Heroes & Icons

Heroes & Icons

Type	Digital broadcast television network
Country	United States
Broadcast area	Nationwide coverage: 83% [1]
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois
Programming
Language(s)	English
Picture format	720p (HDTV) 480i (SDTV On most OTA affiliates)
Ownership
Owner	Weigel Broadcasting
Parent	H&I National Limited Partnership [2]
Key people	Neal Sabin (Vice Chairman, Weigel Broadcasting) Norman Shapiro (President, Weigel Broadcasting)
Sister channels	Catchy Comedy Dabl MeTV MeTV+ MeTV Toons Movies! Start TV Story Television
History
Launched	September 28, 2014;9 years ago (2014-09-28)
Links
Website	www.handitv.com
Availability
Terrestrial
See List of affiliates
Streaming media
Service(s)	Frndly TV, Philo, Sling TV

Heroes & Icons (H&I) is an American diginet television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Usually carried on the digital subchannels of its affiliated television station in most markets, the network airs classic television series from the 1950s through the 2000s, with a focus on action/adventure, westerns, crime dramas, sci-fi, and superhero programming.

H&I operates from Weigel Broadcasting's headquarters on North Halsted Street in Chicago, Illinois, and is essentially an offshoot of MeTV – the general classic TV digital networks also owned by Weigel. ^[3]

History

Heroes & Icons was soft-launched with limited advanced promotion on September 28, 2014, as a diginet of Weigel-owned stations WWME-CD (channel 23.2) and WCIU-TV (channel 26.4) in Chicago, and WMLW-TV (channel 49.3) in Milwaukee. Heroes & Icons was created at the request of the affiliates of Weigel's existing networks, to increase their programming options. ^[3]

The network also launched in the South Bend, Indiana market, along with the major cable providers in the Chicago and Milwaukee markets (including Comcast Xfinity, RCN and Time Warner Cable) using existing carriage. ^[3] Weigel opted to soft launch H&I in order to fine-tune its schedule, along with adding additional programming to the fledgling network. ^[4] With the network having settled on a more stabilized schedule, Weigel moved the Heroes & Icons affiliation in Milwaukee to the third subchannel of CBS affiliate WDJT-TV (channel 58) on March 5, 2015, with This TV – which previously occupied the 58.3 space – moving to WMLW-DT3 in its place. ^[5] Fox Television Stations expanded its relationship with Weigel beyond Movies!, adding it to eleven of their stations in the fourth quarter of 2015. ^[6] A list of 2019 Nielsen ratings published by Variety indicated that Heroes & Icons averaged 196,000 viewers in prime time, up 18% from the 2018 average. ^[7]

Programming

H&I's program schedule features a mix of police procedurals, westerns, science fiction, superhero and action/adventure-themed programs. ^[3] The network also carries a three-hour block of children's programming on Sunday mornings to fulfill FCC mandated E/I obligations.

Since 2016, a prominent staple in H&I's lineup is the airing of five live action classic Star Trek series ( The Original Series , Next Generation , Deep Space Nine , Voyager , and Enterprise ) Sunday through Friday evenings.

Weekdays feature a western block in the morning, followed by the "Day Shift" binge block of various crime dramas and action/adventure shows through the afternoon (a different show every day), a three-hour block of Walker, Texas Ranger early evenings, and the Star Trek block primetime through late evenings.

Weekends feature a morning superhero block, with programs such as Adventures of Superman , Batman , and Wonder Woman . ^[8]

A military block airs Saturday nights, with war themed programs such as Black Sheep Squadron , Combat! , Rat Patrol , and Tour of Duty .

Affiliates

As of July 2016 ^[update] , Heroes & Icons has current affiliation agreements with television stations in 63 media markets encompassing 33 states, covering 69.21% of the United States. ^[9] The network is carried on the digital subchannels of television stations in most of its markets (with current exceptions including St. George, Utah O&O KCSG, which has widespread cable and satellite coverage in the Salt Lake City market and throughout Utah, and Evansville, Indiana affiliate WTSN-CD, which both carry the network on their primary digital channels). The network is also carried on cable television providers through their digital tiers at the discretion of the affiliate's parent station in certain markets, and in 2020, Heroes & Icons is available nationwide on DISH Network channel 293.

