WNED-TV
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Buffalo, New York/Toronto, Ontario United States/Canada |
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| Branding | WNED |
| Channels |
Digital: 43 (UHF) Virtual: 17 () |
| Subchannels | 17.1 PBS 17.2 Create 17.3 PBS Kids |
| Affiliations | PBS (1970–present) |
| Owner | Western New York Public Broadcasting Association |
| First air date | August 17, 1953 |
| Call letters' meaning |
Western New York EDucational Television |
| Sister station(s) | WBFO, WNED-FM |
| Former callsigns | WBUF(-TV) (1953–1959) |
| Former channel number(s) | 17 (UHF analog, 1953–2009) |
| Former affiliations |
NBC (1955–1958) Dark (1958–1959) NET (1959–1970) CBS (secondary, 1953–1954) ABC (secondary, 1953–1955) DuMont (secondary, 1953–1955) |
| Transmitter power | 156 kW |
| Height | 328 m |
| Facility ID | 71928 |
| Transmitter coordinates | 43°1′48″N 78°55′15″W / 43.03000°N 78.92083°W |
| Website | www.wned.org |
WNED-TV, channel 17, is a PBS member television station located in Buffalo, New York, United States. The station is owned by the Western New York Public Broadcasting Association. WNED-TV's studios are located in Horizons Plaza on 140 Lower Terrace in downtown Buffalo, and its transmitter is located in Grand Island, New York.
In addition to Buffalo, WNED-TV also has a substantial viewership in Southern Ontario, Canada, including Toronto. Many cable and satellite providers in Southern Ontario include WNED-TV as the PBS station, and more than half of its financial support comes from Canada.
Channel 17 first went on the air on August 17, 1953 as WBUF-TV, operating as a commercial station, the second in Buffalo after then-NBC affiliated WBEN-TV (channel 4). At first, WBUF-TV was locally owned and carried programs from CBS, ABC and DuMont. WGR-TV (channel 2, now WGRZ) later signed on in August 1954 and became the market's NBC affiliate, with WBEN-TV joining CBS. This left WBUF-TV with ABC and the failing DuMont network. Unable to compete with two strong VHF stations, the original owners of channel 17 took their station dark in February 1955.
Only one month later in March, NBC announced that it would purchase channel 17, partly as an experiment to see if a UHF station could compete with VHF stations given sufficient signal strength, marketing promotion and investments in both programming and technical facilities. The network also hoped to expand its presence in major markets beyond the five stations where the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allowed any network or group owner to operate full-power VHF outlets, a limit NBC had reached by 1949. A revision of the FCC's ownership policy in 1954 created openings for additional ownership of two UHF outlets.
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