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Outlet profile

CBS17 / FOX8 WGHP

U.S. local TV news, centrist-to-mildly-right corporate ownership

Owned byBoth stations are owned by Nexstar Media Group, the largest U.S. local TV station owner. CBS17 is WNCN in Raleigh, and FOX8 is WGHP in High Point (Greensboro–Winston-Salem). Nexstar bought Tegna in March 2026 for about $6.2 billion. The two stations are part of the Nexstar portfolio, which now reaches about 80% of U.S. households.
FundingMainly local and national advertising, including political advertising. Stations also earn retransmission fees from cable and satellite providers and network affiliation payments. Nexstar is a publicly traded company.
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

WGHP signed on in October 1963 as an ABC affiliate in High Point, North Carolina. It switched to Fox in September 1995, and Fox bought it and ran it as an owned-and-operated station from January 1996. Fox sold it in 2007 to Oak Hill Capital Partners' Local TV, and it later ended up under Nexstar. CBS17 (WNCN) serves the Raleigh–Durham market and is also a Nexstar station. Both stations run Nexstar-style local newscasts and share content through Nexstar's national newsroom, including NewsNation and The Hill. Nexstar has drawn criticism for centralizing news production, for requiring its stations to run some group-produced segments, and for local-news staffing cuts after mergers. In September 2025, Nexstar's ABC affiliates pulled Jimmy Kimmel Live! while its Tegna deal awaited FCC approval, and Democratic lawmakers asked whether the decision was linked to that approval. The FCC approved the deal in March 2026 and waived the national ownership cap. State attorneys general and a lawsuit challenged the deal, and a court order has reportedly required Tegna's operations to stay separate for now. Local content at these stations is generally conventional and not strongly partisan, but critics argue Nexstar's corporate and regulatory interests could affect its editorial choices. This profile is based on limited search results, so the details of the stations' recent political coverage are not independently verified.

Sources

  1. WGHP – Wikipedia
  2. Nexstar, Tegna merger closes after winning regulatory approval – CNBC
  3. Nexstar says it has acquired Tegna as state AGs push to block the merger – CNN
  4. Local TV giant Nexstar in court over Tegna deal – NPR
  5. Nexstar-owned ABC affiliates won't show Kimmel's return Tuesday, joining Sinclair in preempting program – CNBC
  6. Democratic lawmakers demand answers from TV station owners that pulled Jimmy Kimmel's show – NBC News

Profile compiled 2026-10-18; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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