In South Bend, Indiana, where Weigel Broadcasting owns three television stations (ABC affiliate WBND-LD, CW affiliate WCWW-LD and MyNetworkTV affiliate WMYS-LD), the network is instead carried by former Fox affiliate WSJV through an agreement with that station's owner Gray Television (it took over the main signal on October 1, 2016, as that station was under consideration to sell its spectrum in that year's spectrum auction, though it ultimately remained on the air). The network added additional stations by early December 2014, which in addition to WSJV, included KCSG in the Salt Lake City market (a station Weigel eventually purchased in 2017) and a digital subchannel of Des Moines CBS affiliate KCCI. ^[10]

On September 18, 2015, Weigel signed an affiliation agreement with Fox Television Stations to carry the network on subchannels of the group's Fox and MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated stations in eleven markets, including New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., beginning in the fourth quarter of 2015. Once all of the stations involved in the agreement affiliated with the network, H&I will expand its coverage to 52% of all U.S. households and availability in eight of the 10 largest Nielsen markets. ^[6] Weigel also maintains a secondary agreement with Spectrum to carry the network nationwide on that cable service, slotting the network's national feed on systems where a terrestrial affiliate does not exist or is not under contract to be carried.^{[ citation needed ]}

In October 2020, Heroes & Icons was made available on Sling TV. ^[11] On April 19, 2022, Heroes & Icons began airing on the Frndly TV live streaming service. ^[12] On August 9, 2022, Heroes & Icons became available on Philo. ^[13]

On December 28, 2023, Heroes & Icons was made available nationwide also on DirecTV. ^[14]

