68 channels digital 19 uhf virtual 68 psip subchannels 68.1 fox 68.2 the country network translators 16 w16ax d ithaca owner northwest broadcasting bristlecone broadcasting llc first air date february 15 1986 ; 30 years ago 1986 02 15 call letters meaning syracuse television sister station s wnys tv wicz tv wbpn lp former callsigns wkaf february september 1986 former channel number s analog 68 1986 2009 former affiliations independent 1986 1987 transmitter power 621 kw height 445 m class dt facility id 40758 transmitter coordinates 42 52 50 n 76 12 0 w 42.88056 n 76.20000 w 42.88056 ; 76.20000 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website foxsyracuse.com wsyt is the fox affiliated television station for central upstate new york that is licensed to syracuse . it broadcasts a 720p high definition digital signal on uhf channel 19 or virtual channel 68.1 via psip from a transmitter near maple grove a hamlet of otisco . owned by northwest broadcasting wsyt operates mynetworktv affiliate wnys tv owned by syracuse broadcasting inc. through a local marketing agreement lma . the two stations share studios together on james street ny 290 in syracuse s near northeast section . it operates a digital class a repeater w16ax d in ithaca . this broadcasts a 720p high definition signal on uhf channel 16 also remapping to virtual channel 68.1 via psip from a transmitter on the ithaca college campus along ny 96b in eastern south hill . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 newscasts 4 references 5 external links history edit the station was originally assigned the call letters wkaf and was on uhf channel 62 rather than 68 . after being reassigned to channel 68 the owners of wkaf channel 62 inc. got the station on the air february 15 1986 and the outlet aired religious programming for three hours a day . the station was sold to the flatley company in late 1986 at which point construction of its facility on james street in syracuse began . wsyt began full time operation on april 5 1987 with a general entertainment format of cartoons classic sitcoms recent sitcoms movies drama shows and sports . the premiere of wsyt coincided with the prime time launch of the fox network of which the station has been an affiliate with ever since . flatley owned wsyt until 1992 when the station was sold to encore communications later known as max media properties . in 1998 the sinclair broadcast group bought the station . that company entered into a local marketing agreement with upn affiliate wnys tv in 1995 and began operating that station out of wsyt s studios . it was carried on cable in the kingston ontario area until 2009 . 1 that market is currently served by wnyf cd in watertown for over the air atsc viewers and on cable by wutv in buffalo and wuhf in rochester . like other sinclair owned stations in the region wsyt and wnys tv began transmitting digitally only signals in february 17 2009 . 2 until august 2008 wsyt had the highest analog channel allocation of any fox associated television station before being eclipsed by kswb tv in san diego california when that station swapped its cw affiliation with xetv tv . wsyt s analog power was limited to 1 000 000 watts due to its proximity to canada . until june 12 2009 the official day of the digital television transition in the united states uhf analog stations in the country were licensed to transmit up to 5 000 000 watts . all of this changed back on february 17 2009 when wsyt went digital only and moved to a less power hungry transmitter on uhf channel 19 . 3 from 1987 through 2003 wsyt owned the local broadcast rights to syracuse university men s basketball games when rights were acquired by time warner cable and began airing on their local sports channel . during the majority of those years wsyt produced a live post game show as well as a weekly basketball coach s show with jim boeheim . they also acquired the rights to big east football in the 1990s and would air a post game show after a syracuse orangemen game was shown . the coverage was expanded to include a football coach s show with paul pasqualoni and a football preview show hosted by steve hyder and joe zone . in the late 1980s wsyt aired new york yankees games that were produced and broadcast by wpix in new york city . on november 1 2010 wsyt launched the country network on its second digital subchannel replacing a standard definition simulcast of its primary channel . on may 15 2012 sinclair and fox agreed to a five year extension to the network s affiliation agreement with sinclair s nineteen fox stations including wsyt allowing them to continue carrying the network s programming through 2017 . 4 in a youtube video posted by wbff in baltimore maryland in july 2012 it was revealed that wsyt would air jeopardy and wheel of fortune beginning september 17 2012 . wsyt is one of a handful of fox affiliates to air the game shows along with wbff wxix tv in cincinnati wvue dt in new orleans wluk tv in green bay and wala tv in mobile among the fox affiliates to air the popular game shows . 5 sinclair announced the sale of wsyt the lma for wnys tv and wyzz tv in peoria bloomington illinois to cunningham broadcasting on february 28 2013 following its acquisition of barrington broadcasting . the sale was necessary due to the federal communications commission fcc s ownership rules as sinclair chose to keep barrington s wstm tv in syracuse . 