WDVB-CD


WDVB-CD, virtual channel 23, is a low-powered, Class A Hillsong Channel owned-and-operated television station licensed to Edison, New Jersey, United States and serving the New York City television market. Owned by the Trinity Broadcasting Network, it is sister to Jersey City, New Jersey-licensed, TBN owned-and-operated station WTBY-TV. The two stations share studios on Union Square in Manhattan and transmitter facilities atop the Empire State Building.

Development

This station signed on over UHF channel 36 with the alphanumeric call sign W36AS on March 12, 1999. The station, officially a translator, aired independent programming. In 2004, it became an affiliate of ImaginAsian and dropped the independent format. On January 4, 2005, the station vacated channel 36 to avoid causing interference to full-power WNJU Linden, which was assigned channel 36 for its DTV operations. The station moved to channel 39, and was assigned alphanumeric call sign W39CQ. The station requested and was granted Class A status. On February 16, 2005, the call sign was changed to WDVB-CA. In early 2010, ImaginAsian was dropped. With no programming immediately available to replace it, WDVB-CA was only airing a color bars test pattern.
In March 2013, WDVB's class A status was moved from an analog station to a digital station, and the analog license was turned in; the analog signal had left the air for technical reasons on February 9. Shortly afterward, Edison Broadcasting filed to sell the station to LocusPoint Networks. The sale closed on August 19, 2013.

Digital television

Digital channels

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
23.1720pHilsongMain WDVB-CD programming / Hillsong Channel
23.2480iCOMBOSmile

On December 30, 2010, WDVB-LD was signed on over RF channel 23. Since its inception, the station has been broadcasting 75% split field color bars with no aural tone identically on each of its four 704h × 480v SD sub-channels.
Small font black text appears in the center of the test pattern which reads as follows: Line 1: "TV 23", Line 2: "WDVB-LD," Line 3: "EDISON, NJ," Line 4: "NY,NY."
On April 1, 2011, the test patterns on all four sub-channels were changed to EBU :File:EBU Colorbars.svg|Color Bars with an audible tone on 23-1. This is the first time audio was transmitted on WDVB-LD.
On April 4, 2011, WDVB-LD added Mexicanal Network on 23-2. This is the first actual programming to appear on the channel since its December 2010 inception. Mexicanal Network is a Mexico-based television network launched in 2005 that serves Mexicans living and working in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The station's programming lineup features a range of Spanish-language content encompassing news, cultural programming, sports and popular entertainment from public broadcasters, independent producers and local access stations throughout Mexico.
Mexicanal Network is also shown on 23-1, but there is no audio, and the call-sign exactly as described above for the test-pattern appears centered over the screen.
As of April 9, 2011, WDVB-LD was planning to add SAB TV. A "Coming Soon" preview featuring various shows on SAB TV's lineup was looping on 23-3. There was intermittent audio, however, and a bottom-screen crawl that read, "Coming soon on CH. 23.5." WDVB-LD only has four sub-channels, none of which are 23-5. SAB TV is an Indian general entertainment television channel owned by Multi Screen Media Pvt. Ltd and based in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It was launched on April 23, 2000, by Sri Adhikari Brothers as a general entertainment channel. in June 2008, the channel's programming consisted mainly of comedy-centric shows along with a few dramas.
On April 18, 2011, WDVB-LD remapped 23-3 to 23-5, and 23-4 to 23-6. The looping SAB TV preview continues to run on 23-3, which now displays as 23-5. The EBU test pattern with no audible tone remains on 23-4, which displays as 23-6.
In summer 2011, SAB TV was launched on WDVB-LD. PSIP TVCT stopped being transmitted, causing each of the four sub-channels to display their actual RF assignment without channel names.
MATV was launched on 23-4. MATV is a specialist Asian content TV channel based in Wembley, England, featuring Indian programming in Hindi, English, Gujarati and Punjabi. The channel was affiliated with SAB TV when it launched on 15 September 2003, however SAB TV was taken over in India, and the UK branch of SAB TV became known as MATV National.
On January 11, 2012, WDVB-LD implemented specific channel name information into its TVCT PSIP for the streams on 23-2 through 23-4 for the first time. Prior to this, all the fields were left blank, and, when the station was launched in late 2010, all fields read "WDVB-LD."
On March 19, 2012, the station was granted Class A status. The call-sign is now WDVB-CA/WDVB-CD Edison.
Before April 26, 2012, 23.1 was a duplicate of 23.2. 23.1 was a placeholder with the duplicated channel with the legal station ID situated in the center screen and no audio except for EAS messages. TVC Latino was launched over 23.1 on April 26 at 6 pm Eastern.
On May 1, 2012, 23.3 - YFN-TV was on the air in place of Mexicanal as of midnight. It is owned by Sparrow Broadcasting. Its President was Matthew Ray Hendrickson and its General Manager Joseph Venneri, an original member of the band The Tokens.
Around May 10, 2012, the PSIP TVCT channel names were altered to reflect the channel position of each stream. Soy Latino TV was added to 23-2. Mexicanal was displaced from 23-2 to 23-3. Sony SAB TV was displaced from 23-3 to 23-4. MATV, which had been available on 23-4, is no longer carried.
In 2014, 23.2 became affiliated with Soul of the South Network and the American Sports Network. It is carried on Verizon FiOS ch. 477. Around 2018 both The Country Network and Soul of the South Network were dropped in favor of Hillsong Channel and Smile of a Child/JUCE TV, which previously aired on WTBY-TV as a sub-channel.