WTTE (channel 28) is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, airing programming from the digital multicast network TBD. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of ABC/MyNetworkTV/Fox affiliate WSYX (channel 6), for the provision of certain services. However, Sinclair effectively owns WTTE as the majority of Cunningham's stock is owned by the family of deceased group founder Julian Smith. Sinclair also operates Chillicothe-licensed CW affiliate WWHO (channel 53) under a separate LMA with Manhan Media. The stations share studios on Dublin Road in Grandview Heights (with a Columbus mailing address), while WTTE's transmitter is located in the Franklinton section of Columbus.
A charter Fox affiliate from the network's sign-on from 1986 to 2021, WTTE also served as the Fox station of record for the nearby Zanesville, Ohio, market.
History
WTTE began operations on June 1, 1984, as the first general-entertainment independent station in central Ohio. The station was founded by the Commercial Radio Institute, a subsidiary of the Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group (at the time, called Chesapeake Broadcasting Corporation) as the company's third television station after WPTT-TV (now WPNT) in Pittsburgh and flagship station WBFF in Baltimore. The station originally operated from studio and office facilities at 6130 South Sunbury Road in Columbus.
WTTE quickly became the dominant independent station in the area largely because its programming policy was far less conservative than that of the other independent in the area, Christian-oriented WSFJ-TV (channel 51). Channel 28 was a charter affiliate of Fox, having joined the network at its launch on October 9, 1986. From 1995 until 1997, WTTE also carried a secondary affiliation with UPN which was then picked up by WWHO. Early in that run, the station listed both affiliations on an equal level (as "the best of both worlds") in its station identifications of the time, including a period where Fox logos were dropped entirely.
Merger with WSYX
In 1996, Sinclair merged with River City Broadcasting, owner of WSYX. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) rules at the time did not allow one person to own two stations in a single market. Sinclair kept the longer-established WSYX and nominally sold WTTE to Glencairn, Ltd. owned by former Sinclair executive Edwin Edwards. However, nearly all of Glencairn's stock was held by the Smith family, founders and owners of Sinclair. In effect, Sinclair still owned WTTE, and now had a duopoly in Columbus in violation of FCC rules. Sinclair and Glencairn further circumvented the rules by moving WTTE's operations into WSYX's Dublin Road studios under a local marketing agreement, with WSYX as senior partner. Glencairn owned ten other stations—all in markets where Sinclair also had a station. Sinclair was eventually fined $40,000 for its illegal control of Glencairn. The two companies attempted to merge in 2001 after the FCC allowed duopolies. However, the FCC would not allow Sinclair to repurchase WTTE. The FCC does not allow duopolies between two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market. Also the Columbus market, despite its relatively large size, has only seven full-power stations—too few to legally permit a duopoly. WTTE thus remained under the banner of Glencairn, which was then renamed Cunningham Broadcasting. However, the Smith family still controls nearly all of Cunningham's stock, so Sinclair still effectively had a duopoly in Columbus. By nearly all accounts, Sinclair has used Glencairn/Cunningham as a shell corporation to evade FCC ownership rules.
In 2000, WWHO switched its affiliation to UPN, but signed a deal with The WB to retain its programming on a secondary basis through what a Paramount Stations Group executive described as a "program license agreement." As a result, WTTE picked up half of Kids' WB!'s weekday programming and aired it alongside its usual Fox Kids programming. This arrangement continued until 2001.
In 2006, all Sinclair-controlled Fox affiliates including WTTE extended their affiliation contracts until at least March 2012. WTTE-DT2 was formerly an affiliate of The Tube, a 24-hour digital music channel. Like other Sinclair-owned stations, this was dropped in January 2007, due to a disagreement between Sinclair and The Tube over E/I programming. The network ceased operations that October due to the lack of advertising.