WTHQ-TV

WTHQ-TV, virtual channel 11 (digital channel 12) is an independent station licensed to Buffalo, New York. The station is owned by WTHQ Inc. (itself owned by Embracer Group and local investors) and operated by Entravision Communications via a local marketing agreement (LMA), thus making it a sister station to Univision affiliate WNYI (channel 52) and UniMás affiliate WBTF-LD (channel 60), which WTHQ-TV simulcasts on it's second and third digital subchannels respectively. WTHQ's studios are located in the THQ Buffalo building in Amherst Street in Downtown Buffalo, and its transmitter is located on Warner Hill Road in South Wales, New York.

The station also serves as a super-station throughout Western New York. WTHQ-TV is the largest non-Univision or UniMas affiliate under Entravision.

LJN, MCA, and Acclaim years
On October 1, 1979, WTHQ-TV would launch as WLJN-TV under the ownership of Jack Friedman. The station's name and on-air branding at the time were based on Jack's corporation, LJN (itself made after the reversed initials of Norman J. Lewis, the founder of Norman J. Lewis Associates). The station initially was a general entertainment independent station airing barter sitcoms, cartoons, and movies. In 1980, Jack Friedman acquired CHR radio station WMMY-AM (590 AM) and album-oriented rock station WBLJ-FM (104.5 FM) from both Bally Enterprises and Capital Cities Broadcasting respectively. Both stations are now Black Information Network affiliated WTHQ-AM, and adult hits station WTHQ-FM.

On March 26, 1985, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MCA_Inc. MCA Inc.] (parent company of Universal Studios) acquired 63% of LJN for $67 million. In the process, WLJN-TV started de-emphasizing its relations to LJN changing its branding from "WLJN 11, LJN for Buffalo" to "Channel 11 WLJN-TV". In 1986, WLJN-TV would became a sister station to fellow independent station, WWOR-TV in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Citing poor ratings in 1987 and 1988, and the controversy among the LJN label. MCA announced on January 22, 1990 to sell LJN and WLJN-TV to an unknown third-party company. On March 13, 1990, MCA agreed to sell LJN and the ownership of WLJN-TV to video game publisher, Acclaim Entertainment. By 1991 and 1992, WLJN-TV would completely phase out movies from their lineup in favor of airing game shows.

THQ acquisition and LMA deal with WGRZ-TV
By 1994, Acclaim started to get uninterested into broadcasting, and sold WLJN-AM-FM-TV to another video game publisher, THQ (also founded by Jack Friedman). To further downsize relations with Acclaim Entertainment, THQ renamed the three stations to WTHQ-AM-FM-TV.

On September 8, 1995, THQ entered an LMA deal with Gannett owned WGRZ, in which WGRZ would handle the station's programming, assets and would produce a 9:00 newscast for that station. This deal would further expand the next month on October when WTHQ-TV would provide NBC programming that WGRZ preempts. On November 1, 1997, WTHQ-TV would become a charter affiliate of Treehouse TV. Treehouse TV was an Canadian-exclusive network aimed at preschoolers, This weird affiliation deal with Shaw Media, the owners of Treehouse TV would result in WTHQ-TV becoming the first station in America to broadcast a network from an outside country. Due to this affiliation deal by 2002, WGRZ ceased operations on its 9:00 newscast for WTHQ-TV though WGRZ would continue to operate WTHQ-TV through the LMA deal.

LMA deal termination, and sale to WTHQ Inc.
In 2008, Gannett announced to pull its LMA deal with WTHQ permanently by July 18th, 2009. On the day, WTHQ would effectively end its LMA deal with WGRZ after 13 years. In December 2012 as part of THQ's liquidation of assets, WTHQ-TV would be sold to WTHQ Inc. (25% owned by Sega and 75% owned by local investors) while WTHQ-AM-FM would be sold to Clear Channel Radio which renamed the next year to iHeartMedia, the sale of three stations were approved on June 2, 2013 and finalized by June 9, 2013. In August 2016, Sega sold its stake of WTHQ-TV to THQ Nordic which acquired THQ's licensee assets in 2014. On August 3, 2018, WTHQ Inc. entered a new local marketing agreement with Entravision Communications. Under Entravision operation, the company would start broadcasting Univision and UniMás on the station's second and third sub-channels. In 2018, WTHQ disaffiliated Treehouse TV and returned to being an independent station.