TBN repeaters in the Tampa Bay DMA

The Trinity Broadcasting Network operates four low-powered satellite stations in the Tampa Bay market. W56EB channel 56 serves Tampa, while W36CO channel 36 serves St. Petersburg and Clearwater, W48CN channel 48 serves the Sarasota-Bradenton area, and W51DY channel 51 serves Sebring and Avon Park. All programming is delivered directly from TBN's national satellite feed.

All four stations are currently owned by TBN.

The history of these stations are unknown, though W36CO originally signed-on in the early-1990s on channel 60. Also, W51DY was originally on channel 60 (as W60CE) until December 2006. W48CN was owned by National Minority Television, a TBN subsidiary, until 2008, when it was transferred to TBN directly.

In April and May 2006, TBN applied for construction permits for each of these repeaters to begin converting operations to digital television. Upon completion, each station will become a digital repeater of TBN, broadcasting all five TBN services. Some of these stations will broadcast at a lower power than they did at analog. Two of these will also have new channel reassignments -- W56EB would move to channel 31, and W60CE would relocate to channel 51, in which it would become W51DY. This is due to channels 53 to 69 being phased out of television broadcasting.

None of these stations are available on cable; however, the national feed is available on Bright House digital channel 131. It is not available on Comcast systems.

In May 2009, TBN sold W36CO to Local...
Read More