WEDG-TV


WEDG-TV was a cable-only UPN affiliate in New York's Capital District which was a joint venture between Time Warner Cable and Fox affiliate WXXA-TV.
Edge TV, named for and promoted with WQBK-FM and WQBJ, signed on at the start of 2000, displacing Boston's WSBK-TV from Time Warner's systems and stripping low-power UPN affiliate WVBG-LP of their affiliation. Outside of UPN programming, the lineup was filled with double runs and failed syndicated programming from WXXA, older films, and an assortment of sporting events including New York Yankees games and Boston Bruins games from WSBK.
In Fall 2000, EdgeTV became UPN4 after the "Edge" radio stations were divested as a result of the merger between co-partner Clear Channel Communications and AMFM, Inc. First run programming exclusive to the station began to be added to UPN4, but the Time Warner-WXXA partnership hamstrung other providers from what was seen as a secondary promotional vehicle for Time Warner services, and refused to carry it, or did add it but were slow to do so, did not advertise the addition, or put it in a channel tier away from the main broadcast tier.
The 2003 announcement of new sign-on WNYA obtaining the UPN affiliation marked the quick end of UPN4's existence. The station came to the air well before digital subchannels came to prominence and although there was consideration of continuing UPN4 as an independent station, both entities decided to end broadcasting UPN4 at midnight on September 1, 2003. Six hours later, WNYA launched over UPN4's former slots, and WXXA retained UPN4's former programming inventory.