WFXW


WFXW, virtual and UHF digital channel 15, is a TCT Network owned-and-operated television station licensed to Greenville, Mississippi, United States and serving the Delta area of northwestern Mississippi. The station is owned by Marion, Illinois-based Tri-State Christian Television. WFXW's transmitter is located northeast of Shaw, Mississippi.
From 1980 to 2016, the station broadcast as CBS affiliate WXVT.

History

Its first broadcast was on November 7, 1980, under the call sign WXVT. It had been a CBS affiliate for its entire existence. Before this, WJTV in Jackson had served as the default affiliate. The station was originally owned by Big River Broadcasting. Future sister station WABG-TV was actually the Delta's original CBS affiliate when it launched back in October 1959. However, a few months later, WJTV complained that WABG was encroaching on its service area. This is because WABG's signal reaches the far northern fringes of the Jackson market. Big River Broadcasting sold the station to Lamco Communications in 1984. Lamco then sold WXVT to a local ownership group in 1991. Saga Communications purchased WXVT in 1999.
On May 4, 2012, an application was filed with the Federal Communications Commission to transfer ownership of WXVT from Saga Communications to H3 Communications. H3 Communications is owned by the adult children of Charles Harker, president of Commonwealth Broadcasting Group, which owns WABG and NBC affiliate WNBD-LD. On January 28, 2013, the FCC granted the sale of WXVT, and it was completed two days later. Commonwealth then took over WXVT's operations, effectively bringing all of the Delta's Big Three network stations under the control of one company.
H3 Communications agreed to sell WXVT to Cala Broadcast Partners for $3.7 million on October 30, 2015; concurrently, Cala would purchase WABG-TV, WNBD-LD, and WFXW-LD from Commonwealth Broadcasting Group. Cala is jointly owned by Brian Brady and Jason Wolff. On November 30, 2015, Cala assigned its right to purchase WXVT to John Wagner for $100,000. The sale was completed on August 1, 2016; on that date, the station went off the air, with Wagner stating in a filing with the FCC that it was looking for new programming.
The station changed its call sign to WFXW on June 26, 2017. It returned to the air on July 29, 2019 as an affiliate of Ion Television.
In February 2019, Reuters reported that Apollo Global Management had agreed to acquire the entirety of Brian Brady's television portfolio, which it intends to merge with Cox Television and stations spun off from Nexstar Media Group's purchase of Tribune Broadcasting, once the purchases are approved by the FCC. In March 2019 filings with the FCC, Apollo confirmed that its newly-formed broadcasting group, Terrier Media, would acquire Northwest Broadcasting, with Brian Brady holding an unspecified minority interest in Terrier. In June 2019, it was announced that Terrier Media would instead operate as Cox Media Group, as Apollo had reached a deal to also acquire Cox's radio and advertising businesses. The transaction was completed on December 17.

Donation to Tri-State Christian Television

On March 9, 2020, it was announced that John Wagner would donate WFXW to Radiant Life Ministries, an affiliate company of Tri-State Christian Television. The transaction was completed on June 12, making WFXW an owned-and-operated station of the TCT network and the first full-power religious station in the Delta area.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
15.11080iWFXW-HDMain WFXW programming / TCT
15.2480iIONIon Television

Analog-to-digital conversion

WFXW shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 15, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations were to transition from analog to digital television under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 15, using PSIP to display its virtual channel as 15 on digital television receivers.

Programming

programming on the then-WXVT included Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, Divorce Court, and Judge Joe Brown.