WFUT-DT (channel 68) is a television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving as the UniMás outlet for the New York City area. It is one of two flagship stations of the Spanish-language network (the other being WAMI-DT in Miami–Fort Lauderdale, Florida). WFUT-DT is owned and operated by TelevisaUnivision alongside Paterson, New Jersey–licensed Univision co-flagship WXTV-DT (channel 41) and Smithtown, New York–licensed True Crime Network affiliate WFTY-DT (channel 67). The stations share studios on Frank W. Burr Boulevard in Teaneck, New Jersey; WFUT-DT and WXTV-DT share transmitter facilities at the Empire State Building in Midtown Manhattan. WFUT's programming is simulcast to Long Island on WFTY's second digital subchannel (virtual channel 67.2, UHF channel 23.2) from its transmitter in Middle Island, New York. History The station first signed on the air on September 29, 1974 as WBTB-TV, an independent station founded by Old Bridge Township, New Jersey-based Blonder-Tongue Laboratories. The station's original call letters were intended to be WWRO-TV in its construction permit, but upon Blonder-Tongue's acquisition of the permit from Atlantic Video Corporation in 1972, the calls were changed; the first transmission was a test pattern with a drawing of a shade tree with the WBTB-TV calls. Channel 68 was the third commercial UHF station to sign-on in the northern New Jersey portion of the New York market, after WNJU-TV (channel 47) and future sister station WXTV. Blonder-Tongue's long-term plans for channel 68 was to offer an over-the-air subscription television service to the New York area, consisting of movies, sports and cultural programming. Due to financial issues, the station was forced to go dark on December 27, 1974. Nine months later, on September 28, 1975, WBTB-TV returned to the air and became the first "specialty station" as defined by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) with niche programming—featuring daily reports and updates from the New York financial exchanges. When the stock markets were closed, channel 68 offered shows such as the Grand Ole Opry during the late afternoon hours, a locally-produced variety series called The Uncle Floyd Show hosted by Floyd Vivino, and Christian programming hosted by Keith Hauser at night. Saturdays featured various ethnic programs, as well as religious programming during the day on Sunday and on weekday mornings before the stock market opened. In 1976 Wometco Enterprises, the founding and longtime owners of WTVJ in Miami, purchased the station originally with the intent of making it more