WBUY-TV

WBUY-TV is a full-power religious television station broadcasting on channel 40 and licensed to Holly Springs, Mississippi. Its service area is associated primarily with the Memphis, Tennessee, market, while its transmitter is located in Brunswick, Tennessee. The station is owned and operated by the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), a Christian television network whose programming forms the core of WBUY-TV's schedule. The station began broadcasting in September 1991. It was established by Sonlight Broadcasting Systems, a Mobile, Alabama-based broadcast ministry co-founded by television producer Paul Crouch Jr. and attorney and broadcaster Jay Sekulow. Sonlight's television stations were affiliated with TBN from their launch, and WBUY-TV initially carried most of TBN's programming while occasionally substituting alternate material. The station's early analog transmission facility was located along Mississippi Highway 309 north of Byhalia, Mississippi. In 1997, Sonlight Broadcasting Systems sold WBUY-TV and its other stations to All American TV, a minority-owned company with close ties to TBN. Under All American TV, WBUY-TV became a full-fledged TBN affiliate. TBN subsequently acquired all of All American TV's stations in 2000, making WBUY-TV a TBN-owned-and-operated station rather than an independently owned affiliate. The station's call sign and original planning history also reflect an earlier, unrealized concept. The original permittees had intended channel 40 to carry Home Shopping Network programming for the Memphis market; the final letters of the call sign incidentally echoed that proposed affiliation. The station instead launched as a religious broadcaster associated with TBN. WBUY-TV formerly maintained a studio on Cazassa Road in southeastern Memphis. TBN closed that facility in 2019 along with several other station studios after the Federal Communications Commission repealed the Main Studio Rule. That rule had required full-power television stations to maintain a main studio in or near their communities of license. The change allowed TBN to consolidate or eliminate certain local studio operations while continuing transmission from the station's transmitter site. TBN-owned full-power stations, including WBUY-TV, ended analog broadcasting on April 16, 2009. WBUY-TV's ongoing role is primarily that of a terrestrial outlet for TBN's religious television service in and around the Memphis market, rather than a separately branded local news or general-entertainment operation.

WBUY-TV began broadcasting in September 1991 as a religious television station licensed to Holly Springs, Mississippi, with service directed toward the Memphis, Tennessee, area. Its original analog transmitter was positioned along Mississippi Highway 309 north of Byhalia. The station was constructed and launched by Sonlight Broadcasting Systems, a Mobile-based broadcast ministry co-founded by Paul Crouch Jr. and Jay Sekulow. Sonlight's stations were connected to the Trinity Broadcasting Network from the beginning, and WBUY-TV carried most of TBN's schedule, with occasional substitutions for alternative programming. The station's development followed an earlier proposal for channel 40. Its initial permittees intended to broadcast Home Shopping Network programming into the Memphis market. That plan was not implemented, although the station's call sign retained letters that incidentally suggested the proposed Home Shopping affiliation. WBUY-TV instead entered service as a Christian religious broadcaster associated with TBN. In 1997, Sonlight sold WBUY-TV and its other stations to All American TV, a minority-owned broadcaster with close relationships to TBN. The transaction changed WBUY-TV's ownership while preserving its TBN programming relationship and made it a full-fledged network affiliate. In 2000, the Trinity Broadcasting Network acquired all of All American TV's stations. WBUY-TV consequently became a TBN-owned-and-operated station. For part of its history, WBUY-TV operated a studio on Cazassa Road in the southeastern part of Memphis. In 2019, TBN closed that studio and several comparable facilities after the FCC repealed the Main Studio Rule. The former rule required full-power television stations to maintain a principal studio in or near their communities of license. Its repeal permitted changes to the local operating structure of stations such as WBUY-TV, while the station continued to serve viewers through its transmitter in Brunswick, Tennessee. WBUY-TV was included in TBN's transition away from analog broadcasting. TBN-owned full-power stations permanently ended their analog transmissions on April 16, 2009, after which WBUY-TV's terrestrial service operated in digital form. The station's principal identity remains that of a TBN distribution outlet: its importance lies in delivering the network's Christian programming to the Memphis-area broadcast market rather than in maintaining a large independent local production operation.

• 2019

  Memphis studio closes

  [1]WBUY-TVen.wikipedia.org

  TBN closes WBUY-TV's former Cazassa Road studio in Memphis after the FCC repeal of the Main Studio Rule.

• 2009

  Analog transmissions end

  [1]WBUY-TVen.wikipedia.org

  TBN-owned full-power stations, including WBUY-TV, permanently cease analog transmissions on April 16.

• 2000

  TBN acquires WBUY-TV through the All American transaction

  [1]WBUY-TVen.wikipedia.org

  The Trinity Broadcasting Network purchases all of All American TV's stations, making WBUY-TV a TBN-owned-and-operated station.

• 1997

  Sonlight sells the station to All American TV

  [1]WBUY-TVen.wikipedia.org

  WBUY-TV and Sonlight Broadcasting Systems' other stations are transferred to All American TV, after which WBUY-TV operates as a full TBN affiliate.

• 1991

  WBUY-TV begins broadcasting

  [1]WBUY-TVen.wikipedia.org

  The station signs on in September as a religious television broadcaster licensed to Holly Springs, Mississippi, serving the Memphis area.

A local broadcast outlet for Trinity Broadcasting Network religious programming in the Memphis-area market.

• Television station · 1991

  WBUY-TV terrestrial service

  WBUY-TV provides over-the-air television service on channel 40 from a transmitter in Brunswick, Tennessee. The station is licensed to Holly Springs, Mississippi, and serves viewers in the wider Memphis market. Its broadcast identity is closely tied to the Trinity Broadcasting Network rather than to an independently developed general-entertainment or local-news format.

• Religious television programming · 1991

  TBN programming service

  The station carries most of the Trinity Broadcasting Network's religious television schedule, with the possibility of alternate programming in place of selected network segments. This programming relationship has been central to WBUY-TV since its launch under Sonlight Broadcasting Systems and continued after the station became TBN-owned.

1. 1WBUY-TVen.wikipedia.org