Acquisition of WFUM

On October 27, 2009, it was announced that the CMU Board of Trustees approved a proposal for CMU to acquire Flint, Michigan's PBS member station, WFUM (later WCMZ-TV), from the University of Michigan–Flint for a maximum of $1 million.^[5] The sale was approved by the FCC, allowing the network's presence to expand further south, not only including Flint, but also Ann Arbor and into Metro Detroit. The network provided at least secondary over-the-air coverage from far Northern Emmet County to northern Monroe County. While WFUM was folded into the CMU Public Television network, CMU vowed to include Flint-area events and issues in its programming, as well as produce new programming that would originate from the region. CMU believed the acquisition of WFUM will increase its viewership from 2.2 million to 8 million.^[6] CMU originally hinted that the takeover of WFUM would begin in late November,^[7] but WCMU took over operations of WFUM on January 15, 2010.^[8] The FCC approved the sale of WFUM in March and CMU officially took over in May at which point the call letters were changed to WCMZ-TV.

On February 8, 2017, Central Michigan University announced it will sell WCMZ-TV in the FCC spectrum auction for $14 million, claiming its viewers are already able to watch PBS on other nearby affiliates, namely Delta College's WDCQ-TV.^[9] It signed off on April 23, 2018.^[10]

Subchannels

The stations' digital signals are multiplexed:

The entire network discontinued analog service on March 31, 2009.

Unlike other major stations in the Traverse City/Cadillac/Sault Ste. Marie market, CMU Public Television does not have marketwide coverage. Following the 2009 digital transition, the network lost significant coverage. WCML decently penetrated most of the Eastern Upper Peninsula before the analog shutdown. With the switch to digital, residents of the Eastern Upper Peninsula (except for those on the Lake Huron shoreline) were no longer able to receive WCML due to its 300 kW UHF signal. Currently, WCMU Public Media has no plans to add transmitters in the Eastern U.P. All PBS service, whether from CMU Public Television or another station, is available in that region only via cable or satellite. Some cable systems in that region carry another PBS station instead of WCMU — in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, Marquette's WNMU is seen on Charter, while across the locks in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Shaw carries Detroit's WTVS instead mainly because of the lack of a local over-the-air signal to the nearly 90,000 people in the twin Saults and Eastern U.P. (Shaw previously carried WNMU for that same reason before it was replaced by WTVS in 2002.)