WGXA - History

History

WGXA began broadcasting on April 21, 1982 as an ABC affiliate. It was the last of the big three stations in Middle Georgia after CBS affiliate WMAZ-TV and NBC affiliate WCWB-TV (now WMGT-TV). Prior to that time, ABC programming was only available to area residents either during the off-network hours (via tape delay) on WMAZ or on affiliates from nearby markets such as Atlanta's WXIA (later WSB-TV) or Columbus' WTVM. This made Macon one of the last markets in the country to get full network service.

During its years as an ABC affiliate, WGXA preempted various network news programs such as the Saturday and Sunday editions of World News Tonight (instead showing syndicated reruns of various shows), ABC World News This Morning (instead showing cartoons), Nightline (instead showing The Arsenio Hall Show), and This Week with David Brinkley. When NFL broadcasts moved from CBS to Fox in the early-1990s, WGXA aired them on Sunday afternoons until WPGA-TV signed-on as the area's first Fox affiliate in 1995.

The station was purchased in July of that year by GOCOM Communications. On January 1, 1996, WGXA and WPGA swapped affiliations resulting in this station becoming a full Fox affiliate and WPGA joining ABC. On October 29, 2009 WPGA's owner, Register Communications, announced it would drop ABC and go Independent on New Year's Day 2010. The company cited current network programming that is not "family-friendly", specifically homosexual content, as its reason for dropping ABC. Shortly afterward, WGXA entered a long-term agreement with ABC and once again picked up the network as an affiliate on a new second digital subchannel. In effect, it regained the affiliation given up fourteen years earlier.

Cox had intended to remove WPGA from its lineup and place WGXA-DT2 on channel 6 and in high definition on digital channel 706. However on December 22, WPGA was granted a temporary restraining order requiring Cox to continue to carry that station on those channels. As a result, WGXA-DT2 is instead seen on channel 15 pre-empting what is usually the channel space for The Inspiration Network until the settlement of WPGA's issues. On April 30, 2010, the court dismissed WPGA's case which would have allowed WGXA-DT2 to be seen on Cox channels 6 and 706 while WPGA moved to another channel. However, Register filed an appeal. In light of this, the judge ordered Cox to leave WPGA at channels 6 and 706 until an appeals court hears the case. In addition, Register also filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the status of WPGA.

On June 23, 2011, it was announced that the Georgia Court of Appeals upheld the ruling that would enable Cox to drop WPGA from its line-up, effective July 28. On that date, WGXA-DT2 will simulcast on its new slot on channel 6, as well as its current channel 15 position; on August 28, it will be seen on channel 6 only, with channel 15 reused for bandwidth for Cox's high definition channels.

On July 12, 2011 Register filed a complaint Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia, seeking an injunction to prevent Cox from not only dropping WPGA, but from giving channel 6 to WGXA-DT2. However, Cox announced that their plan will continue anyway, despite the complaint, as the previous court case authorised them to make the changes.

On January 1, 2011, WGXA TV programming was removed from Dish Network in a dispute with the satellite carrier over retransmission fees. Subscribers of Dish Network lost both WGXA's "ABC-16" and "Fox-24" channels as a result. Both channels has since been restored on Dish Network.