WPFO

---

title: "WPFO" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1999-establishments-in-maine", "antenna-tv-affiliates", "atsc-3.0-television-stations", "charge!-(tv-network)-affiliates", "comet-(tv-network)-affiliates", "roar-(tv-network)-affiliates", "sinclair-broadcast-group", "television-channels-and-stations-established-in-1999", "television-stations-in-portland,-maine"] description: "Television station in Waterville, Maine" topic_path: "arts/film" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPFO" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Television station in Waterville, Maine ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox television station"]

Field	Value
callsign	WPFO
city	Waterville, Maine
atsc3	yes
digital	17 (UHF)
virtual	23
affiliations
airdate
location	Waterville–Portland, Maine
country	United States
callsign_meaning	Portland's Fox (former affiliation)
former_callsigns
former_channel_numbers
owner	Cunningham Broadcasting
operator	Sinclair Broadcast Group via LMA, (outright sale pending)
licensee	Portland (WPFO-TV) Licensee, Inc.
sister_stations	WGME-TV
former_affiliations
erp	1,000 kW
haat	479 m
facility_id	84088
coordinates
licensing_authority	FCC
::

| callsign = WPFO | city = Waterville, Maine | atsc3 = yes | logo = | logo_alt = | logo_upright = | branding = | digital = 17 (UHF) | virtual = 23 | subchannels = | translators = | affiliations = | network = | airdate = | location = Waterville–Portland, Maine | country = United States | callsign_meaning = Portland's Fox (former affiliation) | former_callsigns = | former_channel_numbers = | owner = Cunningham Broadcasting | operator = Sinclair Broadcast Group via LMA, (outright sale pending) | licensee = Portland (WPFO-TV) Licensee, Inc. | sister_stations = WGME-TV | former_affiliations = | erp = 1,000 kW | haat = 479 m | class = | facility_id = 84088 | coordinates = | licensing_authority = FCC | website = WPFO (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Waterville, Maine, United States, serving the Portland area as a de facto owned-and-operated station of the digital multicast network Roar. It is owned by Cunningham Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Sinclair Broadcast Group, owner of CBS/Fox affiliate WGME-TV (channel 13), for the provision of certain services. The two stations share studios on Northport Drive in the North Deering section of Portland; WPFO's transmitter is located on Brown Hill west of Raymond.

WPFO was built as WMPX-TV and began broadcasting in August 1999. It was Portland's Pax affiliate. In 2003, Paxson sold the station to Corporate Media Consultants Group, which converted it to a Fox affiliate that April. At the time, Portland had not had a Fox affiliate since October 2001. WGME-TV began producing a 10 p.m. newscast for WPFO in February 2007 and expanded its relationship with a morning newscast in 2010. Sinclair acquired the station's non-license assets in 2013, with Cunningham Broadcasting purchasing the license in 2017. In December 2025, WPFO's Fox subchannel moved to WGME-TV.

History

Construction and Pax era

Channel 23 was allocated to Waterville, Maine, in 1987 on a petition from the Passamaquoddy Tribe. The tribe, which owned radio stations in Rockland, had expressed interest in starting a station that would cater to local advertisers in the Waterville area unserved by buying ad time on stations in Bangor or Portland. In spite of the allocation, no one applied for the channel.

This changed in 1996, when five applicants filed for channel 23. The only Maine-based group was Diversified Communications, owner of Bangor CBS affiliate WABI-TV. It proposed locating the station's studios in facilities WABI was leasing in Waterville. Because of a backlog of license applications that were mutually exclusive, stemming from a court-ordered end to the comparative hearings that once chose winning applicants in these cases, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) allowed for financial settlements in dozens of markets. In this window, WinStar Broadcasting emerged with the channel 23 construction permit. WinStar transferred 49 percent of the permit to Paxson Communications Corporation, owner of the then-new Pax network. The tower to broadcast the new station from Oak Hill Road in Litchfield was erected in 1999.

