Misplaced Pages

#949050

66-539: WPXO originally began as a 24-hour music channel called The Box on channel 23 with the call letters W23BA . In 1996, the station was sold to Paxson Communications from Craig L. Fox, which made it a translator for its station in Bridgeport, Connecticut , WHAI-TV. After Paxson acquired WPXN-TV to serve as its New York outlet, the company sold off the Bridgeport station (which has since become WZME ) and made W23BA

132-557: A 32% stake in Paxson. On December 4, 2001, it was announced that Paxson had filed with the FCC an arbitration to block NBC's acquisition of Telemundo . In September 2002, it was announced that Paxson's arbitration against NBC was denied. On November 13, NBC requested a redemption of its investment in Paxson of $ 549.2 million. In August 2004, NBC Universal filed a lawsuit against Paxson. On November 7, 2005, to settle several lawsuits between

198-633: A Katz-owned network, some will be offloaded to the Ion stations to free up limited spectrum capacity during the ATSC 3.0 transition. Several of the Ion Plus full-power stations paired with Ion Television stations were also concurrently sold off to Inyo Broadcast Holdings in order to alleviate local ownership conflicts and national cap issues related to Scripps' purchase of Ion Media under the FCC's regulatory station ownership limits. In October 2021, Scripps notified

264-673: A Katz-owned network, the networks were load balanced and freed up onto Ion stations due to limited spectrum capacity during the ATSC 3.0 transition, along with Ion's existing carriage deals with Qurate 's home shopping networks, QVC and HSN , along with their own secondary channels. After March 1, Scripps began to utilize an outside-sourced three-hour block of programming on Ion Television Friday mornings in order to meet their E/I burden without any Qubo branding, including Finding Stuff Out and Science Max (both were past Qubo series), as well as Xploration Station programs from Steve Rotfeld Productions . The Qubo website redirected to

330-471: A contar ), sitcoms ( Here's Lucy , Poné a Francella ), infomercials during the mornings and public domain cartoons on weekends. During the week of May 4, 2009, WPXO-LP turned off its analog signal on channel 34 and began test broadcasts on digital channel 34, and as of late May, WPXO has been transmitting its programming full-time on digital channel 34. On July 31, 2012, the CaribeVision network

396-636: A deal with Liberty Media to bring the QVC and HSN networks to most of its Ion Television O&O stations throughout nationwide on digital subchannels X.5 and X.6. In December 2013, the United States bankruptcy court approved a plan by creditors of Roberts Broadcasting to transfer East St. Louis -based WRBU and its sister stations, WZRB in Columbia and WAZE-LP in Evansville, Indiana , to

462-516: A family entertainment lineup of drama shows, movies, first-run shows, wildlife shows, sitcoms, and talk shows. The most expensive station acquisition was WBIS in New York City. The city government had sold this station to Dow Jones & Company and ITT in 1996 for nearly US$ 200 million. In January 1997, Dow Jones launched a business format called S+ during the day and a sports channel after 7 pm and on weekends. Dow Jones/ITT lost money on

528-416: A game show titled The Reel to Reel Picture Show , sitcoms Dave's World , Here's Lucy and The Hogan Family , and some movies. The network ran weekdays from noon until 1 am. Due to low ratings and mounting financial costs, PAX TV soon reduced its hours. In 1999, they were reduced to between 3 pm and midnight, and in 2002, they were reduced again to 6 pm to midnight. In September 1999, NBC bought

594-510: A joint venture with its Fox Television Stations division, to create a larger station group in an effort to counter Sinclair Broadcast Group and their proposed purchase of Tribune Media . The proposal also included the possibility for as many as 26 stations owned by Sinclair or Tribune to be switched from Fox after existing affiliation contracts expire. It has been argued that this deal was intended to place pressure on Sinclair to abandon its acquisition, lest it potentially lose Fox affiliations to

660-443: A national feed that was delivered directly to cable and satellite providers in markets without a local Ion Television station that carries the network. Qubo did not have any over-the-air stations in several major markets, most notably Toledo, Ohio ; San Diego, California ; Charlotte, North Carolina ; Richmond, Virginia ; Green Bay, Wisconsin ; and Cincinnati, Ohio . A key factor in the network's limited national broadcast coverage

