utv 44 general local 15 news newscasts slogan tv for you channels digital 45 uhf virtual 44 psip subchannels 44.1 independent 44.2 grit affiliations independent 1984 1995 2006 present owner deerfield media deerfield media mobile licensee llc operator sinclair broadcast group first air date december 24 1984 ; 31 years ago 1984 12 24 call letters meaning jtc stands for the surnames of the three original owners sister station s wpmi tv wear tv wfgx former channel number s analog 44 uhf 1984 2009 former affiliations upn 1995 2006 transmitter power 1000 kw height 457 m facility id 41210 transmitter coordinates 30 35 16.7 n 87 33 12.7 w 30.587972 n 87.553528 w 30.587972 ; 87.553528 website utv44.com wjtc virtual channel 44 uhf digital channel 45 is an independent television station located in pensacola florida united states that also serves mobile alabama . the station is owned by deerfield media as part of a duopoly with nbc affiliate wpmi channel 15 ; sinclair broadcast group which owns pensacola based abc affiliate wear tv channel 3 and mynetworktv affiliate wfgx channel 35 operates wpmi and wjtc under a local marketing agreement . wpmi and wjtc share studios located on azalea road near i 10 in mobile wjtc s transmitter is located near robertsdale . contents 1 history 2 digital television 2.1 digital channels 2.2 analog to digital conversion 3 programming 4 newscasts 5 references 6 external links history edit wjtc signed on the air on december 24 1984 as an independent station ; the station was founded by its original owners the mercury broadcasting company . the station which was branded as c44 maintained a general entertainment programming format consisting of old movies cartoons westerns dramas and a few classic sitcoms . in 1991 clear channel communications then owner of wpmi entered into a local marketing agreement with wjtc . mercury broadcasting retained the license but clear channel owned local rights to programming broadcast on the station . wjtc affiliated with the united paramount network upn upon its debut on january 16 1995 . clear channel acquired wjtc outright in 2001 creating a duopoly with wpmi . on january 24 2006 cbs corporation and time warner announced the shutdown of both upn and the wb effective that fall . a new fifth network the cw named after its corporate parents to be jointly owned by both companies would launch in their place with a lineup primarily featuring the most popular programs from both networks . 1 2 on february 22 2006 news corporation announced that it would launch a network of its own called mynetworktv which would be operated by fox television stations and its syndication division twentieth television . 3 4 wjtc was passed over for both the cw affiliation which went to wbpg ; channel 55 now wfna and that of mynetworktv which went to wfgx both former wb affiliates from 2001 2006 and from 1995 2001 respectively . as a result wjtc became an independent station once again on september 10 2006 five days before upn was to shut down . on april 20 2007 clear channel entered into an agreement to sell its entire television station group to providence equity partners . 5 on march 15 2008 wjtc wpmi and the other clear channel television properties were sold to newport television a company created by providence to run the newly acquired stations . newport announced on july 19 2012 that it would sell five of its stations including wjtc and wpmi to the sinclair broadcast group . as sinclair already owns wear tv and wfgx in the mobile pensacola market which would violate fcc rules restricting the maximum number of television stations in a single market owned by one company to two the stations licenses were instead acquired by deerfield media ; however sinclair began operating both stations through a local marketing agreement . 6 the sale was completed on december 3 2012 . 7 however due to the stations distance from pensacola and other factors the operations of wjtc and wpmi remain separate from those of wear tv and wfgx . digital television edit digital channels edit channel video aspect psip short name programming 8 44.1 1080i 16 9 wjtc tv main wjtc programming 44.2 480i 4 3 grit tv grit analog to digital conversion edit wjtc discontinued regular programming on its analog signal over uhf channel 44 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 changed to june 12 2009 . the station s digital signal remained on its pre transition uhf channel 45 . 