Fiktiv USA - WMTW-TV

WMTW, virtual and VHF digital channel 8, is an ABC-affiliated television station licensed to Poland Spring, Maine, United States and serving the Portland, Maine television market, including southern Maine and eastern and northern New Hampshire. The station is owned by the Hearst Television subsidiary of New York City-based Hearst Communications, as part of a duopoly with Portland-licensed CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate WPXT (channel 51). The two stations share studios on Ledgeview Drive in Westbrook; WMTW's transmitter is located in West Baldwin, Maine.

WMTW also operates a low-powered digital fill-in translator (on UHF channel 26 or virtual channel 8 via PSIP) from the Time and Temperature Building in downtown Portland's Monument Square. The translator serves the immediate part of Portland and some surrounding areas to serve viewers that have difficulty receiving the main signal.

In addition to WPXT, WMTW shares common coverage areas with four other Hearst-owned sister stations in New England: fellow ABC affiliates WCVB-TV in Boston and WMUR-TV in Manchester, New Hampshire; and its duopoly of NBC affiliate WPTZ and CW affiliate WNNE in Vermont.

WMTW signed on September 25, 1954 as the third television station in the Portland market and under the ownership of Mount Washington Television, a group that included former Maine Governor Horace Hildreth. It has always been an ABC affiliate although it aired some DuMont programming in its first year. The station's sign-on made Portland one of the smallest markets in the United States with three network affiliates on the analog VHF band. WMTW is also the longest-tenured primary ABC affiliate in New England. The WMTW call sign was modified to include a "-TV" suffix on September 1, 1958.

The station originally broadcast from a transmitter on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, the highest peak in the northeastern United States. This gave WMTW one of the largest coverage areas of any station east of the Mississippi River. In addition to its main coverage area of Southern Maine and Northern New Hampshire, it could also be seen in parts of New York State, Massachusetts, and Vermont. The station also had significant viewership across the Canada–U.S. border in Montreal, a city with almost five times the population of WMTW's American coverage area. As a result, viewers in Vermont, northeastern New York State, and southern Quebec were able to watch the full ABC schedule on WMTW. The Burlington, Vermont–Plattsburgh, New York market got its own ABC affiliate when WVNY (channel 22) signed on from Burlington in 1968. However, for some time afterward, WMTW-TV continued to have a large audience in that area (despite being difficult to receive over-the-air due to co-channel interference from Ottawa station CJOH-TV's repeater in Cornwall, Ontario). WMTW stayed on most Montreal cable systems until the early 1990s. Studios for the station were originally based in the Riccar Inn in Poland, now known as the Presidential Inn.

The station's transmitter tower on Mount Washington had been originally designed in 1940 by Major Edwin Armstrong for one of the first FM radio stations in the country. WMTW-TV built a new tower there in the 1960s but Armstrong's tower remained as a standby.

Mount Washington Television sold the station to Dolphin Enterprises, Inc., a company whose chief officer was former Tonight Show host Jack Paar, in 1963. Initially barred from appearing on WMTW-TV due to contractual obligations with NBC, he later hosted several programs on the station including a Thursday night movie feature. In 1967, Paar sold WMTW to Mid New York Broadcasting which changed its name to Harron Communications a decade later.

WMTW-TV had to leave Mount Washington in 2002 due to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s digital television mandate. The station had been allocated channel 45 for digital broadcasts, and Harron realized that it would not be possible to provide an acceptable signal to southern Maine if it built its digital transmitter on Mount Washington. As a result, channel 8 built a new tower in West Baldwin, a few miles from the towers of rival stations WGME-TV and WCSH, and signed off from Mount Washington for the last time on February 5, 2002. The new transmitter site does not serve as large an area as the Mount Washington tower did, but it provides a better signal to the highly populated areas.

Harron announced in December 2003 that it was exiting broadcasting and the station was sold to Hearst-Argyle Television a few months later. On October 9, 2007, WMTW dropped the "-TV" suffix.

Until 2009, WCVB-TV in Boston served as the flagship station of the New England Patriots Preseason Television Network, which allowed WMTW and WMUR-TV to be part of the network. Even though WBZ-TV became the flagship station for the telecasts that year, WMTW and WMUR continue to simulcast games which results in ABC programming being preempted.

