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The news, with the spin made visible.
Outlet profile

Fox17 (Scripps affiliate)

U.S. center (local Scripps-owned Fox affiliate)

Owned byE.W. Scripps Company (Cincinnati, Ohio); Sinclair Broadcast Group has been pursuing an unsolicited acquisition of Scripps since late 2025, but no deal had closed as of July 2026
FundingAdvertiser-funded local broadcast television; revenue from local and national advertising spots and retransmission consent fees paid by cable and satellite providers
On the administrationmostly neutral

Background

WXMI signed on the air on March 18, 1982, as an independent station called WWMA ('West Michigan's Alternative'), founded by Heritage Broadcasting Company. Its call sign was changed to WXMI in August 1983 after new shareholders took control. In 1987, the station became the Grand Rapids market's Fox network affiliate, joining the network when Fox first expanded its programming lineup. The station passed through several owners over the following decades, including Emmis Broadcasting and then Tribune Broadcasting, before Nexstar Media Group acquired it as part of its purchase of Tribune Media. In 2019, federal regulators required Nexstar to divest certain stations to win FCC approval; Nexstar sold Fox17 to E.W. Scripps for approximately $580 million as part of a package deal. E.W. Scripps, founded in 1878 and headquartered in Cincinnati, operates more than 60 local TV stations and also runs the Scripps News national cable channel; independent media-bias researchers rate Scripps news properties as center to left-center with high factual reliability. The local Fox17 newsroom is separate in ownership and editorial structure from the Fox News cable channel (owned by Fox Corporation), and its local news has a regional, community focus typical of Scripps stations. In late 2025, Sinclair Broadcast Group — a company known for requiring conservative centrally produced content at its local stations — made an unsolicited takeover bid for E.W. Scripps; as of mid-2026 that deal had not been completed, and WXMI remained under Scripps control.

Sources

  1. WXMI – Wikipedia
  2. FOX 17 under new ownership (Sept. 2019) – fox17online.com
  3. Nexstar selling 19 TV stations; FOX 17 sold to E.W. Scripps (March 2019) – fox17online.com
  4. FCC approves Nexstar-Tribune merger; FOX 17's sale to Scripps – fox17online.com
  5. Sinclair offers to buy out Fox 17 owner Scripps – Crain's Grand Rapids Business
  6. Sinclair Broadcasting buys 8% stake in E.W. Scripps in push toward takeover – Poynter
  7. Scripps News Media Bias – AllSides
  8. Scripps News (Newsy) – Bias and Credibility – Media Bias/Fact Check
  9. 40 Years of FOX 17 – fox17online.com

Profile compiled 2026-07-20; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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