. wtvz tv hampton roads virginia united states city norfolk virginia branding mytvz slogan your entertainment station channels digital 33 uhf virtual 33 psip subchannels 33.1 mynetworktv 33.2 asn 33.3 comet 33.4 grit affiliations mynetworktv 2006 present owner sinclair broadcast group wtvz licensee llc first air date september 24 1979 ; 37 years ago 1979 09 24 call letters meaning tvx broadcast group founding former owner former channel number s analog 33 uhf 1979 2009 digital 38 uhf 2006 2009 former affiliations independent 1979 1986 fox 1986 1998 the wb 1998 2006 transmitter power 590 kw height 360.5 m facility id 40759 transmitter coordinates 36 48 31.8 n 76 30 11.3 w 36.808833 n 76.503139 w 36.808833 ; 76.503139 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website mytvz.com wtvz tv channel 33 is a television station licensed to norfolk virginia usa serving as the mynetworktv affiliate for the hampton roads area of virginia comprising the cities of norfolk portsmouth newport news hampton virginia beach and environs and the outer banks region of north carolina . wtvz is owned by sinclair broadcast group and has its studios and offices located on granby street in downtown norfolk . the station s transmitter is based in suffolk virginia . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 references 4 external links history edit in the late 1970s the hampton roads area was unique in that it was one of the smallest media markets to have four commercial television stations nbc affiliate wavy tv cbs station wtar tv now wtkr abc affiliate wvec tv and independent station wyah tv now wgnt the latter of which was owned by the virginia beach based christian broadcasting network . wyah tv ran a fairly conservative program schedule about three quarters split between secular general entertainment fare off network reruns movies children s programming etc. and religious programming such as cbn s own the 700 club . still norfolk businessman tim mcdonald felt that there was a need for a second independent station in that market though a few markets far larger than hampton roads still didn t have independent stations san antonio texas and birmingham alabama for example . in 1976 mcdonald formed tvx broadcast group and secured a construction permit for norfolk s vacant channel 33 . wtvz began operations on september 24 1979 as the area s fifth commercial station . the station ran a general entertainment format similar to wyah but with a little less religious programming for example it ran the ptl club between 10 am and noon . wtvz experienced early success mostly through airing a moderate amount of programming that had been considered too objectionable for wyah . by 1981 wtvz had passed wyah in the ratings . both stations had fairly similar shows some of wtvz s shows were ones that fell off wyah shortly before though wtvz had stronger better known and more recent movies . besides vintage movies wtvz aired a lot of cartoons classic and recent off network sitcoms and a few drama shows . tvx began expanding outside of norfolk and launched wrlh tv channel 35 in nearby richmond in 1982 . tvx also bought independent stations in raleigh and greensboro north carolina new orleans and little rock arkansas and launched new independents in nashville memphis san antonio and buffalo new york throughout the mid 1980s . in 1986 tvx affiliated all of its stations including wtvz with the fox broadcasting company . in february 1987 tvx purchased taft broadcasting s fox affiliates and independent stations all of which were located in larger markets such as philadelphia washington d.c. and miami . however the company began to run into financial troubles due to debt incurred from the taft purchase and proceeded to sell its smaller market stations one by one . in 1989 wtvz was sold to sullivan broadcasting . the station was acquired by the sinclair broadcast group in 1996 . the sinclair deal reunited channel 33 with several of its former tvx sister stations which had also been purchased by sinclair . wtvz considered launching a local 10 p.m. newscast in 1991 and 1994 and in 2003 using sinclair s news central format . 1 2 3 the station s plans to start a newscast have never come to fruition . wtvz kept its fox affiliation until august 1998 when it became a wb affiliate as a result of a corporate deal between sinclair and wb . wvbt channel 43 the market s original wb affiliate became the fox affiliate . throughout the 1990s classic sitcoms older movies and older cartoons made way for more talk reality shows court shows and more first run prime time shows from wb . like virtually every independent station including upn before 2006 fox my network tv after 2006 and wb cw stations the weekday cartoons also gradually disappeared from about 2000 to 2006 due to changes in the broadcast industry in general . on january 24 2006 cbs corporation which split from viacom