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The parent company of WSAW NewsChannel 7 in Wausau, Gray Television, Inc., announced Wednesday it has acquired certain non-license assets of WFXS, which had served as the Fox affiliate for the Wausau-Rhinelander television market. The program streams of WFXS are now broadcast by Gray’s other Wausau station, WZAW-TV.
The “Z” is in honor of journalist Mark Zelich, the longtime and legendary sports and news anchor, and news director at WSAW-TV. Zelich is also a member of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame.
"We're acquiring the Fox affiliation in Wausau. It will work hand and glove with existing operations here,” said Gray President and CEO Hilton Howell, Jr., who shared the news Tuesday with NewsChannel 7 employees in Wausau.
On July 1, Gray Television began broadcasting WZAW, Fox 55 in Wausau. WZAW is a low power television station. Some television homes outside of Marathon County will currently not be able to receive WZAW over-the air. WZAW is available through DirecTV, Dish Network, and many cable providers including Charter and Solarus. We are actively working with other cable companies to help them receive WZAW’s signal. We also are working on plans to expand WZAW's over-the-air coverage through a complete rebuild of the station over the next ninety days. Delivering the WZAW signal to as many homes as possible in north central Wisconsin is a top priority for Gray Television.
Viewers who are not able to receive WZAW can still receive WSAW Newschannel 7 over-the-air. We invite these viewers to get local news updates from WSAW Newschannel 7 as well as WSAW.com. We will provide updated information on WZAW on WSAW.com as soon as possible. Viewer questions and comments can be sent to wzawinfo@wsaw.com.
The Fox affiliate will continue to air all national, syndicated programming like Family Guy, Empire and NFL Football. Gray now holds the broadcast rights to 12 of 16 regular-season Green Bay Packers games in the Wausau-Rhinelander market. Three games will air on WSAW-TV and nine games will air on WZAW-TV. This fall, WSAW-TV will launch a new Fox 9 p.m. newscast and will roll out other enhancements.
"We think it's a huge statement of our commitment to this market, to this state and we're really excited about the opportunities it brings to deliver really solid news, really solid sports and really great community involvement,” Howell said. "What I think you will see is new and improved sets. New and improved graphics. New and improved news-gathering techniques."
Upon the consummation of all announced recent transactions, Gray Television, Inc. will own and operate television stations in 45 television markets broadcasting over 150 program streams including 30 channels affiliated with the CBS Network, 22 channels affiliated with the NBC Network, 16 channels affiliated with the ABC Network and 13 channels affiliated with the FOX Network.
