Editing WSVN (section)

{{Short description|Television station in Miami}}
{{good article}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
<!-- Do NOT post content from NewsBlues.com, as it is NOT a reliable source. -->
{{Infobox television station
| callsign = WSVN
| logo = WSVN 7 Miami logo.png
| logo_upright = .6
| logo_alt = A shiny red sphere framed by a combined chrome 7 and circle (the "circle 7" logo). Underneath the number design are the letters "WSVN" in a distinctive typeface, itself also with a chrome appearance.
| location = [[Miami]]–[[Fort Lauderdale, Florida]]
| country = United States
| city = Miami, Florida
| digital = 9 ([[VHF]])
| virtual = 7
| branding = WSVN 7; ''7 News''
| affiliations = {{ubl|'''7.1:''' [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]]|'''7.2:''' [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] (effective August 4, 2025)|''for others, see {{section link||Subchannels}}''}}
| owner = [[Sunbeam Television Corporation]]
| airdate = {{start date and age|1956|7|29|p=y|br=y}}{{efn|First air date under the current license was {{start date and age|1962|12|19}}.}}
| former_callsigns = WCKT (1956–1983)
| former_channel_numbers = {{ubl|'''Analog:''' 7 (VHF, 1956–2009)|'''Digital:''' 8 (VHF, 2000–2009), 7 (VHF, 2009–2019)}}
| former_affiliations = [[NBC]] (1956–1989)
| callsign_meaning = Channel "Seven"
| erp = 158 kW
| haat = {{convert|307.1|m|ft|0|abbr=on}}
| facility_id = 63840
| coordinates = {{coord|25|58|1|N|80|12|42|W|type:landmark_scale:2000}}
| licensing_authority = [[FCC]]
| website = {{URL|https://wsvn.com/}}
}}

'''WSVN''' (channel 7) is a [[television station]] in [[Miami]], Florida, United States, affiliated with the [[Fox Broadcasting Company|Fox]] network. Serving as the [[flagship station]] of locally based [[Sunbeam Television]], it has studios on the [[Florida State Road 934|79th Street Causeway]] in [[North Bay Village]] and a transmitter in [[Miami Gardens, Florida]].

The [[Federal Communications Commission]] (FCC) regards WSVN as having signed on for the first time on December 19, 1962, as WCKT under Sunbeam ownership. However, the station was the result of a long and contentious legal battle between Sunbeam and three other applicants for the channel 7 allocation in Miami. Biscayne Television Corporation, a three-way partnership including the publishers of the ''[[Miami News]]'' and ''[[Miami Herald]]'' signed on a previous WCKT on July 29, 1956, only to be stripped of its license due to ethics violations within the FCC and unethical behavior by its principals during the application process. Sunbeam purchased WCKT's assets and re-launched the station under a new license with uninterrupted service, while claiming the old WCKT's history as its own. The market's [[NBC]] affiliate since its inception, WCKT was renamed WSVN in 1983 and became an [[independent station|independent]] with Fox programming on January 1, 1989, after NBC's purchase of [[CBS]] affiliate [[WTVJ]] and CBS's purchase of Fox affiliate [[WFOR-TV|WCIX-TV]] initiated [[1989 South Florida television affiliation switch|a major affiliation switch]]. With minimal advance preparation, WSVN relaunched their news department with an emphasis on [[tabloid journalism]] under [[Joel Cheatwood]]'s direction, an unconventional decision initially pilloried by the local media but since been emulated and copied throughout the industry.

WSVN's newscasts have attracted national and international attention for aggressive and controversial content and have been credited as an inspiration for the launch of [[Fox News]]. One of the largest Fox affiliates not owned by the network, it was famously called "the future of television" by onetime Fox executive [[Lucie Salhany]].{{r|SouthF19940704p46}} Involved with Sunbeam from the company's beginnings until his death on July 26, 2020, chairman [[Edmund Ansin]] repeatedly refused offers to sell either WSVN or his [[Boston]] stations. On August 4, 2025, a subchannel of WSVN will replace [[WPLG]] as Miami's [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliate.