WTBL-LD (channel 31) is a low-power television station serving Biloxi and Gulfport, Mississippi, United States, as a dual affiliate of MeTV and Telemundo. It is nominally licensed to Pascagoula, Mississippi; however, it only provides a marginal signal to that area. WTBL-LD is owned by Gray Television alongside dual ABC/CBS affiliate WLOX (channel 13). The two stations share studios on DeBuys Road in Biloxi.
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| City | Pascagoula, Mississippi (nominal city of license) |
| Channels | |
| Programming | |
| Affiliations | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner |
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| WLOX | |
| History | |
First air date | 1990 |
Former call signs |
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Former channel number(s) |
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| Technical information[1] | |
Licensing authority | FCC |
| Facility ID | 67989 |
| Class | LD |
| ERP | |
| HAAT |
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| Transmitter coordinates | |
| Links | |
Public license information | LMS |
| Website | www |
History
The original construction permit for the station was granted on October 29, 1987, for operation on channel 46;[2] the station was assigned the call letters W46AV.[3] Originally owned by Tel-Radio Communications Properties, the permit was transferred to the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) in 1988.[4] A license to cover was issued August 16, 1990.[5] It moved to channel 51 in 2000[6] and became W51CU.[3]
TBN sold W51CU to Tim Wall, owner of Scranton Broadcasting Company, LLC in 2010.[7] Soon after the sale was approved (but while still under TBN ownership), the station changed its call letters to WGUD-LP.[3] Scranton relaunched WGUD-LP on September 1, 2010, as a FamilyNet affiliate, with some local programming. On January 4, 2013, the station changed its call sign to WGUD-LD. In 2017, due to the eventual rebranding of FamilyNet, WGUD-LD changed affiliates again.
On October 3, 2022, the station changed its callsign from WGUD-LD to WTBL-LD.[8][9]
Subchannels
The station's signal is multiplexed:
| Channel | Display | Aspect | Short name | Programming |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 51.1 | 480i | 4:3 | MeTV | |
| 51.2 | Telemundo[11] | |||
| 51.3 | Weather (soon) |
WTBL-LD currently has a construction permit to move its signal to digital channel 38.[12] A previous such permit, granted in 2006, expired on June 19, 2009. Around 2011, WGUD-LP consummated its relocation, and began broadcasting three subchannels, with programming from FamilyNet, MeTV and Pursuit Channel. The Cowboy Channel replaced FamilyNet on July 1, 2017.