verification . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . january 2012 learn how and when to remove this template message wmsn tv madison wisconsin united states city madison branding fox 47 newscasts fox 47 news channels digital 49 uhf virtual 47 psip subchannels .1 720p wmsn dt .2 480i comet .3 grit tv 1 affiliations .1 fox 1986 present .2 comet .3 grit 1 owner sinclair broadcast group wmsn licensee llc first air date june 8 1986 ; 30 years ago 1986 06 08 call letters meaning madison former channel number s analog 47 uhf 1986 2009 digital 11 vhf former affiliations dt1 independent jun oct 1986 dt2 thecooltv 2010 2012 gettv 2014 2015 dt3 zuus country 2010 2014 transmitter power 310 kw height 469 m class dt facility id 10221 transmitter coordinates 43 3 21 n 89 32 6 w 43.05583 n 89.53500 w 43.05583 ; 89.53500 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website official website wmsn tv is the fox affiliated television station licensed to madison wisconsin and serving madison and southern wisconsin s eastern ridges and lowlands . the station broadcasts a high definition signal on uhf channel 49 or virtual channel 47.1 via psip from a transmitter in madison s middleton junction section . owned by the sinclair broadcast group wmsn s main studios are located on big sky drive on madison s west side . contents 1 history 2 newscasts 3 references 4 external links history edit wmsn tv commenced broadcasting on june 8 1986 airing on analog uhf channel 47 . it was the first new commercial station to launch in the madison market since wisc tv signed on thirty years earlier . one of wmsn s earlier programs was big sky theater a saturday night presentation of classic movies mostly westerns from the drive in era . the program s name was an acknowledgement to the big sky drive in theater which was located near the present day wmsn studios . after a few months as an independent the station joined fox as a charter affiliate on october 9 1986 . since 1994 as a result of the fox network s nfc football package wmsn has been madison s primary home for the green bay packers ; these broadcasts are routinely the highest rated programs in the market during football season . wmsn tv shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 47 on june 12 2009 the official date in which full power television stations in the united states transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition vhf channel 11 . 2 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 47 . after completing its november 2010 switch in physical digital channels see below wmsn added the country network later known as zuus country on its third digital subchannel 47.3 joining thecooltv which was added to subchannel 47.2 in september 2010 . wmsn and other sinclair stations dropped thecooltv in august 2012 at the expiration of their carriage agreement ; it resulted in subchannel 47.2 remaining silent until july 2014 when the classic movie network gettv was added a part of the network s channel lease agreement with sinclair ; sinclair owned sci fi network comet replaced gettv on october 31 2015 . wmsn has been a fox affiliate since the network s 1986 launch ; the station s relationship with fox will continue through at least 2017 the result of fox s affiliation agreement with wmsn and sinclair s 18 other fox stations a deal reached on may 15 2012 . 3 newscasts edit in 1999 abc affiliate wkow then owned by the shockley communications corporation entered into a news share agreement with wmsn which resulted in madsion s first nightly prime time newscast known as fox 47 news at 9 . the 35 minute weeknight broadcast 30 minutes on weekends was originally produced from a secondary set at wkow s studios on tokay boulevard in madison . the newscasts employed no wkow on air branding instead using sinclair s standard music and graphics packages . although the newscasts featured appearances from additional wkow personnel wmsn maintained separate weeknight anchors that normally did not appear on wkow except to fill in when needed . on january 1 2012 wmsn s news share agreement with wkow expired after nearly 13 years wmsn general manager kerry johnson termed the split as a business decision . on that same date wmsn began a new news outsourcing agreement with wisc tv the morgan murphy media owned cbs affiliate in madison ; as a result wisc cancelled its own 9pm weeknight newscast it had produced for its subchannel tvw 4 making fox 47 news at 9 the lone remaining prime time newscast in the madison market . in addition to tvw s newscast wbuw also aired a 9pm weeknight newscast from 2003 to 2005 . fox 47 news at 9 originates from wisc s raymond road studios using wisc s own news set and personnel except the main news anchor but just as with wkow employing sinclair s standard news graphics and music packages as well as use of behind the desk duratrans to help differentiate the newscast from those of wisc. references edit a b digital tv market listing for wmsn . rabbit ears . retrieved september 19 2016 . dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . sinclair reups with fox gets wutb option tvnewscheck may 15 2012 . wisc tv now providing news services for fox 47 from wisconsin state journal 1 5 2012 external links edit official website query the fcc s tv station database for wmsn tv v t e television stations in southern wisconsin including madison local stations wisc tv 3.1 cbs 3.2 tvw mntv wzck lp 8 bounce tv wmtv 15.1 nbc 15.2 the cw 15.3 antenna tv 15.4 weathernation tv wha tv 21.1 pbs wpt 21.2 wis 21.3 create w23bw d 23.13 abn wkow 27.1 abc 27.2 metv 27.3 decades wmwd ld 38.1 daystar wmsn tv 47.1 fox 47.2 comet 47.3 grit wbuw 57.1 ind. 57.2 movies 57.3 h & i outlying areas w22ci 31.1 pbs wpt 31.2 wisc 31.3 create bloomington w43br 43 fam baraboo wwrs tv 52.1 tbn 52.2 hillsong 52.3 juce tv smile 52.4 enlace 52.5 tbn salsa mayville cable only stations charter xtra fox sports wisconsin mmsd channels madison city channel oregon cable access wisconsineye wsto stoughton wyou madison wytu ld 63.1 telemundo milwaukee atsc m h mobile dtv wkow 27.1 abc defunct stations w29dc 29 tbn janesville adjacent areas chicago milwaukee rockford eau claire la crosse wausau quad cities cedar rapids green bay v t e fox network affiliates in the state of wisconsin witi 6 milwaukee wluk 11 green bay wlax 25 weux 48 la crosse chippewa falls wmsn 47 madison wzaw 55 wausau see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in wisconsin v t e sinclair broadcast group sorted by primary channel network affiliations abc katu katv kdnl tv khgi tv kwnb tv khgi cd komo tv ktul ktvo kvii tv kvih tv wbma ld wchs tv wear tv wgtu wgtq1 wham tv1 wicd wics wkef wjla tv wlos wpde tv wset tv wsyx wtvc wxlv tv cbs kbak tv kboi tv kdbc tv keye tv kfdm kgan kgbt tv khqa tv kima tv kepr tv klew tv kmeg1 krcg ktvl kutv kval tv kcby tv kpic wgfl1 wgme tv whp tv wkrc tv wpec wrgb wsbt tv wtvh1 wwmt the cw kfdm kfre tv kmys1 kocb kvcw kxvo1 kyuu ld wbui1 wbsf1 wcwf wcwn wfli tv1 wlfl wnab1 wnuv1 wstq lp wswb1 wtlf1 wtto wdbb wtvx wucw wvtv wwho1 wwmb1 fox kabb kbfx cd kbsi kbtv tv1 kdsm tv kfox tv kfxa1 kfxl tv kmph tv kokh tv kpth kptm krxi tv ksas tv kuqi wach wbff wdky tv wdsi tv1 wfxl wgxa wluk tv wmsn tv wolf tv1 wpfo2 wpgh tv wrgt tv1 wrlh tv wrsp tv wccu1 wsmh wtat tv1 wtgs wtte1 wuhf wutv wvah tv1 wyzz tv1 wztv mynetworktv kame tv1 kdbc tv kmtw1 kmyu ktov lp kutv kvcw dt2 wabm wciv wcgv tv wdka1 wfgx wmya tv1 wmyg lp1 wmyv wnyo tv wpnt wqmy1 wrdc wstr tv1 wtcn ca wtvz tv wutb1 wuxp tv nbc kmtr kmcb ktcw1 krnv dt kenv dt3 ksnv weyi tv1 wjac tv wjar wnbw dt1 wnwo tv woai tv wpbn tv wtom tv wpmi tv1 wstm tv wtov tv wtwc tv spanish language univision kunpmmx kuns tvmmx kunw cd kvvk cd korx ca azteca wwhb ca other stations comet whoi ind. kjzz tv wjtc1 metv wyme cd1 wtlh1 retro tv kxpx lp radio stations komo komo fm4 kplz fm kvi programming cable channels newschannel 8 dc metro tennis channel subchannel networks american sports network comet series other assets full measure w sharyl attkisson ring of honor acquisitions act iii broadcasting allbritton communications barrington broadcasting fisher communications four points media group freedom communications guy gannett communications newport television river city broadcasting 1 operated by sinclair under an lma . 2 owned by corporate media consultants group itself 49 % owned by max media and operated by sinclair . sale to cunningham broadcasting pending fcc approval . 3 owned by intermountain west communications company and operated by sinclair . sale to cunningham broadcasting pending fcc approval . 4 owned by south sound broadcasting sinclair programs this station as a simulcast of komo am . retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wmsn tv & oldid 743070297 categories television stations in madison wisconsinfox network affiliatescomet affiliatesgrit affiliatestelevision channels and stations established in 1986sinclair broadcast grouphidden categories articles needing additional references from january 2012all articles needing additional references navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 7 october 2016 at 16 29 . text is available 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