WIWB

WLUK Vice President and General Manager Jay Zollar has made it official:  WIWB will change its call letters starting next week.

The new call letters, WCWF, will go into effect Monday, September 27th.  

It's been mere months since LIN Media, the parent company of Green Bay FOX affiliate WLUK, entered into a shared services agreement with ACME Communications, the owner of CW affiliate WIWB.

Now LIN is exercising an option in the agreement to purchase the struggling station and "certain assets" of Dayton, Ohio station WBDT for a combined price of $11.5 million.

If you've been watching WIWB lately, you may have noticed one substantial change -- the rebranding of the station from the previous "Wisconsin's CW" to "CW14."

The change is one of many underway at the fledgling station, which recently came under WLUK's control after parent company LIN Media signed a shared services agreement with WIWB station owner Acme Communications.

According to an article in the Green Bay Press-Gazette, more changes are coming for the station.

WLUK is taking a smaller local TV station under its wing, under an agreement announced today.

WIWB, known locally as Wisconsin's CW, completed an upgrade to its broadcast tower in the overnight hours Tuesday that nearly doubled its signal power, according to The Green Bay Press-Gazette.  The station applied last June for the increase and it was approved this July.

The station recommends those who receive WIWB over-the-air via antenna re-scan their TVs and converter boxes.

According to the FCC database, WIWB will have increased its effective radiated power from 450 kW to 800 kW.

As we previously reported, Time Warner Cable will be dramatically reordering their digital cable lineup in Northeast Wisconsin on October 6th.  At that time, there will also be some changes coming to basic/standard customers' lineups as well.

This comes in Time Warner Cable's monthly legal programming notice, published in local newspapers and on their website.

Highlights of other announced programming changes include the following:

CHANNEL NUMBER CHANGES

• WPT WI moves to 975, WPT Create to 977, Retro TV to 991 and WBAY Weather to 992.
• WBAY HD moves to 1003, WFRV HD to 1006, WGBA HD to 1007, WPNE HD to 1008, WIWB HD to 1010, and WLUK HD to 1012.
• Big Ten Network moves down to channel 39
• Cartoon Network moves down to channel 62
• Oxygen moves up to channel 68
• Versus moves down to channel 38
• HGTV moves down to channel 26
• VH1 moves down to channel 20
• CSPAN moves to Basic channel 99 in Oshkosh, Neenah/Menasha and De Pere lineups
• WGN moves to channel 9
• Info channel moves to 66 in Appleton, Green Bay, Reedsville, De Pere, and Neenah/Menasha
• EWTN moves to Basic channel 11 in Oshkosh and 12 in Marinette
• TLC moves to Standard channel 42 in Marinette

CHANNEL PACKAGE CHANGES / CHANNEL ADDITIONS

• Shop NBC moves to Basic lineup on channel 96
• Jewelry TV moves to Digital Access
• Nick2 moves to the Digital Choice package
• IFC moves to the Movie Package
• Fit TV, Investigation Discovery, Planet Green, Speed, CSPAN 3, GSN, BET J, SOAPnet, Sprout, Outdoor and NBA TV move to the Digital Variety package
• RFD TV, Military History, C&I Network, and CNN International join the Digital Choice package
• Sundance, The Word, TBN, MTV Hits, TV One, and BTN Alternates join the Digital Variety package
• Hallmark will no longer be in the Family Choice package, but will remain in the standard lineup
• Marinette will have several additional changes to the standard lineup. For a listing of Marinette area changes, please see today’s issue of the Eagle Herald or complete local lineup, which will be mailed to all Time Warner Cable customers.

CHANNEL DELETIONS

• West coast feeds of Showtime, Sho2, Showcase and Sho Extreme will no longer be on the lineup