WSNS-TV

WSNS-TV

Chicago, Illinois United States
Channels	Digital: 33 (UHF), shared with WMAQ-TV Virtual: 44
Branding	Telemundo Chicago
Programming
Affiliations	44.1: Telemundo 44.2: TeleXitos
Ownership
Owner	Telemundo Station Group (Comcast / NBCUniversal) (NBC Telemundo License LLC)
Sister stations	WMAQ-TV NBC Sports Chicago
History
First air date	April 5, 1970 (54 years ago) (1970-04-05)
Former channel number(s)	Analog: 44 (UHF, 1970–2009) Digital: 45 (UHF, 2000–2018), 29 (UHF, 2018–2019)
Former affiliations	Independent (1970–1985) ON TV (1980–1985) SIN/Univision (1985–1989)
Call sign meaning	Essaness Theatres, founding owner
Technical information[1]
Licensing authority	FCC
Facility ID	70119
ERP	398 kW
HAAT	509 m (1,670 ft)
Transmitter coordinates	41°52′44.1″N 87°38′10.2″W / 41.878917°N 87.636167°W / 41.878917; -87.636167
Links
Public license information	Public file LMS
Website	www.telemundochicago.com

WSNS-TV (channel 44) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group alongside NBC outlet WMAQ-TV (channel 5); it is also sister to regional sports network NBC Sports Chicago. WSNS-TV and WMAQ-TV share studios at the NBC Tower on North Columbus Drive in the city's Streeterville neighborhood; both stations are broadcast from the same transmitter atop the Willis Tower in the Chicago Loop.

WSNS-TV began broadcasting in 1970. Originally specializing in the automated display of news headlines, it evolved into Chicago's third full-fledged independent station, carrying movies, local sports, and other specialty programming. This continued until 1980, when WSNS became the Chicago-area station for ON TV, an over-the-air subscription television (STV) service owned by Oak Industries, which took a minority ownership stake in the station. While ON TV was successful in Chicago and the subscription system became the second-largest in the country by total subscribers, the rise of cable television precipitated the end of the business in 1985, with WSNS-TV as the last ON TV station standing.

On July 1, 1985, the station became Chicago's first full-time Spanish-language outlet, affiliated with the Spanish International Network (Univision after 1987) and airing local news and other programming. Indiscretions from the station's STV era led to a license challenge in which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled at one point that a challenger should be awarded the channel over Video 44, the station's ownership consortium. A groundswell of support helped the station to survive and led to an $18 million settlement that kept it in business. WSNS-TV switched to Telemundo in 1989 and was the network's largest affiliate until being purchased outright in 1996. As part of NBC's purchase of Telemundo in 2002, WSNS and WMAQ became a combined operation.