Becoming a Fox affiliate
WAXA beat out WHNS for a charter affiliation with the upstart Fox Broadcasting Company, which launched in October 1986,[15] even though WAXA had a considerably weaker signal (it was marginal at best in the North Carolina portion of the market and only appeared on Asheville cable systems upon affiliation[16]) and less well-heeled ownership. However, in 1988, WAXA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Pappas, meanwhile, struck a group deal to affiliate KMPH, KPTM and WHNS with Fox: the three stations became Fox affiliates that September.[17] WAXA never recovered from the loss of Fox programming and went off the air on August 31, 1989.[18] After joining the network, WHNS abandoned its "TV-21" brand and changed its on-air branding to "Fox 21".
In 1990, Pappas sold WHNS to Cannell Communications (a broadcast group owned by television producer and author Stephen J. Cannell), earning a handsome return on its original investment; Pappas had successfully built up WHNS as a major player in the market.[19] Cannell sold WHNS to First Media Television in 1994. On January 16, 1995, WHNS took on a secondary affiliation with the United Paramount Network (UPN), airing the network's programming during late-night time periods. First Media sold its stations to Meredith Corporation for $435 million in 1997.[20] In October of that year, UPN's programming moved to WASV-TV (channel 62, now WYCW)—which had been acquired by Pappas two years earlier in 1995. The station became exclusively affiliated with Fox as a result, only to add a secondary affiliation with Pax TV when that network launched on August 31, 1998; WHNS carried select programs from the network until 2003. In the fall of 2002, WHNS began branding itself as "Fox Carolina". On July 24, 2003, Meredith received FCC approval to change WHNS' city of license from Asheville to Greenville to aid identification as a South Carolina station. Under the terms of the reallotment, the station was required to retain city-grade coverage of Asheville and to maintain its existing public interest obligations to that city.[21]
In March 2009, the Meredith Corporation announced that WHNS and Nashville sister station WSMV-TV would have their master control operations moved to a new master control hub based out of the studio facilities of Atlanta sister station WGCL-TV, which began operations in the fall of 2009.[22]
On September 8, 2015, Media General announced that it would acquire Meredith for $2.4 billion, with the combined group to be renamed Meredith Media General if the sale had been finalized. Because Media General already owned CBS affiliate WSPA-TV (channel 7) and CW affiliate WYCW, and both WHNS and WSPA ranked among the four highest-rated stations in the Greenville-Spartanburg-Asheville market in total day viewership, the companies would have been required to sell either WHNS or WSPA.[23][24] However, on January 27, 2016, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General, resulting in the termination of Meredith's acquisition by Media General.
On May 3, 2021, Gray Television announced its intent to purchase the Meredith Local Media division, including WHNS, for $2.7 billion. The sale was completed on December 1.[25]
