WDKA


WDKA, virtual channel 49, is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station licensed to Paducah, Kentucky, United States, serving Western Kentucky's Purchase region, Southern Illinois, and Southeastern Missouri. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, as part of a duopoly with Cape Girardeau, Missouri-licensed Fox affiliate KBSI. The two stations share studios on Enterprise Street in Cape Girardeau; WDKA's transmitter is located in Vienna, Illinois.
In addition to its own digital signal, WDKA is simulcast in standard definition on KBSI's second digital subchannel from a transmitter north of Cape Girardeau in unincorporated Cape Girardeau County.

History

WDKA began broadcasting on June 5, 1997. It was a UPN affiliate broadcasting an analog signal on UHF channel 49. In 2000, WDKA switched affiliations with low-powered station WQTV-LP and repeater WQWQ-LP to become an affiliate of The WB. The station became a MyNetworkTV affiliate on September 5, 2006. In the same month, The WB and UPN merged to become The CW, and WQTV-LP was announced to become The CW affiliate for Paducah.
GetTV, a new movie-oriented network owned by Sony Pictures Television, started broadcasting over WDKA-DT2 in July 2014 as part of a deal with Sinclair Broadcasting to add 33 markets to GetTV's roster of affiliates.
On August 30, 2014, WDKA became a charter affiliate of Sinclair's ad-hoc syndicated television network, the American Sports Network. ASN provides Ohio Valley Conference basketball and Conference USA football and basketball games to the station's viewers. The ASN's programming content replaces Southeastern Conference football and basketball broadcasts from ESPN Plus-oriented SEC TV, which was run from 2009 until 2014, which was discontinued because of the launch of the pay TV-exclusive SEC Network.
On March 3, 2016, WDKA Acquisition Corporation filed to sell WDKA to Sinclair's subsidiary WDKA Licensee, LLC. Sinclair bought the station for $1.9 million. The sale was completed on September 1, 2017.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
49.1720pWDKA-DTMain WDKA programming / MyNetworkTV
49.2480iCharge!Charge!
49.3480iTBDTBD
49.41080iStadiumStadium
49.5480iDABLDabl

WDKA-DT2

WDKA-DT2 previously aired TheCoolTV from 2010 until August 31, 2012. It went silent for two years before becoming a GetTV affiliate in Summer 2014. On February 28, 2017, WDKA-DT2 became affiliated with an action-based network Charge! with GetTV moving to 49.4. On that day, GetTV was relocated to a DT4 subchannel.

WDKA-DT3

As a part of a deal involving several Sinclair-owned stations similar to the earlier deal between Sinclair and TheCoolTV, WDKA-DT3 was added to carry The Country Network on September 18, 2010. The Country Network changed its name and was rebranded to ZUUS Country on June 1, 2013. On February 28, 2017, WDKA-DT3 became affiliated with the TBD network.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WDKA shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 49, on February 17, 2009, the original target date in which full-power television stations in the United States were to transition from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 50. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 49.