726-400: A new, multi-platform children's entertainment brand known as Qubo, oriented towards providing "educational, values-oriented programming" targeted towards children between 5 and 14 years of age. The brand would encompass programming blocks on NBCUniversal and Ion's respective flagship broadcast television networks ( NBC , Telemundo and Ion Television ), a video on demand service, a website, and

SECTION 10

#1732798234950

792-420: A standalone 24-hour network to be carried as a digital subchannel on terrestrial television stations owned by Ion Media Networks and by pay-TV providers. Qubo president Rick Rodríguez (who formerly served as a programming executive at Discovery Communications ) stated in a 2008 interview with Multichannel News that Qubo was designed as a bilingual brand, offering programming in both English and Spanish (with

858-402: A translator of WPXN. The following year, due to potential future interference from WHSI-TV (now WFTY-DT ), who was assigned channel 23 for its digital signal, it moved to channel 34. On September 11, 2001 , the transmitter facilities of WPXN, as well as six other New York City television stations and several radio stations, were destroyed when two hijacked airplanes crashed into and destroyed

924-692: A trio of private equity companies (Black Diamond Capital Management, Avenue Capital Group, & Trilogy Capital) purchased a 62.5% controlling stake in Ion Media Networks from the Ion Media Liquidating Trust (the legal entity selling the stake) through their partnership, Media Holdco L.P. (43.7% owned by Black Diamond via its BD Ion Media GP Holdings subsidiary; 15.8% by Trilogy via its Trilogy Ion, LLC subsidiary; & 40.5% by Avenue via its Avenue Ion Holdings LP subsidiary). The remaining 37.5% of Ion Media Networks remained with

990-741: A trust with Ion Media Networks (a creditor in Roberts' chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, which it filed for in 2011) as its beneficiary, with Roberts' attorney subsequently stating that Ion Media Networks would purchase the three stations. The deal is complete on February 10, 2014, and both WZRB and WRBU became Ion stations. Also in December 2013, Black Diamond purchased Avenue & Trilogy's stakes in Media Holdco, placing Black Diamond as Media Holdco's sole shareholder. As of November 2014, Media Holdco's majority equity stake in Ion Media Networks

1056-466: A weekly programming block on Ion Television, along with Ion Life, later known as Ion Plus . Following Ion Media's acquisition by the E. W. Scripps Company , it ceased operations on February 28, 2021. In May 2006, Ion Media Networks , NBCUniversal (which owned a 32% interest in Ion Media at the time), Corus Entertainment , Scholastic Corporation and Classic Media announced plans to launch

1122-460: Is a subsidiary of the E.   W. Scripps Company that operates the linear broadcast networks Ion Television and Ion Plus . Prior to its acquisition by Scripps, the company owned and operated over 71 television stations in most major American markets (through its television stations group, Ion Media Television), and also operated Qubo and Ion Shop. After being operated as a private company since it entered and emerged from bankruptcy in 2009, it

1188-403: Is at 85%, leaving the company's senior investors from previous rounds of financing with a minority stake of 15%. On April 20, 2017, Ion Media Networks, through its website, announced a name change to "Ion Media" (with the company still legally operating as "Ion Media Networks"). On August 2, 2017, it was reported that 21st Century Fox was proposing that Ion Media contribute its stations into

1254-461: Is religious, NBC is not. I want to focus people more on 'Isn't it cool that Bob and Larry are on television?'" Qubo ceased broadcasting VeggieTales in 2009. In December 2006, a Spanish-language version of the Qubo website was launched. The 24-hour Qubo network launched on Ion Media Networks' terrestrial stations on January 8, 2007 at 6:00 a.m., with Theodore Tugboat being the first program to air on

1320-552: Is the fact that Ion Media Networks did not actively attempt over-the-air distribution for the network on the digital subchannels of other network-affiliated stations (in contrast, its parent network Ion Television – which had similarly limited national coverage following the digital television transition – had begun subchannel-only affiliation arrangements through agreements with NBC Owned Television Stations ' Telemundo Station Group subsidiary and Nexstar Media Group during 2014 and 2015 ), with very few stations that contractually carry

