WBTS-CD

TV13 Nashua

Early history

The station came to the air at 8p.m. on January 29, 1988, as W13BG on VHF channel 13 in Nashua; its license was granted on July 29. Founded by Robert Rines and owned by Center Broadcasting Corporation of New Hampshire, a non-profit partnership between the Concord–based Franklin Pierce Law Center and the Boston–based Academy of Law Sciences, the station aired local community programming for the Nashua area, along with programming that was already being sold to cable stations though the Yankee Communications Network. Channel 13 changed its callsign to WYCN-LP on April 8, 1996. Its tower in the analog era of television was on the campus of Rivier University, between two above-ground reservoirs and Brassard Hall, with studios in Memorial Hall on the same campus.

WYCN-LP was nearly dropped by Harron Cable on its Nashua-area systems in October 1999 to accommodate a must-carry request by WMFP (channel 62), a move that could have led to the closure of channel 13 even though its carriage on MediaOne in Nashua itself was not affected. though the station was dropped for a time in 2000 after an additional must-carry request, from WYDN (channel 48), while Adelphia rebuilt the systems. By August 11, 2000, WYCN-LP had been authorized to carry programming from FamilyNet.

WYCN-LP, along with three co-owned translators in Nashua, Manchester, and Concord, was sold by Center Broadcasting Corporation of New Hampshire to New Hampshire 1 Network, a company controlled by William H. Binnie, in 2010; by this point, control of the stations had passed to longtime WYCN staffers Gordon Jackson and Carolyn Choate following the death of Robert Rines. The deal was completed January 3, 2012; in the meantime, Binnie would also acquire WBIN-TV (channel 50, now WWJE-DT) in Derry. As a result of the sale, much of WYCN's community programming, including aldermatic debates, was discontinued. In December 2012, the station's studios moved from Rivier University to a location shared with sister station WFNQ (106.3 FM).

OTA Broadcasting ownership and conversion to digital

New Hampshire 1 Network filed to sell WYCN-LP to OTA Broadcasting, a company controlled by Michael Dell's MSD Capital, on January 14, 2013; the three translators were not included in the deal, and began to simulcast WBIN-TV. Operation of WYCN continued to be handled by New Hampshire 1. At the time of the sale, WYCN was affiliated with My Family TV. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approved the sale on March 22, and it was completed on May 20.

WYCN-LP resumed producing local programming soon after the sale to OTA Broadcasting, rehiring Gordon Jackson and Carolyn Choate as station managers; however, in June 2013, Comcast (successor to both Harron/Adelphia and MediaOne) informed the station that it would be dropped from its lineup as of August 15 due to the earlier cessation of local programming, as well as its limited broadcast reach and continued analog broadcasting, even though WYCN had a construction permit to convert to digital operations and increase its broadcast range. Comcast subsequently pushed back the date of the removal to September 3, despite protests from viewers, politicians, and Nashua's public access station.

Due to its low power, WYCN's analog signal reached only portions of Nashua, its city of license. In contrast, its digital signal was expected to reach Manchester and Boston. The digital facility was planned to sign on by December 2013; construction was held up by the need to use a helicopter to remove a former antenna for WNDS (now WWJE-DT) from the tower on Merrill Hill in Hudson that WYCN planned to use, an operation that was delayed to May 2014 by winter weather. The conversion to digital was licensed by the FCC on October 23, 2014; concurrent with the launch of the digital signal, the analog channel 13 signal was shut down.

Until January 2018, WYCN-CD's original digital transmitter was 625 ft off Trigate Road in rural Hudson, southeast of Nashua. The station's pre-auction digital signal broadcast on UHF channel 36, using virtual channel 13.

NBC10 Boston

WYCN-CD sold its frequency rights as part of the FCC's spectrum auction for $80.4 million. OTA Broadcasting entered into a channel sharing agreement with WGBX-TV (channel 44) for the station; NBC agreed to purchase the channel share agreement and the WYCN-CD license in October 2017. In December 2017, the station announced on its website that it would "cease broadcasting on its current frequency on January 16, 2018 and begin broadcasting NBC Boston on a new frequency". As WYCN's signal overlaps with WGME-TV in Portland, Maine, which also uses virtual channel 13, WYCN began using virtual channel 15 following the commencement of channel sharing, as WGME's post-auction physical channel is 15 (WGME's pre-auction channel, 38, was not available to WYCN as virtual channel 38 is assigned to WSBK-TV).

The sale to NBC was completed on January 18, 2018; the station began channel sharing with WGBX the same day. Before this transition, WYCN-CD was affiliated with Heroes & Icons (H&I), which also maintained a full-market affiliation on the second subchannel of WSBK-TV.