Current affiliates

City of license/market	Station [9]	Virtual channel	Primary affiliation	Owner	Date of affiliation	Notes
Anniston (Birmingham)	WGWW	40.1	-	Howard Stirk Holdings	October 1, 2015	Replaced Heartland as primary affiliate; maintains secondary affiliation with ABC
Montgomery	WALE-LD	17.6	Montgomery Weather Channel (local weather)	Allen Media Broadcasting	August 11, 2015
Tuscaloosa (Birmingham)	WSES	33.1	-	Howard Stirk Holdings	October 1, 2015
Alaska
Anchorage	KTUU-TV	2.2	NBC	Gray Television	September 1, 2019	Previously carried on co-owned KYES-TV 5.3 since October 1, 2018 (with a soft launch on September 21, 2018).
Phoenix	KSAZ-TV	10.3	Fox	Fox Television Stations	November 1, 2015
Tucson	KTTU	18.3	MyNetworkTV	Tegna
Bakersfield	KNXT-LD	53.4	MyNetworkTV	My Central Valley, LLC	2022
Los Angeles	KCOP	13.4		Fox Television Stations	October 1, 2015
	KSFV-CD	27.2	Jewelry Television	Weigel Broadcasting	February 28, 2022
Fresno	KAIL	7.3	MyNetworkTV	Aperio Communications, LLC
Monterey	KBNY-LD	19.1	-	Cocola Television
San Francisco–Oakland–San Jose	KTLN-TV	68.1	-	Weigel Broadcasting	April 17, 2019
Stockton–Sacramento	KQCA	58.2	The CW	Hearst Television	October 1, 2018
Denver	KTVD	20.2	MyNetworkTV	Tegna	February 1, 2020	Replaced MeTV
Colorado Springs–Pueblo	KRDO-TV	13.7	ABC	News-Press & Gazette Company	May 1, 2017	Switched to 13.7 from 13.3 in May 1, 2024 because KRDO 13 News started airing on 13.3.
Glenwood Springs	KREG-TV	3.1	MeTV	Weigel Broadcasting	July 2017
Hartford and New Haven	WHCT-LD	35.2	MeTV	Weigel Broadcasting	September 30, 2020
Washington, D.C.	WDCA	20.3	MyNetworkTV	Fox Television Stations	October 3, 2015
Fort Myers	WBBH-TV	20.2	NBC	Hearst Television
Jacksonville	WFOX-TV	30.3	Fox	Cox Media Group	June 3, 2015
Miami	WPLG	10.3	ABC	BH Media	January 2018
Orlando (Daytona Beach)	WRBW	65.3	MyNetworkTV	Fox Television Stations	October 1, 2015
Panama City	WECP-LD	18.3	CBS	Gray Television	January 2017
Tampa (Saint Petersburg/Clearwater)	WTVT	13.4	Fox	Fox Television Stations	November 1, 2015
Bainbridge (Tallahassee)	WTLH	49.1	-	New Age Media	April 30, 2018
Columbus	WXTX	54.5	Fox	American Spirit Media	September 1, 2022
Perry/Macon	WPGA-TV	58.2	Independent	Register Communications	2017
Toccoa/Atlanta (Athens)	WGTA	32.2	MeTV	Marquee Broadcasting
Honolulu, Hawaii	KITV	4.5	ABC	Allen Media Group	March 11, 2019
Boise	KRID-LD	22.3	NewsMax TV	Karlo Maalouf	March 2, 2017	Began formally broadcasting on March 20, 2017
Pocatello/Idaho Falls	KPIF	15.2	MeTV	Pocatello Channel 15, LLC	October 2, 2017
Chicago	WWME-CD	23.2	MeTV	Weigel Broadcasting	September 28, 2014 [3]	Flagship station
	WCIU-TV	26.4	The CW		December 29, 2014	Full-power simulcast of WWME-CD2
Harrisburg	WSIL-TV	3.2	ABC	Allen Media Broadcasting	January 3, 2018
Rockford	WFBN-LD	35.1	Telemundo (on DT2)	Weigel Broadcasting	mid-2016	Replaced TouchVision
Springfield, Illinois (St. Louis, Missouri)	WODK-LD	45.2	Cozi TV	DTV America	Dec 2016 or Jan 2017	Station is licensed to Springfield but transmits from suburban St. Louis; it does not transmit any signal to Springfield.
Evansville	WTSN-CD	20.1	-	Evansville Low Power Partnership
Elkhart (South Bend) [3]	WSJV	28.1		Gray Television	2016	Formerly a Fox affiliate
Indianapolis	WALV-CD	46.6	MeTV	Tegna	June 1, 2022	Carriage on WUDZ-LD ended on April 29, 2022, begins on WTHR 46.6 June 1, 2022
