WBTS-CD

WBTS-CD
CityNashua, New Hampshire
Channels
BrandingNBC10 Boston
Programming
Affiliations
Ownership
Owner
History
First air date
January 29, 1988 (36 years ago) (1988-01-29)
Former call signs
  • W13BG (1985–1996)
  • WYCN-LP (1996–2014)
  • WYCN-CD (2014–2019)
Former channel number(s)
  • Analog: 13 (VHF, 1988–2014)
  • Digital: 36 (UHF, 2014–2018), 43 (UHF, 2018–2019)
  • Virtual: 13 (2014–2018)
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority
FCC
Facility ID9766
ClassCD
ERP922 kW
HAAT388.3 m (1,274 ft)
Transmitter coordinates42°18′37″N 71°14′12″W / 42.31028°N 71.23667°W / 42.31028; -71.23667 (WBTS-CD)
Links
Public license information
Websitewww.nbcboston.com

WBTS-CD (channel 15), branded as NBC10 Boston, is a Class A television station licensed to Nashua, New Hampshire, United States, serving as the NBC outlet for the Boston area. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Merrimack, New Hampshire–licensed Telemundo station WNEU (channel 60); it is also sister to regional cable news channel New England Cable News (NECN) and regional sports network NBC Sports Boston. The four outlets share studios at the NBCU Boston Media Center on B Street in Needham, Massachusetts. WBTS-CD is broadcast by full-power WGBX-TV (channel 44) from its transmitter site on Cedar Street, also in Needham, giving it full coverage of the Boston television market. It is branded as channel 10 owing to its primary cable channel position.[2][3]

The license started in Nashua on January 29, 1988, as W13BG "TV13 Nashua", a low-power community television station which later changed its call sign to WYCN-LP in 1996. Its programming consisted of local-service programming for the Nashua area and content already aired by local cable systems as well as, later on, FamilyNet. WYCN-LP and associated translators were sold to New Hampshire 1 Network, a company controlled by William H. Binnie, in 2010. Three years later, Binnie sold WYCN-LP to OTA Broadcasting, which removed remaining local content and converted the station to digital broadcasting.

OTA Broadcasting sold the spectrum underlying WYCN-CD in the FCC's 2017 incentive auction. Without a transmitter, the station arranged to share the transmitter of WGBX-TV, giving it full-power coverage in the Boston market. OTA Broadcasting then sold WYCN-CD to NBC, whose NBC Boston service had launched at the start of 2017 on several transmitters but lacked a single primary signal. The station changed call signs to WBTS-CD in 2019 in anticipation of the relocation of the former WBTS-LD license, now WYCN-LD, to serve the Providence, Rhode Island, area.

  1. ^ "Facility Technical Data for WBTS-CD". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.
  2. ^ "NBC's New Boston O&O, WBTS, Sets Lineup". TVNewsCheck. November 2016. Archived from the original on September 24, 2017. Retrieved November 2, 2016.
  3. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (December 30, 2016). "NBCUniversal Gambles in Beantown With NBC Boston Launch". Variety. Archived from the original on December 31, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2016.