WRBW

WRBW, virtual channel 65 (UHF digital channel 41), is the MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated television station located in Orlando, Florida, United States. The station is owned by the Fox Television Stations subsidiary of 21st Century Fox, as part of a duopoly with Fox owned-and-operated station WOFL (channel 35). The two stations share studios located on Skyline Drive in Lake Mary, and its transmitter is located in Christmas, Florida. On cable, WRBW can be seen on Bright House Networks channel 6 (CBS affiliate WKMG-TV, which broadcast over-the-air on virtual channel 6, is carried on Bright House channel 5).

History

The station began operation as an independent station on June 6, 1994, airing vintage sitcoms, cartoons and older movies. It was owned by Rainbow Media, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation. It originally operated from studio facilities located on the backlot of Universal Studios Florida. WRBW became the Orlando area affiliate of the United Paramount Network, when the network debuted on January 16, 1995. Since UPN only provided two hours of network programming two nights a week at launch, WRBW essentially still programmed itself as an independent station. During the late 1990s, especially during the wildfire plagued summer of 1998, there were occasions to which ABC Sports programming was moved to channel 65 in order for the market's ABC affiliate WFTV (channel 9) to provide wall-to-wall news coverage. Some of ABC's Saturday morning children's programs also aired on WRBW, until WRDQ signed on the air in April 2000.