WXMI

Aborted acquisition by Sinclair Broadcast Group and resale to Standard Media Group

On May 8, 2017, Hunt Valley, Maryland-based Sinclair Broadcast Group – which has owned primary CBS/subchannel-only CW affiliate WWMT (channel 3) since 2012 – entered into an agreement to acquire Tribune Media for $3.9 billion, plus the assumption of $2.7 billion in debt held by Tribune. Sinclair was precluded from acquiring WXMI directly, as WXMI and WWMT rank among the four highest-rated stations in the Grand Rapids–Kalamazoo–Battle Creek market in total day viewership (had this not have been the scenario and Kalamazoo-based ABC affiliate WOTV [channel 41]'s total day viewership resulted in one of the stations ranking fifth at the time of the decision, Sinclair could have legally acquired both stations).^{[1][2][3][4][5]} On April 24, 2018, in an amendment to the Tribune acquisition through which it proposed the sale of certain stations to both independent and affiliated third-party companies to curry the DOJ's approval, Sinclair announced that it would sell KDSM and eight other stations – Sinclair-operated KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City, WRLH-TV in Richmond, KDSM-TV in Des Moines, WOLF-TV (along with LMA partners WSWB and WQMY) in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and WXLV-TV in Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, and Tribune-owned and WXMI in Grand Rapids – to Standard Media Group (an independent broadcast holding company formed by private equity firm Standard General to assume ownership of and absolve ownership conflicts involving the aforementioned stations) for $441.1 million.^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

Three weeks after the FCC's July 18 vote to have the deal reviewed by an administrative law judge amid "serious concerns" about Sinclair's forthrightness in its applications to sell certain conflict properties, on August 9, 2018, Tribune announced it would terminate the Sinclair deal, intending to seek other M&A opportunities. Tribune also filed a breach of contract lawsuit in the Delaware Chancery Court, alleging that Sinclair engaged in protracted negotiations with the FCC and the DOJ over regulatory issues, refused to sell stations in markets where it already had properties, and proposed divestitures to parties with ties to Sinclair executive chair David D. Smith that were rejected or highly subject to rejection to maintain control over stations it was required to sell. As the Standard Media purchase was predicated on the closure of the Sinclair–Tribune merger, the termination of the Sinclair sale agreement likely will also cause the sale of WXMI and the six other Tribune- and Sinclair-operated stations to Standard not being completed, with WXMI and WPMT remaining under Tribune ownership.^{[11][12][13][14][15][16]}

Digital channels

The station's digital channel is multiplexed:

From August 2006 to September 2007, The Tube aired on the station's second digital subchannel. In July 2010, the station reactivated the 17.2 digital subchannel to carry This TV, which moved to 17.3 on December 9 in anticipation of the December 31 launch of Antenna TV.

Analog-to-digital conversion

WXMI shut down its analog signal, over UHF channel 17, on June 12, 2009, as part of the federally mandated transition from analog to digital television.^[18] The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 19,^[19] using PSIP to display WXMI's virtual channel as 17 on digital television receivers.

Translators

In addition to its main signal, the station also operates two translators, mainly to provide clear service of the station to lakeshore cities with varying terrain blocking reception of the main signal, and to address interference in farther portions of the market by sister station WGN-TV from Chicago, which also broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 19. Two additional transmitters in the southern part of the market, officially classed as WXMI digital repeaters, serve the direct Kalamazoo area on channel 30 from the tower of WGVU-TV's Kalamazoo satellite WGVK, along with a second repeater licensed to Battle Creek on channel 17 transmitting from the city's south side; all four translators carry WXMI and its subchannel services, and all map via PSIP to channel 17. This means it is possible for a television in the Grand Rapids market receiving an over-the-air signal to map out up to four different WXMI signals in its channel map.

W42CB channel 42 completed a flash-cut to digital-only broadcasting in November 2010. W52DB on analog channel 52 was replaced by a digital signal on channel 17 in December 2010. In late June 2011, W52DB calls became W17DF-D.^[20]

Notable former on-air staff

• Ahmed Fareed, sports anchor (2002-2003) — now studio host/reporter at Comcast SportsNet Bay Area^[24]