36-401: WBTS may refer to: WBTS-CD , a low-power Class A NBC-owned-and-operated television station (channel 32/virtual channel 15) licensed to serve Nashua, New Hampshire, United States WYCN-LD , a low-power Telemundo-owned-and-operated television station (channel 36/virtual channel 8) licensed to serve Providence, Rhode Island, United States, which held
72-471: A Telemundo station for Providence, leaving WBTS-CD as the sole NBC station for the Boston area. As a programming strategy, that just mystifies me. If you have four McDonald's on the block, why would you want to build another one? Concurrent with the launch, NBC Boston debuted a full suite of local newscasts. Early reviews found the news effort competitive with Boston's established local TV newsrooms but noted that
108-524: A Western sports network was seen as a unique opportunity to stand out in cable and satellite lineups. Among the network's first offerings were encore events from RFD's The American Rodeo , the Calgary Stampede , and the Professional Bull Riders archives. Sony's archived programming thus moved to their own GetTV at the start of 2018. The Cowboy Channel signed a multi-year agreement with
144-651: 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
180-475: 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,
216-437: A focus on Western sports and rodeo events, which had proven to be a popular attraction on RFD-TV. Gottsch thanked Sony Pictures Television for bringing the network to a solid footing, but noted that overwhelming competition in the classic television space from networks such as MeTV , Antenna TV , Cozi TV , Heroes & Icons and several other networks and streaming options had made the space more competitive and crowded, while
252-405: 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
288-570: A leased helicopter. A second former WCVB anchor, J. C. Monahan , left that station to join NBC Boston in July 2017. A year after the switch and launch, NBC10 Boston and WHDH had opposite ratings performances. WHDH had largely maintained its news audience, including first- and second-place finishes in the morning and at 5 and 6 p.m. Meanwhile, NBC10 frequently ranked fifth out of five stations, though marquee fall network programming provided an improvement in
324-560: A partnership with Rural Media. The Cowgirl Channel was launched on March 1, 2023. It specializes in programming about women in professional rodeo, western fashion, and rural lifestyles in general through the perspectives of women. Rodeos not televised on The Cowboy Channel are televised on The Cowgirl Channel. In 2023, The Cowboy Channel signed a multi-year agreement with the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association to televise and stream their major events, including
360-450: A reduced timeslot on RFD-TV due to low interest and ratings. Rural Media, which had considered merging RFD-TV and FamilyNet together to gain over-the-air carriage, eventually decided to keep FamilyNet as a separate service, but with a refocus in programming towards classic television programming which was not picked up by competitors MeTV , Antenna TV and Cozi TV . Rural Media also decided not to renew over-the-air contracts with stations in
396-594: A slow process in order to make it a cable-only network. A number of former FamilyNet affiliates (mainly religious stations) continue to carry programming recorded from the network's feed before the Rural TV sale, seemingly under a perpetual license. In September 2014, FamilyNet was refocused with classic television series and films from the Sony Pictures Television libraries, with Sony also assisting with advertising sales. Religious programming, which used to make up
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#1733085611569432-567: Is a Class A television station licensed to Nashua, New Hampshire , United States, serving as the NBC outlet for the Boston area. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Merrimack, New Hampshire –licensed Telemundo station WNEU (channel 60); it is also sister to regional cable news channel New England Cable News (NECN) and regional sports network NBC Sports Boston . The four outlets share studios at
468-592: The Canadian Finals Rodeo through December 31, 2027. The Cowboy Channel Canada will also televise these events. Patrick Gottsch, the founder and president of Rural Media Group, died on May 18, 2024, at the age of 70. Much of the Cowboy Channel's non-sports programming is drawn from RFD-TV's program library, with an emphasis on ranching and rodeo programs (thus the Cowboy Channel does not carry RFD-TV's music, agribusiness or news programming). Like RFD-TV,
504-587: The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association to televise and stream their major events, including the National Finals Rodeo , starting in 2020. With the network conversion, Rural Media used the opportunity to end their carriage agreements with over-the-air broadcasters, rendering the Cowboy Channel as a pay-TV only offering. A Canadian version of the channel was launched on February 1, 2020, on Shaw Direct television systems through
540-696: 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
576-718: The NBCU Boston Media Center on B Street in Needham, Massachusetts . WBTS-CD is broadcast by full-power WGBX-TV (channel 44) from its transmitter site on Cedar Street, also in Needham, giving it full coverage of the Boston television market . It is branded as channel 10 owing to its primary cable channel position. The license started in Nashua on January 29, 1988, as W13BG "TV13 Nashua", a low-power community television station which later changed its call sign to WYCN-LP in 1996. Its programming consisted of local-service programming for
