 | |
| Type | Non-commercial educationalbroadcast television network |
|---|---|
| Branding | PBS North Carolina |
| Country | United States |
| Availability | statewideNorth Carolina |
| TV stations | See§ Stations |
| TV transmitters | 12 |
| Headquarters | 10 UNC-TV Drive,Research Triangle Park, NC |
| Owner | University of North Carolina |
Launch date | January 8, 1955; 70 years ago (1955-01-08) |
Picture format | |
| Affiliations | PBS,APT |
Formeraffiliations | NET (1955–1970) |
Official website | www |
TheUniversity of North Carolina Center for Public Media, brandedPBS North Carolina or commonlyPBS NC, is apublic television network serving the state ofNorth Carolina. It is operated by theUniversity of North Carolina system, which holds the licenses for all but one of the thirteenPBSmembertelevision stations licensed in the state—WTVI (channel 42) inCharlotte is owned byCentral Piedmont Community College. The broadcast signals of the twelve television stations cover almost all of the state, as well as parts ofGeorgia,South Carolina,Tennessee, andVirginia. The network's operations are located at the Joseph and Kathleen Bryan Communications Center atResearch Triangle Park betweenRaleigh andDurham.
WUNC-TV inChapel Hill, the state network'sflagship station, first signed on the air on January 8, 1955, as the secondnon-commercial educational television station located south ofWashington, D.C.—one day afterCheaha,Alabama–licensedWCIQ-TV. Over the next twelve years, four moresatellite stations signed on. WUND-TV inEdenton (originally WUNB-TV, licensed toColumbia) was the first of these satellites to debut on September 10, 1965, followed by the launches of WUNE-TV inLinville, WUNF-TV inAsheville, and WUNG-TV inConcord—all on September 11, 1967, and WUNJ-TV inWilmington on June 4, 1971. This was supplemented with a network oftranslator stations in theAppalachian Mountains that also allowed the network's programming to reach across the entire state.
Five additional satellites debuted afterward: WUNK-TV inGreenville in May 1972, WUNL-TV inWinston-Salem in February 1973, WUNM-TV inJacksonville in November 1982, WUNP-TV inRoanoke Rapids in October 1986, and WUNU-TV inLumberton in September 1996. The state network's youngest station, WUNW inCanton, signed on in July 2010 to replace a translator that had served the area since the 1980s. The state network was branded on-air asNorth Carolina Public Television from 1979 to the mid-1990s, when it rebranded itself asUniversity of North Carolina Television. It simplified the brand name toUNC-TV later in the 1990s; it had previously used that brand for most of the 1970s. On January 12, 2021, in recognition of PBS' growing online content delivery, the state network rebranded itself as "PBS North Carolina," while continuing to acknowledge its ties to the university system as being "Powered by the UNC System".[1]
The state network produces many programs of local interest, including the weeknightly public affairs programNorth Carolina Now,Our State,Carolina Outdoor Journal,Exploring North Carolina,North Carolina Bookwatch withD. G. Martin, and special programs about the state'shistory andculture. It also producesThe Woodwright's Shop,Growing a Greener World,The Zula Patrol, andSong of the Mountains for national distribution. In addition to PBS andAmerican Public Television programs and local productions, the station also runs programming from theUnited Kingdom, including "Britcoms" on Saturday evenings and thesoap operaEastEnders on Sunday evenings. In the 1990s, UNC-TV introduced "Read-A-Roo," akangaroo used as themascot for the network's children's programming. PBS North Carolina airs its ownpublic affairs programming on Sunday mornings.
PBS NC operates twelve stations that relay its programming across the entire state as well as into portions of Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Each station's callsign consists of "UN" for the University of North Carolina, followed by a letter assigned sequentially in the order in which it was activated, except for the first station.
