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26-932: PBS Wisconsin (formerly Wisconsin Public Television or WPT ) is a network of non-commercial educational television stations operated primarily by the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin–Madison . It comprises all of the PBS member stations in the state outside of Milwaukee (which has its own PBS stations ). The state network is available via flagship station WHA-TV in Madison and five full-power satellite stations throughout most of Wisconsin. As of April 5, 2009, all stations have converted to digital-only transmissions. PBS Wisconsin

52-492: A charitable organization or public college . Money can be accepted if there is no on-air mention of the sponsor. NCE stations may also not mention prices or qualities of commercial products or services in any situation which would be construed as promoting or endorsing any company, regardless of whether it sponsors the station. Underwriting spots are brief and to-the-point, as they must not be disruptive to programming. Additionally, underwriting spots on public TV are at

78-545: A few examples of this); most of those stations now broadcast as affiliates of commercially owned networks. This is also rare in Mexico, though XEIMT-TV , a cultural channel in Mexico City, and XEWH-TV , the main station of the state network of Sonora, operate under commercial concessions and not permits. A number of new low power FM ( LPFM ) NCE stations operating in the non-reserved part of the spectrum have been licensed by

104-1011: A process that would ensure that non-commercial applicants would have a chance against those who could afford to bid at spectrum auctions . Two such stations are WGPB FM in Rome, Georgia and WNGH-FM in Chatsworth, Georgia , former commercial stations purchased in 2007 and 2008 and operated by Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB), serving the mountains northwest of Atlanta which previously had no GPB radio service. In addition, there were at least four stations with commercial licenses that formerly operated as PBS member stations ( WNYC-TV in New York City , WMHX in Albany, New York , KAUT-TV in Oklahoma City , and KCPQ-TV in Seattle are

130-546: Is also available on most satellite and cable television outlets. WHA-TV, along with Chicago -based WTTW , serve the Rockford, Illinois , television market exclusively through cable and satellite, as Rockford is one of a few television markets in the United States that lacks a PBS station of its own. Until the gradual move of instructional broadcasting to IPTV services, the network, as Wisconsin Public Television,

156-474: Is known as the reserved band , sometimes known by the term "left of the dial" (taken from the Replacements' song of the same name ), which refers to the college and other non-commercial stations that broadcast from those frequencies. It also includes channel 200 (87.9 MHz), but only for class D NCE stations unable to find another frequency; the frequency has been unused for its intended purpose in

182-599: Is one of the oldest educational radio stations in the world. By the time channel 21 signed on, UW had already launched a radio network that evolved into today's Wisconsin Public Radio . However, for most of the time from the 1950s through the 1970s, it was one of only three stations in the state that was a member of National Educational Television (NET) and its successor, PBS. The others were WMVS (channel 10) and WMVT (channel 36) in Milwaukee. The only other areas of

208-585: The American Archive of Public Broadcasting to preserve digitized items in the WPT collection. On November 4, 2019, Wisconsin Public Television was renamed PBS Wisconsin, aligning itself with the new national PBS brand identity unveiled the same day. There are six full-power stations in the state network, each located in major cities throughout the state, and all are broadcast on the UHF band. On April 5, 2009,

234-529: The FCC since the Local Community Radio Act was enacted in 2010. The FCC defines several different activities as being commercial in nature. Sponsorship of NCE stations is called underwriting , and stations may make announcements of these grants on-air. However, they may not accept money for such mentions, only goods and services , unless the sponsor itself is a non-profit , such as

260-422: The FCC's spectrum repacking, but both stations continue to use their virtual channel mappings. All transmitters broadcast the same four digital subchannels . A translator network also serves portions of the state where over-the-air reception for a full-power station is hindered by area topography (or in the case of Door County , distance from Green Bay), and to fill in holes between full-power stations. All of

286-813: The Green Bay and Milwaukee markets. In 1971, the state legislature created the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board, activating five stations as semi-satellites of WHA-TV during the 1970s; the network launched using new studio facilities located within Vilas Hall on the UW–Madison campus, along with WHA-TV and WHA radio. The first was WPNE-TV in Green Bay in 1972, ending KFIZ-TV's part-time affiliation with WHA (and hastening its demise only two months after WPNE went on

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312-408: The U.S. NCE band as noncommercial or with limited advertising based on each individual licence, but there are exceptions, such as CIXL , a fully commercial station that operates on 91.7.) NCE stations may also operate on a non-reserved channel. However this was rare in the United States due to the high cost of buying a commercial broadcasting station, and because for years the FCC failed to maintain

338-810: The United States since KSFH shut down in 2021. Many of the reserved-band channels are used by stations bordering the United States, such as with broadcasting in the San Diego/Tijuana metropolitan area . Additionally, neither the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission nor Mexico's Federal Telecommunications Institute have such a reserved band. (In Mexico, individual stations belonging to state and federal governments, educational institutions, and non-profit groups are licensed under permits or permisos , which are non-commercial, non-profit licenses that do not permit advertising. Canada, in practice, generally keeps most of

