WPTZ: Difference between revisions

{{Use mdy dates|date=JanuaryFebruary 2024}}

| logo = WPTZ 5 logo 2016.pngsvg

| digital = 14 ([[ultra high frequency|UHF]]), shared with [[WNNE]]

| airdate = {{start date and age|1954|12|8}} ''(in [[North Pole, New York]]; license moved to Plattsburgh in 2011)''

| location = {{ubl|[[Plattsburgh, New York]]|[[Burlington, Vermont]]|[[Montreal|Montreal, Quebec]]}}

| former_channel_numbers = '''Analog:''' 5 ([[Very high frequency|VHF]], 1954–2009)

| erp = 650 [[Kilowatt|kW]]

| licensing_authority = [[Federal Communications Commission|FCC]]

'''WPTZ''' (channel 5) is a [[television station]] [[City of license|licensed]] to [[Plattsburgh, New York]], United States, serving as the [[NBC]] affiliate for the [[Burlington, Vermont]]–Plattsburgh, New York [[Media market|market]]. It is owned by [[Hearst Television]] alongside [[Montpelier, Vermont]]–licensed [[The CW Plus|CW+]] affiliate [[WNNE]] (channel 31). WPTZ and WNNE share studios on Community Drive in [[South Burlington, Vermont]], with a secondary studio and [[news bureau]] on Cornelia Street in Plattsburgh. Through a [[frequency sharing|channel sharing agreement]], the two stations transmit using WPTZ's spectrum from an antenna on Vermont's highest peak, [[Mount Mansfield]].

Rollins Telecasting purchased channel 5 in 1956. The new owners changed the station's call letters to the present WPTZ (for Plattsburgh); the WPTZ call had recently been dropped by the [[KYW-TV|channel 3 facility]] in [[Philadelphia]] (which is now CBS-owned KYW-TV) following its controversial trade by [[Westinghouse Broadcasting]] to NBC earlier in that year. Until September 1965, WPTZ was the only station in its market to broadcast network color programs. WPTZ's first studio color cameras were acquired in 1971.<ref>https://www.mynbc5.com/article/the-history-of-nbc5-an-interactive-timeline/30163722# WPTZ Interactive Timeline</ref> In 1979, the station relocated its studios to a new building located on Old Moffitt Road in Plattsburgh. Rollins merged with Heritage Broadcasting in 1987 to form [[Heritage Media]]. In 1990, Heritage Media purchased [[Hartford, Vermont]]–based [[WNNE]], which had been a separate station with its own news department. With Heritage's purchase, WNNE was made into a [[broadcast relay station#Semi-satellites|semi-satellite]] of WPTZ, significantly improving WPTZ's coverage in the southeastern part of the market. During the analog era, WPTZ was the only station in the market that did not operate any translators. WNNE's master control was transferred to WPTZ in 2000.

Heritage sold all of its broadcasting properties to the [[Sinclair Broadcast Group]] in 1997 prior to its merger with [[News Corporation (1980–2013)|News Corporation]]. The sale protected new [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] affiliate [[WFFF-TV]], which was initially operated by WPTZ under a [[local marketing agreement]] (LMA) and shared the analog transmitter on Terry Mountain. Otherwise WPTZ/WNNE, along with then-sister stations in [[WEAR-TV|Pensacola, Florida]], and [[WCHS-TV|Charleston, West Virginia]], would have been forced to switch to Fox. Sinclair, in turn, sold WPTZ/WNNE along with the WFFF LMA to Sunrise Television in 1998. Sunrise then decided to swap WPTZ/WNNE, along with [[Smith Media|Smith Broadcasting]]-owned [[KSBW]] in [[Salinas, California]], to what was then known as Hearst-Argyle Television in return for [[WNAC-TV]] in [[Providence, Rhode Island]], and [[WDTN]] in [[Dayton, Ohio]]; both of those stations were forced to be divested by Hearst-Argyle due to significant signal overlap with [[WCVB-TV]] in [[Boston]] and [[WLWT]] in [[Cincinnati]] (the FCC did not allow common ownership of two stations with overlapping coverage areas until 2000). The swap became official on July 2, 1998. WFFF began operating as an independently-owned and controlled station around the same time Hearst took over WPTZ/WNNE when the LMA with WPTZ was terminated.

