WVNY moved into WFFF-TV's studios in 2005, Smith Media made an announcement the company was planning to establish a news department for the two stations. However, after the 2006 creation of The CW and WFFF-TV initially airing the network's programming in prime time at 10, there was some doubt as to the status of the local news operation launch. In May 2007, News Director Kathleen Harrington was hired to begin the creation of the news department. Construction of the newsroom and studio were underway by late summer and rehearsals began in August. On November 26, advertisements began appearing on WFFF-TV and WVNY for the launch of the 10 p.m. newscast which occurred December 3. The broadcast, known as Fox 44 News at 10, originally ran every night for a half-hour but the weeknight show eventually expanded to 45 minutes on September 7, 2009. This is followed by a fifteen-minute sports highlight show known as Sports Wrap. The first ten minutes of the news portion of the program airs in a format called "10 Minute Advantage" where the top stories of the day and a complete weather forecast are shown before a commercial break. WFFF-TV is the area's first local news operation presented in high definition. On March 3, 2008, WFFF-TV added a weeknight and Saturday broadcast at 7 on WVNY known as Fox 44 Local News on ABC. As a result, that station became first in the area to offer local news in the time slot. The move to launch the show was due in part to tough competition of newscasts at 6 seen on WCAX-TV and WPTZ. As is the case on WFFF-TV, the WVNY broadcasts are aired in high definition. The Saturday edition eventually moved to 6:30 which has been the case on Sundays from the start in order to accommodate ABC programming. The WVNY broadcasts mark the return of local news on that station since it shut down its own news department on September 12, 2003. Initially, the only "ABC 22" identification seen during the show was in the intro package and the "bug" in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. On August 18, 2008, WFFF-TV began airing a two-hour weekday morning show called Fox 44 Local News This Morning. Included in the launch were local news and weather cut-ins on WVNY during its airing of Good Morning America. This occurs at :25 and :55