WBPX-TV
After $325 million in losses, this service shut down in 1992, and the Monitor sold WQTV to Boston University, which operated it for six years as commercial independent WABU.
Boston University also bought the Concord station, which had been silent since it failed as CBS affiliate WNHT in 1989, and turned it into a satellite of WABU in 1995.
[4] Boston Heritage then filed the third-ever application for authority to install subscription television (STV) equipment in July 1970, which the FCC granted three years later.
By late 1977, Boston Heritage had begun work to build the transmitter on the Prudential Tower, and Blonder-Tongue's pay-TV system was already in use in the New York area.
CanWest was in the middle of assembling a network of stations to air its programming, with outlets in various stages of consideration on New York's Long Island and in Detroit, Minneapolis, and Sacramento.
[10] Universal was prompted to abandon its plan to sign up subscribers by area because prospective customers kept calling, having dialed past channel 56 to see the new station on their sets.
The station's existing daytime programming from the Financial News Network (FNN) was joined by syndicated fare including Kojak, Barnaby Jones and Tic-Tac-Dough.
WQTV succumbed in December 1985 and laid off all except "the essential operating staff"—dismissing more than half of its 40 workers—in a desperate bid to cut costs; it also put itself on the market.
[24] Many popular programs were axed by the station because they had become too expensive,[20] while WQTV's national sales representative resigned from the position and began considering "further action" to obtain back payments.
WQTV's programming was seen as in-depth but slow in pace and was not garnering audience interest in Boston, an image that would transfer to the Monitor Channel.
With four million homes signed up in a difficult environment, regional Emmy and other awards for its programming, positive media reception, and new shows coming to air on a regular basis, the channel seemed set up for long-term success.
Hart resigned on October 31, 1991,[57] citing differences over the religious mission of the church, as well as the program's coverage of the Twitchell case in which two Christian Scientist parents were tried for refusing medical care for their child.
[54] A lengthy biography depicting Hart as a brooding, isolated anchor ran in The Boston Globe Magazine a week and a half after, unbeknownst to his Monitor colleagues; the resignation was made public days later.
[61] Before long, any discussion of the Monitor television operation was overshadowed by financial considerations that by now were affecting the core religious functions of the Church of Christ, Scientist.
In 1958, Bliss Knapp died and left a bequest to the church on one condition: that it publish The Destiny of The Mother Church, a book written by Knapp that had been repeatedly rejected by Christian Science leaders as blasphemous for depicting Christian Science founder Mary Baker Eddy as the fulfillment of a biblical prophecy and equal to Jesus Christ, by the year 1993.
[62][b] A continued soft advertising market due to the deepening early 1990s recession—worst in New England, home to WQTV—and threats of legal challenges that delayed any collection of the Knapp bequest money, however, amplified the financial problems that would define 1992 for the Monitor Channel and its Boston television station.
[72] The last task confronting the church as it wound down its once-expansive media operation was to sell the Boston television station that had fueled its boom.
[77] By early May 1993, two bidders presented proposals to the church: Krypton Broadcasting Corporation, owned by Elvin Feltner, and audio electronics manufacturer Ira Gale.
Less than two weeks after Feltner emerged as the only prospective buyer, several program distributors asked a federal bankruptcy court to force Feltner's two Florida stations, WNFT in Jacksonville and WTVX serving West Palm Beach, into Chapter 11 reorganization, and the bank that had supported the purchase of WTVX in 1988 was suing for nonpayment on a $19 million loan.
[76]: 15 Bridge cites three outside factors that contributed to its closure: the recession, lack of channel capacity on cable systems in an uncertain and depressed investment environment, and the association of an "internal opposition" within Christian Science with The Globe.
With the Krypton bid in peril, another local group entered the picture: Boston University (BU) began to analyze the possibility of buying WQTV.
[89] The first local programs materialized three months later: hourly newsbreaks hosted by market veterans Ted O'Brien and Gail Harris, the latter of whom had also worked at the Monitor Channel.
[94] By the end of 1995, WABU had upgraded its original programming and acquired newer and more popular syndicated shows than it aired at launch, including Baywatch, Northern Exposure and The Golden Girls.
[97] The deal, however, created upheaval for Red Sox fans outside of the Boston market, as WABU and the team had to seek new coverage partners where WSBK's regional cable carriage once sufficed.
By February 1996, Boston University had received multiple unsolicited offers for channel 68 and its satellites, prompting BU to retain an investment firm to determine the value of the properties.
[103] BU's indebtedness began to increase administration's desire to sell off the television station; in 1998, the USA Broadcasting group owned by Barry Diller signed a letter of intent to purchase WABU for a reported $30 to $40 million.
[106] On May 4, 1999, Boston University announced that it had sold WABU and its repeaters to an affiliate of Paxson Communications Corporation, which owned the Pax TV network.
[104] While the university had rejected a string of unsolicited offers, it felt comfortable with the Pax bid because of the network's family-friendly program orientation.
[114] In the FCC's incentive auction, WDPX-TV sold its spectrum for $43,467,644 (equivalent to $53.1 million in 2023 dollars) and indicated that it would enter into a post-auction channel sharing agreement.
[117] The QVC and HSN subchannels were switched on July 1 to new multicast networks from Scripps, Defy TV and TrueReal, as part of their launch in 92 percent of the United States, with the Ion transmitters as their primary carriers.