1386-521: The Children's Television Act on its other subchannel services. This allowed Ion to carry Ion Shop, HSN and QVC without overlaying any E/I programming on those subchannels. On September 27, 2010, Qubo launched "Qubo Night Owl", (running from 12:00 to 6:00 a.m. ET) featuring classic animated series, many of which came from the Filmation library then owned by Classic Media. After Classic Media

SECTION 20

#1732798234950

1452-500: The E. W. Scripps Company announced an agreement to buy Ion Media for $ 2.65 billion. The transaction, which closed on January 7, 2021, saw Ion's networks integrated into Katz Broadcasting, Scripps's subsidairy for its own multicast networks, later re-christened as Scripps Networks . For several Ion networks, including Qubo, Ion Plus and Ion Shop, it would be a short-lived period under Katz's management. On January 14, 2021, Scripps announced that it would discontinue Ion Shop and Qubo at

1518-681: The Federal Communications Commission that it had closed the local facilities of the Ion Media stations (with those in duopoly markets having their operations consolidated with the existing Scripps commercial station), and consolidated the regulatory 'studios' for all of the stations at Scripps Center in Cincinnati . The FCC had repealed the Main Studio Rule in 2019 requiring a facility for each station in their local market, and for all intents and purposes,

1584-592: The World Trade Center towers. The next day, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) authorized W23BA to temporarily move its signal to channel 31, boost its power to 240 kW, and change its call letters to W31CK to replace WPXN's signal. When WPXN-TV returned to the air with a new transmitter on the Empire State Building in 2002, W31CK's signal moved back to channel 34 and was assigned W34CP as its new call letters. A year later,

1650-533: The Comcast merger. This left Ion Television as the only remaining network with a Qubo-branded programming block (with Ion Media acquiring NBCUniversal's interest in the venture). Ion Media Networks acquired the stakes in Qubo held by Classic Media (which became DreamWorks Classics in 2012 after its acquisition by DreamWorks Animation ), Scholastic Corporation and Corus Entertainment in 2013, with all three companies retaining program distribution partnerships with

1716-532: The District of Columbia. The network has an estimated national reach of 58.83% of all households in the United States (or 183,832,858 American families with at least one television set). Like parent network Ion Television, the network's stations almost exclusively consisted of network-owned stations (with the exception of Louisville, Kentucky affiliate WBNA ). Qubo's programming was available by default via

1782-464: The Ion network under bankruptcy for the second time, saying it had reached an agreement with holders of 60% of its first lien secured debt that would extinguish all of its $ 2.7 billion in legacy debt and preferred stock and recapitalize the company with a $ 150 million new funding commitment. It emerged from bankruptcy in December, under the ownership of its bondholders & secured lenders/first lien holders, wiping out Citadel's ownership. In late 2009,

1848-902: The buyer, revealed in an October 2020 FCC filing to be Inyo Broadcast Holdings , has promised to maintain the stations' Ion Television affiliations after the purchase. However, the number of stations to be sold increased according to a Public Applications Report from the FCC on October 16, 2020, and although unconfirmed, it is possible that Scripps could still operates at least some of these stations. Whether or not that pans out remains to be seen. As of October 17, 2020, 27 stations are likely up for sale; however, three of those stations in Philadelphia , San Francisco and Minneapolis are predicated and contingent upon whether Scripps can complete its sale of New York City's WPIX to Mission Broadcasting (to be operated by Nexstar Media Group ) in time before these transactions are finalized. If WPIX

1914-411: The company and NBC Universal, Lowell Paxson granted NBCU an 18-month transferable option to purchase his shares of the company in an agreement which, if activated, would also trigger a sale of the rest of the company. If Mr. Paxson's shares of the company weren't sold in the option window, the company was obligated to buy them back from Mr. Paxson. Concurrent with this deal, Mr. Paxson left the company, and

