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WIPL

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For the airport formerly listed under the ICAO airport code WIPL, seeFatmawati Soekarno Airport.
WIPL
CityLewiston, Maine
Channels
BrandingIon
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
FoundedOctober 2, 1989(1989-10-02)
First air date
August 13, 1997(26 years ago)(1997-08-13)
Former call signs
WPME (1997−2018)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog:35 (UHF, 1997–2008)
  • Digital:28 (UHF, 2006–2008), 35 (UHF, 2008–2019)
Call signmeaning
"Ion Portland"
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID48408
ERP16kW[2]
HAAT542.25 m (1,779 ft)[2]
Transmitter coordinates43°50′44″N70°45′41″W/ 43.84556°N 70.76139°W/43.84556; -70.76139[2]
Links
Public license information
Websiteiontelevision

WIPL(channel 35) is atelevision stationlicensed toLewiston, Maine,United States, broadcasting theIon Televisionnetwork to thePortlandarea. The station is owned by theIon Mediasubsidiary of theE.W. Scripps Company,and maintains transmitter facilities inWest Baldwin, Maine.

History[edit]

Former logo of WPME-DT2 (under its former "Maine Visitor's Channel" branding), used from 2009 until 2012
Former logo of WPME used from 2015 until 2018

TheFederal Communications Commission(FCC) granted aconstruction permitto original station owner Kennebec Valley Television in 1987. After ten years of delays related to difficulties in obtaining financing to construct the station and commence broadcasting, Kennebec Valley Television's corporate successor New England Broadcasting was granted an unbuilt station waiver and WPME signed on August 13, 1997, under atime brokerage agreementwithWPXTowner Pegasus Communications Corporation. Prior to WPME's sign-on, viewers in Portland who wanted to watchUPNhad to view it on cable viaBoston'sWSBK-TV.In February 2001, New England Broadcasting sold WPME to KB Prime Media LLC, which inherited the previous agreement with Pegasus. Pegasus Communications was permitted by the FCC to purchase WPME outright in February 2005 under the previously-granted unbuilt station waiver. The station maintained a primary affiliation with UPN and secondary affiliation withThe WB.It aired WB prime time on atape delaystarting at 10. When WPXT switched its affiliation from Fox to The WB, this secondary affiliation was dropped. WPME airedBoston CelticsandBruinsgames in the late 1990s andRed Soxbaseball until 2002. The Red Sox, owning half of cable sports networkNESN,moved the games to that network.

This station's only attempt at local news was a 7 p.m. broadcast (produced by WPXT) in 2001 which was quickly canceled due to low ratings and inconsistent viewership. The station did not air a prime time newscast at 10 p.m. like many other UPN affiliates because it would compete with WPXT's nightly broadcast. However, that station's show was simulcasted on WPME for a period of time. Pegasus declared bankruptcy in June 2004 over a dispute withDirecTVover marketing of thedirect broadcast satelliteservice in rural areas. The Pegasus station group was sold in August 2006 to private investment firm CP Media, LLC ofWilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania,for $55.5 million. CP Media eventually formed a new broadcasting company, New Age Media.

In the wake of the merger of The WB and UPN intoThe CW,WPXT was announced as that network's Portland affiliate on March 9, 2006. WPME would then announce it would associate withMyNetworkTVon May 1, a network owned byNews Corporationthat was made up of stations which would not become CW affiliates. WPME joined the network on its launch date, September 5, 2006. It would be the only MyNetworkTV affiliate in Maine until December 6, 2006, when Bangor Fox affiliateWFVX-LDtook a secondary affiliation with the network.

On June 27, 2008, WPME signed-on a new seconddigital subchannelto be the "Maine Visitor's Channel" (which was dropped in October 2014 to make room forMovies!) and a third subchannel to beQVC(replaced byLaffon November 7, 2016). It ceased transmission in analog on September 18, 2008, ten months prior to the revised FCCdigital switchoverdeadline of June 12, 2009.

Throughout its history, the station has also produced and aired several local programs. From 2009 to 2013 this has included a simulcast ofconservativeweekday morning programThe Ray Richardson Showproduced byWLOB,which was seen for an hour from 6:30 until 7:30 featuring short features and news stories fromFox News Radio,local weather forecasts on WPME during commercial breaks, as well as live call-ins from viewers and listeners along with in-studio guests. The broadcast originated from WLOB's facility on Warren Avenue in Portland'sRivertonsection.

