WXTV-DT


WXTV-DT, virtual channel 41, is a Univision owned-and-operated television station licensed to Paterson, New Jersey, United States and serving the New York City television market. It is one of two East Coast flagship stations of the Spanish-language network. WXTV-DT is owned by the Univision Local Media subsidiary of Univision Communications, as part of a de facto triopoly with Newark, New Jersey-licensed UniMás co-flagship WFUT-DT and Smithtown, New York-licensed True Crime Network affiliate WFTY-DT. The three stations share studios on Frank W. Burr Boulevard in Teaneck, New Jersey; WXTV and WFUT share transmitter facilities at the Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan.
WXTV's programming is simulcast to Long Island on WFTY's third digital subchannel from its transmitter in Middle Island, New York.

History

WXTV first signed on the air on August 4, 1968, originally operating as an independent station, carrying programs in both English and Spanish. The station originally operated from studios at 641 Main Street in Paterson, New Jersey; the station later moved to 24 Meadowlands Parkway in Secaucus, New Jersey and then to its current facilities in Teaneck.
In 1970, WXTV became an entirely Spanish-language station, and affiliated with the Spanish International Network, which became Univision in 1987. Since the mid-1980s, WXTV has used the slogan A su lado, an adaptation for the Hispanic market of the On Your Side campaign created by Frank Gari, and even used the similarly named news music package for a time.
The September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the World Trade Center did not affect WXTV's over-the-air signal, as WXTV's transmitter is located at the Empire State Building. WXTV and WCBS-TV, who had a full-powered backup transmitter at the Empire State Building, were the only major New York City stations whose over-the-air signals were not disrupted. For a time until the other English stations could re-establish emergency transmission bases at Empire or the Armstrong Tower, WXTV's anchors reported in both languages for viewers without pay access to local English stations.
From the 1980s to 2002, WXTV operated a low-powered repeater in Philadelphia, first on channel 35 as W35AB and then on channel 28 as WXTV-LP. In 2002, Univision acquired a full-power outlet in Philadelphia, WUVP-DT, and the former WXTV-LP joined Telefutura as WFPA-CD.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
41.1720pWXTV-DTMain WXTV-DT programming / Univision
41.2480iBounceBounce TV

Analog-to-digital conversion

WXTV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 41, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 40, using PSIP to display WXTV's virtual channel as 41 on digital television receivers.

Subchannels

Bounce TV

On March 1, 2015, WXTV started carrying Bounce TV after WWOR-TV dropped it from its digital lineup to create a space for the upcoming Buzzr.

News operation

WXTV-DT presently broadcasts 17 hours of locally produced newscasts each week ; in addition, the station produces an hour-long extension of its morning newscast Noticias 41 Al Despertar en UniMás for sister station WFUT which airs weekdays at 7:00 a.m., a newscast for Altice USA's News 12 Networks on weekdays, and the 15-minute sports highlight program Accion Deportiva 41, which airs Sunday nights at 11:15 p.m. as part of the 11 p.m. newscast. WXTV also maintains news partnerships with CNN en Español, the Dominican Republic's Noticias SIN, Peru's América Televisión, and Mexico's Enlace Publica and utilizes the reporting staff of sister radio station WADO for on-air reports.
The 6 and 11 p.m. weekend newscasts tend to be preempted by Univision programming that runs longer than it is scheduled to air. In the event that there is a technical fault occurring during either of WXTV's weekday newscasts, WXTV will cut to Univision's satellite feed until it is able to rejoin the East Coast feed for the national Univision news bulletins. Univision's satellite feed features entertainment programming and Primer Impacto Extra from 6–6:30 and 11–11:30 p.m. for stations that do not have local newscasts.
WXTV is known for having newscasts whose ratings frequently rival its English-language counterparts. From 1972 until 2013, the station's lead news anchor was Cuban-born Rafael Pineda; his 41 years at channel 41 gave him the distinction of being the longest-serving news anchor on a New York City television station, English or Spanish, until Chuck Scarborough of WNBC surpassed him in 2016.
WXTV won the July 2008 sweeps period and also became the first Spanish-language television station to win all three evening slots. WXTV's 6 p.m. newscast was also #1 among the 25-54 demographic, followed by WABC-TV, WCBS-TV, WNJU, WNYW and WNBC. On June 22, 2010, WXTV-DT became the first Spanish-language television station in the New York City market to begin broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition.
On January 5, 2012, it was announced that WXTV's 6 p.m. newscast ended the 2011 calendar year as #1 newscast in that timeslot in the entire United States among adult demographics. WXTV outperformed all early evening local newscasts in the country, regardless of language among Adults 18-49. On May 7, 2012 beginning with WXTV's 6 p.m. newscast, the station's moved its newscasts to a temporary set and announced on the next day on their morning newscast that WXTV was constructing a new set to debut on July 23. On May 2, 2012, WXTV's weeknight 11 p.m. newscast was extended by five minutes to 11:35 p.m., while the weekend late newscasts continued to run for a half-hour from 11 to 11:30 p.m.

Notable current on-air staff