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WGEN-TV
WGEN-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Key West, Florida, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Estrella TV network to the Miami–Fort Lauderdale television market. Owned-and-operated by Estrella Media, WGEN-TV's studios are located on Northwest 75th Street in Miami's Medley neighborhood, and its transmitter is located on Southard Street in Key West.
WGEN-TV's over-the-air broadcasting radius only covers the western Florida Keys. Therefore, it is relayed through a network of four low-power translator stations throughout the area, including Miami-licensed WVFW-LD, and also relies on cable and satellite carriage to reach the entire South Florida market.
The station first signed on the air on May 26, 1996, as WWFD. During the 1990s, the station broadcast in Portuguese with programming aimed at the area's Brazilian population. Channel 8 subsequently changed its call letters to WWTU on February 8, 2000, then to WVIB on February 8, 2002, and finally to its current calls as WGEN-TV on July 1, 2004. Prior to December 2005, WGEN was, under the ownership of Sonia Broadcasting, co-owned with another Key West station, WDLP-TV (channel 22, now WSBS-TV).
In December 2005, WGEN came under the control of Colombian broadcaster Caracol Televisión, which holds a 25% ownership stake in Mapale LLC, the maximum allowed by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations regarding foreign ownership of terrestrial stations. On September 18, 2006, Caracol relaunched the station under the "GenTV" brand and began serving as its primary program supplier; programming on WGEN included Colombian and Brazilian telenovelas, a Colombian-produced news program (Noticias Caracol), and a local version of Desafío 20.06, a reality show similar to Survivor.
On December 28, 2012, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, MundoFox moved its Miami affiliation from WJAN-CD (channel 41) to WGEN-TV. While WGEN-TV was controlled by and aired programming from Caracol, as a MundoFox affiliate, it shared an indirect connection with another Colombian network as MundoFox was initially half-owned by the competing RCN Televisión; in July 2015, RCN Televisión acquired Fox's stake in MundoFox and decided to rebrand the network as MundoMax on August 13 of that same year. RCN content came from the network feed of MundoMax, while Caracol programming is distributed directly to WGEN-TV through Mapale LLC. WGEN-TV formerly aired national newscasts from MundoFox through Noticias MundoFox, which used the resources of NTN24, RCN's sister network and international Spanish-language news channel (MundoFox ended its national newscasts in July 2015, after RCN purchasing the network). On December 1, 2016, following the shutdown of MundoMax, WGEN-TV became an affiliate of Azteca América. In November 2017, Azteca América returned to its previous affiliate in the market, WPMF-CD (channel 38); WGEN-TV then returned to the "GenTV" branding and a Spanish independent lineup reliant on Caracol programming.
On January 5, 2018, Radio & Television Business Report reported that Mapale LLC was in the process of filing an application to sell WGEN-TV to Liberman Broadcasting (which was renamed Estrella Media in February 2020, following a corporate reorganization of the company under private equity firm HPS Investment Partners, LLC); following the sale, the station would become an owned-and-operated station of Estrella TV, restoring a full-market outlet for the network after its previous affiliate, the second digital subchannel of WSVN (channel 7), switched to Light TV on July 14, 2017. Liberman confirmed the purchase on January 8, 2018, and announced that the station would join Estrella TV on March 1 under a 'soft launch' period. The sale was completed on March 16, 2018, officially becoming "Estrella TV Canal 8".
As of December 2012, locally produced and outsourced programs broadcast by WGEN-TV include ALAIN, Una Mano Amiga, El Show con Tony Benítez and Club 10. Among the notable programs broadcast by WGEN-TV include: Desafío 20.06, ¿Quién manda a quién? (a remake of Who's the Boss?, produced by Caracol and Sony Pictures Television), La boca loca de Paul (hosted by Paul Bouche), La ex and María Elvira. Caracol Televisión-produced and locally-produced programming were removed from the schedule upon Liberman taking control of the station in March 2018, and currently outside of local paid programming, the Estrella TV schedule runs in full.
WGEN-TV previously broadcast five hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with one hour on weekdays), under the branding of Noticias 8 with the cooperation of its partial Caracol ownership. In 2012, WGEN began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. WGEN moved its half-hour weeknight 5 p.m. newscast to 6 p.m. on December 1, once it became an affiliate of Azteca America, rebranding as Hechos Miami 8 to reflect the network's news franchise, Hechos. WGEN was one of the few MundoMax affiliates (if not the only one) to keep its news department after that network shut down its news operation.
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WGEN-TV
WGEN-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Key West, Florida, United States, broadcasting the Spanish-language Estrella TV network to the Miami–Fort Lauderdale television market. Owned-and-operated by Estrella Media, WGEN-TV's studios are located on Northwest 75th Street in Miami's Medley neighborhood, and its transmitter is located on Southard Street in Key West.
WGEN-TV's over-the-air broadcasting radius only covers the western Florida Keys. Therefore, it is relayed through a network of four low-power translator stations throughout the area, including Miami-licensed WVFW-LD, and also relies on cable and satellite carriage to reach the entire South Florida market.
The station first signed on the air on May 26, 1996, as WWFD. During the 1990s, the station broadcast in Portuguese with programming aimed at the area's Brazilian population. Channel 8 subsequently changed its call letters to WWTU on February 8, 2000, then to WVIB on February 8, 2002, and finally to its current calls as WGEN-TV on July 1, 2004. Prior to December 2005, WGEN was, under the ownership of Sonia Broadcasting, co-owned with another Key West station, WDLP-TV (channel 22, now WSBS-TV).
In December 2005, WGEN came under the control of Colombian broadcaster Caracol Televisión, which holds a 25% ownership stake in Mapale LLC, the maximum allowed by Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations regarding foreign ownership of terrestrial stations. On September 18, 2006, Caracol relaunched the station under the "GenTV" brand and began serving as its primary program supplier; programming on WGEN included Colombian and Brazilian telenovelas, a Colombian-produced news program (Noticias Caracol), and a local version of Desafío 20.06, a reality show similar to Survivor.
On December 28, 2012, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time, MundoFox moved its Miami affiliation from WJAN-CD (channel 41) to WGEN-TV. While WGEN-TV was controlled by and aired programming from Caracol, as a MundoFox affiliate, it shared an indirect connection with another Colombian network as MundoFox was initially half-owned by the competing RCN Televisión; in July 2015, RCN Televisión acquired Fox's stake in MundoFox and decided to rebrand the network as MundoMax on August 13 of that same year. RCN content came from the network feed of MundoMax, while Caracol programming is distributed directly to WGEN-TV through Mapale LLC. WGEN-TV formerly aired national newscasts from MundoFox through Noticias MundoFox, which used the resources of NTN24, RCN's sister network and international Spanish-language news channel (MundoFox ended its national newscasts in July 2015, after RCN purchasing the network). On December 1, 2016, following the shutdown of MundoMax, WGEN-TV became an affiliate of Azteca América. In November 2017, Azteca América returned to its previous affiliate in the market, WPMF-CD (channel 38); WGEN-TV then returned to the "GenTV" branding and a Spanish independent lineup reliant on Caracol programming.
On January 5, 2018, Radio & Television Business Report reported that Mapale LLC was in the process of filing an application to sell WGEN-TV to Liberman Broadcasting (which was renamed Estrella Media in February 2020, following a corporate reorganization of the company under private equity firm HPS Investment Partners, LLC); following the sale, the station would become an owned-and-operated station of Estrella TV, restoring a full-market outlet for the network after its previous affiliate, the second digital subchannel of WSVN (channel 7), switched to Light TV on July 14, 2017. Liberman confirmed the purchase on January 8, 2018, and announced that the station would join Estrella TV on March 1 under a 'soft launch' period. The sale was completed on March 16, 2018, officially becoming "Estrella TV Canal 8".
As of December 2012, locally produced and outsourced programs broadcast by WGEN-TV include ALAIN, Una Mano Amiga, El Show con Tony Benítez and Club 10. Among the notable programs broadcast by WGEN-TV include: Desafío 20.06, ¿Quién manda a quién? (a remake of Who's the Boss?, produced by Caracol and Sony Pictures Television), La boca loca de Paul (hosted by Paul Bouche), La ex and María Elvira. Caracol Televisión-produced and locally-produced programming were removed from the schedule upon Liberman taking control of the station in March 2018, and currently outside of local paid programming, the Estrella TV schedule runs in full.
WGEN-TV previously broadcast five hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with one hour on weekdays), under the branding of Noticias 8 with the cooperation of its partial Caracol ownership. In 2012, WGEN began broadcasting its local newscasts in high definition. WGEN moved its half-hour weeknight 5 p.m. newscast to 6 p.m. on December 1, once it became an affiliate of Azteca America, rebranding as Hechos Miami 8 to reflect the network's news franchise, Hechos. WGEN was one of the few MundoMax affiliates (if not the only one) to keep its news department after that network shut down its news operation.