WHDF
WHDF, virtual channel 15, is a CW-affiliated television station licensed to Florence, Alabama, United States, serving Huntsville and North Alabama's Tennessee Valley. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, as part of a duopoly with Huntsville-licensed CBS affiliate WHNT-TV. The two stations share studios on Holmes Avenue Northwest in downtown Huntsville; WHDF's transmitter is located southeast of Minor Hill, Tennessee, just north of the Alabama state line. There is no separate website for WHDF; instead, it is integrated with that of sister station WHNT-TV.
History
The station began on October 28, 1957 as WOWL-TV, based in Florence. The station was owned by Richard "Dick" Biddle. Up until late 1999, that station broadcast NBC programs to northwestern Alabama and portions of southern middle Tennessee and northeastern Mississippi; it also carried some popular CBS shows like the soap opera As the World Turns.WOWL-TV always faced competing NBC affiliates in Huntsville/Decatur or even Tupelo, whose signals reached much of its broadcast area. However, it retained viewership in northwest Alabama by offering local newscasts, which for most of the station's 40-plus years were the only newscasts concerned specifically with northwestern Alabama. Over time, though, with the Huntsville stations, especially WAFF, expanding news bureaus of their own into the Shoals in the 1980s and 1990s, WOWL-TV lost much of its traditional advantage.
By the late 1990s, this duplication had progressed to the point that the station could no longer focus solely on northwest Alabama and remain viable. The owners opted to sell to outside interests, who dropped NBC in favor of UPN in the fall of 1999, making WAFF the sole NBC outlet in north Alabama. Shortly before that, on July 19, the call letters were changed to the current WHDF, with a move of the transmitter and tower to Giles County, Tennessee. The new tower transmitted from a location high enough to provide a coverage area comparable to the other north Alabama stations, while remaining within of Florence as required by FCC regulations.
In 2004, Lockwood Broadcast Group acquired WHDF. Lockwood's Broadcast Operation Service Solution provides content delivery and back-office function from Lockwood's Richmond, Virginia Operation Headquarters. Completed in 2007, the "hub" facility has remotely operated WHDF since that year.
In September 2006, both UPN and The WB ceased operations. A single new network, The CW, replaced those two struggling entities. WHDF, the UPN affiliate, was granted the northern Alabama affiliation rights for the new network earlier that year, and rebranded as The Valley's CW at midnight on July 27, 2006.
Local employees at WHDF's Florence and Huntsville facilities totaled fewer than ten, according to Census business statistics in 2010.
On July 15, 2018, Lockwood Broadcast Group reached an agreement to sell WHDF to Nexstar Media Group for $2.25 million; Nexstar concurrently took over the station's operations through a time brokerage agreement. The sale was completed on November 9, creating a duopoly with Fox affiliate WZDX.
On December 3, 2018, Nexstar announced it would acquire the assets of Chicago-based Tribune Media—which has owned CBS affiliate WHNT-TV since December 2013—for $6.4 billion in cash and debt. Nexstar was precluded from acquiring WHNT directly or indirectly, as FCC regulations prohibit common ownership of more than two stations in the same media market, or two or more of the four highest-rated stations in the market. As such, Nexstar opted to keep WHNT and sell WZDX to a separate, unrelated company to address the ownership conflict. The sale was approved by the FCC on September 16 and was completed on September 19, 2019.
Digital television
Digital channels
The station's digital signal is multiplexed:| Channel | Video | Aspect | PSIP Short Name | Programming |
| 15.1 | 1080i | WHDF-DT | Main WHDF programming / The CW | |
| 15.2 | 480i | WHDF2 | Court TV |