WPCT (channel 46) is a television station in Panama City Beach, Florida, United States, which broadcasts information for local tourists. Owned by Beach TV Properties, Inc., the station maintains transmitter facilities on Warner Avenue (off Front Beach Road) just east of Panama City Beach.
History
The station was founded on July 2, 1986, and began broadcasting on April 3, 1989. It was originally an independent station before becoming the UPN affiliate for the Panama City market on January 16, 1995. It aired tourist information during the overnight hours and carried some syndicated talk shows, drama series, movies, and off-network sitcoms during the day outside of prime time network programming until 1998, when UPN was dropped in favor of 24-hour tourist info programming.
Technical information
Subchannels The station's signal is multiplexed: +Subchannels of WPCTRabbitEars TV Query for WPCT Channel Res. Short name Programming 46.1 720p BeachTV Tourist info 46.2 480i Outside [Blank] 46.3 IonPlus Ion Plus 46.4 Start Start TV 46.5 GetTV Great 46.6 NewMax Newsmax2 46.7 Buzzr Buzzr
Analog-to-digital conversion WPCT shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 46, on February 17, 2009, the original target date on which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate (which was later pushed back to June 12, 2009). The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 47, using virtual channel 46.
References