View source for WPXL-TV

{{short description|TV station in New Orleans}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2024}}
{{Infobox television station
| callsign = WPXL-TV
| city =
| branding = Ion
| digital = 33 ([[UHF]])
| virtual = 49
| subchannels =
| affiliations = {{ubl|'''49.1:''' [[Ion Television]]|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| owner = [[Ion Media]]
| licensee = Ion Media License Company, [[LLC]]
| location = [[New Orleans, Louisiana]]
| country = United States
| airdate = {{start date and age|1989|3|19|p=y}}
| callsign_meaning = "Pax Louisiana"
| former_callsigns = WCCL (1989–1998)
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 49 (UHF, 1989–2009)|'''Digital:''' 50 (UHF, until 2020)}}
| former_affiliations = {{ubl|[[Independent station|Independent]] (1989–1990)|[[CBS]] (secondary, 1989–1990)|[[Dark (broadcasting)|Dark]] (1990–1994)|HSN (1994–1998)}}
| erp = 1,000 [[Watt|kW]]
| haat = {{convert|311.2|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id = 21729
| coordinates = {{coord|29|58|58|N|89|56|58|W|type:landmark_scale:2000|display=inline, title}}
| licensing_authority = [[FCC]]
| website = {{url|https://iontelevision.com/}}
}}
'''WPXL-TV''' (channel 49) is a [[television station]] in [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], United States, broadcasting the [[Ion Television]] network. It is [[owned and operated]] by the [[Ion Media]] subsidiary of the [[E. W. Scripps Company]], and maintains offices on Veterans Memorial Boulevard and Cleary Avenue in [[Metairie]]; its transmitter is located off Paris Road ([[LA 47]]) near the [[Orleans Parish, Louisiana|Orleans]]–[[St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana|St. Bernard]] parish line.
==History==
===Early history===
After a string of delays, channel 49 first signed on the air on March 19, 1989, as WCCL; it originally operated as an [[independent station]] with a general entertainment format, along with numerous [[CBS]] programs preempted by [[WWL-TV]] (channel 4), including ''[[CBS This Morning]]''.<ref>{{cite news|date=March 22, 1989|title=WCCL has first fight|page=E1|work=New Orleans Times-Picayune|first=Mark|last=Lorando}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=CBS wake-up call letters: WCCL|page=T7|first=Mark|last=Lorando|date=August 6, 1989|work=New Orleans Times-Picayune}}</ref> Owned by Black woman Barbara Lamont, WCCL failed to show in the ratings with poor programming and a lack of cable carriage. By the end of 1989, it had filed bankruptcy due to a hostile creditor that sought to evict it from its tower at Algiers.<ref>{{Cite news|title=TV station files for bankruptcy|first1=Steve|last1=Brooks|first2=Mark|last2=Lorando|page=D1|work=New Orleans Times-Picayune|date=December 20, 1989}}</ref> The station had begun work on its own tower at Bywater which would prevent blockage of channel 49's signal by passing ships on the [[Mississippi River]], but a battle with neighbors who wanted its height reduced left the site unfinished and unusable by the station.<ref>{{cite news|date=March 1, 1990|page=B3|title=Bywater group loses round in high court on TV tower|work=New Orleans Times-Picayune|first=Bruce|last=Eggler}}</ref> The hostile creditor—Lodestar Towers—was successful in obtaining an order to repossess WCCL's equipment, forcing the station off the air on May 23, 1990.<ref>{{cite news|title=WCCL prez hopes to plug back in|page=E1|first=Mark|last=Lorando|date=June 8, 1990|work=New Orleans Times-Picayune}}</ref>
While Lamont spent two years trying to rebuild the station's transmitter facility elsewhere,<ref>{{cite news|title=Cox reruns its rate hike|work=New Orleans Times-Picayune|page=E1|first=Mark|last=Lorando|date=November 7, 1991}}</ref> she gave up in May 1992, when her Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization case was converted to Chapter 7 liquidation.<ref>{{cite news|title=Facelift is afoot at Channel 8|date=May 15, 1992|page=E1|work=New Orleans Times-Picayune}}</ref> Flinn Broadcasting Corporation purchased the station's [[broadcast license|license]] out of bankruptcy and returned channel 49 to the air on May 25, 1994, carrying programming from the [[Home Shopping Network]].<ref>{{cite news|title='New' WCCL features products, not programs|date=June 10, 1994|page=E1|first=Mark|last=Lorando|work=New Orleans Times-Picayune}}</ref>
The station changed its call letters to WPXL-TV on August 31, 1998; that same day, the station became a charter affiliate of the family-oriented network Pax TV (now Ion Television). As part of the affiliation deal with Pax TV, Flinn Broadcasting entered into a [[local marketing agreement|time brokerage agreement]] with Pax TV owner Paxson Communications to operate the station. On July 30, 2001. Paxson entered into a joint sales agreement with Hearst-Argyle Television (now [[Hearst Television]]), owner of [[NBC]] affiliate [[WDSU]] (channel 6), to provide advertising and marketing services for WPXL.<ref>[http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/pax-nbc-reach-four-jsas/75558 Pax, NBC reach four JSAs], ''[[Broadcasting & Cable]]'', July 30, 2001.</ref>
===Hurricane Katrina===
In early September 2005, shortly after [[Hurricane Katrina]] made landfall in southern Louisiana, WPXL partnered with WDSU, whose transmitter building in [[Chalmette]] was damaged due to flooding caused by the storm, to simulcast channel 6's programming.<ref>[http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/new-orleans-station-gets-boost-paxson/107802 New Orleans Station Gets Boost From Paxson], ''Broadcasting & Cable'', September 7, 2005.</ref> The station also added programming from [[The Worship Network]] and the signals of the [[Tribune Broadcasting]]-owned [[duopoly (broadcasting)|duopoly]] of [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliate [[WGNO]] (channel 26) and [[The CW|CW]] affiliate [[WNOL-TV]] (channel 38) as [[digital subchannel|subchannels]] on its digital signal for New Orleans area residents that had television sets with built-in [[digital terrestrial television|digital]] tuners.
