WBBZ-TV

WBBZ-TV, virtual channel 67 (VHF digital channel 7), is a Me-TV-affiliated television station serving the Buffalo, New York, United States that is licensed to Springville, New York. The station is owned by ITV of Buffalo, a company controlled by former news photographer Philip A. Arno. The station's business office and studio are located at the Eastern Hills Mall in the Town of Clarence, and its transmitter is located near Springville in the hills of southern Erie County.

Digital television

Digital channels

History

Early years

The station was founded as WJTQ on March 12, 1993 and changed its call letters to WNGS in May 1993 by Bill Smith, an amateur radio enthusiast, and his wife, Caroline Powley, daughter of late LPTV innovator John R. Powley, who built several full-service UHF television stations using economical "ham" radio equipment and surplus educational television "translator" transmitters.

WNGS initially broadcast on analog UHF channel 67. Although licensed as a full-power station, it transmitted its analog signal at low power with a directional northward pattern covering much of the Southtowns, but not reaching the city of Buffalo proper. Radiated power in the direction of Buffalo was limited due to a treaty with Canada that protected the coverage area of CHCH-TV-3, a Midland-based rebroadcaster of Hamilton-based independent station CHCH-TV (channel 11) that also operated on UHF channel 67. As a result, from the city of Buffalo northward, it was only available on cable or satellite, and in certain places in the Southern Tier, it was not available at all.