WUTF-TV


WUTF-TV, virtual channel 27, is a UniMás-affiliated television station serving Boston, Massachusetts, United States that is licensed to Worcester. The station is owned by Entravision Communications, which also operates Marlborough-licensed Univision-owned station WUNI under a joint sales agreement with the Univision Local Media subsidiary of Univision Communications. WUTF-TV's studios are located on 4th Avenue, and its transmitter is located on Cedar Street, both in Needham.

History

V66

The station first signed on the air on February 12, 1985 as WVJV-TV, maintaining a music video format at a time when they were a major part of the American culture. The station was originally owned by longtime New England radio broadcasters John Garabedian and Arnie "Woo-Woo" Ginsburg. Garabedian also owned WGTR ; both WVJV and WGTR operated from studios in Natick. The music format combined videos from progressive rock and pop contemporary. Irrespective of the must-carry rule requiring cable systems to carry the station, many cable systems freely chose to carry WVJV instead of VH1. WVJV was also the first station in the Boston area to transmit in stereo.

Change from music videos to home shopping

Garabedian had hoped to launch a national over-the-air music video network to compete against MTV, if WVJV had succeeded. However, although channel 66 received a sizable number of viewers, the station struggled to retain them for long periods of time, and by mid-1986, the station's advertising sales were insufficient to ensure the station's long-term viability; additionally, attempts to broaden the station's programming to include shows on sports and other topics proved unsuccessful. Consequently, WVJV was sold to the HSN later that year, with the station transitioning to HSN's shopping programs soon afterwards on September 21, 1986; a callsign change to WHSH followed the next year. For the next thirteen years, WHSH continued to run HSN programming, with some local feature segments in-between.
A documentary film about V66 titled Life on the V: The Story of V66, produced by Christian de Rezendes and Eric Green, premiered at the Independent Film Festival of Boston on April 29, 2014.

Short-lived independent format

In the late 1990s, Barry Diller, who was the owner of HSN and its broadcast television arm, began plans to turn his stations into true independents. On August 1, 2000, this format was implemented on channel 66 as WHUB-TV, branding as "Hub 66", and airing primarily syndicated programs and movies under the HubFlix banner; the station also obtained the rights to Boston University ice hockey games, as well as the annual Beanpot tournament. However, at the end of 2000, USA Broadcasting was preparing to sell its stations. Disney/ABC was in the running to become the owner of WHUB, however Univision Communications outbid them in a close race. Plans were immediately announced to make the station a charter station of what would become Telefutura ; in the meantime, WHUB reverted to HSN programming on January 31, 2001 in an attempt by USA to cut costs; its five-month run made it one of the shortest-ran independent-formatted stations in the country. AT&T Broadband then obtained some of WHUB's programming for its AT&T 3 channel.

Switch to Telefutura

To reflect the pending affiliation with Telefutura, channel 66 changed its call letters to WFUB in November 2001. However, the station changed the callsign again just one month later, to WUTF – both changes occurred while the station was still running HSN programming. It was not until January 14, 2002 that channel 66 finally joined Telefutura, offering a general entertainment format with Spanish movies, serials, sports and children's programs.

Move to channel 27

On December 4, 2017, as part of a channel swap made by Entravision Communications, WUTF and sister station WUNI swapped channel numbers, with WUTF moving to digital channel 29 and virtual channel 27.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
27.11080iWUTF-TVMain WUTF-DT programming / UniMás
27.2480iLATVLATV
27.3480iTBDTBD
27.4480iStadiumStadium
27.5480iCourtTVCourt TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

WUTF shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 66, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station moved its digital signal from its pre-transition UHF channel 23 to channel 27. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 66, which was among the high band UHF channels that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.