As January 2026 ended, the FCC formally granted the transfer of control of the FOX affiliate serving Florida viewers from Port Charlotte to Marco Island — a $40 million deal that would pair this full-power TV station with the full-power home in Southwest Florida of The CW Network and a pair of low-power television properties offering Univision and UniMás programming.
Now, the transaction has formally closed, making it the first of two notable divestments of The E.W. Scripps Co. to reach the finish line.
As such, Sun Broadcasting, led by Jim Schwartzel, is now the owner of WFTX-TV in Fort Myers-Naples.
The station retains its “FOX 4” branding, as publicly traded Scripps’ President/CEO, Adam Symson, said it intends to use the cash from the station sale to pay down debt and strengthen its balance sheet.
The completion of the WFTX sale comes as the FCC’s Media Bureau on Friday gave its approval to Scripps’ sale of WRTV-6 in Indianapolis to DuJuan McCoy-led Circle City Broadcasting for $83 million. That deal was announced in October 2025 and is nearing the finish line.
Still awaiting regulatory approval is a swap with Gray Media announced in July 2025 that would see Scripps and Gray swap properties in five mid-sized and small markets. Key to that arrangement are the granting of waivers of the FCC’s current local ownership rules, or a change to the 39% national television household ownership reach by either the Commission or Congress.
WFTX, WXCW and the two LPTV properties are siblings to News/Talk WFSX; Country WHEL; Classic Rock WARO; Hip-Hop WFFY; “FOX Sports SWFL” FM translator simulcast partners W231DC, W277AP and W290DB; WRXK “96 K-Rock”; former Podcast Radio U.S. FM translators W243BM, W268AH and W286AK; and Top 40 WXKB “B103.9.”
WXKB, WRXK and the former Podcast Radio U.S. translators were acquired from Beasley in a $9 million transaction. And if you counted six full-power FM stations for Sun, that is correct, as the FCC granted a waiver, as expected, of its local ownership rules to allow that deal to reach consummation.
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