UNC-TV


University of North Carolina Television, branded on-air as UNC-TV, is a public television network serving the state of North Carolina. It is operated by the University of North Carolina system, which holds the licenses for all but one of the thirteen PBS member television stations licensed in the state—WTVI in Charlotte is owned by Central Piedmont Community College. The broadcast signals of the twelve television stations cover almost all of the state, as well as parts of Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. The network's operations are located at the UNC Center for Public Television at Research Triangle Park between Raleigh and Durham.

History

WUNC-TV in Chapel Hill, the state network's flagship station, first signed on the air on January 8, 1955 as the second non-commercial educational television station located south of Washington, D.C.—one day after Cheaha, Alabama-licensed WCIQ-TV. Over the next twelve years, four more satellite stations signed on. WUND-TV in Edenton was the first of these satellites to debut on September 10, 1965, followed by the launches of WUNE-TV in Linville in September 1967, WUNF-TV in Asheville on September 11, 1967, WUNG-TV in Concord on September 11, 1967, and WUNJ-TV in Wilmington on June 4, 1971. This was supplemented with a network of translator stations in the Appalachian Mountains that also allowed the network's programming to reach across the entire state.
Five additional satellites debuted afterward: WUNK-TV in Greenville in May 1972, WUNL-TV in Winston-Salem in February 1973, WUNM-TV in Jacksonville in November 1982, WUNP-TV in Roanoke Rapids in 1986, and WUNU-TV in Lumberton in September 1996. The state network's youngest station, WUNW in Canton, signed on in July 2010 to replace a translator that had served the area since the 1980s. The state network was branded on-air as "North Carolina Public Television" from 1979 to the mid-1990s, when it rebranded itself as "University of North Carolina Television". It simplified the brand name to "UNC-TV" later in the 1990s; it had previously used that brand for most of the 1970s.
WUNC-TV airs its own public affairs programming on Sunday mornings.

Programming

The state network produces many programs of local interest, including the weeknightly public affairs program North Carolina Now, Our State, Carolina Outdoor Journal, Exploring North Carolina, North Carolina Bookwatch with D. G. Martin, and special programs about the state's history and culture. It also produces The Woodwright's Shop, Growing a Greener World, and Song of the Mountains for national distribution. In addition to PBS and American Public Television programs and local productions, the station also runs programming from the United Kingdom, including "Britcoms" on Saturday evenings and soap opera EastEnders on Sunday evenings. In the 1990s, UNC-TV introduced "Read-A-Roo," a kangaroo used as the mascot for the network's children's programming.

Stations

UNC-TV operates twelve stations that relay its programming across the entire state as well as into portions of Virginia, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina.
Each station's callsign consists of "UN" for University of North Carolina, followed by a letter assigned sequentially in the order in which it was activated, except for the first station.
StationCity of license1
Channels
'		First air dateERPHAATTransmitter coordinatesFacility IDPublic license information
Chapel Hill
4
20 		1000 kW69080
Edenton3
2
29 		543 kW69292
Linville17
36 		1,000 kW69114
Asheville33
20 		DTS1: 1,000 kW
DTS2: 1.73 kW		DTS1:
DTS2: 		DTS1:
DTS2:''' 		69300
Concord
58
21 		260 kW69124
Wilmington39
21 		1,000 kW69332
Greenville25
25 		60 kW
1,000 kW
69149

26
33 		1,000 kW69360
Jacksonville
19
28
65 kW69444
Roanoke Rapids36
27 		248 kW69397
Lumberton
31
30 		113 kW69416
Canton
27
27 		50 kW83822

Notes:

Digital channels

UNC-TV's current over-the-air digital configuration, which is multiplexed among three subchannels, was introduced on September 25, 2008. On that date, UNC-TV revised its subchannel lineup on its stations, reducing the number of channels to three: UNC-TV, and the standard definition-only services UNC-KD and UNC-EX. UNC-TV HD and UNC-EX are also available to DirecTV customers with MPEG4-compatible receivers. Prior to February 1, 2016, Time Warner Cable customers also received UNC-MX in standard definition; the North Carolina Channel has since replaced UNC-MX on Time Warner Cable systems. Prior to November 1, 2009, the third subchannel was named UNC-NC.
This configuration is used for WUNC, WUND, WUNF, WUNG, WUNJ, WUNK, WUNL, and WUNU:
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
xx.11080iUNC-TVMain UNC-TV programming / PBS
xx.2480iROOTLEPBS Kids Channel
xx.3480iUNC-EXThe Explorer Channel
xx.4480iNCCHLThe North Carolina Channel

An alternate configuration is used for WUNE, WUNM, WUNP, and WUNW. The original purpose for this was to obtain must-carry status for UNC-KD since those are secondary stations in their respective markets. On June 15, 2010, UNC-KD switched subchannels with UNC-EX on the four stations previously mentioned, which transferred UNC-KD's must-carry status to UNC-EX.
ChannelVideoAspectPSIP Short NameProgramming
xx.1480iUNC-EXThe Explorer Channel
xx.21080iUNC-TVMain UNC-TV programming / PBS
xx.3480iROOTLEPBS Kids Channel
xx.4480iNCCHLThe North Carolina Channel

Subscribers of Charter Communications, the major cable provider in the state, can receive each of the UNC-TV digital subchannels. Time Warner Cable built a direct-fiber optic connection to UNC-TV's studios in RTP, a connection inherited by Charter when it merged with Time Warner Cable in 2016. Cable providers with a direct fiber optic link to UNC-TV also carry UNC-MX on their digital tiers. UNC-MX features a mix of how-to and public affairs programs, along with encore presentations of programs originally broadcast on the primary UNC-TV channel. Cable providers which rely on off-air reception for broadcast stations are limited to the four-channel lineup. On February 1, 2016, UNC-MX was renamed UNC-NC "The North Carolina Channel" and was added over-the-air on subchannel 4 on both channel configurations. On July 2, 2016, UNC-KD was rebranded as ROOTLE.
Prior to September 25, 2008, UNC-TV formerly operated four digital channels: in addition to the main signal on the primary channel, the second digital subchannel of each station carried UNC-HD, the third subchannel carried UNC-KD, the fourth subchannel carried UNC-ED and the fifth subchannel carried UNC-NC. Due to bandwidth limitations at the time, the over-the-air feed of UNC-HD was only available between 8-11 p.m., during which UNC-ED and UNC-NC ceased transmission in the interim. Cable systems with a direct fiber link to UNC-TV facilities aired all five channels on a 24-hour schedule.
On April 16, 2018, WRAY and WLXI were merged onto WUNC's spectrum, after parent company Tri-State Christian Television sold the stations' individual bandwidth in the 2016 FCC incentive auction. WUNC is the only station in the 12-station network that has a channel sharing agreement.

Analog-to-digital conversion

UNC-TV's stations shut down their analog signals 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 channel allocations pre- and post-transition are as follows:
Call LettersInitial Analog
Channel		Pre-Transition
Digital Channel		Post-Transition
Digital Channel		FCC Repack
Plan
WUNC4592520
WUND2202029
WUNE17541736
WUNF33252520
WUNG58444421
WUNJ39292921
WUNK25232325
WUNL26323233
WUNM19181928
WUNP36393627
WUNU31253130
WUNW——2727

All channels retained their original numbering for display to viewers via PSIP.
UNC-TV opted not to join other broadcasters in the Wilmington market in an early switch to digital-only broadcasts on September 8, 2008, nine months ahead of the national transition deadline. Following that date, WUNJ-TV became only full-power station in Wilmington that continued to broadcast an analog signal until the national digital transition on June 12, 2009.

Translators

UNC-TV operates 24 translators. Each translator is assigned to the license of a parent UNC-TV full-power station, all of which simulcast the same network signal. Two directly repeat WUNC-TV, three directly repeat WUNE-TV, two directly repeat WUNG-TV, three directly repeat WUNL-TV, and 14 directly repeat WUNF-TV.
The 22 mountain-based translators serve as low-power, limited-area repeaters that bring the network's signal to towns in deep mountain valleys where the parent signal is blocked by the surrounding terrain. The translators of WUNC-TV act as digital replacement translators serving the few areas of the Triangle where WUNC-TV lost over-the-air coverage during the analog-digital conversion in 2009.

Cable and satellite carriage

UNC-TV is carried on all cable television providers in North Carolina. Additionally, WUND in Edenton is carried by Cox Communications' systems in the southern portion of the Hampton Roads market in Virginia; Edenton is part of the Hampton Roads market. It has also been carried on some cable systems in the Roanoke market in Virginia and the Tri-Cities market in Tennessee.
On DirecTV and Dish Network, WUNC-TV, WUNG, WUNL, WUNF, WUND, WUNJ, and WUNU are carried on the respective local feeds for the Research Triangle, Charlotte, the Piedmont Triad, Greenville/Spartanburg/Asheville, Hampton Roads, Wilmington, and Florence/Myrtle Beach markets. In previous years, WUNL has also been carried on the Roanoke DirecTV feed; the Piedmont Triad market includes portions of western Virginia.