'''''"FOX 28"''''' is the
Fox television affiliate in
Columbus, Ohio . The station broadcasts on channel 28 and broadcasts in
Stereo in the 32nd largest television market in the United States. On most
Cable Television systems in the Columbus area, WTTE is channel 8. WTTE-DT (the digital service of WTTE) operates on channel 36. The station is owned by
Cunningham Broadcasting , but is operated by
Sinclair Broadcast Group through a
Local Marketing Agreement with the area's
ABC -affiliate,
WSYX-TV . However, WTTE is effectively owned by Sinclair due to Cunningham's ownership structure (see below). The station is operated out of WSYX' studio in
Grandview Heights , a Columbus suburb.
WTTE began operations on
June 15 ,
1985 . It was owned by the Commercial Radio Institute, forerunner of the Sinclair Broadcast Group. It became a charter Fox affiliate in
1987 .
The station began a 10 p.m. newscast in 1995, the second in Central Ohio, after attempt by
WWHO produced by
WCMH . Former
FOX 28 Kids Club hostess Yolanda Harris was one of the original anchors and now serves as the station's primary female anchor.
In
1996 , Sinclair merged with River City Broadcasting, which owned WSYX. FCC rules at the time did not allow one person to own two stations in a single market. Sinclair kept the longer-established WSYX and sold WTTE to Glencairn, Ltd., owned by former Sinclair executive Edwin Edwards. However, nearly all of Glencairn's stock was held by the Smith family, founders and owners of Sinclair. In effect, Sinclair still owned WTTE, and now had a
Duopoly in Columbus in violation of FCC rules. Sinclair and Glencairn further circumvented the rules by moving WTTE's operations to WSYX' studios under an LMA, with WSYX as senior partner. Glencairn owned 10 other stations, all in markets where Sinclair also had a station. By all accounts, Glencairn was a
Shell Corporation with the sole purpose of allowing Sinclair to evade FCC ownership rules. By August of 1999, WTTE's newscast was absorbed into WSYX's news department, which currently produces WTTE's newscasts under the "
NewsCenter " brand also used by WSYX.
Sinclair was eventually fined $40,000 for its illegal control of Glencairn. The two companies attempted to merge in
2001 after the FCC allowed duopolies. However, the FCC would not allow Sinclair to repurchase WTTE. The FCC does not allow duopolies between two of the four highest-rated stations in a single market. Also, the Columbus market, despite its size, has only seven full-power stations--too few to legally permit a duopoly. WTTE thus remained under the banner of Glencairn, which was renamed Cunningham Broadcasting. However, the Smith family still controls nearly all of Cunningham's stock, so Sinclair still effectively has a duopoly in Columbus.
In 2006, all Sinclair-owned Fox affiliates including WTTE extended their affiliation contracts until at least March 2012.
From 1995-97, WTTE carried a secondary affiliation with
UPN . The UPN affiliation was then picked up by
WWHO .
According to Nielsen Media Research, in the May ratings period in 2007, WTTE-TV FOX 28 was rated the 6th most watched FOX affiliate in the United States in primetime and late news programming. The station remains intensely competitive in the Columbus television market with FOX 28 remaining an extremely strong competator against WBNS-TV and WCMH-TV averaging roughly 300,000 viewers each night during the station's 10pm newscast despite its earlier time slot. WTTE-TV typically wins the demographic viewership battle each and every ratings period in Columbus. The demographic win is a much sought after attribute for television sales associates in the Columbus market for local advertising purposes.
