History
Founded in 2001, the station was originally owned by Equity Media Holdings. It started as an affiliate of Pax TV until it joined UPN in 2004.
On January 24, 2006, UPN and The WB announced that they would merge to form a new network, The CW. As WJHG-TV took an affiliation with both The CW and MyNetworkTV MyNetworkTV, WBIF became an owned-and-operated station of the Retro Television Network. In addition to its main programming, WBIF also showed Tampa Bay Rays baseball from the Rays Television Network; the team left WBIF after moving all games to Fox Sports Florida.
On January 4, 2009, a contract conflict between Equity and Luken Communications, LLC (who had acquired RTN in June 2008) interrupted the programming on many RTN affiliates. As a result, Luken moved RTN operations to its headquarters in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and dropped all Equity-owned affiliates, including WBIF, immediately, though Luken vows to find a new affiliate for RTN in the area. On Monday, January 5, 2009, after a day of airing a red slide alerting viewers to the disruption of the RTN service, WBIF briefly signed off the air. Shortly thereafter, WBIF began to carry programming from This TV.
On April 16, 2009, the station was auctioned and sold to Daystar Television Network, and will likely begin carrying its religious programming once the sale is approved by a bankruptcy court and the FCC.
Read more about this topic: WBIF
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