Cedar Rapids	KWWL	7.2	NBC	Allen Media Broadcasting	August 2, 2021	Replaced The CW, which moved to KCRG-TV 9.3
Des Moines	KCCI	8.3	CBS	Hearst Television	December 2014	Subchannel maintains secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV, pre-empting H&I prime time programming on weeknights [10]
Hutchinson/Wichita	KWCH-DT	12.3	CBS	Gray Television	June 2017
Topeka	WIBW-TV	13.3			February 28, 2019
	KCMN-LD	42.2	Catchy Comedy	DTV America Corporation
Bowling Green	WBGS-LD	34.3	Telemundo	Gray Television	January 31, 2023
Hazard (Lexington)	WYMT-TV	57.2	CBS		January 2017
Louisville	WBNA	21.6	Independent	Evangel World Prayer Center	July 2015
Alexandria	KBCA	41.1	-	Wilderness Communications	July 1, 2015	Switched to 41.1 from 41.3 in September 2016 when the CW moved to a subchannel of NBC's KALB-TV due to an agreement between CW and Gray Television
Columbia/Monroe/El Dorado	KMLU	11.2	MeTV	Legacy Broadcasting	January 2018
Lafayette/New Iberia/Baton Rouge	KDCG-CD & KLWB	22.1 & 50.2		Delta Media Corporation	July 1, 2015	replaced Antenna TV
New Orleans	WUPL	54.3	MyNetworkTV	Tegna
Poland Spring (Portland)	WPXT	51.2	The CW	Hearst Television
Dedham (Bangor)	WBGR-LD	33.2	MeTV	James McLeod(Maine Family Broadcasting, Inc.)	September 2019
Baltimore	WMJF-CD	39.6	Ion Television	HME Equity Fund II, LLC
Salisbury	WGDV-LD	32.3	Azteca America	Marquee Broadcasting
Boston	WSBK-TV	38.2	Independent	CBS News and Stations	October 6, 2016
Detroit	WJBK	2.4	Fox	Fox Television Stations	November 1, 2015
Flint	WJRT	12.5	ABC	Allen Media Group	August 30, 2019
Kalamazoo	WLLA	64.3	MeTV	Christian Broadcasting Ministries	June 1, 2020	Replaced Retro TV (now on 64.5)
Lansing	WILX-TV	10.2	NBC	Gray Television	October 1, 2016	Replaced WeatherNation TV
Marquette	WZMQ	19.5	MeTV	Lilly Broadcasting
Chisholm, Minnesota	KRII-TV	11.3	NBC	Gray Television	March 2017	Subchannel maintains secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV, pre-empting H&I prime time programming on weeknights [15] [16]
Duluth-Superior, Wisconsin	KBJR-TV	6.3
Minneapolis–St. Paul	KSTP-TV	5.7	ABC	Hubbard Broadcasting
Rochester	KTTC	10.3	NBC	Gray Television	March 2015 [17]	Also carried on translator W50DR-D in La Crosse, Wisconsin.
Poplar Bluff	KPOB-TV	15.2	ABC	Allen Media Broadcasting	January 3, 2018	Full-power satellite of WSIL-TV
St. Louis	KNLC	24.3	MeTV	Weigel Broadcasting	December 12, 2017 [18]
Omaha	WOWT	6.3	NBC	Gray Television	January 2019
Las Vegas	KHSV	21.2	MeTV	Howard Stirk Holdings	June 1, 2022	Displaced from channel 21.1 by MeTV
Secaucus (New York City)	WWOR-TV	9.4	MyNetworkTV	Fox Television Stations	October 3, 2015
Albuquerque	KOB	4.2	NBC	Hubbard Broadcasting	October 2021
Farmington	KOBF	12.2	NBC	Hubbard Broadcasting	October 2021	Satellite of KOB
Roswell	KOBR	8.2	NBC	Hubbard Broadcasting	October 2021	Satellite of KOB
Albany	WNYA	51.4	MyNetworkTV	Hubbard Broadcasting	June 1, 2019
Buffalo	WBBZ-TV	67.2	MeTV	Phil Arno	March 2017
Rochester	WHEC-TV	10.5	NBC	Hubbard Broadcasting	May 2019
Saranac Lake	WYCI	40.1	MyNetworkTV	Cross Hill Communications	2017
Syracuse	WTVU-CD	22.3	Cornerstone TV	Renard Communications	2021
Charlotte	WCCB	18.5	The CW	Bahakel Communications	October 2, 2023
Greenville	WTMQ-LD	29.3	Heartland	Tutt Media Group	August 15, 2015	Replaced Tuff TV on DT3.