PBS NC's current over-the-air digital configuration, which ismultiplexed among three subchannels, was introduced on September 25, 2008. On that date, UNC-TV revised its subchannel lineup on its stations, reducing the number of channels to three: UNC-TV (the main channel of each station, which now carries high definition programming), and thestandard definition-only services UNC-KD and UNC-EX ("The Explorer Channel"). UNC-TV HD and UNC-EX are also available toDirecTV customers with MPEG4-compatible receivers. Prior to February 1, 2016,Time Warner Cable customers also received UNC-MX (described as "an eclectic mix of programming for adults") in standard definition; the North Carolina Channel has since replaced UNC-MX on Time Warner Cable systems.[5] Prior to November 1, 2009, the third subchannel was named UNC-NC.[6]
This configuration is used for WUND, WUNF, WUNG, WUNJ, WUNK, and WUNU:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | PBS NC | PBS |
| xx.2 | 480i | ROOTLE | PBS Kids Channel | |
| xx.3 | UNC-EX | The Explorer Channel[8] | ||
| xx.4 | NCCHL | The North Carolina Channel |
This configuration is used for WUNC and WUNL:
| License | Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WUNC-TV/WUNL-TV | 4.1/26.1 | 1080i | 16:9 | PBS NC | PBS |
| 4.2/26.2 | 480i | ROOTLE | PBS Kids Channel | ||
| 4.3/26.3 | UNC-EX | The Explorer Channel | |||
| 4.4/26.4 | NCCHL | The North Carolina Channel | |||
| WRAY-TV/WLXI | 30.1/43.1 | 1080i | WRAY/WLXI | TCT |
An alternate configuration is used for WUNE, WUNM, WUNP, and WUNW. The original purpose for this was to obtainmust-carry status for UNC-KD since those are secondary stations in their respectivemarkets.[10] On June 15, 2010, UNC-KD switched subchannels with UNC-EX on the four stations previously mentioned, which transferred UNC-KD's must-carry status to UNC-EX.[11]
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| xx.1 | 480i | 16:9 | UNC-EX | The Explorer Channel |
| xx.2 | 1080i | PBS NC | PBS | |
| xx.3 | 480i | ROOTLE | PBS Kids Channel | |
| xx.4 | NCCHL | The North Carolina Channel |
Subscribers ofCharter Spectrum, the majorcable provider in the state, have direct-fiber optic versions of each of PBS North Carolina's networks rather than an antenna feed of their local station, as Spectrum forerunner companyTime Warner Cable built out a direct connection to PBS NC's studios at the RTP, a connection inherited by Spectrum parentCharter Communications when it merged with Time Warner Cable in 2016.
Cable providers with a direct fiber optic link to UNC-TV (including Spectrum) formerly had exclusivity in carrying UNC-MX (formerly UNC-ED) on theirdigital tiers. UNC-MX featured a mix of how-to and public affairs programs, along with encore presentations of programs originally broadcast on main UNC-TV service. On February 1, 2016, UNC-MX was renamed UNC-NC "The North Carolina Channel" and was added over-the-air on DT-4, allowing full access to the service by over-the-air and non-Spectrum viewers.[13] On July 2, 2016, UNC-KD was rebranded as ROOTLE.[14]
Prior to September 25, 2008, UNC-TV formerly operated four digital channels: in addition to the main signal on the primary channel, the second digital subchannel of each station carriedUNC-HD (which carried PBS and regional programming in high-definition), the third subchannel carriedUNC-KD (which carried children's programs), the fourth subchannel carriedUNC-ED (an educational television service) and the fifth subchannel carriedUNC-NC (centering on North Carolinapublic affairs and original local productions). Due to bandwidth limitations at the time, the over-the-air feed of UNC-HD was only available between 8-11 p.m., during which UNC-ED and UNC-NC ceased transmission in the interim. Cable systems with a direct fiber link to UNC-TV facilities aired all five channels on a 24-hour schedule.
