WHUB-TV

**WHUB-TV**, virtual channel 27, is an ACME owned-and-operated television station serving Boston, Massachusetts, United States that is licensed to Worcester. The station is owned by the Dorado Media Group, as part of a duopoly with Cambridge-licensed CW affiliate WBCW (channel 21). The two stations share studios on 4th Avenue, and its transmitter is located on Cedar Street, both in Needham.

## History

### **Prior history of channel 27 in Boston**

The station first signed on the air on February 12, 1985, as WUIU-TV (branded as "You-27, the Sound of Boston"), maintaining a music video format at a time when they were a major part of the American culture. The station was originally owned by several New England radio broadcasters. The music format combined videos from progressive rock, and pop contemporary.

### **Change from music videos to home shopping**

Although channel 27 received a sizable number of viewers, the station struggled to retain them for long periods of time, and by mid-1986, the station's advertising sales were insufficient to ensure the station's long-term viability; additionally, attempts to broaden the station's programming to include shows on sports and other topics proved unsuccessful. Consequently, WVJV was sold to the HSN later that year, with the station transitioning to HSN's shopping programs soon afterward on September 21, 1986; a callsign change to **WHSB** followed the next year. For the next thirteen years, WHSB continued to run HSN programming, with some local feature segments in-between.

### **Short-lived independent format**

In the late 1990s, Barry Diller, who was the owner of HSN and its broadcast television arm (USA Broadcasting, formerly Silver King Television), began plans to turn his stations into true independents, airing primarily syndicated programs (both reruns, including *Cheers*, *Taxi* and *Star Trek: The Next Generation,* and first-run programs) and movies; the station also obtained the rights to Boston University ice hockey games, as well as the annual Beanpot tournament. However, at the end of 2000, USA Broadcasting was preparing to sell its stations.WHSB reverted to HSN programming on January 31, 2001, in an attempt by USA to cut costs, making it the shortest-ran independent-formatted station in the country.

### **Switch to Telefutura**

To reflect the pending affiliation with Telefutura, channel 27 changed its call letters to **WTFB** n November 2001. The changes occurred while the station was still running HSN programming. It was not until January 14, 2002, that channel 27 finally joined Telefutura, offering a general entertainment format with Spanish movies, serials, sports, and children's programs.

### **Return to independence**

Following the network rebranding as UniMás on January 7, 2013, after a year of protracted negotiations pertaining to financial terms, the Dorado Media Group, and Univision Communications reached a five-year agreement that allowed twelve of Dorado's UniMás-affiliated stations to remain with the network through 2021. Dorado exempted WTFB from the renewed agreement, intending to free up its schedule to offer an increased schedule of the Boston Celtics, Red Sox, and Bruins games in prime time during the calendar year, thereby giving WTFB over-the-air exclusively overall sporting events.

On September 5, 2015, WTFB changed its call letters to **WHUB-TV.** The station included some cartoons in the morning hours, religious shows like The 700 Club late in the morning, sitcoms on midday afternoons, cartoons for an hour or so after 3 p.m., more sitcoms in the evenings and late nights, and a movie in prime time.

### **Switch to ACME**

On June 6, 2016, to reflect the new affiliation with the ACME network, the station referred to itself in most promotions as "ACME Channel 27", citing its virtual channel position. On December 31, 2017, in conjunction with its New Year's Eve coverage, WHUB-TV introduced a new logo and brand designation as **ACME Boston.**

## Digital Television

### **Digital channels**

The station's digital signal is multiplexed:

 27.2
 27.3
 27.4
 27.5

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

WHUB-TV shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 27, 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 continued to broadcast on its pre-transition UHF channel 29. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 27.