Short-lived CW affiliation; canceled sale to Mission Broadcasting
On May 17, 2023, Adell Broadcasting announced it would sell WADL to Mission Broadcasting in a deal valued at $75 million.[10][11] As is typical with Mission Broadcasting stations, Nexstar Media Group would both finance the deal and completely operate WADL, through a shared services agreement (SSA), if the deal closes.[12] The deal faced a number of objections by various public interest groups, who argue that allowing Mission to acquire WADL will allow Nexstar to demand higher fees for the station and permit Nexstar to operate stations above the federal ownership cap.
On August 23, 2023, WADL announced on its website that the station was joining The CW on a primary basis, with MyNetworkTV programming airing afterwards from 10 p.m. to midnight, effective September 1.[13]
On October 30, 2023, the station posted a press release noting it had dropped The CW over a dispute with Nexstar, claiming the sale would not be approved in the near future, with MyNetworkTV programming reverting to its prime time berth. The Detroit News reported the conflict was over Nexstar asking for a transitional affiliation agreement being signed by Adell before the station came under Mission ownership;[14] owner Kevin Adell told a trade publication that WADL was running CW programming as an "accommodation", that he was seeking payments from Nexstar as part of any affiliation agreement, and that he had "more options to put other programming" on the station.[15] Nexstar and The CW signed an affiliation agreement with the E. W. Scripps Company-owned WMYD, which was announced on November 6 and took effect on November 13,[16] leading Adell to send a cease and desist letter to Scripps with the intention to stop The CW's agreement with Scripps from going into effect. Adell claimed Scripps conspired with Nexstar to harm WADL's business and to interfere with the Mission acquisition.
Despite several months of meeting with the FCC and support from groups like the Detroit chapter of the NAACP and the Rainbow Push Coalition, Adell Broadcasting owner Kevin Adell admitted the first week of April 2024 that his pending transaction with Mission and Nexstar was likely not going to get approved. The affirmation came after the FCC levied a substantial fine against Mission and Nexstar over the latter's operational control of New York–based WPIX, which was operated through a local marketing agreement similar to one that Mission would have engaged in shortly after the sale of WADL closed.[17]
On April 23, 2024, however, Kevin Adell announced that FCC had given approval of Mission's application to purchase WADL, but the commission imposed conditions on the deal, namely that Nexstar cannot be involved in financing Mission's purchase of the station, and any SSA between Mission and Nexstar must provide limited performance bonuses and ad revenues to Nexstar, and that any SSA cannot include an option for Nexstar to purchase WADL outright. Though Kevin Adell indicated that Mission called the purchase conditions "problematic", he was optimistic that a sale to Mission would still go through.[18][19] The sale was called off on May 22, 2024, after Mission filed a non-consummation notice with the FCC.[20]
Adell announced another attempt to sell the station in September 2024, stating he had lost interest in the media business, which he did not consider a "fair fight".[21]
