WATL - Digital Channels

Digital Channels

As with the same arrangement with sister stations KUSA and KTVD in Denver, WATL airs their main channel in upscaled 1080i rather than MyNetworkTV's default 720p format for operational reasons, to present syndicated programming without downscaling to the latter format, and to accommodate any NBC programming airing on WATL due to local pre-emption on WXIA.

WATL previously aired The Tube on digital channel 36.2 in June 2006, but after that network ceased in October 2007, the digital subchannel was deleted. The 11Alive Weather Information Zone was moved from channel 11.2 on WXIA in early December 2010, possibly in preparation for adding another network to that station (the lower bitrate of the low-motion weather graphics would leave more for mobile datacasting to be done on WATL than adding the new network to WATL). In 2011, Atlanta-based Bounce TV began airing on September 26 (the network's first day in operation), taking the Weather Information Zone off the air for two weeks until mid-October, when it was bounced back to channel 11.2 on WXIA. By coincidence, the first program aired by Bounce on its new flagship station in place of the WIZ was the movie The Wiz.

In late October 2011, Universal Sports was added to channel 36.3. The network, however was removing itself from broadcast distribution at the end of 2011 due to the channel transitioning to being cable-only. On December 24, 2011, the channel was replaced by Antenna TV. Ironically, WATL was owned by Antenna TV's owner, Tribune Broadcasting, from 1999-2006.