in december 2005 and time warner s warner bros. entertainment the division that operated the wb announced that they would dissolve upn and the wb and move some of their programs to a newly created network operated as a joint venture between the companies the cw television network to launch on september 18 2006 . former upn affiliate wgnt became the cw s hampton roads affiliate . on march 2 2006 sinclair announced that wtvz and sixteen of its sister stations would become mynetworktv affiliates that affect in september . mynetworktv is operated by fox and its parent company the news corporation . as a mynetworktv affiliate the station changed its branding to mytvz . this also made wtvz one of the few stations to have been affiliated with both news corporation owned networks fox and mynetworktv . on may 15 2012 sinclair broadcast group and fox agreed to a five year affiliation agreement extension for sinclair s 19 fox affiliated stations until 2017 . this includes an option exercisable between july 1 2012 and march 31 2013 for fox parent news corporation to buy a combination of six sinclair owned stations two cw mynetworktv duopolies and two standalone mynetworktv affiliates in three out of four markets ; wtvz is included in the fox purchase option along with stations in cincinnati wstr tv raleigh wlfl and wrdc and las vegas kvcw and kvmy . 4 in january 2013 fox has announced that it will not exercise its option to buy any of the sinclair stations in those four markets mentioned . 5 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital channel is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 6 33.1 720p 16 9 wtvz hd main wtvz tv programming mynetworktv 33.2 480i 4 3 asn american sports network 33.3 comet comet 33.4 grit tv grit wtvz tv carried the tube music network on digital subchannel 33.2 from july to december 2006 . from 2010 until august 31 2012 it carried thecooltv on 33.2 until sinclair dropped the network on all of its stations . on july 2 2014 wtvz added gettv on 33.2 . on december 31 2014 grit replaced zuus country on 33.3 . in january 2016 comet was placed on 33.3 and grit was subsequently moved to 33.4 . on february 4 2016 the american sports network diginet replaced gettv which moved to wavy 10.3 on 33.2 . analog to digital conversion edit wtvz tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over uhf channel 33 on february 17 2009 as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television which congress had moved the previous month to june 12 . 7 the station s digital signal relocated from its pre transition uhf channel 38 to channel 33 in late april 2009 . references edit fox affiliate plans to launch own newscast wtvz may be moving into news business wtvz ponders a jump into the 10 p.m. news pool sinclair reups with fox gets wutb option tvnewscheck may 15 2012 . http www.tvnewscheck.com article 65306 sinclair in an acquisition state of mind rabbitears tv query for wtvz list of digital full power stations permanent dead link external links edit wtvz website query the fcc s tv station database for wtvz query tv fool s coverage map for wtvz biafn s media web database information on wtvz tv v t e television stations in the hampton roads region including virginia beach norfolk portsmouth and newport news virginia reception may vary by location and some stations may only be viewable with cable television digital television wund 2.1 pbs 2.2 kids 2.3 explorer 2.4 north carolina wtkr 3.1 cbs 3.2 this tv wsky tv 4.1 ind 4.2 escape 4.3 laff wgbs ld 7.1 retro tv 7.2 infomercials 7.3 heartland wavy tv 10.1 nbc 10.2 bounce 10.3 gettv wvec 13.1 abc 13.2 justice 13.3 metv w14dc 14.1 hsn2 whro 15.1 pbs 15.2 world 15.3 kids 15.4 create wysj ca 19 classic tv wtpc tv 21.1 tbn 21.2 church 21.3 juce tv 21.3 smile 21.4 enlace 21.5 salsa wvra dt 23.1 pbs 23.2 uni wvad ld 25.1 daystar wgnt 27.1 cw 27.2 antenna wtvz 33.1 mntv 33.2 asn 33.3 comet 33.4 grit wjgn cd 38.1 nrb wvbt 43.1 fox wpxv tv 49.1 ion 49.2 qubo 49.3 ion life 49.4 ion shop 49.5 qvc 49.6 hsn analog television wvbn lp 18 wjhj lp 39 the walk tv cable television cox 11 defunct stations wpen lp 68 ind. local news on cable wavy weather station virginia broadcast television areas by city bristol bluefield charlottesville harrisonburg norfolk richmond roanoke washington dc north carolina broadcast television areas by city asheville charlotte greensboro greenville nc myrtle beach sc norfolk va raleigh wilmington see also salisbury tv v t e mynetworktv network affiliates in the commonwealth of virginia whsv dt 3.4 harrisonburg wdbj dt 7.2 roanoke wapw cd 19 abingdon wrlh dt 26.2 richmond wahu cd 27.2 charlottesville wtvz 33 norfolk see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in virginia 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 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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