WISC-TV


WISC-TV, virtual channel 3, is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It is the flagship station of Madison-based Morgan Murphy Media, and has been affiliated with CBS since its launch on June 24, 1956. WISC-TV's studios are located on Raymond Road in Madison, and its transmitter is located on Mineral Point Road in the city's Middleton Junction section.
WISC-TV also carries a secondary subchannel branded as TVW, which carries an affiliation with MyNetworkTV, along with additional syndicated and locally originated programming.

History

WISC-TV first took to the airwaves on June 24, 1956, taking over Madison's CBS affiliation from WKOW-TV. It was originally a sister station to WISC radio.
Despite being the state's second largest market, Madison was a "doughnut" market as it was sandwiched between other markets where primary VHF signals were already assigned–Milwaukee to the east, Wausau/Rhinelander and Green Bay to the north, Chicago to the southeast, Rockford to the south, and La Crosse/Eau Claire to the west. Having the market's only VHF signal gave channel 3 a distinct advantage—and market leadership—over UHF competitors WKOW and WMTV, a position that the station has enjoyed for much of its history, even after the advent of cable television put the competitors on equal footing.
WISC-TV has been affiliated with CBS since its launch, though it was also briefly affiliated with the NTA Film Network during the late 1950s. From 1995 to 1999, WISC-TV carried select UPN programming during overnight hours, before the launch of a full-time UPN affiliate in the market, WHPN. UPN returned in 2002 on WISC's cable/digital subchannel, TVW, which had been affiliated with The WB since 1998; TVW has been with MyNetworkTV since 2006.
WISC-TV commemorated its 50th anniversary in June 2006, which merited a congratulatory mention by David Letterman on his Late Show broadcast of June 22, 2006.
After CBS' airing of Super Bowl LIII, WISC-TV debuted a new newscast set, dropped the "3" logo in use since 1990, and changed their News 3 branding to News 3 Now.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
3.11080iWISCMain WISC-TV programming / CBS
3.2480iTVWTVW programming / MyNetworkTV-
3.3480iDABLDabl-
3.4480iQVCQVC-
3.5480iHSNHSN-

WISC-TV shut down its analog signal, over VHF channel 3, at 12:30 p.m. 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 VHF analog channel 3.
The analog channel 3 continued to serve as a "nightlight", broadcasting a loop of digital transition information and instructions in addition to any local news programming and emergency information, until signing off for good the final week of March 2009.

TVW

In 2000, WISC-TV launched TVW on digital subchannel 3.2. Before that time, the channel was available only on cable systems in south-central Wisconsin. As an over-the-air channel, TVW has been affiliated with The WB, UPN, and since 2006, MyNetworkTV, in addition to carrying local and syndicated content.

Spectrum reallocation; move to VHF

On April 13, 2017, the results of the FCC's 2016 spectrum auction were announced, with Morgan Murphy successfully selling the UHF spectrum for WISC for just under $50 million. WISC would move their spectrum from UHF channel 50 to VHF, taking the former digital channel 11 position held by WMSN-TV before a return to UHF in November 2010.

Programming

Outside of the CBS network schedule, syndicated programming on WISC-TV includes The Dr. Oz Show, and Entertainment Tonight. WISC was home to ESPN Plus broadcasts of Wisconsin Badger sports before the syndicator's relationship with the Big Ten Conference ended in 2007.

News operation

In addition to its normal morning, noon, 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. newscasts, WISC airs News 3 Now Live at Four, a one-hour newscast which is largely devoted to non-headline news and features that focus on the community and the people of Madison, Dane County, and south-central Wisconsin. Live at Four originally aired at 5 p.m., but moved to 4 p.m. in October 2015 to expand to one hour. In April 2011, WISC began offering free on demand segments of their newscasts on the Roku digital video player. WISC-TV also produces a 9 p.m. newscast for Fox affiliate WMSN-TV, under a news share arrangement that began on January 1, 2012.
On October 26, 2008, WISC-TV began producing all its newscasts in total high-definition video, becoming the first commercial TV station in Wisconsin to do so. The station had produced occasional news features in HD since the beginning of 2008.

Former on-air staff