WMTW added The Local AccuWeather Channel on August 30, 2007, after launching digital subchannel 8.2. Branded as "News 8 Now", programming consisted of a loop of local weather forecast segments as well as regional and national coverage from AccuWeather. There was a live feed of the National Weather Service's Doppler weather radar (based at the Local Forecast Office in Gray) as well as local news and sports headlines. In addition, several public service announcements and station promotions were seen. As of March 2015, this service was replaced by Heroes & Icons, a classic TV network. In October 2018, following Hearst's purchase of WPXT, Heroes & Icons was moved to that station's second subchannel, with its previous MeTV programming, in turn, moving to the 8.2 subchannel; WMTW also added a third subchannel to add Laff, which moved from another WPXT subchannel.

In July 2012, during a retransmission consent dispute between Hearst Television and Time Warner Cable, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries was substituted for WMTW, WMUR-TV and WCVB.

In 2005, WMTW activated two analog repeaters. This included W26CQ channel 26 in Colebrook, New Hampshire (transmitter was northeast of town in Coleman State Park) and W27CP channel 27 in White River Junction, Vermont (transmitter was in the Mascoma section of Lebanon, New Hampshire) to make up for lost coverage when it signed off from Mount Washington. Under normal conditions, these translators should have been built before WMTW moved off the mountain in order to comply with FCC regulations. However, construction was delayed almost four years because the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) had to agree to the proposed tower locations for the translators.

Colebrook is part of the Portland market but White River Junction is considered to be part of the Burlington–Plattsburgh market. The latter location was within the former coverage area of WNNE. Although that station's transmitter was located on Mount Ascutney (well south of White River Junction), it formerly operated a repeater of its own from Lebanon (transmitter was west of town on Crafts Hill). FCC regulations do not usually allow two or more stations from two or more different markets have coverage of the same location (in this case, White River Junction). This rule, however, does not apply to repeaters. Incidentally, White River Junction is within the fringe area of another Hearst sister station, WMUR-TV.

Both WMTW repeaters were sold to New Hampshire Public Television in 2009. W27CP went silent on July 15 after losing the lease on its tower, while W26CQ was shut down by Hearst on September 2 in preparation for the sale. The latter transmitter returned as an NHPTV relay on November 4. W27CP never returned to the air and its broadcasting license was canceled by the FCC on September 14, 2011. More recently, WMTW obtained a construction permit for a translator in Portland on UHF channel 26. On April 26, 2010, the station filed a license to cover for the new translator which was granted by the FCC on June 1. This essentially allowed it to officially sign-on.

WMTW presently broadcasts 40½ hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with 6½ hours each weekday and 4 hours each on Saturdays and Sundays).

For most of its history, WMTW's newscasts ranked third in the ratings behind longtime dominant WCSH and runner-up WGME-TV. However, in more recent years, the station has waged a spirited battle with WGME for second place and has beaten WGME in several key sweeps periods.

In an attempt to take on WCSH and WGME in order to become more competitive, WMTW adapted its news department to appeal to change in viewer habits. It added a weekend morning show on January 2, 2010, offering an alternative to WCSH. Prior to this addition, the station only aired local weather cut-ins during the weekend edition of Good Morning America. WMTW starts its weekend morning news at 5 a.m., while WCSH begins its weekend morning news at 5 a.m. on Saturdays and 6 a.m. on Sundays; WGME has no local morning newscast on weekends except for during severe winter weather.

On September 18, 2012, WMTW upgraded local news production to 16:9 enhanced definition widescreen. On September 9, 2013, WMTW launched a 60-minute newscast weeknights at 5. To coincide with the news expansion, WMTW moved Dr. Phil from 5 o'clock to the 3 p.m. time slot replacing The Ricki Lake Show (which had been cancelled). It also debuted a new logo (very similar to fellow ABC outlet WTNH channel 8 in New Haven, Connecticut) and introduced an updated corporate graphics package from Hearst Television.

Through an exclusive partnership with Charter Communications, WMTW operates a 24-hour cable news station throughout the market. This service replays local newscasts seen on the main broadcast channel in a continuous loop. It does not simulcast live shows that air on the main station; instead, the cable channel displays a slide directing viewers to the main station. "WMTW All News Channel" was originally on analog cable channel 9 but, on May 5, 2009, it became available exclusively on the provider's digital tier.

