WB affiliates who joined The CW as a group at the network's September 2006 launch. On December 13, 2011, ACME announced a deal to sell WBUW to Byrne Acquisition Group; the $1.8 million transaction was part of ACME's gradual exit from the TV business (ACME would formally dissolve at the end of 2016). The deal, which was approved by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and consummated in February 2012, gave the Byrne Group its second TV property (after low-power station "WHHI-TV" in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina). The Byrne Group would rebrand WBUW from "Madison's CW" to "CW 57" later in 2012. By that time, it would also upgrade the station's master control (to accommodate local and syndicated high-definition programming) and begin an expansion of locally focused content. By 2015, the station would add its first two digital subchannels. As an independent station An affiliation agreement announced by The CW and Gray Television in December 2015 included the addition of the network to the DT2 subchannel of Gray-owned Madison NBC affiliate WMTV. WMTV-DT2 formally joined The CW on September 12, 2016, when WBUW's 10-year affiliation deal with the network, reached by then-owner ACME Communications at The CW's 2006 launch, reached its expiration. The September 10 airing of The CW's One Magnificent Morning E/I block (ending with Calling Dr. Pol) was the final CW program on WBUW. (Penn & Teller: Fool Us, airing the night before, was the final CW prime time show on the station.) On-air wise, WBUW would begin its post-CW transition during the first quarter of 2016, when it first applied a simple "Channel 57" brand to its local programming. During its last week as a CW affiliate, it unveiled a new branding of "Wisconsin's 57 Television" ("Your Home for Local"), and would adopt a new call sign to go along with that brand—WIFS—on December 1, 2016. WIFS would retain its mix of locally produced and syndicated programming as an independent, mostly utilizing the latter to fill the prime time void left by The CW's departure. As an Ion Plus and Ion affiliate On February 1, 2019, WIFS added a ninth digital subchannel, affiliated with Ion Television, whose programming had been carried for the two years prior to that on WISC-DT3. That same day, primary channel 57.1 added a round-the-clock feed of Ion's sister network, Ion Life (which would rebrand to Ion Plus the following summer). The changeover