WUVF-LD (channel 2) 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 ...

licensed to

Naples, Florida Naples is a city in Collier County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 19,115, down from 19,539 at the 2010 census. Naples is a principal city of the Collier County, Florida, Naples–Marc ...

, United States, serving

Southwest Florida Southwest Florida is the region along the southwest Gulf coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is known for its beaches, subtropical landscape, and winter resort economy. Definitions of the region vary, though its boundaries are genera ...

as an affiliate of the Spanish-language networks

Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...

and

UniMás UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. ...

. Locally owned by Sun Broadcasting, it is

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares parents or a parent with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to ref ...

to two other Naples-licensed stations: CW affiliate

WXCW WXCW (channel 46), branded on-air as WINK CW, is a television station licensed to Naples, Florida, United States, serving Southwest Florida as an affiliate of The CW. It is locally owned by Sun Broadcasting alongside two low-power stations: Uni ...

(channel 46) and low-power WANA-LD (channel 16). Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, which owns

Fort Myers A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

–licensed

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

WINK-TV WINK-TV (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Fort Myers, Florida, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for Southwest Florida. It is owned by the McBride family and their Fort Myers Broadcasting Company, making it one of a hand ...

(channel 11), operates WUVF, WXCW, and WANA under a

shared services Shared services is the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and the ...

agreement (SSA). The stations share studios on Palm Beach Boulevard ( SR 80) in northeast Fort Myers; WUVF-LD's transmitter is located on Channel 30 Drive (on a tower shared with several radio stations). WLZE-LD (channel 51) in Fort Myers operates as a

translator Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. The English language draws a terminological distinction (which does not exist in every language) between ''trans ...

of WUVF-LD; this station's transmitter is located north of Fort Myers Shores near the Charlotte–

Lee Lee may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lee'' (2007 film), Tamil-language sports action film * ''Lee'' (2017 film), Kannada-language action film * ''Lee'' (2023 film), biographical drama about Lee Miller, American photojournalist * ''L ...

county line.

History

On April 4, 2008,

Equity Media Holdings Equity Media Holdings Corporation was a broadcasting company based in Little Rock, Arkansas, that owned and operated television stations across the United States. Prior to March 30, 2007, the company was known as Equity Broadcasting, a name late ...

announced the sale of all five of its Southwest Florida stations (including WUVF and WLZE) to

Luken Communications Get After It Media LLC, formerly known as Luken Communications and Reach High Media Group, is a privately owned American broadcast holding company, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in Hamilton County, Tennessee, U ...

for $8 million. Equity has cited corporate financial losses as a reason for the sale. Equity Media Holdings filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...

in December 2008; offers by Luken Communications to acquire Equity-owned stations in six markets were later withdrawn. WUVF and WLZE were sold at auction to

private equity firm A private equity firm or private equity company (often described as a financial sponsor) is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of a Startup company, startup or of an existin ...

Silver Point Capital Silver Point Capital is a Greenwich, Connecticut-based hedge fund that focuses on credit and special situations investments. It was founded in 2002 by former Goldman Sachs The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational inve ...

on April 16, 2009. The sale was finalized on August 17, 2009. Following the purchase, WUVF surrendered its Class A classification. WLZE began to be carried on

Dish Network DISH Network L.L.C., often referred to as DISH, an abbreviation for Digital Sky Highway, is an American provider of satellite television and IPTV services and wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation. The company was originally establ ...

on October 7, 2009; the

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

provider had earlier obtained WUVF's programming via sister station

WEVU-CA WEVU-LP (channel 4) was a low-power television station in Fort Myers, Florida, United States. Owned by Silver Point Capital, it was a satellite of Naples-based Univision affiliate WUVF-LP. History Caloosa Television, the owners of WEVU (channe ...

(channel 4), which had served as a WUVF satellite since 2006 (and simulcast the 6 p.m. newscast for some time before adding the remainder of WUVF's schedule), that station was taken silent on August 14, 2009—three days before the completion of the sale to Silver Point. SP Television reached a deal to sell WUVF and WLZE to Media Vista Group on December 21, 2012. On April 1, 2019, Media Vista Group announced that it was selling its stations, including WUVF-LD, to Sun Broadcasting, Inc. for $9.75 million. The sale was completed on July 1, 2019."Consummation Notice"
''CDBS Public Access'',

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

, July 2, 2019, Retrieved July 4, 2019.

Newscasts

During the mid-2000s, after joining Univision, WUVF began airing half-hour Spanish-language local newscasts at 6 and 11 p.m. The broadcasts were produced out of Equity Media's headquarters in

Little Rock, Arkansas Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...

, with news reports filed by reporters based in Southwest Florida. The newscasts were canceled in June 2008, after Equity instituted a companywide suspension of news programs as a cost-cutting measure. Local news returned to the station in 2013 as part of the ''D'Latinos'' program, produced and aired locally by Media Vista.

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— ...

References

External links

*
Facebook—Univisión SW Florida
{{Florida Spanish TV 1996 establishments in Florida UVF-LD UVF-LD Television channels and stations established in 1996 UVF-LD Univision affiliates