9 through the use of psip digital television receivers display the station s virtual channel as its former uhf analog channel 44 . programming edit syndicated programming on wjtc includes how i met your mother the simpsons modern family and two and a half men . wjtc broadcasts local high school football games on friday nights during the fall season . playoff games are aired as well but unlike the regular season are tape delayed because of the alabama high school athletic association s regulations . wjtc also carries the super six finals as well as the alabama high school basketball state finals . newscasts edit when wjtc signed on the air in 1984 the station produced a morning news program called mornin along with the market s first primetime newscast at 9 00 p.m. predating the launch of wala s 9 00 p.m. newscast by 14 years . the broadcasts originated from studios in downtown pensacola . the 9 00 p.m. weeknight newscast was moved to 10 00 p.m. in the hopes of attracting more viewers while the weekend evening newscast continued to air in the 9 00 p.m. timeslot supplemented with the syndicated national and international news program independent network news . the morning and evening newscasts were discontinued by may 31 1986 . another attempt at a 9 p.m. newscast on the station was made many years later after wjtc was sold and its facilities moved to mobile . outside of promotions for wpmi s newscasts and simulcasts of that station s severe weather coverage wjtc didn t air any news programming . however on september 23 2013 wpmi began producing two half hour evening newscasts on wjtc that air weeknights at 6 30 and 9 00 p.m. ; 10 the 9 00 p.m. newscast competes with wala s longer established primetime newscast which comparatively runs for one hour and ironically also competes with fellow sister station wfgx s 9 00 p.m. newscast that is produced by wear tv a half hour program that debuted one month earlier on august 12 2013 . wjtc cancelled their 6 30 newscast on july 29 2016 and replaced it with inside edition the following monday . references edit gilmore girls meet smackdown ; cw network to combine wb upn in cbs warner venture beginning in september cnnmoney.com january 24 2006 . upn and wb to combine forming new tv network the new york times january 24 2006 . news corp. to launch new mini network for upn stations . usa today . february 22 2006 . retrieved january 21 2013 . news corp. unveils mynetworktv broadcasting & cable february 22 2006 . clear channel agrees to sell television station group to providence equity partners press release . clear channel communications . 2007 04 20 . archived from the original on april 25 2007 . retrieved 2007 04 20 . newport sells 22 station for 1 billion . tvnewscheck . july 19 2012 . retrieved july 19 2012 . archived copy . archived from the original on december 7 2012 . retrieved december 3 2012 . rabbitears tv query for wjtc dtv tentative channel designations for the first and second rounds pdf . retrieved 2012 03 24 . wpmi to produce newscasts for wjtc ... florida newscenter august 29 2013 . external links edit utv44.com official website query the fcc s tv station database for wjtc biafn s media web database information on wjtc tv program information for wjtc at titantv.com losing its network affiliation wjtc tv creates a new identity press register article v t e television stations in lower alabama and the western florida panhandle including mobile and pensacola local stations wear 3.1 abc 3.2 zuus country wkrg 5.1 cbs 5.2 ion 5.3 metv wrbd lp 8.1 ind. a1 wala 10.1 fox 10.2 cozi tv wbqp 12.1 a1 youtoo america 12.2 punch tv 12.3 word wpmi 15.1 nbc 15.2 wxn wgox 18.1 ind. wdpm 18.1 daystar w19co d 19.1 hsn wmpv 21.1 tbn 21.2 hillsong channel 21.3 juce tv smile 21.4 enlace 21.5 tbn salsa wsre 23.1 pbs 23.2 world 23.3 create wsre plus 23.4 v me w26bv 26 ind. whbr 33.1 ctn 33.2 ctni 33.3 lifestyle wfgx 35.1 mntv 35.2 gettv 35.3 comet w39bp 39 fn wpan 40.1 ssn weiq 42.1 pbs apt 42.2 apt world 42.3 create wjtc 44.1 ind. 44.2 grit wctu 46.1 gcn 46.2 blank 46.3 word 46.4 punch tv wfbd 48.1 ind. blab tv w50cf 50 dark wfna 55.1 cw 55.2 bounce tv 55.3 justice wawd wdes cd 58.1 ind. tourist info wrbm 60 ind. cable channels blab tv fox sports sun fox sports southeast fox sports south fox sports florida defunct w30bx 30 hsn florida broadcast television areas by city fort myers gainesville jacksonville miami orlando pensacola panama city tallahassee tampa st. petersburg west palm beach see also montgomery tv biloxi tv hattiesburg tv v t e other television stations in the state of florida miami fort lauderdale wcay cd 36 tourist key west whdt lp 44 ind miami wbec 63 educational fort lauderdale tampa st. petersburg wpds ld 14 educational largo warp cd 20 infomercials tampa wtam ld 30 the family channel tampa wmor 32 ind this 32.2 lakeland wzra ca 48 ethnic america one ntv ctv canada oldsmar jacksonville wjxt 4 ind jacksonville wqxt cd 22 america one st. augustine wbxj cd 43 biztv jacksonville orlando daytona beach melbourne w07bp d 7 educational ocala wdsc 15 educational daytona beach wrdq 27 ind orlando wefs 68 educational cocoa gainesville wruf ld 10 weather gainesville wbxg ca 33 mtv2 gainesville wyme cd 45 me tv gainesville west palm beach fort pierce wwci cd 10 ind vero beach whdt 59 tach tv ind stuart wbec 63 educational boca raton panama city wpct 46 tourist panama city beach pensacola mobile wrbd lp 8 ind a1 pensacola wbqp cd 12 a1 youtoo pensacola wjtc 44 ind pensacola wfbd 48 a1 destin wpan 53 jtv fort walton beach wawd 58 tourist fort walton beach see also abc cbs cw fox ion mynetworktv nbc pbs other stations in florida see also religious and spanish tv stations 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