WMSN-TV

**WMSN-TV** is a Fox-affiliated television station licensed to Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 49 (or virtual channel 47 via PSIP) from a transmitter in Madison's Middleton Junction section. Owned by the Dorado Media Group, WMSN maintains studios on Big Sky Drive on Madison's west side.

## History

WMSN-TV commenced broadcasting on June 8, 1986, airing on analog UHF channel 47. It was the first new commercial station to launch in the Madison market since WISC-TV signed on thirty years earlier. One of WMSN's earlier programs was *Big Sky Theater*, a Saturday night presentation of classic movies (mostly westerns) from the drive-in era. (The program's name was an acknowledgment to the Big Sky Drive-In Theater, which was located near the present day WMSN studios.)

After a few months as an Independent, the station joined Fox as a charter affiliate on October 9, 1986. Since 1994, as a result of Fox's NFC football package, WMSN has been Madison's primary home for the Green Bay Packers; these broadcasts are routinely the highest-rated programs in the market during football season

WMSN has been a Fox affiliate since the network's 1986 launch; the station's relationship with Fox will continue through at least 2017, the result of Fox's affiliation agreement with WMSN and Sinclair's 18 other Fox stations, a deal reached on May 15, 2012.

## Digital Television

 47.2
 47.3
 47.4

### **Analog-to-digital conversion**

WMSN-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 47, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition VHF channel 11. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 47.

## Newscasts

n 1999, ABC affiliate WKOW (then owned by the Shockley Communications Corporation) entered into a news share agreement with WMSN, which resulted in Madison's first nightly prime time newscast, known as *Fox 47 News at 9*. The 35-minute weeknight broadcast (30 minutes on weekends) was originally produced from a secondary set at WKOW's studios on Tokay Boulevard in Madison. The newscasts employed no WKOW on-air branding, instead of using Sinclair's standard music-and-graphics packages. Although the newscasts featured appearances from additional WKOW personnel, WMSN maintained separate weeknight anchors that normally did not appear on WKOW except to fill-in when needed.

On January 1, 2012, WMSN's news share agreement with WKOW expired after nearly 13 years (WMSN General Manager Kerry Johnson termed the split as a "business decision"). On that same date, WMSN began a new news outsourcing agreement with WISC-TV, the Morgan Murphy Media-owned CBS affiliate in Madison; as a result, WISC canceled its own 9 p.m. weeknight newscast it had produced for its subchannel TVW, making *Fox 47 News at 9* the lone remaining primetime newscast in the Madison market. (In addition to TVW's newscast, WBUW also aired a 9 p.m. weeknight newscast from 2003 to 2005). *Fox 47 News at 9* originates from WISC's Raymond Road studios, using WISC's own news set and personnel (except the main news anchor) but, just as with WKOW, employing Dorado's standard news graphics and music packages, as well as use of behind-the-desk durations to help differentiate the newscast from those of WISC.

**CBS affiliates:** WRGB
**The CW affiliates:** KCWI-TV KDAF KFRE KIAH KNVA KPLR-TV KUCW KXTU-LD
WCCT-TV WCWN WDCW WKCF WLVI WNAB WNLO WQCW WSFL-TV WSWB WTVX WUCW WVTV WWMB
**Fox affiliates:** KAYU-TV KCIT KDSM-TV KFXA KLRT-TV KSWB-TV KWKT-TV WACH WDAF-TV WDKY-TV **WMSN-TV**
**MyNetworkTV affiliates:** KAIL KAME-TV KASY-TV KFVE KMYU KRON-TV WCTX WMYA-TV WNDY-TV WNYO WQMY WRDC WSTR-TV WTCN-CA WUXP-TV WXSP-CD
**NBC affiliates:** WJAR KMTR