company's WKCF in Lake Mary, near Orlando. Emmis exited the television business in 2005, with Journal Broadcast Group acquiring WFTX and two other stations. On July 30, 2014, it was announced that the E. W. Scripps Company would acquire Journal Communications in an all-stock transaction and spin off the combined company's print assets. The deal made WFTX a sister station once again to WFTS and also NBC affiliate WPTV-TV in West Palm Beach. The FCC approved the deal on December 12, 2014. It was approved by shareholders on March 11, 2015, closing on April 1. In the fall of 2021, WFTX added Ion Television as a subchannel after Scripps' acquisition of Ion Media, bringing the network over-the-air to Southwest Florida for the first time since its 1998 launch. The Fort Myers–Naples market was the only market in the state outside Tallahassee which never had a station owned by Ion Media or its forerunner companies. News operation In 1992, WFTX announced it would start a local news service in 1993. The first 10 p.m. newscast aired on October 10, 1993, In its first year, the Associated Press selected WFTX as having the best medium-market newscast in the state of Florida. A 6 p.m. program was added in 1995, incorporating the previously separate Troubleshooter show; low ratings prompted its cancellation in 2000. After the sale to Journal, WFTX expanded its news department with a focus on consumer advocacy and investigative reporting. A weekday morning newscast titled Fox 4 News Rising subsequently debuted in the fall of 2006; the station launched an 11 p.m. newscast in 2007 and a 6 p.m. show in 2010. A 5 p.m. hour has since been added. Due to the highly competitive nature of the Fort Myers–Naples market, WFTX's flagship 10 p.m. newscast has attracted competition over the years. In August 2006 when ABC affiliate WZVN-TV (channel 26) announced that it would launch a nightly prime time newscast on cable-only MyNetworkTV affiliate "WNFM". On March 26, 2007, CBS affiliate WINK-TV (channel 11) entering into the 10 p.m. race with its own broadcast on CW affiliate WXCW. Right from the start, this emerged as a strong second-place finisher to WFTX's longer-established newscast, building on WINK-TV's longtime status as the most watched station in the market. On May 25 after only eight months on-the-air, the nightly WZVN-produced newscasts on WNFM were dropped, due to Comcast's frequent technical difficulties (the cable