6 however in an updated filing with the fcc it was revealed that wsyt would instead be sold to bristlecone broadcasting a company owned by brian brady owner of northwest broadcasting whose only other assets in new york state are wicz tv and wbpn lp in binghamton . 7 those transactions were completed on november 25 . 8 following the consummation of the sale sinclair continued to operate wsyt and wnys tv through a transitional service agreement for six months until may 2014 . sinclair will continue to own the station s studios on james street and its transmitter site in otisco for at least ten years . bristlecone broadcasting was incorporated into the northwest broadcasting corporate structure in a may 2015 restructuring of brian brady s broadcast holdings . 9 10 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 11 68.1 720p 16 9 wsyt dt main wsyt programming fox 68.2 480i 4 3 country the country network analog to digital conversion edit wsyt shut down its analog signal over uhf channel 68 on february 17 2009 the original date in which full power television stations in the united states were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate which was later pushed back to june 12 2009 . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 19 . 12 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 68 which was among the high band uhf channels 52 69 that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition . newscasts edit from 1996 until 2000 through a news share agreement nbc affiliate wstm tv produced a prime time newscast on wsyt . known as fox 68 news at 10 the broadcast could be seen every night for thirty minutes . after wstm tv declined to renew the arrangement wsyt then established a new outsourcing agreement with cbs outlet wtvh . as a result a new nightly news program began airing on this station that was known as fox 68 eyewitness news at 10 . eventually an hour long weekday morning show also produced by wtvh debuted and was called fox 68 eyewitness news at 7 . both of the programs featured the same branding as wtvh s newscasts did at the time . meanwhile in 2003 in order to offer competition in the 10 o clock slot wstm tv brought back its own half hour newscast for newly acquired sister station wstq lp that was seen only on weeknights . in april 2006 wtvh ceased producing all local news programming for wsyt in order to focus on its own newscasts that were cemented in third place by this point . ironically the nightly 10 o clock broadcasts were wtvh s most successful having soundly beat wstm tv s effort on wstq lp in the ratings . since dropping news programming from the cbs outlet wsyt remains one of a handful of big four network affiliated stations throughout the united states and the largest fox station in terms of market size since former sister station wutv in buffalo the previous largest market with a non news fox affiliate added newscasts in 2013 that does not operate its own news department or air local newscasts through a partnership with a big three station . references edit cogeco to replace channels syracuse feeds to be lost mike koreen kingston whig standard january 2009 broken link as thousands upstate wait for tv coupons 3 area stations may not delay switch to digital mark weiner syracuse post standard february 6 2009 tv query results video division fcc usa sinclair reups with fox gets wutb option tvnewscheck may 15 2012 . wheel and jeopardy move to fox 68 in september malone michael february 28 2013 . sinclair s chesapeake tv acquires barrington stations . broadcasting & cable . retrieved march 1 2013 . application for consent to assignment of broadcast station construction permit or license federal communications commission 9 august 2013 archived copy pdf . archived from the original pdf on december 3 2013 . retrieved november 25 2013 . application for consent to assign broadcast station construction permit or license or to transfer control of entity holding broadcast station construction permit or license . cdbs public access . federal communications commission . may 14 2015 . retrieved december 20 2015 . consummation notice . cdbs public access . federal communications commission . may 29 2015 . retrieved december 20 2015 . rabbitears tv query for wsyt dtv tentative channel designations for the first and the second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . external links edit wsyt fox 68 query the fcc s tv station database for wsyt query the fcc s tv station database for w16ax d v t e television stations viewable in central new york including syracuse reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television local stations wstm tv 3.1 nbc 3.2 the cw 3.3 comet wtvh 5.1 cbs 5.2 grit wvoa lp 6 religious radio from srn wsyr tv 9.1 abc 9.2 metv 9.3 bounce tv 9.4 laff wono ca 11 wtvu cd 22 cor wnny lp 13 nasa tv wstq lp 14 the cw wcny tv 24.1 pbs 24.2 create 24.3 world 24.4 pbs plus wwlf lp 35 amgtv wdss ld 38 daystar w42eb d ind wnys tv 43.1 mntv 43.2 gettv wblz lp 49 ind whsu cd 51 hsn wnyi 52.1 daystar wspx tv 56.1 ion 56.2 qubo 56.3 life 56.4 ion shop 56.5 qvc 56.6 hsn wsyt 68.1 fox 68.2 zuus country cable only stations spectrum news central new york spectrum sports citrustv wtop ictv adjacent locals binghamton wbng tv 12.1 cbs 12.2 the cw wbgh cd 20.1 nbc 20.3 abc wivt 34.1 abc 34.2 nbc 34.3 laff 34.4 escape wicz tv 40.1 fox 40.2 mntv wskg tv 46.1 pbs 46.2 world 46.3 create rochester wroc tv 8.1 cbs 8.2 bounce tv 8.3 laff 8.4 escape whec tv 10.1 nbc 10.2 metv 10.3 wx wham