WSNS-TV

WSNS-TV.
WSNS-TV (channel 44) is a television station in Chicago broadcasting the Spanish-language Telemundo network. It is owned and operated by the network and shares its studios in the NBC Tower (pictured), and its transmitter on the Willis Tower, with WMAQ-TV. WSNS-TV was built as an English-language independent station by the local Essaness Theatres Corporation in 1970; it broadcast local sports, most notably the Chicago White Sox, among other local programs. In 1980, the station began broadcasting ON TV, a pay subscription television service with 120,000 local subscribers at its height in 1982; the station nearly had its broadcast license revoked by the Federal Communications Commission for its lack of local programming during this time. After ON TV folded in 1985, channel 44 became the city's first full-time Spanish-language television station, including local newscasts. Telemundo bought WSNS in 1996; NBC bought Telemundo in 2002, leading to the merger of WMAQ-TV and WSNS-TV.