On July 9, 2012, WPTZ's parent company Hearst Television was involved in a dispute with [[Time Warner Cable]], leading to WPTZ being pulled from Time Warner Cable and temporarily replaced with [[Nexstar Media Group|Nexstar Broadcasting Group]] station [[WBRE-TV]] of [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania]];<ref name=adweek070912a>{{cite web|url=http://www.adweek.com/news/television/hearst-and-time-warner-cable-part-ways-over-retrans-141788|title=Hearst and Time Warner Cable Part Ways Over Retrans}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.adweek.com/news/television/imported-signals-retrans-fight-raise-regulatory-questions-141798|title=Imported Signals in Retrans Fight Raise Regulatory Questions}}</ref> Time Warner opted for such a distant signal like WBRE, as they do not have the rights to carry any NBC affiliate closest to them.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2012/07/wesh-off-bright-house-pennsylvania-station-is-substitute.html |title=Orlando Sentinel: "WESH off Bright House; Pennsylvania station is substitute", July 10, 2012. |access-date=July 11, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120714002224/http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2012/07/wesh-off-bright-house-pennsylvania-station-is-substitute.html |archive-date=July 14, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The substitution of WBRE in place of WPTZ lasted until July 19, 2012, when the deal was reached between Hearst and Time Warner.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/487486-Hearst_TV_Time_Warner_Cable_End_Viewer_Blackout.php|title=Hearst TV, Time Warner Cable End Viewer Blackout}}</ref>

On June 12, 2018, WPTZ announced it was moving to a brand new broadcast facility in [[South Burlington, Vermont]], in a building that contains both a data center for [[Keurig Dr Pepper|Keurig Green Mountain]] and the main offices of [[Ben & Jerry's]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://m.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2018/06/13/media-note-wptz-tv-announces-move-from-colchester-to-south-burlington|title=Media Note: WPTZ-TV Announces Move From Colchester to South Burlington|website=Seven Days|date=June 13, 2018|access-date=October 12, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite map|publisher=Technology Park|title=30 Community Drive, Unit 2 South Burlington, VT 05403|url=https://technologyparkvt.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/30Community-Drive-Unit2.pdf|access-date=January 15, 2020}}</ref> The move took place in July 2019, when WPTZ began broadcasting newscasts in high definition. WPTZ continued to maintain the Television Drive facility for several months in Plattsburgh as a secondary studio, while closing a now-duplicative and smaller bureau in [[Colchester, Vermont]].<ref name="pr-wptzsouthburlington">{{cite news |last1=Delise |first1=McKenzie |title=WPTZ newscasts now out of VT |url=https://www.pressrepublican.com/news/local_news/wptz-newscasts-now-out-of-vt/article_1a661f85-5d1b-548c-a3a1-07732a39e52e.html |access-date=July 29, 2019 |work=[[Press-Republican]] |date=July 27, 2019 |language=en}}</ref> WPTZ later relocated the bureau to a new location at 308 Cornelia Street in Plattsburgh, taking over the former Glens Falls National Bank branch and renovating the building to become its new secondary studio in the summer of 2020.

On November 19, 2019, WPTZ, WNNE and [[CBS]] affiliate [[WCAX-TV]] (channel 3) were knocked off the air by a fire at their combined antenna at the transmitter facility. The cause of the fire was unknown. The outage affected over-the-air and satellite viewers; cable subscribers continued to receive the three stations via direct fiber feeds,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2019/11/20/vermont-news-stations-lose-signal-transmitter-fire-what-we-know/4247177002/|title=Transmitter fire on Mt. Mansfield knocks out NBC5, WCAX broadcast. When will they be back?|last=Murray|first=Elizabeth|work=[[Burlington Free Press]]|publisher=[[Gannett|Gannett Company]]|date=November 20, 2019|access-date=November 23, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.tvtechnology.com/news/tower-fire-keeping-vermonts-wcax-wptz-off-the-air|title=Tower Fire Keeping Vermont's WCAX, WPTZ Off The Air|last=Balderston|first=Michael|work=TV Technology|date=November 22, 2019|access-date=November 23, 2019}}</ref> while Vidéotron in Quebec temporarily replaced WPTZ with [[Detroit]] NBC affiliate [[WDIV-TV]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blog.fagstein.com/2019/11/23/mnd-gcm-wcax-cbcnorth/|title=Media News Digest: GCM heads toward coop, WCAX catches fire, CBC North backtracks on merging newscasts|last=Faguy|first=Steve|work=Fagstein|date=November 23, 2019|access-date=November 23, 2019}}</ref>

In August 2009, the station introduced a new format and title to its weeknight newscast at 11. The re-formatted show called ''NewsChannel 5 Nightcast'' features more fast-paced and edgier news. Despite its logo which includes "HD", the newscasts were aired in pillar-boxed [[4:3]] [[standard-definition television|standard definition]] and it was the only station in the market to not have upgraded local news to high definition. WPTZ was one of six remaining stations owned by Hearst that has yet to make the upgrade to [[16:9]] [[enhanced-definition television|enhanced definition]] [[widescreen]] or full HD, until on April 26, 2011, when WPTZ started airing newscasts in widescreen. However, unlike the newscasts on WCAX-TV and WFFF-TV/WVNY, the WPTZ newscasts at the time were not in true HD—just SD widescreen. In August 2013, WPTZ started airing the area's very first weekend morning news. ''NewsChannel 5 Today'' airs on Saturdays from 5:00–7:00 to 7 a.m. and on Sundays from 6:00–8:00 to 8&nbsp;a.m. This beats WCAX-TV, which had previously announced that they would add weekend morning news.

