For current information on "Fox 23" in Portland, Maine, see WGME-TV.
WPFO
CallsignWPFO
CityWaterville, Maine
Atsc 3yes
Digital17 (UHF)
Virtual23
Affiliations
AirdateAugust 27, 1999
LocationWaterville–Portland, Maine
CountryUnited States
Callsign meaningPortland's Fox (former affiliation)
Former callsigns
  • WBDJ (1998)
  • WMPX-TV (1998–2003)
Former channel numbers
  • Analog: 23 (UHF, 1999–2009)
  • Digital: 23 (UHF, 2009–2019)
OwnerSinclair Broadcast Group[1]
LicenseeWGME Licensee, LLC
Sister stationsWGME-TV
Former affiliations
  • Pax (1999–2003)
  • Fox (2003–2025)
Erp1,000 kW
Haat479 m (1,572 ft)
Facility id84088
Coordinates43°55′29″N 70°29′27″W
Licensing authorityFCC

WPFO (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Waterville, Maine, United States, serving the Portland area with programming from the digital multicast network Roar. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside CBS/Fox affiliate WGME-TV (channel 13). 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.[2] The tribe, which owned radio stations in Rockland,[3] 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.[4] In spite of the allocation, no one applied for the channel.[5]

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.[6] 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,[7] 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.[8] WinStar transferred 49 percent of the permit to Paxson Communications Corporation, owner of the then-new Pax network.[9] The tower to broadcast the new station from Oak Hill Road in Litchfield was erected in 1999.[10]

Channel 23 began broadcasting August 27, 1999,[11] as WMPX-TV. It provided Pax its first broadcast coverage in southern Maine; the network had only been available on cable.[12] In August 2000, Portland NBC affiliate WCSH (channel 6) signed a joint sales agreement to provide advertising sales and limited programming to WMPX-TV.[13] WCSH officials twice mentioned the possibility of airing a newscast on channel 23 but had not done so by 2002.[14]

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.[15] Corporate was a joint venture of Max Media and Power Television.[16] The deal led to speculation that WMPX-TV would become Portland's new Fox affiliate.[15] 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.[17][18] Southern Maine was thus largely dependent on Foxnet for the channel's programming,[15] 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.[19]

Channel 23 became a Fox affiliate under the new WPFO call sign on April 15, 2003.[20] The station operated from office space on Oxford Street in Portland.[21] 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.[22] This continued to air until March 30, 2009.[23]

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.[24] 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.[25]

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.[26] 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.[27] 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.[28]

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.[1] On December 8, 2025, the Fox affiliation was moved to WGME-TV's second subchannel, while WPFO's main channel flipped to Roar.[29] The sale was completed on March 1, 2026.[30]

Technical information and subchannels

Since June 2024, WPFO has served as Portland's ATSC 3.0 (NextGen TV) lighthouse station.[31] The station's ATSC 1.0 channels are carried on the multiplexed signals of other Portland television stations:

Subchannels provided by WPFO (ATSC 1.0)[32][33][34]
ChannelRes.AspectShort nameProgrammingATSC 1.0 host
23.1480i16:9ROARRoarWGME-TV
23.2Charge!Charge!WCBB/WMEA-TV
23.3CometComet
23.4AntennaAntenna TVWGME-TV

WPFO's transmitter is located on Brown Hill west of Raymond[35] and broadcasts these channels:

Subchannels of WPFO (ATSC 3.0)[36]
ChannelRes.Short nameProgramming
8.11080pstyle="background-color:#ffe8d0|WMTWstyle="background-color:#ffe8d0|ABC (WMTW)
10.1WCBBPBS (WCBB)
13.1WGMECBS (WGME-TV)
13.10style="background-color:#ffffd0|T2style="background-color:#ffffd0|T2
13.11style="background-color:#ffffd0|PBTVstyle="background-color:#ffffd0|Pickleballtv
13.20style="background-color:#ffffd0|GMLOOPstyle="background-color:#ffffd0|GameLoop
13.21style="background-color:#ffffd0|ROXistyle="background-color:#ffffd0|ROXi
23.1480iWPFORoar
26.11080pWMEAPBS (WMEA-TV)

