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| Channels | |
| Branding | Telemundo Chicago |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WMAQ-TV | |
| History | |
First air date | April 5, 1970 |
Former channel number(s) |
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Call sign meaning | Essaness Theatres, founding owner |
| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 70119 |
| ERP | 398 kW |
| HAAT | 509 m (1,670 ft) |
| Transmitter coordinates | 41°52′44.1″N 87°38′10.2″W / 41.878917°N 87.636167°W |
| Links | |
Public license information | |
| Website | www |
WSNS-TV (channel 44) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group alongside NBC outlet WMAQ-TV (channel 5). The two stations share studios at the NBC Tower on North Columbus Drive in the city's Streeterville neighborhood and broadcast from the same transmitter atop the Willis Tower in the Chicago Loop.
WSNS-TV began broadcasting in 1970. Originally specializing in the automated display of news headlines, it evolved into Chicago's third full-fledged independent station, carrying movies, local sports, and other specialty programming. This continued until 1980, when WSNS became the Chicago-area station for ON TV, an over-the-air subscription television (STV) service owned by Oak Industries, which took a minority ownership stake in the station. While ON TV was successful in Chicago and the subscription system became the second-largest in the country by total subscribers, the rise of cable television precipitated the end of the business in 1985, with WSNS-TV as the last ON TV station standing.
On July 1, 1985, the station became Chicago's first full-time Spanish-language outlet, affiliated with the Spanish International Network (Univision after 1987) and airing local news and other programming. Indiscretions from the station's STV era led to a license challenge in which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled at one point that a challenger should be awarded the channel over Video 44, the station's ownership consortium. A groundswell of support helped the station to survive and led to an $18 million settlement that kept it in business. WSNS-TV switched to Telemundo in 1989 and was the network's largest affiliate until being purchased outright in 1996. As part of NBC's purchase of Telemundo in 2002, WSNS and WMAQ became a combined operation.
- ^ "Facility Technical Data for WSNS-TV". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission.