million; the sale was finalized on October 12, 2006. The extensive changes that helped WIAT become a ratings force in the market in the latter years under Media General ownership continued as a New Vision-owned station. Under New Vision, channel 42 saw some of its largest ratings increases in the station's history. It is now one of the strongest CBS affiliates in the nation, after spending the better part of its history as one of the weakest. WIAT has particularly benefited from the network's broadcasts of college football games from the Southeastern Conference, which garner higher ratings on channel 42 than on any other station in the country. SEC game telecasts, particularly those involving the Alabama Crimson Tide and Auburn Tigers, are among the highest-rated programs in Birmingham during the NCAA Division I football season, typically delivering higher ratings in the market than network telecasts of the Super Bowl; this includes the Iron Bowl rivalry game between Alabama and Auburn, which – through CBS – has aired on WIAT for all but three years since 2000. In the summer of 2009, the station upgraded its master control facilities to allow the transmission of pre-recorded syndicated programming in high definition, with some station promotions beginning to be broadcast in the format by September 2009. LIN Media ownership On May 7, 2012, LIN Media announced that it would purchase the New Vision Television stations, including WIAT, for $330.4 million, in a deal under which the company would also assume $12 million in New Vision's corporate debt. The FCC approved the sale on October 2, and the transaction was finalized ten days later on October 12; as a result, WIAT became a sister station to LIN's Mobile duopoly of Fox affiliate WALA-TV and CW affiliate WFNA, both of which had been purchased by LIN from Emmis Communications in 2006. Second stint under Media General On March 21, 2014, Media General announced that it had entered into an agreement to merge with LIN Media in a $1.6 billion deal. As a result, due in part to the same FCC duopoly restrictions based on total day viewership that prompted Media General to sell WIAT to New Vision eight years earlier, Media General was once again required to sell either WIAT or WVTM to another station owner in order to comply with FCC ownership rules. In this situation, the sales that Media General and LIN voluntarily