WTLH - History

History

WTLH signed-on November 25, 1989 airing an analog signal on UHF channel 49. Originally owned by Pegasus Broadcasting, it was the area's charter Fox affiliate and has remained with the network ever since. On June 15, 1998, WFXU in Live Oak, Florida was established as a full-time satellite of WTLH in order to improve its coverage on the eastern side of the market. Since Tallahassee did not have enough stations to legally permit a duopoly, WFXU was technically owned by L.O. Telecast but operated by Pegasus through a local marketing agreement. That station was sold to KB Prime Media in 1999 and became wholly owned by Pegasus in 2002. The sale was ultimately approved because the company helped fund WFXU's construction.

In April of that year, WFXU became a separate station after becoming the area's first UPN affiliate. Since it also suffered from reception issues on the eastern side of the market, WTLF in Tallahassee was established as a full-time satellite. That station was one of the first in the United States to sign-on as a digital-only outlet with no analog counterpart. On January 24, 2006, The WB and UPN announced the networks would end broadcasting and merge. The new combined service would be called The CW.

The letters would represent the first initial of corporate parents "C"BS (the parent company of UPN) and the "W"arner Bros. unit of Time Warner. It was made public April 24 that WTLH would create a new second digital subchannel to become Tallahassee's CW affiliate. The plan was later modified in August to make WFXU/WTLF the primary CW affiliates and have a simulcast on WTLH-DT2. This took effect when the network premiered on September 18, 2006. Pegasus declared bankruptcy back in June 2004 over a dispute with DirecTV (co-owned with Fox by News Corporation) over marketing of the direct broadcast satellite service in rural areas.

The station group was sold in August 2006 to private investment firm CP Media, LLC of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania for $55.5 million. Eventually, CP Media formed a new broadcasting company known as New Age Media. The company purchased WTLH at the end of March 2007 but sold WFXU separately to Budd Broadcasting. The latter dropped CW programming soon afterward leaving WTLF as Tallahassee's sole CW affiliate. There continues to be a simulcast of that station on WTLH-DT2. On February 17, 2009, WTLH shut-off its analog signal on UHF channel 49 and became digital-exclusive on UHF channel 50.