References

  1. ^ "Assignments". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. August 15, 2025. Retrieved August 16, 2025.
  2. ^ Disman, Miriam (May 1, 1987). "City awarded TV station: FCC to accept bids from would-be owners immediately". Morning Sentinel. Medill News Service. p. 1. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ Mangan, Patricia (May 2, 1987). "Area officials applaud plan for TV station". Morning Sentinel. pp. 1, 12. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Passamaquoddies ask for TV station license". The Bangor Daily News. July 25, 1986. p. 5. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ Blais, Peter (August 27, 1987). "Consultant reports no one hurrying to snap up UHF channel in Waterville". Morning Sentinel. p. 2. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Firms vie for city TV rights: 5 companies seek to start station in Waterville". Morning Sentinel. October 24, 1996. p. 19. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Let's make a deal—for CPs: Companies scramble to collect unclaimed TV licenses at FCC by Jan. 30". Broadcasting & Cable. January 26, 1998. pp. 6–7.
  8. ^ McConnell, Chris (February 9, 1998). "Dollars, deals fly in CP gold rush: Competing applicants for 50 new stations work out settlements". Broadcasting & Cable. pp. 10–11. and.
  9. ^ "The Pax TV network". Broadcasting & Cable. August 24, 1998. p. 25.
  10. ^ Adams, Betty (August 2, 1999). "Neighbor frets about TV tower in Litchfield". Kennebec Journal. pp. A1, A2. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "WPFO". Television & Cable Factbook. Vol. 74. Warren Communications News. 2006. p. A-1064. ISBN 1-57696-058-7.
  12. ^ "New network carries family programming". Portland Press Herald. September 3, 1999. p. 7C. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ 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. pp. 1B, 3B. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Routhier, Ray (August 24, 2002). "Channel 6 news tops local TV rating race". Portland Press Herald. p. 3B. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Routhier, Ray (November 20, 2002). "WMPX's owners-to-be promise new programs". Portland Press Herald. pp. 6C, 8C. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  16. ^ Eggerton, John (September 15, 2005). "CMCG Buying Puerto Rico TVs". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
  17. ^ McClellan, Steve (September 10, 2001). "The WB inks two Fox affils". Broadcasting & Cable. p. 17.
  18. ^ Littleton, Cynthia (September 6, 2001). "2 Pegasus affils making switch from Fox to WB". The Hollywood Reporter. p. 27.
  19. ^ Routhier, Ray (December 2, 2002). "New Fox Network affiliate lined up". Portland Press Herald. pp. 1B, 3B. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ Routhier, Ray (April 12, 2003). "New Fox station, Channel 23, set to go on air Tuesday". Portland Press Herald. pp. 1B, 6B. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  21. ^ Routhier, Ray (February 14, 2003). "New station to start airing Fox programs soon". Portland Press Herald. p. 2B. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  22. ^ "WLOB's morning news will air on WPFO TV". Portland Press Herald. November 8, 2005. p. B4. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  23. ^ "Local TV news program off the air". Sun Journal. April 10, 2009. p. C15. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  24. ^ Murphy, Edward D. (January 25, 2007). "WGME to do news show for Fox". Portland Press Herald. p. B2. Retrieved September 15, 2025. – via Newspapers.com.
  25. ^ "WGME, WPFO To Expand Shared News". TVNewsCheck. March 17, 2010. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
  26. ^ Malone, Michael (November 6, 2013). "Sinclair Acquires WPFO Portland (ME) Assets For $13.6 Million". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved November 6, 2013.
  27. ^ "Application For Consent To Assignment Of Broadcast Station Construction Permit or License". Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved September 15, 2025.
  28. ^ "ARC Maine to launch on Fox23: A new kind of interactive show for your mornings". WGME. July 16, 2024. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  29. ^ "How to watch FOX23 starting Dec. 8 due to over-the-air and cable channel changes". WGME-TV. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  30. ^ "Notification of Consummation". Licensing and Management System. Federal Communications Commission. March 2, 2026. Retrieved March 2, 2026.
  31. ^ Miller, Mark K. (April 25, 2024). "Five Stations Launch NextGen TV In Portland, Maine". TVNewsCheck. Retrieved September 16, 2025.
  32. ^ "Digital TV Market Listing for WGME". RabbitEars
  33. ^ "Digital TV Market Listing for WCBB". RabbitEars
  34. ^ "Digital TV Market Listing for WMEA". RabbitEars
  35. ^ FCC-LMS-84088
  36. ^ "Digital TV Market Listing for WPFO". RabbitEars