WUTV - Canadian Coverage

Canadian Coverage

Up until 2003, Rogers Cable carried WUTV in the Ottawa and London regions; after this date, Rogers switched to WJBK Detroit as the Fox affiliate available in these markets. The reason for the switch in Ottawa was twofold. The main reason was that MCI, the company which microwaved U.S. network television signals to Ottawa from Rochester, New York, had decided to discontinue this service (until 2003, the ABC, NBC, and CBS stations available in Ottawa had originated from Rochester). Secondly, Rogers chose Detroit as the new source for U.S. television network signals because Canadian broadcasters were concerned about the increased Canadian advertising revenues Buffalo stations would attract were they to receive an expanded viewing audience across Ontario. Since Detroit is a much larger market than either Buffalo or Rochester, advertising prices would be much higher and thus it would not be economical for Canadian advertisers to purchase advertising time on such stations.

Although WUTV was the Fox affiliate available in Ottawa, Rogers decided to switch to WJBK in order to ensure uniformity in the source cities for all U.S. network television signals. Rogers switched to WJBK in the London market because the signal for the CBS affiliate available in London, WSEE (Erie, Pennsylvania) was of lower quality than that of the Detroit CBS affiliate, WWJ. Hence, Rogers London switched from WSEE to WWJ and, as in Ottawa, decided to switch its Fox affiliate from WUTV to WJBK to ensure uniformity of the source city for all the U.S. network television signals. Rogers continues to carry WUTV in both Standard and High Definition for customers in the Golden Horseshoe, including Toronto.

Cogeco Cable carries WUTV in Standard Definition for its customers in the Golden Horseshoe, but instead carries Detroit's WJBK in High Definition. For many years, WUTV was carried on cable in Quebec as far east as Gaspe. WUTV was once carried on Montreal cable up until 1997, when Vidéotron replaced WUTV with WFFF-TV in Burlington, Vermont (the Fox station that signed on the air at the time). Originally, its WUHF sister in Rochester was carried on cable in the Western Montreal suburbs for 1995 only. Those stations were the first Fox stations to be carried on Montreal cable. It also returned temporarily when WFFF-TV was off the air for a brief time in the mid-2000s.

Because of their Canadian coverage the station does play O Canada along with The Star Spangled Banner and a display of both the American and Canadian national flags during their early Monday morning sign-off for maintenance between 3 a.m. and 5 a.m.