On April 16, 2014, it was announced that WMTW would be moving its news operation from the Time and Temperature Building in Portland to a broadcast-ready facility in Westbrook. The studio space was formerly used by WPXT for its own in-house news operation that folded in the early-2000s. The rest of its operations will relocate from Auburn to Westbrook at a later date. WMTW began originating its newscasts from the renovated facility on October 4, 2014.

WMTW's broadcasts began being presented in full high-definition in 2016. Studio cameras and video pieces are all presented in high definition.

On August 8, 2016, WMTW announced that it would add a 4 p.m. weekday newscast which launched on September 6. On September 11, 2017, WMTW started airing a 12 p.m. newscast on weekdays; previously the time slot was occupied by talk shows including Access Hollywood Live, Steve Harvey and The Wendy Williams Show. Following Hearst's acquisition of WPXT on September 21, 2018, WMTW announced that it would begin producing a prime time newscast for that station on September 24.

On January 5, 2020, WMTW's weekday noon newscast expanded to one hour; it is the first regularly-scheduled hour-long newscast in the time period in the Portland–Auburn television market.

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WPXT, virtual channel 51 (UHF digital channel 34), is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Portland, Maine, United States, serving southern Maine and eastern and northern New Hampshire. The station is owned by the Hearst Television subsidiary of New York City-based Hearst Communications, as part of a duopoly with Poland Spring-licensed ABC affiliate WMTW (channel 8). The two stations share studios on Ledgeview Drive in Westbrook; WPXT's transmitter is located in West Baldwin, Maine. There is no separate website for WPXT; instead, it is integrated with that of sister station WMTW.

The station signed on September 14, 1986, as Maine's first independent station and the first new commercial station to launch in the Portland market in 32 years. After a few weeks as an independent, it became a charter affiliate with Fox on October 6. In 1996, the station's original owner, Bride Communications, entered bankruptcy and WPXT was sold to Pegasus Broadcasting.

In October 2001, WPXT switched to The WB due to a monetary dispute between Pegasus and Fox; The WB had previously aired in off-hours on sister UPN affiliate WPME (channel 35). This left Maine with no over-the-air Fox affiliate until April 2003, when Portland's Pax TV affiliate WMPX-TV (now WPFO) switched to the network and WFVX-LD signed on as the first over-the-air Fox affiliate for the Bangor area. In the interim, Fox's primetime and children's programming was only available on cable via WFXT (which was owned by the network at the time) for those living on the New Hampshire side of the market and via Foxnet for those living in Maine; WCKD-LP (which was initially expected to serve as the network's replacement affiliate) carried the network's sports programming during that time. Pegasus declared bankruptcy in June 2004 over a dispute with DirecTV (co-owned with Fox by News Corporation) over marketing of the direct broadcast satellite service in rural areas. The Pegasus station group was sold in August 2006 to private investment firm CP Media, LLC of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania for $55.5 million. Eventually, CP Media formed a new broadcast company, New Age Media.

As a WB affiliate, WPXT was originally branded on-air as "Maine's WB 51", but in 2004, changed to "Maine's WB" to reflect its status as the only over-the-air WB affiliate in the state. Although Bangor and Presque Isle also had affiliates, they were only provided on cable through The WB 100+ (a similar operation to Foxnet).

On January 24, 2006, Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced that they would merge the broadcast operations of The WB and UPN to form The CW Television Network. On March 9, it was announced WPXT would become Portland's CW affiliate. Later on May 1, it was made public sister station WPME would affiliate with MyNetworkTV. With the new affiliation, WPXT's branding became "The CW Portland". In 2007, WPXT changed its on-air branding to reflect its call letters rather than a city.

WPXT ceased analog transmission August 12, 2008 (more than seven months prior to the original Federal Communications Commission (FCC) digital switchover deadline February 17, 2009) due to transmitter failure. On May 2, 2011, WPXT signed on a new second digital subchannel to become the area's MeTV affiliate. On November 7, 2016, Escape (now Court TV Mystery) was added to subchannel 51.3.