On March 29, 2008, almost a month after WGNO and WNOL resumed digital transmissions over WNOL's digital allocation on UHF channel 15, WPXL began to carry the Ion-owned children's network [[Qubo]] and lifestyle network [[Ion Life]] on digital channels 49.2 and 49.3; both networks had launched a year-and-a-half after Katrina hit the area.
===Sale to Ion Media===
On August 21, 2007, Ion Media announced that it would purchase WPXL-TV and [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] [[sister station]] [[WPXX]] from Flinn Broadcasting outright for $18 million.<ref>[http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/programming/ion-grabs-two-stations/30534 Ion Grabs Two Stations], ''Broadcasting & Cable'', August 21, 2007.</ref> The sale was completed on January 2, 2008, with WPXL becoming an Ion owned-and-operated station.<ref>[http://www.ionmedia.tv/press/press.cfm?id=73 ION MEDIA NETWORKS COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF WPXX IN MEMPHIS AND WPXL IN NEW ORLEANS] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080222060611/http://www.ionmedia.tv/press/press.cfm?id=73 |date=February 22, 2008 }}, [[Ion Media Networks]], January 2, 2008.</ref>
==Newscasts==
{{see|WDSU#News operation}}
In September 2001, as part of the JSA with that station, WPXL began airing [[broadcast delay|tape delayed]] rebroadcasts of NBC affiliate WDSU's 10&nbsp;p.m. newscasts each Monday through Friday evening at 10:30&nbsp;p.m. (beginning shortly before that program's live broadcast ended on WDSU). The news share agreement ended on June 30, 2005 (coinciding with Pax's rebranding as i: Independent Television), due to Paxson Communications' decision to discontinue carriage of network affiliate newscasts as a result of Pax TV's financial troubles.
== Technical information ==
=== Subchannels ===
The station's signal is [[Multiplex (TV)|multiplexed]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Subchannels of WPXL-TV<ref name="RabbitEars WPXL">{{Cite web|title=RabbitEars TV Query for WPXL|url=https://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WPXL#station|access-date=March 6, 2021}}</ref>
! scope = "col" | [[Digital subchannel#United States|Channel]]
! scope = "col" | [[Display resolution|Res.]]
! scope = "col" | [[Aspect ratio (image)|Aspect]]
! scope = "col" | Short name
! scope = "col" | Programming
|-
! scope = "row" | 49.1
| rowspan="2" | [[720p]] || rowspan="8" | [[16:9]] || ION || [[Ion Television]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 49.2
| Grit || [[Grit (TV network)|Grit]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 49.3
| rowspan="6" | [[480i]]
| CourtTV || [[Court TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 49.4
| IONPlus || [[Ion Plus]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 49.5
| Jewelry || [[Jewelry TV]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 49.6
| HSN || [[HSN]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 49.7
| QVC || [[QVC]]
|-
! scope = "row" | 49.8
| HSN2 || [[HSN#Sister channels|HSN2]]
|}
=== Analog-to-digital conversion ===
WPXL shut down its analog signal, over [[UHF]] channel 49, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States [[Digital television transition in the United States|transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts]] under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 50,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf |title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds |format=PDF |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]] 49.
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*{{Official website|https://iontelevision.com/}}
{{New Orleans TV}}
{{Louisiana TV}}
{{Mississippi TV}}
{{EWS CORP}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wpxl-Tv}}
[[Category:1994 establishments in Louisiana]]
[[Category:Court TV affiliates]]
[[Category:E. W. Scripps Company television stations]]
[[Category:Grit (TV network) affiliates]]
[[Category:Ion Television affiliates]]
[[Category:Ion Plus affiliates]]
[[Category:Laff (TV network) affiliates]]
[[Category:Television channels and stations established in 1994]]
[[Category:Television stations in New Orleans]]