New York City TV market sinceWBIS aired financial programming from 1996 to 1998.
In theFederal Communications Commission (FCC)'sincentive auction, WMBQ-CD sold its spectrum for $28,313,224 and indicated that it would enter into a post-auction channel sharing agreement.[6] On September 29, 2017, the station entered into a channel sharing agreement withWNET (channel 13); concurrently, Prime Time Partners agreed to donate the WMBQ license to WNET.[7][8] The donation was completed on December 22, 2017;[9] the next day, WMBQ-CD was taken off-the-air while WNET prepared to move the shared transmitter toOne World Trade Center.[10] The station returned to the air in November 2018 as an affiliate ofMHz Worldview. After MHz Networks announced in January that MHz Worldview would cease operations by March 1, 2020, in favor of digitalstreaming, WNET switched its programming toFirst Nations Experience.[11]
WMBQ-CD transmits one channel on themultiplex shared with WLIW:
| License | Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WLIW | 2.1 | 1080p | 16:9 | WCBS-HD | CBS (WCBS-TV) |
| 4.1 | WNBC-HD | NBC (WNBC) | |||
| 13.1 | WNET-HD | PBS (WNET) | |||
| 21.1 | WLIW-HD | PBS | |||
| 47.1 | WNJU-HD | Telemundo (WNJU) | |||
| WMBQ-CD | 46.1 | 480i | WMBQ-CD | First Nations Experience |
A third subchannel, EEE, a Spanish-language religious network, was added in 2014 but with low audio levels. In January 2015, EEE was replaced with long-forminfomercial programming. Biz TV was previously on WMBQ's primary channel 46.1 until it was donated to WNET.