New Age Media announced in March 2012 that it would sell WPXT to Tyche Broadcasting for $75,000. The deal was contingent on WPME's concurrent sale from MPS Media to Triumph Broadcasting. On November 9, 2012, WPXT filed a non-consummation notice to the FCC, meaning the transaction is nulled and void. On February 13, 2013, New Age Media filed to sell WPXT to Ironwood Communications for $1,525,000; the deal was concurrent with a planned sale of WPME to Cottonwood Communications. The FCC granted its approval of the sale on April 2. The sale was consummated on May 20.

On March 22, 2018, MyNetworkTV, Escape and Laff programming was moved to WPXT's respective third, fourth and fifth subchannels; the three networks had been carried by WPME, which was concurrently sold to Ion Media Networks to become WIPL, an Ion Television owned-and-operated station. Hearst Television announced its acquisition of WPXT on July 30, 2018; the $3,350,000 purchase created a duopoly with ABC affiliate WMTW (channel 8). The sale was approved on September 12 and was completed on September 21, 2018; concurrently, WPXT changed its branding to "Maine's CW."

The ownership change also resulted in a streamlining of subchannels between WMTW and WPXT the next month. With Hearst's preference for its main station in the market to carry the MeTV affiliation, MeTV and H&I exchanged places, with MeTV moving to WMTW-DT2 and H&I going to WPXT-DT2, and Laff going from WPXT-DT2 to WMTW-DT3, with Escape going to WPXT-DT3 (and the likely non-renewal of the Katz Broadcasting network agreement; Hearst only tends to carry Bounce TV from that provider). The syndicated programming formerly on WPXT-DT3's "WPME" service was removed, and MyNetworkTV programming now airs in place of H&I's primetime, an arrangement similar to the setup for the third subchannel of sister station KCCI in Des Moines, Iowa.

Syndicated programming on WPXT includes Divorce Court, The People's Court, How I Met Your Mother, Modern Family, Mom, Extra, TMZ on TV, and Chicago P.D., among others. Throughout its history, WPXT has also produced and aired several local programs.

Beginning in 1992, WPXT operated a news department and produced its own local newscasts. For a time, the station's nightly prime time news at 10 was simulcasted on sister station WPME. WPXT even produced a weeknight broadcast at 7 on that station at one point but the show was eventually canceled due to poor ratings and inconsistent viewership. It made national headlines a week before the 2000 Presidential election when reporter Erin Fehlau (now at ABC affiliate WMUR-TV) revealed Republican candidate George W. Bush had been convicted for driving under the influence of alcohol 24 years earlier.

On June 15, 2002, after shuttering its own news operation, WPXT entered into a news share agreement with Maine's two NBC affiliates, WCSH and WLBZ (then both owned by the Gannett Company). This arrangement resulted in a nightly half-hour prime time show at 10 to debut on the station known as NewsCenter at 10 on Maine's WB 51. On weeknights, the news and sports segments originated from WCSH's studios at Congress Square in Downtown Portland while weather forecast segments came from WLBZ's facility on Mount Hope Avenue in Bangor. Weekend broadcasts aired entirely from Portland. The WPXT newscast featured a similar format to newscasts that were simulcast on both WCSH and WLBZ (which largely serves as a semi-satellite of WCSH), with statewide news from both the Portland and Bangor markets. However, since WPXT is a Portland/Auburn market station, there was ultimately a focus on southern areas. With the affiliation switch to The CW in 2006, WPXT's news became known as NewsCenter at 10 on The CW Portland.

WPXT would not face any competition in the time slot until February 5, 2007, when current Fox affiliate WPFO entered into a similar arrangement with CBS affiliate WGME-TV.

On October 31, 2011, WPXT debuted an hour-long extension of the WCSH's weekday morning show. Known on WPXT as NewsCenter Morning Report Xtra, this aired from 7 until 8 and competed with WGME's one-hour morning newscast on WPFO. This ceased in Spring 2014. In 2015, WMTW would move their operations from the Time and Temperature Building and into the same building WPXT/WPME operated from; WPXT's former news studio and newsroom had been subdivided and available for lease in subsequent years.

Following WPXT's sale to Hearst Television, the station announced that WMTW would take over production of the 10 p.m. newscast on September 24, 2018. A WMTW-produced Saturday 7 p.m. newscast debuted on August 31, 2019, and continued through the conclusion of ABC's college football coverage which necessitated the preemption of WMTW's usual 6 p.m. newscast. The WPXT Saturday newscast moved to 6 p.m. for the 2020 college football season.