1980-1221: The company began to purchase stations on the outer fringes of large television markets. In 1994, Paxson acquired its first television station, ABC affiliate WPBF in West Palm Beach, Florida . The company divested itself of both the radio group and major-network affiliated television stations in 1998, focusing on building its own independent TV network, "PAX TV". The company focused on acquiring UHF television stations. Some of these stations are out-of-market stations, such as WPXD in Ann Arbor, Michigan (45 miles (72 km) from Detroit), KXLI in St. Cloud, Minnesota (60 miles (97 km) from Minneapolis), WTLK in Rome, Georgia (45 miles (72 km) from Atlanta), WPXJ in Pavilion, New York (45 miles (72 km) from both Buffalo and Rochester , New York), and WAYK in Melbourne , Florida (60 miles (97 km) from Orlando ). Still in some markets

2046-620: The company bought low-rated stations that had the same type of signals as established stations with medium to high ratings. These stations included WCFC in Chicago (religious), WTGI in Wilmington, Delaware (brokered), WAKC in Akron, Ohio (Cleveland's secondary ABC affiliate), and channel 35 in Miami (Shopping), among others. In the fall of 1997, a tentative lineup was announced, and it included

WPXO-LD - Misplaced Pages Continue

2112-500: The company's senior investors from previous rounds of financing. Ion Media Networks signed carriage agreements in May 2010 with Advanced Cable Communications and Comcast Colorado Springs for Qubo and Ion Life and with Blue Ridge Cable for Qubo. By 2012, Media Holdco's stake in Ion Media Networks was at 87%, with the company's senior investors from previous rounds of financing holding 13%. Sometime in 2013, Ion Media Networks signed

2178-445: The edits, stating that he was not informed that religious content would be removed from the series, and that he would have refused to sign a contract with Qubo if he had known of the decision beforehand. Vischer said, "I would have declined partly because I knew a lot of fans would feel like it was a sellout or it was done for money." Still, Vischer added that he understood NBC's wish to remain religiously neutral, and said, " VeggieTales

2244-566: The end of the evening on February 28, with Ion Plus transitioning to a FAST service. The spectrum allocated to the three networks would be repurposed to carry Katz-owned networks starting March 1, with the initial slate of Ion Television O&Os adding those networks following the expiration of Scripps/Katz's existing contracts with other broadcasting companies the day prior, and other stations following suit as contracts with existing affiliates expired throughout 2021 and 2022; in markets where major network affiliates operated by Scripps already carried

2310-581: The first time that VeggieTales had ever been broadcast as a television program. All shows listed on the inaugural schedule made their official debuts on US television. Jacob Two-Two , however, was the only exception as that show previously aired with its Spanish dub on the predecessor of Telemundo's Qubo block, Telemundo Kids . The show premiered there on January 9, 2005, and was the only show from that block to transition to Qubo en Telemundo . VeggieTales and its spin-offs incorporated lessons related to Christian values; initially, this religious content

2376-481: The future. He felt that the market for Spanish-language children's programming had been underserved by existing outlets (such as Telemundo and Univision ), and envisioned the possibility of programming which could "bridge the gap" and educate Spanish-speaking children on the English language, and vice versa. The Qubo brand was intended to represent a "building block for kids," as reflected by its logo. The name "Qubo"

2442-504: The latter's audio available through the SAP audio feed on most programming, along with the "CC3" closed captioning channel for Spanish text). While Qubo would initially carry Spanish-language dubs of its programming for both its Telemundo block and (through the SAP audio feed) the standalone 24-hour network, Rodríguez did not rule out the possibility of developing original children's programming geared to Hispanic and Latino audiences through Qubo in

2508-535: The license to channel 16 (which was, and still is, occupied by WINP-TV ), with channel 40 used for educational purposes. The two agreed on a purchase price, but the Federal Communications Commission had too many questions about the deal, most relating to the type of broadcast license to be operated on each channel, and it fell through. The PAX network was launched in 1998 with family dramas such as Life Goes On , Our House , Touched by an Angel , Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman , Highway to Heaven , and Bonanza ,

2574-445: The main Ion website shortly thereafter, then completely shut down. Qubo's oncoming sign-off went unacknowledged on-air outside occasional ticker announcements and the withdrawal of promotional advertising that no longer applied. Some affiliates abruptly switched the night of February 26 to other Katz networks, while others were switched automatically at the end of the 28th at the master control level. Qubo featured archived content from

