to digital-only broadcasting. On the same day, WGTU dropped WBVC from its second digital subchannel, replacing it with a simulcast of WPBN. This is because WTOM's digital signal no longer covers the Upper Peninsula side of the market. WGTU no longer operates WBVC. On February 28, 2013, Barrington announced that it would sell its entire group, including WPBN/WTOM, to Sinclair Broadcast Group. At the same time, WGTU/WGTQ were acquired by Cunningham Broadcasting. Sinclair also acquired the LMA with WGTU/WGTQ; all but one of Cunningham's stations are operated by Sinclair under LMAs. The sale was completed on November 25. Nearly all of Cunningham's stock is held by trusts for the Smith family, founders and owners of Sinclair. Thus, for all intents and purposes, Sinclair owns both stations. Cunningham, previously known as Glencairn, has long been used as a shell corporation to allow Sinclair to operate duopolies where Sinclair cannot legally own them. The Traverse City/Cadillac/Sault Sainte Marie market has only seven full-power stations, too few to legally permit a duopoly. Even if the market had enough full-power stations to allow a duopoly, Sinclair still would not be able to legally acquire WGTU outright, as both are among the top four stations in the market. In March 2021, the digital subchannel 8.3 was switched from the science fiction network Comet to the action network Charge!, which is also owned by Sinclair. Newscasts WGTU presently broadcasts 5 hours, 25 minutes of locally produced newscasts on weekdays (at 6:30 p.m. and 11:00 p.m.). The station does not produce newscasts on Saturdays or Sundays, opting for syndicated programming. News department history WGTU initially had a full-fledged news department. However, it made little headway against WWTV and WPBN and was cut back severely to news "capsules" in 1975. After another attempt at local news in 1982 under Michigan Center, the news department was dropped in 1984. For more than a quarter-century, it aired almost no local, full newscasts. The only local news on the station were weekday morning news, weather, and sports cut-ins at :25 and :55 past the hour during Good Morning America as well as a ten-minute news and weather update seen weeknights at 11. After WGTU consolidated its operations with WPBN, it became possible that a full-fledged local newscast would return to WGTU. On September 13, 2010, that station finally took advantage of this channel being housed in the same facility and launched