WBNS-TV

now broadcast. WCMH-TV and most of Columbus' FM radio stations also broadcast from the candelabra tower. Until 1995 WBNS-TV began operations on October 15, 1949. Channel 10 has been an affiliate of the CBS television network since its inception, owing to WBNS radio's affiliation with the CBS Radio Network for almost 20 years. It is currently the ninth longest-tenured CBS affiliate. Channel 10 has used the on-air branding of 10TV since 1977. It is also one of only a few stations in the country to have had the same call letters and primary network affiliation throughout its history. The WBNS call letters stand for "Wolfe Bank Newspaper and Shoes", the businesses owned by the company's longtime owners, the Wolfe family. Channel 10 maintained common ownership with The Columbus Dispatch, the city's lone remaining daily newspaper and the "N" in the station's call letters, until 2015 under an exemption of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s cross-ownership rules. The FCC has largely prohibited common ownership of co-located print and broadcast media since the mid-1970s. The Wolfe family, who purchased the Dispatch in 1905, sold the newspaper and related assets to New Media Investment Group in June 2015. WBNS-TV was known for its locally produced shows Flippo the Clown, ''Luci's Toyshop, Franz the Toymaker, The Judge, and programs hosted by popular Columbus Zoo and Aquarium personality Jack Hanna (Hanna's Ark). The station also featured "Fritz the Nite Owl", who hosted midnight movies during the 1970s, and the Sunday state government talk show called Capital Square in the 1990s. Throughout much of the 1990s and early years of the millennium, WBNS-TV was home to the 10TV Kids News Network'' (KNN); a local show, "produced by kids, for kids". The half-hour show aired Saturday mornings. Several KNN kids have gone on to pursue careers in television news or public relations in central Ohio. Since 1995 In 1995, WBNS-TV replaced Cleveland's WJW-TV as the default affiliate in the Mansfield area (part of the Cleveland–Akron DMA) after WJW became a Fox broadcast outlet. The new Cleveland CBS affiliate, WOIO, unlike WBNS-TV, did not reach Mansfield with a Grade B signal. WBNS also replaced Toledo CBS affiliate WTOL on cable television in the Lima DMA. The first live high-definition broadcast on the station's digital signal took place in September 1998 in which the broadcast was a football game between Ohio State and West Virginia, making the station a pioneer in American digital television. The station claims this to have been the first locally produced HD broadcast in the U.S.; however, as several other stations throughout the country also lay claim to this distinction, the veracity cannot be verified. It is widely considered the first ever live sporting event in HD in the U.S. produced using a production truck and transmission vehicle from NHK, Japan's national public broadcasting organization. Working with sister company Radio Sound Network, WBNS-TV, WBNS (AM) and Ohio News Network (ONN) produced and distributed on a Streaming media platform the Ohio State spring football game in 2001. It was one of the first live sporting events in the U.S. to be streamed. The game was delivered on RealVideo, a compressed video format, on the RealPlayer media player platform on the station's website. It also was distributed to Windows Mobile mobile devices using the Windows Media Player format, including Compaq's IPAQ personal digital assistant which required an ExpressCard to connect to the Internet. On June 11, 2019, Dispatch announced it would sell its broadcasting assets, including the WBNS stations, to Tegna Inc. for $535 million in cash. Coinciding with WBNS-TV's 70th anniversary, the deal ended the Wolfe family's involvement in local media after over a century. At the time of the sale announcement, channel 10 was the only major television station in Columbus still owned by Ohio-based interests. The sale was approved by the FCC on July 29, 2019, and was completed on August 8. WBNS-TV became Tegna's third television station located in Ohio, operating alongside fellow CBS affiliate WTOL in Toledo and NBC affiliate WKYC in Cleveland. On August 19, 2025, Nexstar Media Group announced it would acquire Tegna. In Columbus, Nexstar already owns WCMH-TV. The deal was completed on March 19, 2026. A temporary restraining order issued one week later by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, later escalated to a preliminary injunction, has prevented WBNS AM/FM/TV from being integrated into WCMH. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost reached a deal with Nexstar on April 30, 2026, under which, if the injunction were to be lifted, Nexstar would maintain the existing local program output and editorially independent news departments between WBNS and WCMH through 2030. ==Programming==