The owner of the MeTV broadcast television network, in addition to four other digital multicast TV offerings and the “MeTV FM” Soft Oldies brand, has just launched a next-generation broadcast TV station in the Windy City.





Introducing Chicago 3.0, an experimental next generation full-power broadcast television station serving America’s third-largest market launched Monday (9/10) by Weigel Broadcasting.

The experimental facility is using a transmitter high atop the Willis Tower, formerly the Sears Tower. The capabilities of ATSC 3.0 will be fully tested with the station, Weigel notes.

“The Chicago 3.0 consortium led by Weigel is one of only a few initiatives nationwide to launch an ATSC 3.0 operation,” notes Weigel VP Evan Fieldman. “We are excited to collaborate with our vendor partners as we explore the viability and the potential opportunities of what the future broadcast standard has to offer for viewers, our affiliate partners and the industry. We look forward to sharing various aspects of our findings with the broadcast community.”

To help get “Chicago 3.0” off the ground, Weigel worked with Rohde & Schwarz, Harmonic, Triveni Digital, Enensys, Alive Telecom, and Sony Electronics.

Family-owned Weigel is perhaps best-known for its four digital multicast TV networks: “MeTV,” “Movies!” (created in cooperation with the Fox Television Stations), the “DECADES” network, the “Heroes & Icons (H&I)” network, and the “Start TV” Network, recently launched in association with the CBS Television Stations.

Weigel’s local stations include CBS, ABC, The CW, MyNet and Telemundo network affiliates.

There’s also WRME-LP 6, which uses 87.7 MHz in Chicago for its now-syndicated “MeTV FM” format.