under the original merger proposal; Media General subsequently signed an agreement to be acquired by Nexstar (with the combined company to be known as Nexstar Media Group), in exchange for giving Meredith right of first refusal to acquire any broadcast or digital properties that may be divested. As of the completion of the sale on January 17, 2017, WIAT was under common ownership with two other Alabama stations that are already owned by Nexstar outright, dual Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WZDX in the adjacent Huntsville market (which Nexstar sold to Tegna in March 2019 to acquire CBS affiliate WHNT-TV through the company's purchase of Tribune Media) and ABC affiliate WDHN in Dothan. Programming WIAT carries the entire CBS programming schedule; however, it broadcasts the network's Saturday morning programming out of pattern, airing CBS Saturday Morning after the network's educational program block, CBS Dream Team; the station also airs the third hour of the Dream Team lineup on Sunday mornings on tape delay following the weekend edition of Wake Up Alabama. Syndicated programming broadcast by WIAT () includes Dr. Phil, Madam Secretary, Entertainment Tonight and Jeopardy!. Birmingham is one of the few U.S. markets to air Jeopardy! and its sister game show Wheel of Fortune on separate stations; Wheel airs on ABC affiliate WBMA-LD. Sports programming WIAT serves as the de facto flagship station of Alabama Crimson Tide athletics, due to CBS's broadcast rights to Southeastern Conference football and basketball games, and a deal between the station and the University of Alabama in which channel 42 serves as the primary broadcast partner for all team-related programming including the Tide coaches' show, The Nick Saban Football Show, the magazine program Tide TV This Week (most other Tide-related programs produced by the university's Tide TV production unit are broadcast in the market on university-owned This TV affiliate WVUA-CD [channel 7] and its satellite WVUA [channel 23] in Tuscaloosa); the station also produces locally produced Tide-related programs under the umbrella title Red Zone, consisting of a weekly analysis program on Friday and Saturday nights as well as pre-game and post-game shows during the college football season. News operation , WIAT presently broadcasts 31 hours of locally produced newscasts each week (with five hours each weekday and three hours each on Saturdays and Sundays). News department history As WBMG, channel 42's newscasts consistently languished at (an often distant) third place among the Birmingham market's television news operations.