2640-466: The morning and afternoon hours, while series aimed at older children were featured as part of the network's evening schedule. Programming on Qubo and its companion blocks on Ion Television and Ion Plus accounted for all educational programming content on Ion Television's owned-and-operated stations and certain Ion affiliates that carry the 24-hour channel, relieving the network from the responsibility of carrying programs compliant with guidelines dictated by

2706-644: The network at launch. The feed replaced a 3 hour timeshift of the main Ion network for the West Coast of the United States. The network initially included a schedule of children's programming in rolling four-hour blocks; Ion intended to attempt carriage of the channel on pay-TV providers. In May of that year, NBCUniversal sold its minority stake in Ion Media Networks to Citadel LLC . On December 3, 2007, Qubo expanded its programming offerings to include shows from other producers, as well as some programs that were already airing on Ion Television's Qubo block. In addition,

WPXO-LD - Misplaced Pages Continue

2772-936: The network in partnership with childhood obesity expert Goutham Rao. Qubo also began to air a series of public service announcements featuring characters from its programs in association with the Ad Council , the United States Olympic Committee and the Department of Health and Human Services , advocating exercise and healthy living. In May 2009, Ion Media Networks filed an inquiry with the Federal Communications Commission to attempt must-carry subscription television carriage to expand Qubo's distribution to other providers. Later in May 2010, Ion signed carriage agreements with Advanced Cable Communications and Blue Ridge Communications , as well as deal with Comcast's Colorado Springs system to add Qubo on

2838-420: The network. The Qubo block on Ion Television was rebranded as the "Qubo Kids Corner" on January 4, 2015, concurrent with the block's move from Friday to Sunday mornings. On September 8, 2020, the block also began airing on Ion Plus during Monday mornings due to E/I commitments, since they had eight stations in the network that had DT1 main-channel carriage rather than subchannel carriage. On September 24, 2020,

2904-538: The networks on the former Ion Media stations will be repurposed to carry the Katz-owned networks starting March 1, with the initial slate of Ion Television O&Os adding those networks following the expiration of Scripps/Katz's existing contracts with other broadcasting companies the day prior, and other stations following suit as contracts with existing affiliates expire throughout 2021 and 2022; in markets where major network affiliates operated by Scripps already carry

2970-413: The operation, sold the station for about $ 225 million in May 1997, and shut down S+ that June in favor of Bloomberg Business News , Fox Sports Net and a block previewing new networks, IntroTV. Channel 31 was renamed WPXN with plans to be the flagship station of PAX TV in the fall of 1998. In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , the company wanted to buy WPCB , channel 40, from Cornerstone Television , and move

3036-640: The programming libraries of NBCUniversal , Corus Entertainment , Scholastic Corporation , DreamWorks Animation , Classic Media , Trilogy Animation Group, WildBrain , Nelvana , 9 Story Media Group and Splash Entertainment , with its programs targeted all ages 5 to 14. Though there was a first agreement of the two companies – NBCUniversal, and Ion Media – to produce a new series for the network and program block each year, Qubo only produced three original series: My Friend Rabbit (2007–08), Turbo Dogs (2008–2011), and season 1 of Shelldon (2009–2012). Qubo regularly broadcast series aimed at preschoolers during

3102-541: The providers' digital tiers. With NBCUniversal dropping out of the joint venture following its acquisition by Comcast , it was announced on March 28, 2012, that NBC and Telemundo would discontinue their Qubo blocks and replace them with NBC Kids and MiTelemundo on July 7. Both blocks would be programmed by PBS Kids Sprout , a preschool-oriented television network that originated from a previous joint venture between Comcast, PBS , HIT Entertainment and Sesame Workshop , and later came under NBCUniversal ownership as part of

3168-411: The purchase. The transaction, which is projected to close in the first quarter of 2021 and is subject to FCC approval, would see Ion Media and its networks combined with Scripps' Katz Broadcasting subsidiary, which already operates five specialty networks , most notably Bounce TV and Court TV . Scripps would also sell 23 of Ion Media's 71 television stations to comply with national ownership caps;