Channel 23 began broadcasting August 27, 1999, as WMPX-TV. It provided Pax its first broadcast coverage in southern Maine; the network had only been available on cable. In August 2000, Portland NBC affiliate WCSH (channel 6) signed a joint sales agreement to provide advertising sales and limited programming to WMPX-TV. WCSH officials twice mentioned the possibility of airing a newscast on channel 23 but had not done so by 2002.

Fox era

In November 2002, Paxson Communications Corporation announced it was selling WMPX-TV to the Ohio-based Corporate Media Consultants Group for $10 million. Corporate was a joint venture of Max Media and Power Television. The deal led to speculation that WMPX-TV would become Portland's new Fox affiliate. The year before, Fox had cut ties with WPXT (channel 51), whose owner Pegasus Broadcast Television failed to come to a deal with the network. Southern Maine was thus largely dependent on Foxnet for the channel's programming, leaving Fox sports programs at the whim of equipment faults related to syndication exclusivity blackouts or locally irrelevant NFL game selections. Corporate Media confirmed WMPX-TV would become the new Portland Fox affiliate when it took over.

Channel 23 became a Fox affiliate under the new WPFO call sign on April 15, 2003. The station operated from office space on Oxford Street in Portland. Beginning in November 2005, it aired a video simulcast of radio station WLOB's morning show with local headlines displayed on the screen, branded as the Fox Morning News. This continued to air until March 30, 2009.

On February 5, 2007, Portland CBS affiliate WGME-TV began producing a nightly 10 p.m. newscast for WPFO after a news share agreement was established between the two. It aired from a secondary set at WGME's studios. The news relationship expanded in 2010 when the newscast was lengthened to an hour; a new two-hour morning newscast from 7 to 9 a.m., titled Good Day Maine, was added.

On October 31, 2013, WGME-TV owner Sinclair Broadcast Group acquired the non-license assets of WPFO from Corporate Media Consultants Group for $13.6 million. An affiliate of Sinclair, Cunningham Broadcasting Corporation, filed to acquire the license assets for $3.4 million on November 19, but the deal was not approved until June 23, 2017. In 2024, WGME began airing a new lifestyle program, ARC Maine, at 9 a.m.; the morning newscast was shortened to an hour, with the 8 a.m. hour replaced by The National Desk.

Sinclair filed to buy WPFO outright from Cunningham in August 2025, following a decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit that struck down limitations on ownership of two of the four highest-rated TV stations in a market. On December 8, 2025, the Fox affiliation was moved to WGME-TV's second subchannel, while WPFO's main channel flipped to Roar.

Technical information and subchannels

Since June 2024, WPFO is Portland's ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) lighthouse station. The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on the multiplexed signals of other Portland television stations: ::data[format=table title="Subchannels provided by WPFO (ATSC 1.0){{Cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WGME#station|title = Digital TV Market Listing for WGME|website=[[RabbitEars]]}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WCBB#station|title = Digital TV Market Listing for WCBB|website=[[RabbitEars]]}}{{Cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WMEA#station|title = Digital TV Market Listing for WMEA|website=[[RabbitEars]]}}"]

Channel	Res.	Aspect	Short name	Programming	ATSC 1.0 host	23.1	23.2	23.3	23.4
480i	16:9	ROAR	Roar	WGME-TV
Charge!	Charge!	WCBB/WMEA-TV
Comet	Comet
Antenna	Antenna TV	WGME-TV
::

WPFO's transmitter is located on Brown Hill west of Raymond and broadcasts these channels: ::data[format=table title="Subchannels of WPFO (ATSC 3.0){{Cite web|url=http://www.rabbitears.info/market.php?request=station_search&callsign=WPFO#station|title = Digital TV Market Listing for WPFO|website=[[RabbitEars]]}}"]

Channel	Res.	Short name	Programming	8.1	10.1	13.1	13.10	13.11	13.20	13.21	23.1	26.1
1080p	WMTW	ABC (WMTW) [[File:Action lock 2 - orange.svg	14px	alt=DRM	link=]]
WCBB	PBS (WCBB)
WGME	CBS (WGME-TV)
T2	T2
PBTV	Pickleballtv
	GMLOOP	GameLoop
	ROXi	ROXi
480i	WPFO	Roar
1080p	WMEA	PBS (WMEA-TV)
::

References

References

1. Disman, Miriam. (May 1, 1987). "City awarded TV station: FCC to accept bids from would-be owners immediately". Morning Sentinel.
2. Mangan, Patricia. (May 2, 1987). "Area officials applaud plan for TV station". Morning Sentinel.
3. (July 25, 1986). "Passamaquoddies ask for TV station license". The Bangor Daily News.
4. Blais, Peter. (August 27, 1987). "Consultant reports no one hurrying to snap up UHF channel in Waterville". Morning Sentinel.
5. (October 24, 1996). "Firms vie for city TV rights: 5 companies seek to start station in Waterville". Morning Sentinel.
6. (January 26, 1998). "Let's make a deal—for CPs: Companies scramble to collect unclaimed TV licenses at FCC by Jan. 30". Broadcasting & Cable.
7. McConnell, Chris. (February 9, 1998). "Dollars, deals fly in CP gold rush: Competing applicants for 50 new stations work out settlements". Broadcasting & Cable.
8. (August 24, 1998). "The Pax TV network". Broadcasting & Cable.
9. Adams, Betty. (August 2, 1999). "Neighbor frets about TV tower in Litchfield". Kennebec Journal.
10. (2006). "Television & Cable Factbook". Warren Communications News.
11. (September 3, 1999). "New network carries family programming". Portland Press Herald.
12. Routhier, Ray. (October 16, 2000). "Affiliates merge resources to expand local TV choices: WCSH-TV reaches a joint sales agreement with WMPX-TV". Portland Press Herald.
13. Routhier, Ray. (August 24, 2002). "Channel 6 news tops local TV rating race". Portland Press Herald.
14. Eggerton, John. (2005-09-15). "CMCG Buying Puerto Rico TVs".
15. Routhier, Ray. (November 20, 2002). "WMPX's owners-to-be promise new programs". Portland Press Herald.
16. McClellan, Steve. (September 10, 2001). "The WB inks two Fox affils". Broadcasting & Cable.
17. Littleton, Cynthia. (September 6, 2001). "2 Pegasus affils making switch from Fox to WB". The Hollywood Reporter.
18. Routhier, Ray. (December 2, 2002). "New Fox Network affiliate lined up". Portland Press Herald.
19. Routhier, Ray. (April 12, 2003). "New Fox station, Channel 23, set to go on air Tuesday". Portland Press Herald.
20. Routhier, Ray. (February 14, 2003). "New station to start airing Fox programs soon". Portland Press Herald.
21. (November 8, 2005). "WLOB's morning news will air on WPFO TV". Portland Press Herald.
22. (April 10, 2009). "Local TV news program off the air". Sun Journal.
23. Murphy, Edward D.. (January 25, 2007). "WGME to do news show for Fox". Portland Press Herald.
24. (2010-03-17). "WGME, WPFO To Expand Shared News".
25. Malone, Michael. (November 6, 2013). "Sinclair Acquires WPFO Portland (ME) Assets For $13.6 Million". [[Broadcasting & Cable]].
26. "Application For Consent To Assignment Of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". Federal Communications Commission.
27. (2024-07-16). "ARC Maine to launch on Fox23: A new kind of interactive show for your mornings".
28. (August 15, 2025). "Assignments". Federal Communications Commission.
29. "How to watch FOX23 starting Dec. 8 due to over-the-air and cable channel changes".
30. Miller, Mark K.. (2024-04-25). "Five Stations Launch NextGen TV In Portland, Maine".
31. "Digital TV Market Listing for WGME".
32. "Digital TV Market Listing for WCBB".
33. "Digital TV Market Listing for WMEA".
34. "Digital TV Market Listing for WPFO".
35. "ATSC 3.0 Streams Delivered Via Internet".

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