612-401: The Nashua area and content already aired by local cable systems as well as, later on, FamilyNet . WYCN-LP and associated translators were sold to New Hampshire 1 Network, a company controlled by William H. Binnie , in 2010. Three years later, Binnie sold WYCN-LP to OTA Broadcasting , which removed remaining local content and converted the station to digital broadcasting. OTA Broadcasting sold
648-478: The call sign WBTS until November 1998 Web-based training system or services Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania , an 1884 corporation of Jehovah's Witnesses Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc., a 1909 corporation of Jehovah's Witnesses Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title WBTS . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
684-480: The call sign WBTS-LD from October 2016 until August 2019 WAIB-LP , a low-power radio station (88.5 FM) licensed to serve Redwood, New York , United States, which held the call sign WBTS-LP from August 2014 until October 2016 WSBB-FM , a radio station (95.5 FM) licensed to Doraville, Georgia, United States, which held the call sign WBTS from October 1999 until October 2010 WJTW , a radio station (1480 AM) licensed to Bridgeport, Alabama, United States, which held
720-410: 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
756-498: 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 feet (0.191 km) 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. WYCN-CD sold its frequency rights as part of the FCC's spectrum auction for $ 80.4 million. OTA Broadcasting entered into
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#1733085611569792-454: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WBTS&oldid=1101435077 " Categories : Disambiguation pages Broadcast call sign disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages WBTS-CD WBTS-CD (channel 15), branded as NBC10 Boston ,
828-410: The name FamilyNet in 1988 under the ownership of Jerry Falwell , and then in 2017 was rebranded as The Cowboy Channel. In November 2024, it was announced that Western sports and entertainment company Teton Ridge had acquired the network, along with Cowgirl Channel and its live streaming and on-demand service. Until then, the channel was operated by Rural Media Group, which owns RFD-TV . The channel
864-590: The relocation of the former WBTS-LD license, now WYCN-LD , to serve the Providence, Rhode Island , area. The station came to the air at 8 p.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
900-409: 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. Its carriage was ultimately continued by Adelphia Communications following its purchase of Harron, though
936-473: The second half of 2017. One reason for the poor performance was loyalty to existing stations in the Boston market. FamilyNet The Cowboy Channel (formerly FamilyNet ) is an American cable television network in over 42 million cable and satellite homes, which carries Western programming and rodeo sports. The network was founded in 1979 as the National Christian Network , later took
972-436: The spectrum underlying WYCN-CD in the FCC's 2017 incentive auction . Without a transmitter, the station arranged to share the transmitter of WGBX-TV, giving it full-power coverage in the Boston market. OTA Broadcasting then sold WYCN-CD to NBC, whose NBC Boston service had launched at the start of 2017 on several transmitters but lacked a single primary signal. The station changed call signs to WBTS-CD in 2019 in anticipation of
1008-598: 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
1044-409: 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,
1080-465: The style—more in line with traditional major-market network affiliates than the flashy approach characteristic of WHDH—was not innovative and similar to other stations. The staff consisted of a blend of new hires, younger than anchors at other stations, and existing NECN talent, as well as Pete Bouchard and Phil Lipof, previously of WCVB . To the existing resources of NECN and WNEU, NBC added approximately 80 employees, new vehicles for weather coverage, and
1116-464: 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
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1152-482: The vast majority of the schedule under SBC and Schuller's ownership, was limited to Sunday mornings, though Rural Media also maintained FamilyNet's paid programming overnights despite their executives' traditional disdain for depending on those programs for revenue. (RFD-TV since also began to carry overnight paid programming .) On June 19, 2017, Rural Media Group CEO Patrick Gottsch announced that on July 1, FamilyNet would be rebranded as The Cowboy Channel, featuring
1188-470: Was acquired by InTouch Ministries in October 2007 from the Southern Baptist Convention . In December 2009, FamilyNet was acquired by Robert A. Schuller 's ComStar Media Fund. In 2010, FamilyNet was spun out into its own company, with Robert A. Schuller as the chairman. The organization also operated FamilyNet Radio 161, a full-time Christian talk channel on Sirius Satellite Radio , but
1224-402: Was discontinued on November 30, 2010; FamilyTalk replaced it. From 2011 to 2012, the channel showed sitcoms like The Bob Newhart Show , Newhart , and Mr. Belvedere . On October 24, 2012, Rural TV purchased FamilyNet, and the transaction took effect on January 1, 2013. At first the network was used to carry an all-trading day format of farm and market news, which eventually moved to
1260-448: Was discontinued. In December 2012, the station's studios moved from Rivier University to a location shared with sister station WFNQ (106.3 FM). 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
1296-480: 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
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