WKTC

WKTC, virtual channel 63 (UHF digital channel 39), is a primary CW and secondary MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station serving Columbia, South Carolina, United States that is licensed to Sumter. The station is locally owned by WBHQ Columbia, LLC. WKTC maintains studio facilities in the Pontiac Business Center complex in Elgin, and its transmitter is located on Rush Road (southeast of I-20) in rural southwestern Kershaw County. On cable, the station is available on Time Warner Cable channel 4 and in high-definition on digital channel 1215.

History
The station first signed on the air on September 15, 1997 as WQHB; it originally operated as a primary UPN and secondary WB affiliate, with The WB's primetime programming airing on a one-day delay from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. It also aired select programming from Pax TV (now Ion Television). The station's original transmitter in Sumter was not nearly strong enough to provide a decent over-the-air signal to Columbia; as a result, WQHB began operating a fill-in translator in Columbia, W67DP (channel 67).

In 2001, the station became a primary WB affiliate, shifting UPN primetime programming to the late evening hours from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m., after The WB's primetime schedule. Pax TV programming was dropped altogether at this time. In 2003, the station changed its call letters to WBHQ (reversing the last three letters of its original calls) and moved its transmitter to space on the tower of ABC affiliate WOLO-TV (channel 25) near Camden. This gave the station an over-the-air coverage area comparable to Columbia's other full-power stations, enabling it to shut down the channel 67 translator. It also changed its on-air branding from "WB63" to "Midlands' WB4" (a reference to its cable channel placement in the market on Time Warner Cable). During this period, it moved to its current studio facilities in Elgin. WBHQ dropped UPN programming in August 2004, leaving the market without a UPN affiliate until Roberts Broadcasting signed on WZRB (channel 47) on January 1, 2005.

On January 24, 2006, the Warner Bros. unit of Time Warner and CBS Corporation announced that the two companies would shut down The WB and UPN and combine the networks' respective programming to create a new "fifth" network called The CW. On February 22, 2006, News Corporation announced the launch of a new "sixth" network called MyNetworkTV, which would be operated by Fox Television Stations and its syndication division Twentieth Television, which was created to give UPN and WB stations that would not become CW affiliates another option besides converting to independent stations. On March 25, it was announced that WBHQ would become MyNetworkTV's Columbia affiliate.

On June 26, 2006, the station changed its call letters to WKTC (standing for " T elevision of C olumbia," according to the station's co-owner). On June 28, the station began running advertisements in the Columbia Free Times newspaper featuring the cast of one of MyNetworkTV's original telenovelas Desire, with the text "September 5 / It's a whole new ballgame," alongside a stylized "My 63" logo and the new call letters. In August 2007, WBHQ Columbia, LLC converted W67DP into the market's Telemundo affiliate, using the calls "WNXG". Later that month, WKTC began operating its full-power digital signal on channel 39. WBHQ Columbia, LLC also signed on a low-power MyNetworkTV-affiliated station in Wilmington, North Carolina, W47CK (branded as "WMYW"), and a low-power Telemundo-affiliated station in Savannah, Georgia, WHDS-LD.

On December 11, 2013, Roberts Broadcasting received United States bankruptcy court approval to sell WZRB to Ion Media Networks, which converted the station into an Ion Television owned-and-operated station on February 10, 2014. WZRB continued to carry The CW as a secondary affiliation in the interim until March 17, 2014, when the network's programming moved to WKTC as a primary affiliation; the station then changed its on-air branding to "Columbia CW 63". As a result of the change, WKTC pushed MyNetworkTV two hours later, running from 10:00 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. after CW primetime programming. WKTC regained the title of the only television station in the United States to carry both The CW and MyNetworkTV on its primary channel (similar to that of KNVA in Austin, and KWKB in Iowa City since the launch of both networks in 2006, both now only carrying the CW).

Digital channels
Prior to November 2009, WKTC carried the Retro Television Network on digital subchannel 63.2. In November 2009, WKTC began carrying a simulcast of low-power station W67DP/WNXG on 63.2, shifting RTV to digital channel 63.3. In November 2011, WKTC began carrying Antenna TV on its 63.3 subchannel, thus shifting RTV once again, this time to digital subchannel 63.4. W67DP would go dark by June 2010.

Analog-to-digital conversion
WKTC discontinued regular programming on its analog signal, over UHF channel 63, 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 remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 39, using PSIP to display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 63, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition.

Programming
Syndicated programs broadcast by WKTC include Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The King of Queens, Family Feud, Community, The Arsenio Hall Show and Jerry Springer.

In January 2012, WKTC began broadcasting Southeastern Conference college basketball games from ESPN Plus-operated SEC Network (now SEC TV), sharing with WOLO-TV. That ended after the 2013-2014 season because of the launch of the cable-exclusive SEC Network in August 2014.