WTVT

==History==
===CBS affiliation===
The station first signed on the air on April 1, 1955, becoming the third television station in Tampa Bay (after [[WSUN-TV]]—channel 38, frequency now occupied by [[WTTA]], and [[WFLA-TV]], channel 8), it is also currently the second-oldest surviving station in the market behind WFLA. Upon its launch, WTVT took over the [[CBS]] affiliation from WSUN-TV. WTVT was originally owned by Tampa Bay radio veteran Walter Tison and his Tampa Television Company. The [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) originally awarded the [[construction permit]] to build a station on channel 13 to the now-defunct ''Tampa Times'' newspaper, which owned [[WDAE|WDAE radio]] (then at 1250 AM, now at 620 AM). However, the FCC reversed its decision and awarded the license to the Tison group, which intended to open a studio facility in nearby [[St. Petersburg, Florida|St. Petersburg]]. The ''Times'' appealed the FCC's decision, but lost. Although it appears that the station's call letters stand for "Television Tampa", they actually stand for the initials of Walter Tison and his wife, Virginia. Like many other stations located on [[Triskaidekaphobia|"unlucky" channel 13]], WTVT used a [[black cat]] as its mascot for several years.

In 1956, the Tampa Television Company merged with the [[Oklahoma City]]-based [[Oklahoma Publishing Company]]. OPUBCO's broadcasting subsidiary, the [[WKY|WKY Radiophone Company]], would later be known as [[Ryman Hospitality Properties|Gaylord Broadcasting]], named for the family that owned the company (Gaylord also owned what is present-day CBS O&O [[KTVT]] in [[Fort Worth]], but the "TVT" base callsign was only a coincidence).

The station's remote broadcast facilities were chosen for network pool coverage of [[Alan Shepard]] and [[John Glenn]]'s Mercury capsule [[Splashdown (spacecraft landing)|splashdowns]] (in 1961 and 1962, respectively).<ref name="wtvt-spacecoverage">{{cite news |title=FOX 13 memories from the Cape |url=http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/scitech/space/012809_Fox13_Cape_Canaveral |access-date=September 10, 2019 |work=MyFox Tampa Bay |date=January 28, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120312001043/http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/news/scitech/space/012809_Fox13_Cape_Canaveral |archive-date=March 12, 2012}}</ref><ref name="youtube" /> The mobile unit recorded the recoveries on videotapes that were flown to the mainland.

Through its CBS affiliation, WTVT carried [[Super Bowl XVIII]], which was hosted at [[Tampa Stadium]], in 1984.

In 1987, Gaylord sold the station to [[Gillett Communications]] (which made it a sister station of those Gillett acquired from [[Kohlberg Kravis Roberts|KKR]], most of which were stations owned by [[Storer Broadcasting]]). Gillett underwent a corporate restructuring in the early 1990s, changing its name to GCI Broadcast Services, Inc. In 1993, GCI filed for [[Bankruptcy in the United States|bankruptcy]], and its stations (including WTVT) were sold to [[New World Pictures#New World Communications|New World Communications]]. By that time, WTVT was preempting ''[[CBS This Morning]]'' for a locally produced morning newscast, as well as preempting all but one hour of the network's [[Saturday morning cartoon]]s and aired the weeknight edition of the ''[[CBS Evening News]]'' on a [[Broadcast delay|half-hour tape delay]] at 7 p.m. WTVT did not carry the CBS daytime dramas ''[[Capitol (TV series)|Capitol]]'' or ''[[The Bold and the Beautiful]]'' and instead aired ''[[The Young and the Restless]]'' at 1 p.m. on a half-hour delay. This was due to the popularity of its one hour midday newscast that dates back to the 1970s.

===As a Fox station===
{{further|1994–1996 United States broadcast television realignment}}
On December 18, 1993, [[Fox NFL|Fox]] outbid [[NFL on CBS|CBS]] for the rights to the [[NFL]]'s [[National Football Conference]] television package beginning with the league's [[1994 NFL season|1994 season]].<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121105135152/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4205316.html CBS, NBC Battle for AFC Rights // Fox Steals NFC Package], ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'' (via [[HighBeam Research]]), December 18, 1993.</ref> Most of Fox's affiliates at the time were on the UHF band; seeking to affiliate with VHF stations to complement the new rights, Fox signed a long-term deal with New World Communications on May 23, 1994, to [[1994 United States broadcast TV realignment|affiliate with twelve of the company's major network affiliates]], effective that fall.<ref name=nytbusinessdigest>{{cite news|last=Carter|first=Bill|title=FOX WILL SIGN UP 12 NEW STATIONS; TAKES 8 FROM CBS|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/05/24/us/fox-will-sign-up-12-new-stations-takes-8-from-cbs.html?pagewanted=4|access-date=October 22, 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|date=May 24, 1994}}</ref>

WTVT affiliated with Fox on December 12, 1994, ending its 39-year affiliation with CBS. This resulted in a three-way affiliation swap that resulted in the market's second Fox affiliate, [[WFTS-TV]] (channel 28), affiliating with [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] as part of a deal between the station's owner, the [[E. W. Scripps Company]] and ABC that resulted in sister stations [[WMAR-TV]] in [[Baltimore]] and [[KNXV-TV]] in [[Phoenix, Arizona|Phoenix]] joining the network; longtime ABC affiliate [[WTSP]] (channel 10), which was retained by Citicasters, became a CBS affiliate. The final CBS program to air on WTVT was the [[made-for-TV movie]] ''Reunion'', which began at 9&nbsp;p.m. Eastern Time on December 11, 1994.{{citation needed|date=May 2021}} With the switch, WTVT became the third Tampa area station to have been affiliated with Fox. [[WTOG]] (channel 44) was the market's original affiliate from the network's launch in October 1986 until the affiliation moved to WFTS in 1988. The station chose not to renew the more expensive syndicated programs that it had run as a CBS affiliate, and instead began acquiring cheaper first-run syndicated [[talk show|talk]] and [[reality shows]].

Albeit with a three-month interruption due to CBS losing the NFC rights (the games instead aired on WFTS for the first three months of Fox's NFC telecasts as a lame duck affiliate), the switch allowed WTVT to retain its status as the "home" station for the [[Tampa Bay Buccaneers]]—a status it held since 1977, when the team moved to the NFC. Under the NFL's contract with Fox (and before it, CBS), WTVT normally airs most of the Bucs' games, including all road games against [[American Football Conference]] opponents. However, largely due to the Bucs' lack of success on the field for most of their first 20 years, the team's home games were almost always [[National Football League television blackout policies|blacked out]] locally. This was especially true during the Bucs' darkest period in the 1980s and 1990s, when they had 12 consecutive 10-loss seasons; at one point, no Bucs home games were seen locally from 1982 to 1986—spanning portions of five seasons. Once the Buccaneers began to build a winning team in the late 1990s, along with a new look and the opening of [[Raymond James Stadium]], local television blackouts decreased, thus allowing more games to be shown on WTVT. The blackout rules were lifted by the NFL in 2015 on an experimental basis, and have since been suspended indefinitely, meaning games are now shown on Channel 13 regardless of attendance. Through [[Fox Major League Baseball|Fox's contract with Major League Baseball]], the station has also aired select [[Tampa Bay Rays]] games since the team's [[1998 Tampa Bay Devil Rays season|inaugural season in 1998]], including the team's 2008 and [[2020 World Series]] appearances.

[[News Corporation]] bought New World outright in July 1996;<ref>{{cite news|last=Lowry|first=Brian|title=New World Vision : Murdoch's News Corp. to Buy Broadcast Group|url=http://articles.latimes.com/1996-07-18/business/fi-25271_1_rupert-murdoch-s-news-corp|access-date=June 22, 2012|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=July 18, 1996}}</ref> the purchase was finalized on January 22, 1997, making WTVT the first [[owned-and-operated station]] of a major network in the Tampa Bay area. Although New World no longer exists as a separate company, WTVT continues to use "New World Communications of Tampa Bay" as the copyright tag at the end of the station's newscasts. Shortly after the purchase was announced, the station changed its branding from "Channel 13" to "Fox 13"—retaining the numerical "13" logo it had used since 1989 as a CBS affiliate (the font for that number has since been utilized by sister station [[WFLD]] in [[Chicago]] upon its rebranding in 2012, as well as the "13" itself used by former sister station [[WHBQ-TV]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis]] and [[PBS]] member station [[KERA-TV]] in [[Dallas]]). Under Fox ownership, the station added more higher-profile syndicated shows and a few off-network sitcoms to its lineup.

In June 2009, WTVT interviewed late television [[Sales#Sales agents|pitchman]] [[Billy Mays]] shortly before his death. His interview, which was conducted at the [[Tampa International Airport]], is believed to have been his final appearance on live television.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/entertainment/television/final_interview_billy_mays_062809|title=Billy Mays' Final Interview|last=Mulaire|first=Sharon|date=June 28, 2009|publisher=Fox 13 My Fox Tampa Bay|access-date=August 23, 2009}}</ref>

On December 14, 2017, [[The Walt Disney Company]], owner of WFTS-TV's affiliated network ABC, announced its intent to buy WTVT's parent company, [[21st Century Fox]], for $66.1 billion; the sale, which closed on March 20, 2019, excluded WTVT as well as the Fox network, the [[MyNetworkTV]] programming service, [[Fox News]], [[Fox Sports 1]] and the Fox Television Stations unit, which were all transferred to the newly-formed [[Fox Corporation]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Disney Buys Big Chunk Of Fox In $66.1B Deal|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/109662/disney-buys-big-chunk-of-fox-in-661b-deal|website=TVNewsCheck|date=December 14, 2017|access-date=December 15, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Murdoch: New Fox Interested In More Stations|url=http://www.tvnewscheck.com/mobile/index/article/id/109669|website=TVNewsCheck|date=December 14, 2017|access-date=December 14, 2017}}</ref>