WNAC-TV

WNAC-TV (channel 64), branded on-air as Fox Providence, is a television station in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, affiliated with Fox and The CW. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of dual CBS/MyNetworkTV affiliate WPRI-TV (channel 12), for the provision of certain services. Both stations share studios on Catamore Boulevard in East Providence, Rhode Island, while WNAC-TV's transmitter is located on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. History As WNET (1953–1956) Although WNAC's current incarnation dates to September 5, 1981, its analog license was one of the oldest active ultra high frequency (UHF) licenses in New England. It first signed on August 29, 1953, as WNET, the second television station in Rhode Island. At that time, it broadcast on channel 16 and affiliated with ABC. It also shared DuMont programming with NBC station WJAR-TV. Conventional wisdom suggested that, as the second station in the area, WNET should have taken the CBS affiliation. However, WPRO-TV (now WPRI-TV) had won a construction permit just before WNET received its permit and had already been promised the CBS affiliation due to its radio sister's long affiliation with CBS Radio. WPRO-TV was originally supposed to sign on in spring 1953 from a transmitter in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. However, town officials forced WPRO-TV to move its transmitter site to Johnston, Rhode Island.