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| City | Scranton, Pennsylvania |
| Channels | |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | |
| History | |
First air date | May 18, 1998 (27 years ago) (1998-05-18)[1] |
Former channel numbers |
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Call sign meaning | Susquehanna Valley Pax |
| Technical information[2] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 64690 |
| ERP | 700 kW |
| HAAT | 377 m (1,237 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°26′6″N75°43′34″W / 41.43500°N 75.72611°W /41.43500; -75.72611 |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | iontelevision |
WQPX-TV (channel 64) is atelevision station licensed toScranton, Pennsylvania, United States, broadcasting theIon Television network toNortheastern Pennsylvania.Owned and operated by theIon Media subsidiary of theE. W. Scripps Company, the station has offices on Lackawanna Avenue in downtown Scranton, and its transmitter is located on Bald Mountain, northwest of Scranton andI-476.
WQPX began broadcasting May 18, 1998,[1] with test broadcasts; the official sign on took place June 1.[3] Before WQPX signed on, the station's call sign was WSWB-TV,[4][5] first used onchannel 38 in the early 1980s (before its own sign-on) and currently used on that same station today.[6] WSWB initially planned to sign on in July 1997, but delayed its launch so that it could construct a 5,000,000-watt signal to increase itsmust carry reach.[7] Initially, WQPX aired Paxson's InfoMall format ofinfomercials andreligious programming;[8] on August 31, 1998, the station became one of the launch stations for Pax TV (the forerunner to Ion).[9]
On October 5, 1998, WQPX added a secondary affiliation withUPN as part of a group deal between Paxson Communications and UPN; the network's programming aired in late night, following Pax's prime time lineup. UPN programming had previously aired in weekend late night timeslots onCBS affiliateWYOU (channel 22).[10] WQPX dropped UPN in 1999.[11]
The New York Times Company, then-owner ofABC affiliateWNEP-TV, announced plans to take over WQPX's advertising sales through ajoint sales agreement in October 2000;[12] the agreement came after negotiations withNBC affiliateWBRE-TV (channel 28) fell through.[13] The arrangement with WNEP ended on June 30, 2005, after Paxson Communications terminated all joint sales agreements involving its stations.[14]
From 2001 to 2005, WQPX aired rebroadcasts of newscasts from ABC affiliate WNEP-TV (channel 16) instead of airing newscasts from NBC affiliate WBRE-TV (channel 28).[15]
The station's signal ismultiplexed:
| Channel | Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 64.1 | 720p | 16:9 | ION | Ion Television |
| 64.2 | 480i | Bounce | Bounce TV | |
| 64.3 | CourtTV | Court TV | ||
| 64.4 | Grit | Grit | ||
| 64.5 | IONPlus | Ion Plus | ||
| 64.6 | BUSTED | Busted | ||
| 64.7 | GameSho | Game Show Central | ||
| 64.8 | HSN | HSN | ||
| 64.9 | QVC | QVC |
WQPX-TV shut down its analog signal, overUHF channel 64, 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 signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 32, usingvirtual channel 64.[17]
Channel 64, WQPX-TV is on the air, … Theyre in the testing mode … before the official June 1 sign-on.
…WQPX, Channel 64, which is due to go on the air soon. They dumped WSWB call letters…
Channel 38 will become WSWB-TV. The call letters WSWB were originally assigned to Channel 64, which is not on the air yet.
Initially, the station was to sign on in July, but Paxson Communications Inc. shifted gears and decided to go on the air with a 5 million watt signal so they could assert must carry status with some 50 different cable operators in Northeast Pennsylvania, nearby New York and New Jersey.
When it buys a station, Paxson begins airing a format of infomercials and paid religious programming called InfoMall on each station. WSWB will sign on with this format…
At noon, a week from Monday, WQPX will become part of Pax TV, a new over-the-air network.
The PAX-TV-owned Channel 64 will be carrying the UPN network programming starting Oct. 5. Ray Gillette, WQPX general manager, said the UPN programming will follow PAX-TVs nightly lineup.
WQPX-TV (Ch. 64) is ending its secondary affiliation with UPN. It had been carrying UPN primetime shows on a three-hour delay.
WBRE- TV (Ch. 28) tried to work out a similar joint sales deal with Paxson so it could air 28 News on WQPX. The talks got nowhere…
…WNEP-TV, which has a contract with Paxson to sell WQPX's commercials locally. WNEP also runs some programs on WQPX. All relationships between PAX and WNEP will end June 30…
…expanded WNEP's reach by running repeats of the 6 and 11 p.m. news on WQPX-TV…
Broadcast television stations by affiliation in the Commonwealth ofPennsylvania | ||
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Includes stations in out-of-state TV markets, but reaching a portion of Pennsylvania | ||
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| The CW | ||
| Ion Television | ||
| Independent | ||
| PBS | ||
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| ATSC 3.0 | ||
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