WTBL-LD (channel 51) is a

low-power television station Low-power broadcasting is broadcasting by a Radio broadcasting#Station, broadcast station at a low transmitter power output to a smaller service area than "full power" stations within the same region. It is often distinguished from "micropower ...

serving

Biloxi Biloxi ( ; ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States. It lies on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast in southern Mississippi, bordering the city of Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport to its west. The adjacent cities ar ...

and

Gulfport, Mississippi Gulfport ( ) is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, United States, and its co-county seat. It had a population of 72,926 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Mississippi, second-most populous ...

, United States, as an affiliate of

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television progra ...

. It is nominally

licensed A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...

Pascagoula, Mississippi Pascagoula ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Jackson County, Mississippi, United States. It is the principal city of the Pascagoula metropolitan area, and is part of the Gulfport, Mississippi, Gulfport–Biloxi, Mississippi, Biloxi–Pascag ...

; however, it only provides a marginal signal to that area. WTBL-LD is owned by

Gray Television Gray Media, Inc., doing business as Gray Television, is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 statio ...

alongside dual

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

affiliate

WLOX WLOX (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Biloxi, Mississippi, United States, serving the Mississippi Gulf Coast as an affiliate of ABC and CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power MeTV affiliate WTBL-LD (channel 51) ...

(channel 13). The two stations share studios on DeBuys Road in Biloxi.

History

The original

construction permit Planning permission or building permit refers to the approval needed for construction or expansion (including significant renovation), and sometimes for demolition, in some jurisdictions. House building permits, for example, are subject to bu ...

for the station was granted on October 29, 1987, for operation on channel 46; the station was assigned the call letters W46AV. Originally owned by Tel-Radio Communications Properties, the permit was transferred to the

Trinity Broadcasting Network The Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN; legally Trinity Broadcasting of Texas, Inc.) is an international Christian-based broadcast television network and the world's largest religious television network. TBN solicits donations on its Web site, a ...

(TBN) in 1988. A license to cover was issued August 16, 1990. It moved to channel 51 in 2000 and became W51CU. TBN sold W51CU to Tim Wall, owner of Scranton Broadcasting Company, LLC in 2010. Soon after the sale was approved (but while still under TBN ownership), the station changed its call letters to WGUD-LP. Scranton relaunched WGUD-LP on September 1, 2010, as a FamilyNet affiliate, with some local programming. On January 4, 2013, the station changed its call sign to WGUD-LD. In 2017, due to the eventual rebranding of FamilyNet, WGUD-LD changed affiliates again. On October 3, 2022, the station changed its callsign from WGUD-LD to WTBL-LD.

Subchannels

The station's signal is

multiplexed In telecommunications and computer networking, multiplexing (sometimes contracted to muxing) is a method by which multiple analog or digital signals are combined into one signal over a shared medium. The aim is to share a scarce resource— ...

: WTBL-LD currently has a construction permit to move its signal to digital channel 38. A previous such permit, granted in 2006, expired on June 19, 2009. Around 2011, WGUD-LP consummated its relocation, and began broadcasting three subchannels, with programming from FamilyNet,

and Pursuit Channel. The Cowboy Channel replaced FamilyNet on July 1, 2017. Beginning in October 2024, WTBL-LD's third subchannel has been affiliated with the Gray Television owned Gulf Coast Sports & Entertainment Network. The network is the television home of the

New Orleans Pelicans The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Confere ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

References

External links

WLOX websiteTelemundo Biloxi website
{{Other Mississippi Stations 1990 establishments in Mississippi Biloxi, Mississippi TBL-LD MeTV affiliates Cozi TV affiliates Television channels and stations established in 1990 TBL-LD