branding cbs 44 general fox 44 on dt2 44 news newscasts slogan focused on family and the community channels digital 45 uhf virtual 44 psip subchannels 44.1 cbs 44.2 fox mynetworktv translators weev ld 47.1 evansville hd simulcast of 44.2 affiliations cbs since 1995 owner bayou city broadcasting bcbe license subsidiary llc first air date november 17 1983 1983 11 17 call letters meaning evansville evv is also the faa airport designation for evansville regional airport former channel number s analog 44 uhf 1983 2009 1 former affiliations primary dt1 independent 1983 1987 fox 1987 1995 transmitter power 340 kw height 288 m facility id 72041 transmitter coordinates 37 53 17.4 n 87 32 37.3 w 37.888167 n 87.543694 w 37.888167 ; 87.543694 licensing authority fcc public license information profile cdbs website www.wevv.com wevv tv virtual channel 44 uhf digital channel 45 is a primary cbs and subchannel only fox and mynetworktv affiliated television station located in evansville indiana united states . the station is owned by bayou city broadcasting . wevv maintains studio facilities located on carpenter and bond streets in downtown evansville ; wevv maintains transmitter facilities located at john james audubon state park in henderson kentucky . contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 as a fox affiliate 1.3 cbs affiliation 1.3.1 bayou city broadcasting ownership 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 2.3 wevv dt2 2.4 weev ld 3 programming 3.1 sports programming 4 news operation 4.1 news station presentation 4.1.1 newscast titles 4.2 on air staff 4.2.1 notable former on air staff 5 references 6 external links history edit early history edit channel 44 first signed on the air on november 17 1983 as an independent station . the station was originally owned by ralph wilson owner of san francisco independent station kicu tv and founder of the buffalo bills . it was the first full market independent station in the tri state and the first full market commercial television station to sign on in the evansville market since wtvw channel 7 now a cw affiliate debuted 27 years earlier in august 1956 . wevv logo used from 1992 to 1995 as a fox affiliate . competing independent station wlcn channel 19 later waze tv and now defunct which signed one month after wevv began operations primarily served the southern part of the market at the time . the station originally operated from studio facilities located on main street and riverside drive in downtown evansville . as a fox affiliate edit the station became an affiliate of the fox broadcasting company on april 5 1987 when the network debuted its inaugural lineup of primetime programming which aired on sunday evenings . however like other fox stations during the network s early years wevv continued to be programmed as a de facto independent station as fox would not carry seven nights a week of programming until september 1993 . until fox began airing programming on a nightly basis wevv aired movies on nights when network programs did not air usually starting at 7 00 p.m. shortly after affiliating with the network the station began branding as fox 44 . the station changed its branding to wevv fox tv in 1994 . cbs affiliation edit in may 1995 banam broadcasting a subsidiary of bankamerica sold wtvw to petracom broadcasting . 2 fox then acquired a 20 % equity stake in petracom ; 3 this led to a three way affiliation swap in which wtvw ended its affiliation with abc after 39 years and joined fox on december 3 1995 . conversely the abc affiliation moved to weht channel 25 ending that station s affiliation with cbs after 41 years . on july 1 1995 wevv signed an affiliation agreement with cbs to become the network s new affiliate for the evansville market . although cbs affiliation agreement with weht did not expire until december of that year channel 25 began dropping cbs shows from its schedule in stages . as a result cbs programming gradually migrated to wevv over the next four months during which the station carried both cbs and fox programming . the price is right was the first cbs program to move to channel 44 on september 18 1995 . wevv then picked up cbs this morning in november . the switch to cbs was officially completed on december 4 1995 when the remainder of the cbs programming schedule moved to wevv . at that point the station sold much of its syndicated programming inventory to wtsn lp channel 56 now retro television network affiliate wyyw cd on channel 15 . 4 on february 11 1999 wilson sold the station to communications corporation of america for 27.5 million . 5 in june 2006 comcorp filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the western district of louisiana . that september wevv began broadcasting a digital high definition signal ; at the time a digital subchannel was added on virtual channel 44.2 which was originally affiliated solely with mynetworktv and was simulcast on wtsn lp and as such was branded as mytsn . the station s relationship with wtsn lp ended in 2009 at which time wevv dt2 rebranded as my44 with wtsn converting into an america one affiliate . bayou city broadcasting ownership edit on april 24 2013 communications corporation of america announced the sale of its stations to weht owner and wtvw operator nexstar broadcasting group for 270 million in a deal that also included rights to the local marketing agreements involving stations owned by comcorp partner company white knight broadcasting . since there are fewer than eight full power stations in the evansville market neither nexstar nor its partner company and wtvw owner mission broadcasting could legally buy wevv . instead nexstar originally opted to sell wevv to rocky creek communications a denton texas based company founded by shirley green ; nexstar would have operated the station under a shared services agreement which would have formed a virtual triopoly with weht and wtvw . 