Fellow MyNetworkTV affiliate WZMY-TV, based inDerry, New Hampshire,with service to southern areas of the state andGreater Boston,laid off several employees as part of an overall strategy change in December 2009. Although that station continued to be licensed to Shooting Star Broadcasting, an outsourcing agreement was established with New Age Media resulting in WZMY becoming a sister outlet to WPME. The move was designed to streamline operations and some of its programming options in order to be more hyper-local. The arrangement ended after WZMY was sold to Carlisle One Media, becoming WBIN-TV, in 2011; it is nowUnivision Communications-ownedWWJE-DT.

MPS Media announced in March 2012 that it would sell WPME to Triumph Broadcasting for $75,000. The deal was contingent on WPXT's concurrent sale from New Age Media to Tyche Broadcasting.[3]On November 13, 2012, WPME filed a non-consummation notice to the FCC, meaning the transaction was made null and void.[4]On February 13, 2013, MPS Media filed to sell WPME to Cottonwood Communications; this deal was concurrent with the sale of WPXT to Ironwood Communications, which took over WPME's operations through a shared services agreement.[5]The FCC granted its approval of the sale on April 2.[6]The sale was consummated on May 20.[7]On July 2, 2015, Ironwood chose to exercise an option to acquire WPME outright for $65,000; the company sought a failed station waiver, as there are not enough stations in the Portland market to permit aduopolywithout a waiver.[8]

Ion Mediaagreed to buy WPME from Ironwood Communications for $900,000 on December 4, 2017; under ashared servicesagreement, Ironwood would continue to provide services to the station. The sale did not include WPME's programming contracts.[9]Ahead of the sale's closing,MyNetworkTV,EscapeandLaffprogramming was moved to the third, fourth and fifth subchannels of WPXT on March 22, 2018.[10]The sale was completed on March 29, 2018,[11]at which time the station'scall letterswere changed to WIPL.[12][13]This was a return of sorts of Ion to the Portland market: Ion's predecessor, Paxson Communications, previously owned WMPX-TV from 1999 to 2003, affiliating it with what was then the Pax TV network. That station was sold toMax Mediain 2003, becomingFoxaffiliateWPFO.

On February 27, 2021, WIPL's second, third and fourth subchannels became affiliates ofCourt TV,Bounce TVandGritwhenQubo,Ion Plusand Ion Shop ceased broadcasting.

Programming[edit]

Until the sale to Ion,syndicatedprogramming on WPME includedCougar Town,The Real,How I Met Your Mother,andFriendsamong others.

Subchannels[edit]

The station's signal ismultiplexed:

Subchannels of WIPL[14]
Channel Res. Aspect Short name Programming
35.1 720p 16:9 ION Ion Television
35.2 480i CourtTV Court TV
35.3 Bounce Bounce TV
35.4 Grit Grit
35.5 IONPlus Ion Plus[15]
35.6 SCRIPPS Scripps News
35.7 Jewelry Jewelry TV
35.8 HSN HSN
35.9 QVC2 QVC2

References[edit]

  1. ^"Facility Technical Data for WIPL".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^abc"Modification of a DTV Station Construction Permit Application".Licensing and Management System.Federal Communications Commission.February 25, 2019.RetrievedMarch 13,2019.
  3. ^Seyler, Dave (March 12, 2012)."Second half of Portland ME TV JSA sold".Television Business Report.RetrievedMarch 12,2012.
  4. ^"Application Search Details".Licensing.fcc.gov. November 13, 2012.RetrievedFebruary 17,2014.
  5. ^"Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License".CDBS Public Access.Federal Communications Commission.February 13, 2013.RetrievedFebruary 16,2013.
  6. ^"MPS Media of Portland License, LLC: WPME"(PDF).Licensing.fcc.gov.RetrievedFebruary 17,2014.
  7. ^"CDBS Print".Licensing.fcc.gov.RetrievedFebruary 17,2014.
  8. ^"Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License".CDBS Public Access.Federal Communications Commission.July 10, 2015.RetrievedJuly 14,2015.
  9. ^"Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License".CDBS Public Access.Federal Communications Commission.RetrievedDecember 12,2017.
  10. ^"CW".WMTW.
  11. ^"Consummation Notice".CDBS Public Access.Federal Communications Commission.March 29, 2018.RetrievedApril 2,2018.
  12. ^Miller, Mark (April 2, 2018)."Ion Media Closes On WPME Portland, Maine".TVNewsCheck.Archived fromthe originalon August 29, 2018.
  13. ^Callsign Listing.CDBS Public Access,Federal Communications Commission,Retrieved April 12, 2018.
  14. ^"RabbitEars TV Query for WIPL".RetrievedMarch 7,2021.
  15. ^Keys, Matthew (June 28, 2024)."Scripps replacing Defy TV with Ion Plus on broadcast TV".TheDesk.net.RetrievedJune 28,2024.

External links[edit]

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