Raleigh	WIRP-LD	27.4	Estrella TV	DTV America	2017
	WRAZ	50.4	Fox	Capitol Broadcasting Company	2022
Smithfield	WARZ-LD	21.3	Heartland	Tutt Media Group	August 15, 2015	Replaced Tuff TV on DT3.
Washington (Greenville)	WITN-TV	7.5	NBC	Gray Television
Wilmington	WTMV-LD	39.3	Heartland	Tutt Media Group	August 15, 2015	Replaced Tuff TV on DT3.
Bismarck	KNDB	24.1	-	BEK Communications Cooperative	July 2015
Minot	KNDM	26.1				Satellite of KNDB
Fargo	KVLY-TV	11.4	NBC	Gray Television	September 12, 2016
	KXJB-LD	30.3/28.3	CBS
Cincinnati	WXIX-TV	19.2	FOX	Gray Television	January 1, 2020
Cleveland	WBNX-TV	55.4	Independent	Winston Broadcasting Network	December 30, 2015
Portsmouth (Charleston–Huntington)	WQCW	30.2	The CW	Gray Television
Oklahoma City	KUOK	36.5	Univision	Tyler Media Group
Tulsa	KMYT-TV	41.4	MyNetworkTV	Imagicomm Communications
Oregon
Medford	KFBI-LD	48.1	MyNetworkTV	Imagicomm Communications		Maintains the Primary Affiliation With MyNetworkTV pre-temping H&I prime time programming on weeknights [19]
Allentown (Philadelphia)	WFMZ-TV	69.3	Independent	Maranatha Broadcasting Company
Erie, Pennsylvania	WSEE-TV	35.4	CBS	Lilly Broadcasting	March 4, 2019
Jeannette (Pittsburgh)	WPKD-TV	19.2	Independent	CBS News and Stations
Añasco	W34FK-D	33.1	-	TV Red de Puerto Rico, Inc.
Charleston	WGWG	4.5	-	Howard Stirk Holdings	August 1, 2015	Replaced ZUUS Country
Columbia	WOLO-TV	25.5	ABC	Bahakel Communications	January 1, 2019	Replaced Start TV which moved to 25.2, replacing This TV
Greenville-Spartanburg	WDKT-LD	31.5	GEB Network	CAROLINA CHRISTIAN BROADCASTING
Jackson	WYJJ-LD	27.5	Antenna TV MyNetworkTV	DTV America Corporation
Kingsport	WAPK-CD	36.4	MeTV	Holston Valley Broadcasting Group
Knoxville	WBXX-TV	20.3	The CW	Gray Television
Memphis	WHBQ-TV	13.2	Fox	Imagicomm Communications
Nashville	WJFB	44.2	MeTV	Weigel Broadcasting
Amarillo	KEYU	31.2	Telemundo	Gray Television	2018
Austin	KBVO	14.3	MyNetworkTV	Nexstar Media Group	October 29, 2018
Corpus Christi	KQSY-LD	30.2	Heartland	Channel 7 of Corpus Christi, Inc.	Fall 2020
Dallas–Fort Worth	KDFW	4.3	Fox	Fox Television Stations	May 14, 2021
Houston	KPRC-TV	2.3	NBC	Graham Media Group	December 1, 2015	Replaced LATV, vacant since 2012
Lubbock	KLBB-LD	48.2	MeTV	Gray Television
Odessa	KTLE-LD	7.7	Telemundo		2017
Snyder	KABI-LD	42.1	-
San Antonio	KSAT-TV	12.4	ABC	Graham Media Group	January 2019
Cedar City/St. George	KCSG	8.4 (14.6)	MeTV	Weigel Broadcasting	September 29, 2014	Replaced MeTV as primary affiliation.
Norfolk/Virginia Beach	WVEC	13.7	ABC	Tegna
Roanoke/Lynchburg	WDBJ	7.2	CBS	Gray Television	September 1, 2018
Bellingham	KVOS-TV	12.1	H&I	Weigel Broadcasting		Also serving Vancouver and Victoria, British Columbia, and much of Canada via Cable and Satellite.
Seattle	KFFV	44.3	MeTV
Spokane	KXLY-TV	4.3	ABC	Morgan Murphy Media
Weston	WDTV	5.3	CBS	Gray Television	February 2019
Eau Claire	WEAU	13.6	NBC	Gray Television	October 2015	Replaced Antenna TV, which moved to channel 13.2
Green Bay	WBAY-TV	2.4	ABC		February 1, 2019 [20]
Janesville (Madison)	WIFS	57.3	Ion Television	Byrne Acquisition Group, LLC
Milwaukee	WMLW-TV	49.3	Independent	Weigel Broadcasting	September 29, 2014 (moved from WDJT-DT3 to WMLW-DT3 on January 8, 2018) [5]
Wausau	WZAW-LD	33.4	Fox	Gray Television