3234-534: The recapitalization of Ion. Citadel acquired the public common stock of the company, as part of the plan to take the company private. In addition, Citadel invested $ 100 million of new capital into the company to further support management's plan to revitalize the TV network. In November 2007, Ion Media Networks was taken to trial, having been sued in Federal Court by Positive Ions, Inc for trademark infringement of

3300-460: The rolling schedule was expanded to a six-hour block, which repeated four times per day. In January 2008, Ion Media Networks and Comcast reached an agreement to continue carrying Ion's digital terrestrial channels, including Qubo and Ion Life . In August 2008, Qubo introduced guidelines for advertisers in an effort to help fight childhood obesity, committing to only accept advertisements for products which meet nutritional guidelines determined by

3366-459: The simulcast on WWOR-DT4 shortly thereafter. WPXO-LD's affiliation with MundoMax ended on August 1, 2016. At that time, América Tevé, which had been seen on the station's second digital subchannel, was moved to WPXO's primary channel. MundoMax did not have an affiliate in New York for the last four months of the network's existence; the network ceased operations on November 30, 2016. The station

SECTION 50

#1732798234950

3432-462: The station became WPXO-LP . In August 2007, WPXO was sold to Caribevision Station Group, LLC. It re-launched on September 11, 2007, as an affiliate of new network CaribeVision . The station's programming consisted mainly of Argentinian and Brazilian telenovelas ( Yago, pasión morena , Mi primer amor -originally known in Argentina as Romeo y Julieta -, etc.), talk shows ( Margarita, te voy

3498-443: The studios were all office suites with almost no broadcast equipment containing mainly the station's public file with a minimum staff of one engineer and one general manager (both often regional and maintaining multiple Ion stations) merely maintaining the network's transmitters. The network's operations remain based out of West Palm Beach. Qubo Qubo ( / ˈ k j uː b oʊ / KYEW -boh ; stylized as qubo )

3564-486: The use of the word Ion , resulting in a $ 1.7 million settlement awarded to Positive Ions, Inc. In 2008, Ion Media Networks and Comcast reached an agreement to not only continue to carry Ion Television , but also introduced two new digital networks Qubo (its block launched two years later) and Ion Life . By January 2009, Ion had another subchannel network, Urban TV, in the works with BET founder Robert L. Johnson targeted to African-Americans. In April 2009, it

3630-768: The venture. An analyst felt the proposed partnership was hampered by Ion Media's decision to assert must-carry status over its stations rather than retransmission consent , as Fox would be unable to immediately benefit financially from the partnership's scale , which would have included being able to collect carriage payments for all of the stations. The analyst added that Ion stations alone did not have enough leverage to negotiate with television providers, because of their limited local or first-run programming. On September 24, 2020, Ion Media agreed to be acquired by The E. W. Scripps Company for $ 2.65 billion, with Berkshire Hathaway making an investment in Scripps to help finance

3696-697: Was acquired by DreamWorks in 2012, the latter let the agreement with Qubo for the Filmation library lapse August 2013, and the block was restructured to feature a mixture of animated and live-action series sourced only from the remaining distribution partners. The block was discontinued on January 8, 2019 as Ion Media decided to reduce the amount of religious and paid programming on Ion Television and Ion Plus by shifting those hours to Qubo's overnight schedule between 1:00 to 6:00 a.m. Eastern. As of November 2015 , Qubo had current and pending affiliation agreements with 67 television stations encompassing 34 states and

3762-693: Was acquired by the E. W. Scripps Company and merged with its Katz Broadcasting subsidiary on January 7, 2021, creating the new Scripps Networks division to manage those assets separately from its traditional broadcast network-affiliated television stations. The company was founded in 1988 by Bud Paxson in Florida . The company purchased radio stations and a couple of television stations, eventually becoming Florida's largest radio group. The radio stations' formats included rock , contemporary hit radio , news and talk , and adult contemporary . The television stations were network affiliates of ABC and NBC . In 1993