On April 16, 2018,WRAY-TV andWLXI were merged onto WUNC's spectrum, after parent companyTri-State Christian Television (TCT) sold the stations' individual bandwidth in the 2016 FCCincentive auction.[15][16] WUNC is the only station in the 12-station network that has a channel sharing agreement.[17]
UNC-TV's stations ended regular programming on their analog signals on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United Statestransitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital channel allocations pre- and post-transition are as follows:[18]
| Call sign | Analog channel | Pre-transition digital channel | Post-transition digital channel | FCC Repack Plan (2017)[19] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WUNC | 4 | 59 | 25 | 20 |
| WUND | 2 | 20 | 20 | 29 |
| WUNE | 17 | 54 | 17 | 36 |
| WUNF | 33 | 25 | 25 | 20 |
| WUNG | 58 | 44 | 44 | 21 |
| WUNJ | 39 | 29 | 29 | 21 |
| WUNK | 25 | 23 | 23 | 25 |
| WUNL | 26 | 32 | 32 | 33 |
| WUNM | 19 | 18 | 19 | 28 |
| WUNP | 36 | 39 | 36 | 27 |
| WUNU | 31 | 25 | 31 | 30 |
| WUNW | — | — | 27 | 27 |
All channels retained their original numbering for display to viewers viaPSIP.
UNC-TV opted not to join other broadcasters in the Wilmington market in an early switch to digital-only broadcasts on September 8, 2008, nine months ahead of the national transition deadline.[20] Following that date, WUNJ-TV became only full-power station in Wilmington that continued to broadcast an analog signal until the national digital transition on June 12, 2009.
As part of theSAFER Act, WUND and WUNF kept its analog signal on the air until July 12 (for WUND) and June 26 (for WUNF) to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop ofpublic service announcements from theNational Association of Broadcasters.[21]
On March 22, 2021, WUNC-TV began broadcasting inATSC 3.0, with a1080p stream (virtual channel 4.11) onCapitol Broadcasting Company's host station WARZ-CD (nowWNGT-CD).[22] On June 29, 2021, WUNK-TV was converted to ATSC 3.0 with all sub-channels included. While a simulcast of WUNK-TV is shared on WUNM-TV, areas outside WUNM-TV are covered by other nearby network stations, thus the conversion did not result in any loss of over-the-air PBS service.[23][24]
PBS NC operates 19translators. Each translator is assigned to the license of a parent PBS NC full-power station, all of which simulcast the same network signal. Two directly repeat WUNC-TV, two directly repeat WUNE-TV, two directly repeat WUNG-TV, three directly repeat WUNL-TV, and 10 directly repeat WUNF-TV.
The 17 mountain-based translators serve as low-power, limited-arearepeaters that bring the network's signal to towns in deep mountain valleys where the parent signal is blocked by the surrounding terrain. The translators of WUNC-TV act as digital replacement translators serving the few areas of the Triangle where WUNC-TV lost over-the-air coverage during the analog-digital conversion in 2009.
The following digital replacement translators rebroadcast WUNC-TV:
The following translators rebroadcast WUNE-TV:
The following translators rebroadcast WUNF-TV:
The following translators rebroadcast WUNG-TV:
The following translators rebroadcast WUNL-TV:
The licenses for translators inBakersville (W42AX-D),Brevard (W19DD-D),Bryson City (W46AX-D),Cashiers (W42DF-D) andCullowhee (W47DM-D) were surrendered to theFederal Communications Commission and cancelled on October 27, 2021. These were replaced with adistributed transmission system using the channel 27 frequency of WUNW.
PBS NC is carried on all cable television providers in North Carolina. In Georgia,Kinetic TV carries WUNF inBlairsville. In South Carolina,Charter Spectrum carries WUNF inGreenville andSpartanburg, and WUNJ inConway andMyrtle Beach. In Tennessee, Charter Spectrum carries WUNE and SkyBest TV carries WUNL, inMountain City. In Virginia, WUND is carried byCox Communications andXfinity in the southern portion of theHampton Roads market, WUNL is carried by Chatmoss Cablevision and Xfinity inDanville, and WUNP is carried on Xfinity inSouth Boston andSouth Hill.
OnAT&T U-verse,DirecTV, andDish Network, WUNC-TV, WUNG, WUNL, WUNF, WUND, WUNJ, and WUNU are carried on the respective local feeds for theResearch Triangle, Charlotte, thePiedmont Triad,Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville, Hampton Roads, Wilmington, andFlorence/Myrtle Beach markets. In previous years, WUNL has also been carried on the Roanoke DirecTV feed;[27] the Piedmont Triad market includes portions of western Virginia.
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