$4.6 billion. WNCN became part of Nexstar upon the sale's consummation on January 17, 2017. Upon the switch to CBS, the station changed its on-air branding to "CBS North Carolina" and its newscasts to "North Carolina News". While, in the lead-up to the switch, WNCN emphasized the strong ratings performance of CBS programming and prime time shows, as well as the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, ratings for CBS programming in the Triangle dropped significantly with the switch to WNCN on February 29, 2016. Notably, on the day of the switch, CBS This Morning, CBS Evening News and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert all lost more than half their audience share; all three fell from first place in the Triangle ratings during their time periods to third place in one stroke. On March 15, 2018, WNCN rebranded as CBS 17. News operation After Outlet bought the station and in the wake of securing the NBC affiliation, hiring for a news department began even before the call letters were changed. In November 1994, an ad in Electronic Media announced that WYED was hiring news anchors, weather anchors, and other staff necessary for newscast production. Nearly nine months later, NCN News debuted on September 4, 1995, a week ahead of WNCN's switch to NBC, with a half-hour early evening newscast at 7:00 p.m. and a late evening newscast at 11:00 p.m. nightly. Promising a "New Generation of News", NCN News aimed to differentiate itself from the longstanding news offerings of WRAL and WTVD. The style was loose and informal: the anchors wore clothing from Banana Republic, there was no dedicated sports anchor, and of the four main presenters, only one—Art Edwards—had worked in the market before, though meteorologist Lisa Spencer was hired from The Weather Channel. Ron Bilek, the founding news director at WNCN, claimed the product was designed with "more of a high-tech/Triangle lifestyle look and feel". However, few people were watching. At 11 p.m., when WRAL, WTVD, and WNCN all competed head-to-head, channel 17 drew a fraction of the viewers of the other two stations. At 7 p.m., it was tied for last place with the entertainment offerings of WLFL and WKFT. By June, there was a local morning newscast and a 6 p.m. show, but the ratings were not budging. As a 4 p.m. newscast was added, news director Ron Bilek and assistant Gina Pearce resigned over