3828-466: Was an American television network for children between the ages of 5 and 14. Owned by Ion Media , it consisted of a 24-hour free-to-air television network often mentioned as the "Qubo channel" (available as a digital terrestrial television service on owned-and-operated stations and some affiliates of corporate sister Ion Television , as well as on some pay-TV providers), associated website with games and programs available through video on demand , and

3894-453: Was announced that Ion Media Networks was once again facing balance sheet problems. The company disclosed that it was in discussions with lenders on "a comprehensive recapitalization" of its balance sheet. That translates to an effort to restructure its considerable debt, which stands at $ 2.7 billion as of April 2009, according to The Wall Street Journal . On May 19, 2009, Ion Media Networks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, putting

3960-536: Was chosen because it had a "fun" sound, and the root word, " cube ", was nearly crosslingual in both English and Spanish ( cubo ). Qubo launched on September 9, 2006, with the premiere of weekend morning blocks on NBC (which aired exclusively on Saturday mornings, replacing Discovery Kids on NBC , a weekly block programmed by the Discovery Kids cable network) and Telemundo (which aired on both Saturday and Sunday mornings, replacing Telemundo Kids ). This

4026-401: Was dissolved and the station became a charter affiliate of MundoFox , which started broadcasting the next day; to provide full-market coverage of the station, it was also simulcast on Fox Television Stations -owned WWOR-DT4 . The station was added to Cablevision Verizon Fios and Time Warner Cable . The network was renamed MundoMax in 2015 after Fox left the network's partnership; FTS ended

SECTION 60

#1732798234950

4092-510: Was edited out of the original VeggieTales broadcasts on Qubo at the request of NBC's standards and practices department. The move, however, drew criticism from the conservative watchdog group Parents Television Council , which filed a complaint against NBC. A representative for NBC replied in a statement that the editing conformed to guidelines within the network's broadcast standards "not to advocate any one religious point of view". VeggieTales creator Phil Vischer also expressed discontent with

4158-658: Was followed by the September 15 introduction of a daytime block on Ion Television (then known as i: Independent Television), which initially aired on Friday afternoons. At launch, its programming included the first-run animated series Dragon (produced by Scholastic), Jacob Two-Two , Babar , and Jane and the Dragon (produced by Canada-based animation studio Nelvana ), alongside VeggieTales and its spin-offs 3-2-1 Penguins! , Larryboy: The Cartoon Adventures (produced by Classic Media subsidiary Big Idea ) – marking

4224-501: Was licensed to move its signal to digital channel 4 (the former analog channel allocation of WNBC ) effective September 6, 2017. On May 3, 2023, it was announced that WPXO would get sold to SagamoreHill Broadcasting for $ 405,000, due to the current owner being in debt. The deal was finalized in late 2023, and the station has since converted to a JTV affiliate. Paxson Communications Ion Media, LLC (formerly known as Paxson Communications Corporation and Ion Media Networks )

4290-979: Was sold before these transactions, then those stations will be retained. On October 20, broadcast industry website TV News Check confirmed the pending sales in a "station roundup" report outlining the stations slated to be sold, and the number being reduced to 26 again. That number, again, is cut down to 23, after Scripps was able to complete its sale of WPIX to Mission Broadcasting on December 30, 2020. As such, Scripps would keep its Ion stations in San Francisco, Philadelphia and Minneapolis. The transaction, which closed on January 7, 2021, saw Ion Television, Ion Plus, Qubo, and Ion Shop integrated into Scripps' Katz Broadcasting subsidiary (operator of fellow multicast networks Court TV , Ion Mystery , Bounce TV , Laff and Grit ). On January 14, 2021, Scripps announced that it would discontinue Ion Plus, Qubo and Ion Shop effective February 28, 2021. The spectrum allocated to

4356-480: Was succeeded by R. Brandon Burgess in the role of President and CEO. In early 2006, the company adopted its current name. A few months later, Ion launched a children's brand along with NBC Universal (along its now-defunct subsidiary Classic Media), Scholastic and Canada's Corus to plan an afternoon block and a 24/7 channel in January. In May 2007, Ion, NBC Universal, and Citadel LLC reached an agreement for

#949050