In April 2014, the station announced they were going to revamp their set. After a few weeks of broadcasting from a temporary set put together in the newsroom, the new set debuted. The old set was completely removed and a new set was constructed by FX Group. The set was a major departure from their prior set, which debuted in 2006. One major change made was the elimination of the newsroom as the backdrop for the anchor desk. Also on September 29, 2014, WPTZ debuted a nightly 10:00&nbsp;p.m. newscast which airs on both WNNE and WPTZ-DT3 simultaneously.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://changingnewscasts.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/wptz-1000-p-m-news-2-channels-is-true/|title=WPTZ and 10:00 p.m. news on 2 channels? Yes, this is true...|work=The Changing Newscasts Blog|date=September 12, 2014}}</ref>

On June 20, 2016, WPTZ debuted a half-hour midday 12:00&nbsp;p.m.noon newscast, became the second television station in the [[Champlain Valley]] complete with a 10-minute newscast on WCAX-TV, coinciding with the cancellation of ''[[FABLife]]''.<ref>[https://changingnewscasts.wordpress.com/2016/06/22/wptz-now-decides-have-local-news-12-noon-compete-wcax/ WPTZ now decides to have local news at 12:00 Noon to compete against WCAX.] ''The Changing Newscasts Blog'', June 22, 2016.</ref> On August 2, 2016, following the station rebrand itself as "NBC 5", the newscast branding was now named as ''NBC 5 News''.

In August 2018, WPTZ's Upper Valley bureau moved from White River Junction to a new space on Mechanic Street in [[Lebanon, New Hampshire]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mynbc5.com/article/nbc5-announces-new-vermont-and-new-hampshire-locations/21271416|title=NBC5 announces new Vermont & New Hampshire locations|work=MyNBC5.com|publisher=[[Hearst Television]]|date=June 12, 2018|access-date=November 1, 2018}}</ref> On July 27, 2019, WPTZ's Vermont facilities moved from Colchester to South Burlington; the station's newscasts were concurrently relocated to the new facility from the Plattsburgh studio.<ref name="pr-wptzsouthburlington"/> To coincide with the aforementioned relocation to the new South Burlington facilities, WPTZ became the last station in the market to broadcast newscasts in high definition.

|+Subchannels of WPTZ and WNNE<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WPTZ#station|title=RabbitEars TV Query for WPTZ|website=RabbitEars.info}}</ref>

| [[1080i]] || rowspan=56|[[16:9]] || WPTZ-HD || Main WPTZ programming / [[NBC]]

| Me-TVMeTV || [[MeTV]]

| Defy || [[DefyIon TVPlus]]

WPTZ shut down its analog signal, over [[Very high frequency|VHF]] channel 5, on February 17, 2009, the original date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to [[Digital television transition in the United States|transition from analog to digital broadcasts]] under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition [[UHF]] channel 14,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and the Second Rounds |access-date=March 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130829004251/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |archive-date=August 29, 2013 }}</ref> using [[virtual channel]] 5. It was one of the first stations owned by Hearst to cease analog broadcasting (then-Hearst sister station [[KITV]] in [[Honolulu|Honolulu, Hawaii]], was the other).

Like the other network stations that serve Plattsburgh and Burlington, WPTZ has a large audience in southern [[Quebec]], Canada. This includes [[Montreal]], a city with ten times as many people as all of WPTZ's entire American viewing area. For many years, station promos and IDs have read "North Pole/Plattsburgh/Burlington/MontrealPole–Plattsburgh–Burlington–Montreal" or "Plattsburgh/Burlington/MontrealPlattsburgh–Burlington–Montreal" to acknowledge its large cable viewership in Canada.

WPTZ is widely carried on cable in the province of Quebec as far north as [[Saguenay, Quebec|Saguenay]] and as far east as [[Gaspé, Quebec|Gaspé]]. In addition, Southern Quebec viewers can also pick up WPTZ's over-the-air signal with a well-placed antenna. The [[Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission]] (CRTC)'s [[simultaneous substitution]] rules mandate cable systems to replace WPTZ's signal with that of [[CFCF-DT]], [[CKMI-DT|CKMI-DT-1]], or [[CJNT-DT]] within their broadcasting areas when one of those stations is airing the same program at the same time as WPTZ.

[[Category:DefyIon TVPlus affiliates]]