On August 8, 2019, WBTS-LD (channel 8) and WYCN-CD swapped call signs, with channel 8 becoming WYCN-LD and channel 15 changing to WBTS-CD. On August 31, 2019, WYCN-LD left the air in advance of its October 2019 transmitter move to Norton, Massachusetts, and city of license change to Providence, Rhode Island; WYCN-LD now serves as a Telemundo station for Providence, leaving WBTS-CD as the sole NBC station for the Boston area.

News operation

Technical information and subchannels

The NBC subchannel is offered in ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) format from the transmitter of WUNI.

Notes

References

References

1. (November 2016). "NBC's New Boston O&O, WBTS, Sets Lineup".
2. Littleton, Cynthia. (December 30, 2016). "NBCUniversal Gambles in Beantown With NBC Boston Launch". [[Variety (magazine).
3. (January 29, 1988). "New TV station hits air today". [[The Telegraph (Nashua, New Hampshire).
4. "Application Search Details". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
5. (August 16, 2013). "Sept. 3 slated as date Comcast will drop Nashua channel WYCN TV-13". [[Nashua Telegraph]].
6. "Call Sign History (WYCN-CD)". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
7. "WYCN tv13 Nashua Studio (Google Maps pinpoint provided by former ownership)". [[Google Maps]].
8. Milbouer, Stacy. (August 22, 1999). "Local station is losing out to shopping channel". [[The Boston Globe]].
9. Spiller, Karen. (August 17, 1999). "Operators of station may shut down business". The Telegraph.
10. Spiller, Karen. (October 30, 1999). "Company plans channel shuffle to preserve local station". The Telegraph.
11. Spiller, Karen. (March 21, 2000). "Cable carrier to shut off service to most towns outside of Nashua as of July 1". The Telegraph.
12. (July 14, 2010). "Family Net Additional Systems List".
13. (December 28, 2010). "Binnie buy to lead to something bigger for the Granite State?". Television Business Report.
14. (July 28, 2013). "Nashua's TV-13 hopes public support will convince Comcast to keep it the cable lineup". [[Nashua Telegraph]].
15. Jackson, Gordon T.. (July 5, 2011). "Extension of Consummation". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
16. McKeon, Albert. (October 30, 2011). "Nashua...From the inside". [[The Telegraph (Nashua, New Hampshire).
17. "Re: WYCN-LP...". Federal Communications Commission.
18. "Application for Consent to Assignment of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
19. (January 16, 2012). "TV-13 Nashua sale announced". [[Foster's Daily Democrat]].
20. (January 17, 2013). "OTA Broadcasting Grabs WYCN in Boston Market". [[Broadcasting & Cable]].
21. (March 27, 2013). "Broadcast Actions". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
22. (May 20, 2013). "Consummation Notice". Federal Communications Commission.
23. Solomon, Dave. (July 2, 2013). "Nashua TV station WYCN fights to remain on Comcast". [[New Hampshire Union-Leader]].
24. Allen, Samantha. (July 30, 2013). "Channel 13 WYCN's future still unknown as Comcast eyes closure in Nashua". [[The Telegraph (Nashua).
25. Shaoup, Dean. (July 20, 2013). "Channel 13 in Nashua adds online petition to its push to stay on Comcast". The Telegraph.
26. Taormina, Barbara. (July 27, 2013). "Comcast's plan to drop TV 13 Nashua draws ire". New Hampshire Union-Leader.
27. Taorima, Barbara. (August 15, 2013). "Comcast to pull plug on WYCN Channel 13 in Nashua on Sept. 3 despite outcry". New Hampshire Union-Leader.
28. Brooks, David. (October 2, 2013). "TV-13 digital transmitter gets federal OK, will be running by Christmas". [[The Telegraph (Nashua).
29. (May 10, 2014). "Helicopter removes old antenna as Nashua's Channel 13 moves closer to digital broadcasting". [[The Telegraph (Nashua).
30. (October 30, 2017). "NBC Boston Scores A Channel-Sharing Agreement". Radio and Television Business Report.
31. (October 31, 2017). "Station Trading Roundup: 5 Deals, $25.9M". TV News Check.
32. "HomeWYCN".
33. (December 12, 2017). "Re: Assignment of Virtual Channel 15 WYCN-CD, Nashua, New Hampshire (FIN 9766)". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
34. (January 18, 2018). "Consummation Notice". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
35. "Call Sign History".
36. "Call Sign History".
37. (October 3, 2019). "Request for Special Temporary Authority to Remain Silent (WYCN-LD)". [[Federal Communications Commission]].
38. "Digital TV Market Listing for WUNI".