6 7 however the deal came soon after the fcc began closely scrutinizing sharing agreements between two or more television stations within the same market to help increase female and ethnic minority ownership in television broadcasting . when it was apparent the comcorp sale would be delayed nexstar announced on august 4 2014 that it would instead sell wevv to the woodlands texas based bayou city broadcasting owned by dejuan mccoy who is african american for 18.6 million ; the sale price later increased to 26.85 million by its closure . 8 the sale was completed on january 1 2015 . 9 on january 8 2015 wevv and wevv dt2 were removed from dish network in the evansville market due to a carriage dispute spurred by bayou city and dish s inability to agree on retransmission consent revenue during negotiations on a new carriage agreement . bayou city representatives claimed that dish was trying to gain leverage over the company in negotiations because of the company s smaller size in comparison to other television station groups . dish however claimed the new owners wanted transmission fees higher than those it pays other local broadcasters . 10 the dispute was resolved on february 3 2015 through the reaching of a multi year carriage agreement with dish network . 11 on august 3 2015 upon the relaunch of its news department wevv moved its operations to wtvw s former studios on carpenter street in downtown evansville which had sat vacant since wtvw mergered operations with weht through a shared services agreement in december 2011 . 12 13 digital television edit digital channels edit the station s digital signal is multiplexed channel video aspect psip short name programming 14 15 44.1 1080i 16 9 cbs44 main wevv tv programming cbs 44.2 480i fox44 fox & mynetworktv analog to digital conversion edit wevv tv discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over uhf channel 44 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 uhf channel 45 16 using psip to display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 44 . wevv dt2 edit main article wevv dt2 on may 11 2011 wevv signed an affiliation agreement with fox on its second digital channel after wtvw which then became an independent station lost its affiliation due to a dispute between fox and nexstar over fox s revenue sharing demands of its stations retransmission consent earnings in essence resulting in wevv regaining the fox affiliation it had lost 16 years earlier . 17 wevv added fox programming to its second digital subchannel on july 1 2011 on wevv digital channel 44.2 . consequently mynetworktv programming which had been carried on the subchannel since it launched with the programming service on september 5 2006 was moved from the 7 00 to 9 00 p.m. to 9 00 to 11 00 p.m. immediately following fox programming . 18 the subchannel is branded as fox 44 and upon becoming a fox affiliate initially used a logo that resembled those used by its fox affiliated former sister stations under comcorp ownership such as wgmb in baton rouge louisiana and kwkt in waco texas though with a plain midpoint bullet between the call letters and city of license in the bottom fringe rather than a decorative outline and continuing to use wevv s longtime 44 logo this became a text only logo in june 2015 as a result of the station s on air rebranding in advance of the relaunch of its news department . 19 weev ld edit on june 24 2011 wevv tv signed on a new digital low power translator station on uhf channel 47 20 21 22 under the callsign w47ee d to relay wevv dt2 s programming specifically its fox and mynetworktv programming in 720p high definition over the air in the immediate evansville henderson area and to provide an hd signal of the subchannel to local cable and satellite providers . following the launch of the station wevv began reaching agreements with the market s cable and satellite providers to place wevv dt2 s high definition signal on their systems and move the station s standard definition channel from the extended digital lifeline tier to the more widely reached basic tiers . on november 11 2015 the translator s callsign was changed to the current weev ld . 23 programming edit wevv carries the entire cbs programming schedule including both the weekday and saturday morning editions of cbs this morning . syndicated programs broadcast on wevv include the ellen degeneres show dr. phil two and a half men the doctors and everybody loves raymond . atypical of a big three network affiliate the station also carries feature films provided through select syndicated movie packages in weekend timeslots not occupied by cbs sports programming and on saturday late nights . sports programming edit wevv was the original home of big ten conference men s basketball games distributed by raycom sports from 1989 until the sports syndication service lost the broadcast rights to the big ten after the 1994 95 season . 24 since wevv became a cbs affiliate in december 1995 the station has broadcast all of cbs sports broadcasts including most of the regular season nfl games involving the indianapolis colts via the network s primary broadcast rights to the american football conference afc . due to its proximity to areas of western kentucky within the team s designated market area the station carries a limited number of tennessee titans regular season games on weeks when a colts game is to scheduled to air either in primetime or when the colts host a national football conference nfc opponent in a sunday afternoon timeslot . through cbs wevv also carries the majority of men s college basketball games