| ATSC 3.0 station | |
|---|---|
 | |
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| Channels | |
| Branding | Fox 35 Plus |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations |
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| Ownership | |
| Owner | Fox Television Stations, LLC |
| WOFL | |
| History | |
First air date | June 6, 1994 |
Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | Original owner Rainbow Broadcasting |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 54940 |
| ERP | 1,000 kW |
| HAAT | 447 m (1,467 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 28°36′14″N 81°5′10″W / 28.60389°N 81.08611°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | fox35orlando |
WRBW (channel 65), branded on-air as Fox 35 Plus, is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States, serving as the local outlet for the MyNetworkTV programming service. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet WOFL (channel 35). The two stations share studios on Skyline Drive in Lake Mary; WRBW's transmitter is located in Bithlo, Florida.
Channel 65 in Orlando spent nearly twelve years in hearings and multiple protracted legal battles. After four groups sought the permit, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) awarded the station to Rainbow Broadcasting, headed by Cuban immigrant Joseph Rey, in 1984. Metro Broadcasting, another applicant, challenged the FCC's comparative hearing criteria, which included a preference for minority and female ownership of broadcast stations. At a time when affirmative action restrictions were under new scrutiny, Metro's challenge lingered at the FCC and the courts for years and was not finally adjudicated until the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in favor of the commission in Metro Broadcasting, Inc. v. FCC in 1990. That decision granted Rey the construction permit for WRBW, but he soon became enmeshed in a years-long tower site space dispute with WKCF, the new station's most direct potential competitor. At one point, tower site management had to override WKCF management, who were not willing to reduce power to let WRBW's antenna be safely attached to the tower.
WRBW went on the air on June 6, 1994. It operated as an independent station for less than a year before affiliating with the startup UPN in January 1995. The station added a local newscast produced by WFTV and, after being purchased by United Television in 1999, Orlando Magic basketball games to its lineup. Fox acquired WRBW in its 2001 purchase of United Television and traded for WOFL to create a duopoly. The station affiliated with MyNetworkTV in 2006 when UPN and The WB merged into The CW; in 2019, it was rebranded as Fox 35 Plus, an extension of WOFL with a dedicated 8 p.m. local newscast.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WRBW". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.