| Callsign: | WOUB-TV | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| City: | Athens, Ohio | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Branding: | PBS WOUB | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Digital: | 32 (UHF) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Virtual: | 20 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country: | United States | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Callsign Meaning: | "Ohio University Broadcasting" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Owner: | Ohio University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Licensee: | WOUB Public Media | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Former Affiliations: | NET (1963–1970) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Erp: | 250 kW | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Haat: | 245.5m (805.4feet) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Facility Id: | 50147 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Coordinates: | 39.3144°N -82.1497°W | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Licensing Authority: | FCC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Embed Header: | Satellite station | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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WOUB-TV (channel 20) is a PBS member television station in Athens, Ohio, United States. The station's transmitter is located west of the city off SR 56. Its programming can also be seen on satellite station WOUC-TV (channel 44) in Cambridge, with transmitter near Fairview, Ohio.
The WOUB/WOUC studios and offices are located in the Radio-TV building on the Athens campus of Ohio University, which owns the stations' licenses through the WOUB Center for Public Media. The Center is a non-academic unit of the Scripps College of Communication. The two stations, combined, serve southeastern Ohio and portions of neighboring West Virginia and Kentucky. The public media center also serves as a laboratory for Ohio University students who are interested in gaining experience in broadcasting and related technologies. In addition to radio (WOUB AM and FM) and television, WOUB is also active in online services and media production.
Unlike most PBS stations, the channel produces a regular local newscast by university students studying and training on television newscasts at Ohio University. With that, they mainly focus on the area around Athens, which is mostly ignored by the Columbus, Zanesville and Huntington–Charleston stations that serve the Athens area.
Athens and surrounding Athens County are located in the fringes of the Columbus market. However, the combined power of the two stations reaches most of the Huntington–Charleston and Zanesville markets, as well as portions of the Columbus, Parkersburg and Wheeling–Steubenville markets. The station leases commercial fiber line to permit it to be carried on the Columbus local feeds of the DBS providers.
As of April 11, 2018, when they expanded to six broadcast streams per transmitter,[1] WOUB-TV and WOUC-TV share the same programming.[2]
The stations' signals are multiplexed:
| Res. | Aspect | Short name | Programming | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20.1 | 44.1 | WOUB-HD | PBS | ||
| 20.2 | 44.2 | Classic | WOUB Classic | ||
| 20.3 | 44.3 | World | World | ||
| 20.4 | 44.4 | Create | Create | ||
| 20.5 | 44.5 | Ohio | The Ohio Channel | ||
| 20.6 | 44.6 | 1080i | Kids | PBS Kids | |
| 20.7 | 44.7 | 480i | VoiceCo | Audio |
In 2009, when the analog to digital conversion was completed, WOUB-TV and WOUC-TV used channels 27 and 35, respectively for digital television operations. Following the transition, the stations remained on those channels; however, they use 20 and 44 as their respective virtual channels.[3] In 2019, both stations moved to new physical channels as part of the FCC's spectrum re-pack process.