Former affiliates

Market	Station	Channel	Owner	Years of affiliation	Status
San Francisco–Oakland–San Jose	KICU-TV	36.4	Fox Television Stations	November 2015 – May 2019	Now a Catchy Comedy affiliate
Bridgeport, Connecticut (New York)	WZME	43.1	NRJ TV, LLC	2015–2016	Now a Sonlife Broadcasting Network affiliate
Chicago, Illinois	WWME-CA (Analog)	23 (Analog)	Weigel Broadcasting	March–September 2015	Analog signal was terminated due to FCC mandate on September 1, 2015
Danville (Roanoke/Lynchburg)	WFFP-TV	24.2	Liberty University	2015–2018	Affiliation moved to WDBJ following WFFP-TV's sale to Gray Television
Hagerstown (Washington, D.C.)	WDVM-TV	25.1	Nexstar Media Group	July 1, 2016 – July 1, 2019	Now an independent station.
Poland Springs (Portland, Maine)	WMTW	8.2	Hearst Television	2015–2018	Now a MeTV affiliate
Racine, Wisconsin (Milwaukee)	WMLW-TV	49.3	Weigel Broadcasting	2014–2015 [3]	This TV moved from WDJT-DT3 in channel map shuffle
Springfield, Illinois (St. Louis, Missouri)	WODK-LD	45.2	DTV America	Dec 2016 – Jan 2018	Contract terminated upon Weigel's assumption of ownership of KNLC and move to KNLC-DT3; station transmits from St. Louis antenna farm and has no signal radius into the Springfield market proper.
Wausau, Wisconsin	WSAW-TV	7.3	Gray Television	2014–2015	Now a simulcast of Fox affiliate WZAW-LD
Albany, New York	WNYT	13.3	Hubbard Broadcasting	December 29, 2015 – June 1, 2019	Now a Start TV affiliate
Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas	KDFI	27.4	Fox Television Stations	2015-2021	Moved to sister station KDFW 4.3 in May 2021
Virginia Beach	WVBT	43.3	Nexstar Media Group	November 2, 2018 - October 30, 2021	Now a Rewind TV affiliate
Santa Fe (Albuquerque)	KASA-TV	29.1	Telemundo Station Group (NBCUniversal)	January 2017 - October 2021	Switched to Cozi TV after NBC purchased station from Ramar Communications
Hobbs (Albuquerque)	KUPT	29.1	Telemundo Station Group (NBCUniversal)	February 2015 - October 2021	Switched to Cozi TV after NBC purchased station from Ramar Communications
Cedar Rapids	KCRG-TV	9.4	Gray Television	March 2019 - August 2021	Moved to KWWL 7.2 in an affiliation swap with The CW
Salt Lake City	KTVX	4.4	Nexstar Media Group	November 2018-November 2022	Switched to TheGrio
Charlotte, North Carolina	WJZY	46.5		October 1, 2015-October 2, 2023
Roscommon, Michigan	WURO-LD	18.1	M33 Media LLC	March 2017–December 7, 2023	Station is defunct

References

1. "RabbitEars.Info".
2. "H&I TV Network". H&I. © 2020 H&I National Limited Partnership
3. Robert Channick (September 29, 2014). "Weigel Broadcasting launches cop show digital TV network". Chicago Tribune . Tribune Publishing . Retrieved September 30, 2014.
4. "News & Notes: Felicia Middlebrooks; WOJO; WVIX/WVIV; WMVP/WSCR; James VanOsdol; Weigel Broadcasting; WGN-TV; More". Chicagoland Radio & Media. September 30, 2014. Retrieved January 26, 2015.
5. Chris Foran (March 4, 2015). "Weigel flips channels for This TV, Heroes & Icons formats". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel . Journal Media Group . Retrieved March 5, 2015.
6. Lafayette, Jon (September 18, 2015). "Fox Stations Agree to Carry Heroes & Icons". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. Retrieved September 16, 2016.
7. Schneider, Michael (December 26, 2019). "Most-Watched Television Networks: Ranking 2019's Winners and Losers". Variety . Retrieved March 6, 2020.
8. H&I schedule
9. "Stations for Network - Heroes & Icons". RabbitEars . Retrieved October 1, 2014.
10. Michael Malone (December 2, 2014). "Weigel Launches Cop Show Net Heroes & Icons". Broadcasting & Cable . NewBay Media . Retrieved January 26, 2015.
11. "Watch Heroes & Icons Online". Sling TV. Retrieved October 23, 2020.
12. "Frndly TV Will Add Five New Channels to Its Live Streaming Lineup". Cord Cutters News. March 28, 2022. Retrieved March 28, 2022.
13. "Channel Lineup - Philo".
14. DirecTV Press Release
15. RabbitEars TV Query for KBJR
16. RabbitEars TV Query for KRII
17. "New local broadcast channel coming to KTTC 10.3". KTTC . Quincy Media. February 12, 2015. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
18. "NLEC Notice of move to sub channel 24.2". Federal Communications Commission . Retrieved December 15, 2017.
19. "KFBI My 48" . Retrieved July 9, 2023.
20. "WBAY TV-2 adds H&I and Start TV to channel line up". January 25, 2019. Retrieved January 25, 2019.

External links

• Official website