WBOC TV: История и развитие телеканала в Солсбери, Мэриленд

CBS/Fox affiliate in Salisbury, Maryland

WBOC TV (channel 16) is a television station in Salisbury, Maryland, United States, affiliated with CBS and Fox. It is the flagship television property of the Milton, Delaware–based Draper Holdings Business Trust, and is co owned with low power NBC affiliate WRDE LD (channel 26) and Telemundo affiliate WBOC LD (channel 22), as well as eight radio stations. All of the outlets share studios on North Salisbury Boulevard in Salisbury; WBOC TV maintains secondary studios/office facilities in Dover, Delaware, and transmitter facilities in Laurel, Delaware.

WBOC TV began operations on July 15, 1954, owned originally by Peninsula Broadcasting, which started WBOC radio (960 AM, now WTGM; and 104.7 FM, now WQHQ), the first successful radio station on the Eastern Shore, in 1940. It is the fourth oldest television station in Maryland, the first outside Baltimore, and the oldest in Maryland on the UHF band. It was originally an affiliate of the DuMont Television Network. However, around 1955, it picked up a primary affiliation with CBS, relegating DuMont to secondary status until that network shut down in 1956. It also picked up secondary affiliations with NBC and ABC. The station also featured local programming consisting of variety shows, talent contests, and children's programs. In 1961, Peninsula Broadcasting was acquired by the A. S. Abell Company, which published the Baltimore Sun and owned Baltimore's then CBS affiliate, WMAR TV. WBOC TV gradually increased the CBS programming on its schedule, though it continued to "cherry pick" the highest rated ABC and NBC shows either in pattern (on schedule with the rest of the network) or on a tape delayed basis. For example, channel 16 regularly carried the Today Show and The Tonight Show from NBC, and weekend sports coverage from all three networks. Prime time programming consisted of at least one night of all CBS; other evenings with programs from both CBS and ABC; and others with shows from CBS and NBC. Select CBS programs displaced by the scheduling method would air in times outside of prime time. Despite carrying Today (which preempted CBS's numerous attempts at morning news programming and Captain Kangaroo), WBOC TV aired all of CBS's other newscasts, as well as most of CBS's daytime programming and Saturday morning cartoons. The cherry picking arrangement also affected prime time network sports coverage. However, Delmarva viewers did not have to worry about missing their favorite shows once cable came to the area. Local cable systems on the Maryland side of the market supplemented the area with the Baltimore stations, while cable systems in Sussex County, Delaware, supplemented it with the Philadelphia stations. WBOC primarily serves the four southernmost counties of the Eastern Shore, as well as Sussex County. This relatively small market has roughly 209,000 people. However, channel 16's claimed primary coverage area includes portions of three neighboring markets. Kent County, Delaware, home to the capital city of Dover, is part of the Philadelphia market. However, WBOC TV has been available for decades on cable in Dover, though presently only in digital. Not only does WBOC TV operate a bureau there, but for many years it identified as "Salisbury–Dover." Accomack County, Virginia, is part of the Hampton Roads market, and is primarily served by county owned translators of the Hampton Roads stations. WBOC TV has long been available on cable in Accomack County, alongside the Hampton Roads stations. The station also covers the five Eastern Shore counties that are part of the Baltimore market. In April 1980, WBOC TV received competition for the first time when WMDT (channel 47) signed on as a dual ABC/NBC affiliate, allowing channel 16 to become a full time CBS station. In November of that same year, local ownership of channel 16 returned when entrepreneur Thomas H. Draper purchased the station. Since Draper took over, local news coverage increased, as well as local advertising revenue which allowed for technical upgrades, such as a new four million watt tower located near Laurel. WBOC TV regained a sister radio station in 2015, when Draper acquired WOLC (102.5 FM) in Princess Anne and relaunched it as WBOC FM (the original WBOC radio stations had been sold to separate interests in 1980).

On March 3, 2003, WBOC launched a subchannel to be the area's UPN affiliate, known on air as "UPN21 Total TV". Before then, either the network's Baltimore affiliates (first WNUV, and later WUTB) or WDCA in Washington, D. C., had been provided on cable systems on the Maryland side of the market, while WPSG in Philadelphia had served the Delaware side, and WGNT in Portsmouth on the Virginia side. On May 9, 2006, WBOC announced that the subchannel would become a Fox affiliate beginning August 21; UPN was in the process of shutting down as part of a merger with The WB to form The CW, but the Delmarva rights to the new network went to a subchannel of WMDT. For Fox's first 20 years of existence, either WBFF in Baltimore or network owned WTTG in Washington, D. C. had served as the network's default affiliates for the Maryland side of the market, while affiliate turned O&O WTXF TV in Philadelphia served the Delaware side, and the network's Hampton Roads affiliates were carried on the Virginia side (WTVZ TV until August 1998, then WVBT).

WBOC operates a bureau in Milton, Delaware, in addition to its main studios in Salisbury. All news broadcasts can be seen via live streaming video on WBOC's Facebook page and mobile app. When WBOC DT2 became a Fox affiliate, the main channel began producing local news weeknights at 5 for a half hour (known as WBOC News at 5 on Fox 21) and every night at 10 also for thirty minutes (called WBOC News at 10 on Fox 21). Both shows air from a secondary set and feature a separate graphics package. Weekday mornings at 6, this station simulcasts the second hour of the main channel's weekday morning show. On August 26, 2008, WBOC began airing its local newscasts in high definition from a newly constructed addition to its studios known as the "NewsPlex". In addition to the main facilities in Salisbury, the station operates Delaware bureaus in Dover (in the Rodney Village section on US 13/South Dupont Highway) and Milton (at The Square in a facility that also houses sister station WRDE LD's news studio).

WBOC produces a daily talk show called DelmarvaLife and an outdoors program Outdoors Delmarva, which broadcasts on Saturdays.

WBOC TV discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 16, on June 12, 2009, the official date on 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 UHF channel 21, using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 16. Unlike most digital subchannels, WBOC DT2 is one of the few that identifies with its physical digital channel number (21) rather than a virtual channel (16.2) through PSIP. The subchannel is known on air as "Fox 21 Delmarva". On August 1, 2019, WBOC TV moved from digital UHF channel 21 to UHF channel 32 as part of the FCC repack. Despite the move, the Fox subchannel continues to use 21 in its branding and virtual channel number.

Since November 2010, WBOC and Fox 21 have been available on DirecTV and Dish Network in their primary five county coverage area. For WBOC viewers outside this area, satellite subscribers may request a waiver to receive New York City stations if they can not pick up the Delmarva stations over the air. Before 2010, Delmarva was one of the few markets where local stations weren't available on satellite. From the 1970s to the 1980s, WBOC was carried on cable as far north as Cape May County, New Jersey, and New Castle County, Delaware, and as far south as Northampton County, Virginia.

On July 23, 2014, DirecTV announced it was in a carriage dispute Draper Holdings, owner of WBOC TV. It was announced that if Draper and DirecTV could not reach a fair deal before July 31, 2014, DirecTV would no longer be permitted to carry Draper Holdings' stations. WBOC and Fox 21 said they were asking for far less money than what DirecTV pays for national networks like ESPN—even though they claim their combined ratings are much higher than ESPN's ratings. DirecTV stated Draper wants seven times more in their new contract. On August 1, DirecTV and Draper Holdings reached a settlement, and the channels remain on the air with no blackouts. On October 1, 2017, Verizon FiOS dropped WBOC from its lineup. Verizon claimed WBOC was demanding a 175% rate increase. WBOC was restored to the Verizon lineup on November 20, 2017.