CBS17 / WNCN
U.S. local news, center/mostly neutral (Nexstar-owned)
Background
WNCN signed on in Raleigh in the 1950s and for decades was known as an NBC affiliate before a market-wide network swap: in 2016 WNCN switched to CBS while WRAL-TV took over the NBC affiliation it had lost, and WNCN rebranded first as "CBS North Carolina" and later as "CBS 17." Ownership passed through several groups, including Media General, before Nexstar Media Group acquired Media General in a $4.6 billion deal that closed in January 2017, making WNCN part of Nexstar's large national station portfolio. Nexstar, headquartered in Irving, Texas, is the largest owner of local TV stations in the country and has faced criticism—similar to Sinclair Broadcast Group—for requiring affiliates to air centrally produced segments and commentary, some of which critics have called politically slanted, though CBS 17's own local news output is generally rated as showing limited predictable bias. As a network affiliate, CBS 17 carries CBS News national political coverage alongside locally reported news, giving it a mixed editorial identity: largely neutral local reporting layered on top of a nationally owned corporate structure with periodic centralized content.
Sources
Profile compiled 2026-09-30; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.