Chances are if you still surf broadcast television stations in northeast Wisconsin, you’ve come across their digital subchannels offering additional content. According to FCC filings, another station looks to be coming to the area and possibly offering a popular subchannel you may have seen while switching channels.
FCC.gov has included recent records showing that the call letters WMEI were approved to a potential television signal with Shawano as the city of license, although the origination of the signal looks to be from a tower just northeast of Morrison. The station’s licensee is listed as TV-49, Inc. but rabbitears.info (a website for broadcast signal enthusiasts) reports the operator as Weigel Broadcasting, a company out of Chicago who owns a number of networks including MeTV, which features classic television shows.
Although no public announcement has been made at the time of this posting, signs show that MeTV could return to northeast Wisconsin television. It had previously been a digital subchannel for NBC26 until 2022. But with the WMEI call letters and Weigel’s presumed involvement, this new station could be poised to carry MeTV over a broadcast signal in northeast Wisconsin once the station goes live.
In addition to MeTV, Weigel Broadcasting owns other stations that could be carried as subchannels including Catchy Comedy (a station formerly known as Decades featuring classic TV shows), H&I, Start TV, Dabl and the upcoming MeTV Toons which features classic animation and just released their programming schedule for when it signs on nationally on June 25th.
As of right now, WMEI has only a construction permit and a transmit channel designation (Channel 31) from the Federal Communications Commission. There is no timeline on when the station will sign on.
