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WRNN-TV (channel 48) is a television station licensed to New Rochelle, New York, United States, serving the New York City area as an affiliate of Shop LC. It serves as the flagship station and namesake of Rye Brook–based WRNN-TV Associates; its studio facilities and headquarters are co-located on Westchester Avenue in Rye Brook. Through a channel sharing agreement with WWOR-TV (channel 9), WRNN-TV transmits using WWOR-TV's spectrum from a tower atop One World Trade Center.
Owned by Swyer's group, which by then had changed its name to WTZA-TV Associates, WTZA was programmed as a traditional independent station, with movies, off-network reruns, children's shows, and public affairs programs filling its airtime. Sports programming was also included, mostly high school and college contests, and later Army football games. The station also ran a small news operation, led by former CNN executive producer Gerry Harrington, which was relatively successful given the underserved nature of its coverage area. The weather portion of the newscast gave full forecasts for both New York City and Albany, even though the station was not on the air in either city.
Though WTZA was still doing well in its market, the station had begun to struggle prior to the sale due to the station being shut out of obtaining rights to many syndicated programs by larger stations in New York City and Albany. Being licensed within the New York City market did not help the station's cause either, and in the early 1990s WTZA lost most of its higher-profile syndicated programs as the New York City outlets claimed territorial rights. In 1993, Swyer and his group sold the station to Harrison, New York, businessman Richard French Jr. French soon made WTZA into a family-run operation, with his wife and three sons involved in various aspects of the station. His oldest son, Richard French III, was appointed as WTZA's general manager and would eventually become the face of the station.
Budgetary concerns led to a reduction of news programming in 1999, to weekday evenings only. But WRNN decided the time had come for the station to target New York City, the first time a station on channel 62 served the entire New York City area since W62AA left the air in 1983, albeit this time for cable subscribers. The bureaus in New Jersey and Connecticut were also closed down. Soon thereafter, the operation placed a greater emphasis on New York City news than there had been before, in spite of WRNN's invisible profile within the Five Boroughs. The over-the-air channel 62 signal barely reached the Bronx, the city's northernmost borough, and neither of the city's major cable systems (operated by the predecessors of today's Spectrum and Altice USA) carried the station. WRNN opened a studio in Manhattan and was successful in getting its evening news shows simulcast on a low-power station there, though it was mostly an effort to gain must-carry coverage on local cable. The shift towards New York City resulted in decreased coverage for its main signal area–for example, WRNN's weather forecasts did not include areas north of Kingston, the station's city of license. Oddly enough, the station applied for must-carry in the entire Albany market several years after the station stopped covering the area outside politics. Within about two years, the simulcast in New York City was gone. It would take a few more years before WRNN would appear on New York City cable, and as part of satellite provider DirecTV's local station package. WRNN opened a new main studio facility in the village of Rye Brook in 2005, though it has retained its facilities in Kingston and Manhattan.
Over the years, WRNN's news offerings have fluctuated. By February 2017, the station aired a combination of regional and international news, including Richard French Live, and NHK Newsline, the English-language newscast of Japanese public broadcaster NHK. In June 2009, WRNN began producing news programming for FiOS1, a news channel that is carried by Verizon Fios systems in the region. In August 2019, Verizon announced that it would not renew its contract with RNN to produce the network's news programming; as a result, FiOS1 ceased operations on November 13, 2019, two days earlier than originally planned.
On February 16, 2018, in a FCC filing, WRNN stated that it had entered into a channel sharing agreement with Fox Television Stations and its Secaucus, New Jersey–licensed WWOR-TV (channel 9). As WWOR's signal does not sufficiently reach Kingston, WRNN has changed its city of license to New Rochelle, New York. WRNN began channel-sharing with WWOR on May 1, 2018.
iMedia Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on June 28, 2023. On July 10, 2023, iMedia announced that it would sell its assets, including ShopHQ, to RNN Media Group for $50 million; the deal was terminated in August in favor of a $55 million bid for ShopHQ by IV Brands, owned by Manoj Bhargava.
Newscenter Now was dropped after the September 27, 2008, broadcast; it was replaced with syndicated programming and the locally produced Real Politics Live. The Newscenter Now name was also used on a half-hour-long newscast targeted to Long Island, which has since been dropped from its schedule.
On March 1, 2010, digital channel 48.2 began carrying the Spanish-language network Mega TV. However, on August 1, 2011, WRNN dropped Mega TV and replaced it with the Qatar-based Al Jazeera English. One hour of local programming and station-provided E/I programming is scheduled in off periods to meet FCC guidelines. Al Jazeera English was removed on August 20, 2013, when it was pulled from US distribution due to the launch of Al Jazeera America. The channel then mirrored the programming of the primary WRNN channel.
On July 1, 2011, WRNN activated its fourth subchannel for Global Christian Network, a Christian-based religious television network which also aired on WEBR-CD (channels 17.1 and 17.3) in New York City. Despite the duplication in programming, each station technically serves a different market and are not commonly owned. GCN has been removed from the 4th slot and is not in use at present. In February 2012, WRNN activated its fifth subchannel to carry NHK World, the English language international broadcasting service of Japan's public broadcaster, NHK.
The early analog shutoff authority was granted during a time when the full transition from analog to digital television had been tentatively scheduled for the end of 2006. Full-powered analog television broadcasts in the United States ended on June 12, 2009.
| + !Market !Station !Current Affiliation !Year acquired !Notes | ||||
| Los Angeles | KSCI | Shop LC | 2020 | |
| San Francisco | KCNS | Shop LC | 2020 | |
| Washington, DC | WMDE | Shop LC | 2018 | Station is located in Dover, Delaware, but was assigned Washington DMA by Nielsen at the station's request. |
| Boston | WMFP | OnTV4U | 2020 | |
| WWDP | Shop LC | 2017 | ||
| Philadelphia | WMCN-TV | Shop LC | 2017 | |
| WPHY-CD | Independent | 2020 | Majority of schedule consists of infomercials. | |
| WTVE | OnTV4U | 2020 | Majority of schedule consists of infomercials. | |
| Dallas | KFWD | Shop LC | 2020 | |
| Houston | KUBE-TV | Shop LC | 2020 |
| + !Market !Station !Current affiliation !Year acquired !Year sold !Notes | |||||
| Honolulu | KIKU | Multicultural Independent | 2020 | 2022 | Sold to Allen Media Broadcasting. |
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