WLTV-DT

WLTV-DT, virtual and UHF digital channel 23, is an owned-and-operated station of the Spanish-language Univision television network located in Miami, Florida, United States. The station is owned and operated by Univision Communications, and is part of a duopoly with UniMás owned-and-operated station WAMI-DT (channel 69). The two stations share studio facilities known as "NewsPort", a converted studio facility that also houses Noticias Univision and English language cable channel Fusion located at 8551 NW 30th Terrace in Doral. WLTV maintains transmitter facilities located at 1255 NW 210th Street in Miami Gardens.

History

Prior history of UHF channel 23 in Miami

The analog UHF channel 23 allotment in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market was first occupied by Fort Lauderdale-based WFTL-TV, which signed on the air on December 24, 1954; that station was originally affiliated with NBC and the DuMont Television Network. It was owned by Storer Broadcasting, which bought the WFTL studio facility and the construction permit for WMIE-TV, also on channel 23, in Miami (which never signed on under that call sign) shortly before WFTL began operations. A few days after WFTL's launch, Storer changed the call letters to WGBS-TV (which stood for the initials of company founder and president George B. Storer). However, the station never thrived. For one thing, television set manufacturers were not required to include UHF tuning capability. Most viewers needed to buy an expensive UHF converter to watch WGBS, and even then the picture quality was marginal at best. It didn't help matters that much of the area--particularly Fort Lauderdale--got a strong signal from WJNO-TV (channel 5, now WPTV) in West Palm Beach.