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City | Nashua, New Hampshire |
Channels | |
Branding | NBC10 Boston |
Programming | |
Affiliations | |
Ownership | |
Owner |
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History | |
Former call signs |
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Former names | NBC Boston (2017–2018) |
Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
Facility ID | 9766 |
Class | CD |
ERP | 922 kW |
HAAT | 388.3 m (1,274 ft) |
Transmitter coordinates | 42°18′37″N 71°14′12″W / 42.31028°N 71.23667°W |
Links | |
Public license information | |
Website | www |
NBC10 Boston (call sign WBTS-CD, channel 15 and cable channel 10) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, owned and operated by the NBC television network. It broadcasts from studios in Needham—shared with NBC Sports Boston, New England Cable News, and Telemundo station WNEU—and the transmitter of WGBX-TV in the same city.
Beginning in 2015, speculation emerged that corporate parent NBCUniversal was interested in taking the affiliation in Boston from its affiliate of 20 years, WHDH (channel 7), after it expired at the end of 2016. NBCUniversal already owned New England Cable News and WNEU, whose transmitter was in southern New Hampshire. This was confirmed in January 2016, when the network announced it would start a new station, to be known as NBC Boston, at the start of 2017. WHDH's owner, Sunbeam Television, unsuccessfully sued NBC in an attempt to prevent the network from moving its affiliation. To serve as the broadcast outlet for NBC Boston, NBC acquired WTMU-LP, a low-power station which rebroadcast WNEU, and gave it the new call sign WBTS-LD.
NBC Boston began broadcasting on January 1, 2017, on WTMU-LP and subchannels of WNEU and WMFP to provide full regional coverage. It became known as NBC10 Boston, reflecting its cable channel, after its first year on air. After the 2017 broadcast incentive auction, NBC acquired an additional low-power TV license in the Boston area, the former WYCN-CD in Nashua, New Hampshire. This license had sold its spectrum and agreed to share a channel with WGBX-TV, a full-power TV station in Boston, giving it a full-market signal; the original WBTS-LD then became WYCN-LD and was moved to Providence, Rhode Island, as a Telemundo station.
NBC10 Boston debuted local newscasts from its first day on air, utilizing the resources of the existing NECN–WNEU operation; NBC hired longtime Boston TV meteorologist Pete Bouchard concurrent with the station's launch. It has generally struggled in local news ratings since its debut.