- The number on your TV is a virtual channel; the station may transmit on a different RF channel.
- Some Boston stations share one transmitter and one RF channel.
- If a station disappears, rescan before you buy anything.
The FCC’s public files list more than a dozen full-power and Class A TV stations licensed in and around Boston, and many of them carry extra subchannels as well. The hard part is that the channel numbers on your screen do not always match what the station actually broadcasts on, and a few stations are licensed to towns you would not expect. This list sorts that out.
How to read the list
Every station below has two numbers. The virtual channel is the number your TV shows, such as 4 or 5. The RF channel is the frequency the signal actually travels on. Your TV maps one to the other during a scan, which is why WBZ-TV appears as channel 4 even though it transmits on RF channel 20. The community of license is the town the FCC license names; it is not always where the studio is.
| Virtual ch. | Station | What the station calls itself | RF ch. | Licensed to |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | WGBH-TV | GBH 2 | 5 | Boston |
| 4 | WBZ-TV | CBS Boston | 20 | Boston |
| 5 | WCVB-TV | WCVB Channel 5 | 33 | Boston |
| 7 | WHDH | 7News | 35 | Boston |
| 15 | WBTS-CD | NBC10 Boston | 32 | Nashua, NH |
| 25 | WFXT | Boston 25 | 34 | Boston |
| 38 | WSBK-TV | myTV38 | 21 | Boston |
| 44 | WGBX-TV | GBH 44 | 32 | Boston |
| 56 | WLVI | CW56 | 35 | Cambridge |
| 60 | WNEU | Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra | 29 | Merrimack, NH |
| 62 | WMFP | – | 10 | Foxborough |
| 66 | WUNI | – | 27 | Marlborough |
| 68 | WBPX-TV | – | 22 | Boston |
Channel numbers and licenses come from each station’s profile in the FCC’s Public Inspection File. Where the third column has a dash, the station’s own website did not say how it brands itself, so we left it out rather than guess.
Shared channels: why two stations ride one signal
Look closely at the RF column and you will see repeats. WHDH and WLVI both use RF channel 35, and WGBX-TV and WBTS-CD both use RF channel 32. That is channel sharing: two licensed stations carry their programs inside one transmitted signal. NBC10 Boston explained its own arrangement when it moved onto the GBH Educational Foundation’s WGBX signal, which it said had exceptional coverage of the market, and asked over-the-air viewers to rescan.
For you this mostly means good news: if your antenna gets one station on a shared channel, it usually gets the other too.
Public television has more than one channel
GBH runs two full TV stations, GBH 2 and GBH 44, plus several program services it lists on its own site: WORLD, Create, Boston Kids and Family and GBH Kids. On an antenna these show up as subchannels, numbers like 2.2 or 44.3, after a scan. See Public Radio and TV in Boston: GBH, WBUR, CRB Classical and the College Stations for what each one carries.
Stations licensed outside Boston
Three stations on the list are licensed to New Hampshire or outer suburbs: NBC10 Boston to Nashua, Telemundo to Merrimack and WUNI to Marlborough. Their licenses name those towns, but their programs are aimed at the whole Boston market. Whether you receive them depends on where their signals are transmitted from and where you live, not on the town in the license.
Tip: Write down which stations you receive after your first scan. If one vanishes later, you will know exactly what to look for after a rescan.
When a channel goes missing
Stations sometimes move frequencies or change transmitter sites. The channel number stays the same, but your TV needs to relearn where to find it. The fix is a rescan: open the TV’s menu, choose the channel setup or antenna option, and run an automatic scan. GBH and NBC10 Boston both give viewers these same steps, and NBC10 Boston notes a scan can take several minutes.
- Rescan before you move or replace the antenna.
- If one station is missing but its channel-sharing partner is present, rescan again; both travel in the same signal.
- If several stations disappear at once, check your antenna cable and power supply before anything else.
What about cable channel numbers?
The numbers above are for antenna viewers. Cable, satellite and streaming services use their own channel positions, which can be completely different. If you have both an antenna and a service, check the provider’s guide rather than assuming the numbers match.
Subchannels
Most stations carry more than one program stream. After a scan you will see numbers such as 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3. The first is the station’s main channel; the others are extra services the station chooses to add. GBH, for example, lists WORLD, Create, Boston Kids and Family and GBH Kids among its TV services. Subchannel line-ups change more often than main channels, so expect occasional surprises after a rescan.
Next steps
If you are still choosing an antenna, start with The Best TV Antenna for Boston: How to Choose One for Your Home. If you want the stations’ newscasts without any antenna at all, read How to Watch Boston Local News Without Cable.