the Pole. The end of the program was brought on by the need to put efforts into the building of their three megawatt transmitter facility to reach beyond the Lehigh Valley into Philadelphia. WBPH also previously carried the Easton–Phillipsburg Thanksgiving football game; that game, as of 2015, now airs on WFMZ. Technical information Subchannels The station's digital signal is multiplexed: Analog-to-digital conversion In 2002, WBPH applied to have its digital channel assignment reallocated from UHF channel 59 to VHF channel 9. The reason for this was that both the station's analog and digital channels were among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that would be removed from broadcasting use upon the formal transition to digital broadcasts. With the FCC's approval of this application, WBPH became the first station in the Lehigh Valley to broadcast on a VHF channel. WBPH shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 60, on June 12, 2009, the official date in which full-power television stations in the United States transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts under federal mandate. The station's digital signal continued to broadcasts on its pre-transition VHF channel 9. Through the use of PSIP, digital television receivers display the station's virtual channel as its former UHF analog channel 60, which was among the high band UHF channels (52-69) that were removed from broadcasting use as a result of the transition. Availability Cable Presently, WBPH-TV is seen on cable systems in most of the Philadelphia media market. Exceptions are a majority of Chester County, most of southern New Jersey, and Delaware. The majority of areas in which WBPH-TV is carried are those within reach of the station's over-the-air broadcast signal. Verizon FiOS began carrying WBPH on April 17, 2020. Satellite WBPH-TV is carried on Dish Network channel 8169. It is also carried on DirecTV channel 60 in the Philadelphia market. See also Media in the Lehigh Valley References External links WBPH website Religious television stations in the United States Television channels and stations established in 1990 1990 establishments in Pennsylvania BPH-TV Mass media in Allentown, Pennsylvania BPH-TV