WVEN-TV (channel 43) is a television station licensed to Melbourne, Florida, United States, serving as the Orlando area outlet for the Spanish-language network Univision. It is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside low-power, Class A UniMás station WRCF-CD (channel 29). The two stations share studios on Douglas Avenue in Altamonte Springs; WVEN-TV's transmitter is located in Bithlo, Florida.

Channel 43 went on the air as WMOD, an English-language independent station, on July 5, 1982. Built by an investor group led by former U.S. representative Louis Frey Jr., the station was the first broadcast TV station in Brevard County. Its early history was pocked with technical and financial trouble; the station's launch was delayed a day due to technical troubles, and signal issues caused many advertisers to flee. A larger signal issue was created when federal aviation authorities refused to allow the station to raise the height of its tower, which would have improved reception in the populous Orlando area.

In 1985, New Jersey–based Press Broadcasting bought WMOD, intending to make it a more highly viewed independent in the Orlando market. It soon struggled with the same signal limitations and began a search for a remedy. In the meantime, it ceded most of the station's airtime, as well as a purchase option, to the Home Shopping Network (HSN). This gave Press time to purchase a construction permit for channel 68 and to set up a future swap to channel 18. HSN assigned its purchase option to Black-owned Blackstar Communications, which took over WMOD in April 1988 and began running it as an all-home shopping station under the new call sign WBSF. Press retained the station's syndicated programming inventory and used it to launch WKCF later that year.

Blackstar sold WBSF to USA Broadcasting in 1998, but a planned change in program format never materialized, and USA Broadcasting sold the station to Univision in 2001. It was one of the USA Broadcasting stations used to start the Telefutura network—precursor to UniMás—on January 14, 2002. The station changed call signs, first to WFUO and then to WOTF-TV. Univision already had a local affiliate in Orlando, WVEN-TV (channel 26), and let its owner, Entravision Communications, handle local sales and promotion for WOTF-TV and Univision-owned Telefutura stations in five other markets. In 2017, in most of these markets, Univision and UniMás switched signals, moving Univision programming to the Univision-owned license even though Entravision continued to handle operations; as a result, WVEN-TV and WOTF-TV exchanged call signs. In Orlando and Tampa, this agreement was wound down at the end of 2021, making WVEN-TV a Univision owned-and-operated station.

In February 1979, an investor group led by Louis Frey Jr., a former U.S. representative, announced its intention to seek channel 43 in Melbourne for a new independent station. Brevard County had two local cable channels operate at different points, and other groups had expressed interest in constructing a station. Their application, under the name Southern Broadcasting Corporation, reached the Federal Communications Commission that August; the construction permit was granted in late 1980.

Southern Broadcasting intended initially to locate the station's tower in west-central Brevard County but could not secure approval there due to nearby airports. The station then received approval from neighboring Osceola County to build a 1,049-foot (320 m) tower and antenna structure in the Deseret Ranch area, just across the county line, in December 1980. At that time, the station's call sign was announced as WKNA for two of its senior leaders, executive vice president Wharton K. Burgreen and Nelle Ayers. Little occurred until early 1982, when Southern Broadcast sold a majority stake in the company to BMS Broadcasting Corporation of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and Frey announced the station would debut on July 4.

Channel 43—renamed WMOD before launch—almost made the target date. Just six days before the station was to go on air, a subcontractor began building the tower after the main contractor hired for the job defaulted. On July 4, the station attempted to make its first broadcast and failed to do so. The intended live dedication ceremony had to be taped; a satellite dish was inoperable; and while work to correct the transmission line on the station's tower was under way, it was struck by lightning. WMOD made it to air the next night, its antenna mounted temporarily at the 226 feet (69 m) level on the mast. That was not fixed until the end of July. The station's programming primarily consisted of movies and syndicated reruns.

Days before WMOD attempted its first broadcast, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) weighed in on an application by WMOD to extend the tower it had built from 1,000 feet (300 m) to 1,500 feet (460 m). This was objected to by some in the local aviation community, because the higher tower would obstruct the visual flight rules flight path from Melbourne Regional Airport to Orlando Executive Airport. Even though the Melbourne Airport Authority approved the idea as a way to prevent more towers from clustering in the area, and Brevard legislators sided with WMOD, pilots believed the site posed a danger near a trafficked general aviation corridor and noted that many pilots on the route were students or vacationers. When the FAA recommended against the higher tower, it struck a blow at channel 43's attempt to improve its reception in greater Orlando and thus increase its potential audience. Frey appealed, but the FAA upheld its recommendation. The agency issued a second ruling to the same effect in December 1983.