364-700: The air on May 3, 1954, as the first educational station in Wisconsin and the seventh in the United States. WHA-TV is the only public television station in the country that maintains a three-letter callsign , and one of only three analog-era UHF stations altogether (along with WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania , and WWJ-TV in Detroit ) with a three-letter callsign. Wisconsin was a relative latecomer to educational television, despite its earlier leading role in educational radio. Channel 21's radio sister, WHA-AM ,

390-631: The air). This was followed by WHWC-TV in Menomonie and WHLA-TV in La Crosse in 1973; WHRM-TV in Wausau in 1975 and WLEF in Park Falls in 1977, most taking call signs that originated from their co-owned radio counterparts. Originally, programming origination was split between WHA-TV and WPNE-TV. The stations adopted the on-air name of "Wisconsin Public Television" in 1986, and by then WHA-TV had become

416-501: The auxiliary service within the allowable bit rate . NCE digital television (DTV) stations do not pay the FCC a percentage of their revenue from these leases as commercial DTV stations do. No such datacasting fee is levied on any analog or FM/AM station, whether commercial or NCE. Tape-delayed Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include

442-732: The beginning or end of the TV show rather than in the middle, as they have increasingly become on commercial stations. Retransmission consent has often been chosen over must-carry by the major commercial television networks. Under the present rules, a new agreement is negotiated every three years, and stations must choose must-carry or retransmission consent for each cable system they wish their signal to be carried on. Non-commercial stations (such as local PBS stations) may not seek retransmission consent and may only invoke must-carry status. Like commercial stations, NCE stations are allowed to lease subcarriers in exchange for money , essentially making

468-471: The listed translators are owned by the WECB, and flash-cut from analog to digital in the first two weeks of November 2008, including adding the subchannel services. Each translator has its virtual channel mapped to the channel number of the closest full-power station to the translator. PBS Wisconsin's public affairs programming is carried by WMVS in Milwaukee, including Here and Now , while Duluth's WDSE airs

494-765: The shows in northeast Minnesota and northwest Wisconsin. The two stations also air the state network's live teen issues program Teen Connection quarterly with PBS Wisconsin, along with political debates and other important events originating from the Capitol such as the State of the State address and biennial budget address produced by the state network; in turn some Milwaukee PBS programming (such as Outdoor Wisconsin ) and MPTV-produced debates air on PBS Wisconsin, with programs such as Wisconsin Foodie in turn airing on WMVS. Some of

520-477: The sole originating station. Transmission and station identification is based out of ECB's Madison facility; all stations still maintain studios at their respective universities but have generally been deprecated with the evolution of public broadcasting and technology. From 1960 to 2007, WHA-TV/WPT aired same-day tape-delayed coverage of some Wisconsin Badgers football and men's basketball home games, which

546-434: The state network ended analog service for all stations, which map to their former analog channel location; WLEF's analog signal was terminated on February 3, 2009. All digital facilities and channels in the network except for WLEF were designed for pre- and post-transition use. WPNE moved its physical channel from 42 to 25 on July 1, 2018, and WHLA moved its physical channel from 30 to 15 on September 7, 2018, both as part of

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572-558: The state network's tape-delayed sports coverage airs in Milwaukee on WMVT . In March 2021, PBS Wisconsin, by way of WHA-TV, was quietly added to Dish Network 's Duluth–Superior local feed in standard definition . Non-commercial educational On the FM broadcast band , the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has reserved the lowest 20 channels, 201~220 (88.1~91.9 MHz ) for NCE stations only. This

598-607: The state outside of Milwaukee and Madison that had a clear signal from an NET/PBS member station were the northwest (from Duluth, Minnesota 's WDSE-TV ) and the southwest (from the Twin Cities ' KTCA-TV ). During the late 60s and into the early 70s, commercial station KFIZ-TV in Fond du Lac was contracted by the UW-Madison Board of Regents to simulcast portions of WHA-TV's broadcast day, bringing WHA's programming into

624-504: The station a common carrier . This may be for a commercial audio , video , or data service, or a non-commercial one like a radio reading service for the blind . NCE stations broadcasting in digital TV or HD Radio may lease part of their bandwidth (actually bitrate ) in a similar manner, however, the commercial use is limited. The main program must always be non-commercial, and must not have its quality diminished excessively by increased lossy compression done in order to fit

650-559: Was produced in association with UW-Madison's athletic department. This ended in 2007 with the Big Ten Conference 's new media rights deals (including the new Big Ten Network cable channel). The state network offers tape-delayed broadcasts of Badgers men's and women's hockey , women's basketball and volleyball throughout the year over the secondary Wisconsin Channel. In 2018, Wisconsin Public Television collaborated with

676-462: Was the main conduit of educational television , GED preparation and instructional television programming produced by the WECB, which aired through PBS, Annenberg Media , those stations serving portions of Wisconsin without a WPT station, and other educational television distributors. As of October 2014, the WECB now distributes this programming exclusively online, allowing the over-the-air network to carry PBS programming full-time. WHA-TV signed on

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