WNUV

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Template:Infobox Broadcast WNUV (WB 54) is the WB affiliate in Baltimore, Maryland, broadcasting channel 54 (analog) and channel 40 (digital). The station appears to be a frontrunner to become an affiliate of The CW after The WB folds in September 2006, due to Fox-owned UPN affiliate WUTB joining My Network TV.

The station is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation, but is operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group through a local marketing agreement with Sinclair's flagship station, Fox affiliate WBFF-TV. However, due to Cunningham's financial structure, Sinclair effectively owns WNUV as well (see below).

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History

WNUV began broadcasting on July 1, 1982 as an affiliate of SuperTV, a subscription television service. The SuperTV programming aired at night, so during the daytime WNUV aired programming from the Financial News Network (now part of CNBC) and televangelists. At that time, the station was owned by NUVision, Inc., thus the call letters WNUV.

In the fall of 1984, WNUV dropped Financial News and added cartoons from 7-9 AM and 2:30 to 5 PM weekdays, sitcoms Noon-2:30 and 5-7 PM weekdays, and a movie mid-mornings. It retained Subscription TV at night. In the spring of 1986, the station began to air a conventional independent general entertainment schedule full time, dropping Super TV. It adopted the on-air name "Baltimore 54."

In 1989, WNUV was bought by ABRY Communications. Under its ownership, the station remained a full-time independent station and picked up the broadcast rights to some Baltimore Orioles games. The station continues to show Orioles games to this day, but splits them with WJZ-TV and CSN-Mid-Atlantic (formerly Home Team Sports, which for several years was co-owned with WJZ-TV: first under Group W, then CBS, and finally Viacom before it was sold to Comcast).

In 1994, WNUV was purchased by Glencairn Ltd. and entered into a local marketing agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group later that year. Glencairn was owned by Edwin Edwards, a former Sinclair executive. The Smith family, owners and founders of Sinclair (which started when WBFF signed on in 1971) owned 97 percent of Glencairn's stock, so Sinclair effectively owned both stations. Many saw Glencairn as a corporate shell used by Sinclair to evade FCC rules against owning more than one station in a market. The FCC eventually fined Sinclair $40,000 in 2001 for illegally controlling Glencairn.

When UPN started broadcasting in January 1995, WNUV became its affiliate. However, in December 1997, Sinclair decided not to renew UPN programming, and the station became Baltimore's WB affiliate (WMJF-LP had been the previous WB affiliate) in January 1998. UPN moved to WHSW (which became WUTB).

WNUV launched a 6:30PM newscast in 1997 called UPN54 News at 6:30 (changed to WB54 News at 6:30 in January 1998). The newscast shared the same set and anchors as WBFF's 10:00PM newscast. In January 2005, Sinclair decided to move WNUV's 6:30PM newscast to 5:30PM on WBFF. The station now airs no newscasts.

Sinclair tried to buy WNUV outright in 2002 as part of a merger with Glencairn, but the FCC turned down the request. It only allowed Sinclair to buy four Glencairn stations, but WNUV wasn't one of them. Glencairn was renamed Cunningham Broadcasting, but is still effectively owned by Sinclair since most of its stock is held by trusts owned by the Smith family.

On January 24, 2006 The WB and UPN announced that they would merge their networks into a new one, The CW. It seems most likely that WNUV will become the new CW affiliate come September 2006 as WUTB's parent company Fox has announced that its eight UPN-affiliated stations will be part of My Network TV. However, Sinclair's recent group deal (in various other markets) for My Network TV, and some hesitations expressed shortly after regarding The CW's reported demands for reverse (station-to-network) compensation, provide some doubt.

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