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WXCW
WXCW (channel 46), branded as WINK CW, is a television station licensed to Naples, Florida, United States, serving as the CW network affiliate for Southwest Florida. It is locally owned by Sun Broadcasting alongside Fox affiliate WFTX-TV (channel 36) and two low-power stations: Univision/UniMás affiliate WUVF-LD (channel 2) and WANA-LD (channel 18). Sun Broadcasting maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, owner of Fort Myers–licensed CBS/MyNetworkTV affiliate WINK-TV (channel 11), for the provision of certain services. The stations share studios on Corporate Lakes Drive in Gateway; WXCW's transmitter is located north of Fort Myers Shores, near the Charlotte–Lee county line.
The station first signed on the air on October 22, 1990, as WNPL-TV, which was founded and run by chief executive officer William Darling of Southwest Florida Telecommunications. Originally operating as an independent station, it filled a void in the market after WFTX-TV (channel 36) joined Fox four years earlier in October 1986. The station first operated from studios located on Goodlette Road in Naples. WNPL-TV was beset with problems early on, particularly concerning finding programming. Despite this, from 1993 to 1998, the station carried Florida Marlins baseball games televised by WBFS-TV in Miami before the debut of the Tampa Bay Rays, which then claimed southwest Florida as the team's territory. It also was the area's affiliate for the Orlando Magic broadcast network.
WNPL-TV filed for bankruptcy in 1993 after several lawsuits from creditors, including the Associated Press, as well as two investors who claimed that Darling made misrepresentations to them when they were told they would be part of a general partnership to operate the station. The station was finally sold two years later to Second Generation, a Cleveland-based group, in a $4 million transaction. (Darling and his wife would be found guilty of bankruptcy fraud charges for filing fraudulent claims in connection with the WNPL sale in 1996.)
Upon Second Generation's acquisition of WNPL, which had become a charter affiliate of the United Paramount Network (UPN) when that network launched on January 16, the call letters were changed to WTVK on June 30. Second Generation also relocated the station's operations to the former WEVU studios in Bonita Bay, which offered more room and easier access to satellite feeds. In March 1998, Second Generation announced that the station would be sold to Acme Television for $15.5 million—nearly four times what it had paid three years earlier. Acme was part owned by Jamie Kellner, an executive for the competing WB network, and WTVK immediately became a WB affiliate. UPN moved to the market's previous WB affiliate, cable-only WSWF (later WNFM; now defunct). WTVK then adopted the on-air moniker "WB 6", after its cable channel location in the market.
On January 24, 2006, the merger of UPN and The WB into The CW was announced. Acme affiliated seven stations, including WTVK, with the new network that March; WNFM was left with MyNetworkTV and did not confirm their affiliation until August.
In May 2006, Joe Schwartzel's Sun Broadcasting agreed to acquire WTVK for $45 million; Schwartzel was also a co-owner of the Meridian Broadcasting radio group and a former general manager for WINK-TV (channel 11). The sale was completed on February 16, 2007, with the station subsequently changing its call sign to WXCW on March 2.
WINK-TV presently produces 27+1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week for WXCW (with 4+1⁄2 hours each weekday, 3+1⁄2 hours on Saturdays and 1+1⁄2 hours on Sundays).
As an independent station, from October 1991 to October 1992, WNPL operated a news department, producing a prime time newscast entitled Channel 46 Ten O'Clock News.
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WXCW
WXCW (channel 46), branded as WINK CW, is a television station licensed to Naples, Florida, United States, serving as the CW network affiliate for Southwest Florida. It is locally owned by Sun Broadcasting alongside Fox affiliate WFTX-TV (channel 36) and two low-power stations: Univision/UniMás affiliate WUVF-LD (channel 2) and WANA-LD (channel 18). Sun Broadcasting maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, owner of Fort Myers–licensed CBS/MyNetworkTV affiliate WINK-TV (channel 11), for the provision of certain services. The stations share studios on Corporate Lakes Drive in Gateway; WXCW's transmitter is located north of Fort Myers Shores, near the Charlotte–Lee county line.
The station first signed on the air on October 22, 1990, as WNPL-TV, which was founded and run by chief executive officer William Darling of Southwest Florida Telecommunications. Originally operating as an independent station, it filled a void in the market after WFTX-TV (channel 36) joined Fox four years earlier in October 1986. The station first operated from studios located on Goodlette Road in Naples. WNPL-TV was beset with problems early on, particularly concerning finding programming. Despite this, from 1993 to 1998, the station carried Florida Marlins baseball games televised by WBFS-TV in Miami before the debut of the Tampa Bay Rays, which then claimed southwest Florida as the team's territory. It also was the area's affiliate for the Orlando Magic broadcast network.
WNPL-TV filed for bankruptcy in 1993 after several lawsuits from creditors, including the Associated Press, as well as two investors who claimed that Darling made misrepresentations to them when they were told they would be part of a general partnership to operate the station. The station was finally sold two years later to Second Generation, a Cleveland-based group, in a $4 million transaction. (Darling and his wife would be found guilty of bankruptcy fraud charges for filing fraudulent claims in connection with the WNPL sale in 1996.)
Upon Second Generation's acquisition of WNPL, which had become a charter affiliate of the United Paramount Network (UPN) when that network launched on January 16, the call letters were changed to WTVK on June 30. Second Generation also relocated the station's operations to the former WEVU studios in Bonita Bay, which offered more room and easier access to satellite feeds. In March 1998, Second Generation announced that the station would be sold to Acme Television for $15.5 million—nearly four times what it had paid three years earlier. Acme was part owned by Jamie Kellner, an executive for the competing WB network, and WTVK immediately became a WB affiliate. UPN moved to the market's previous WB affiliate, cable-only WSWF (later WNFM; now defunct). WTVK then adopted the on-air moniker "WB 6", after its cable channel location in the market.
On January 24, 2006, the merger of UPN and The WB into The CW was announced. Acme affiliated seven stations, including WTVK, with the new network that March; WNFM was left with MyNetworkTV and did not confirm their affiliation until August.
In May 2006, Joe Schwartzel's Sun Broadcasting agreed to acquire WTVK for $45 million; Schwartzel was also a co-owner of the Meridian Broadcasting radio group and a former general manager for WINK-TV (channel 11). The sale was completed on February 16, 2007, with the station subsequently changing its call sign to WXCW on March 2.
WINK-TV presently produces 27+1⁄2 hours of locally produced newscasts each week for WXCW (with 4+1⁄2 hours each weekday, 3+1⁄2 hours on Saturdays and 1+1⁄2 hours on Sundays).
As an independent station, from October 1991 to October 1992, WNPL operated a news department, producing a prime time newscast entitled Channel 46 Ten O'Clock News.