it would sell WCWN to Freedom Communications, owner of CBS affiliate WRGB, for $17 million. The purchase faced review from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for much of 2006, since the Capital District has only eight full-power stations—not enough to legally permit a duopoly. However, the FCC granted Freedom a "failed station" waiver for the station's purchase on November 22, clearing the way for Freedom to close on the station on December 6. At that point, all of WCWN's operations were merged into WRGB's facilities in Niskayuna and Freedom began to maintain WCWN's website. The purchase gave the Capital District its first television duopoly. For a short period of time, this essentially gave WRGB control of three stations as it continued its pre-existing joint sales agreement (JSA) with MyNetworkTV affiliate WNYA until February 2007. Freedom announced on November 2, 2011 that it would bow out of television and sell its stations, including WCWN, to Sinclair Broadcast Group, marking the company's second attempt at acquiring channel 45. Since Freedom had acquired WCWN through a "failed station" waiver, Sinclair requested a similar waiver for the purchase; this was granted on March 13, 2012, as part of the FCC's approval of the transaction. The group deal closed on April 2, 2012. Programming Syndicated programming on WCWN includes Family Feud, Hot Bench, Mike & Molly, The Steve Wilkos Show, and Last Man Standing among others. Since WCWN is a sister station to WRGB, it is responsible for airing CBS programming when WRGB is unable to or otherwise chooses not to air a program due to weather/emergency updates or local specials. In the past, it has been known to air coverage of the US Open Tennis Championship. When the yearly Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon aired in its original 21-hour format, WCWN was responsible for airing WRGB's local, syndicated, and network lineup. The station also airs some New York Mets baseball games produced by WPIX in New York City. Games are shown on Friday nights, Saturdays, and Sundays. The arrangement is in place because WCWN was owned by the Tribune Company, WPIX's owner, from 1999 to 2006. Also, WCWN airs WRGB's newscasts at times when CBS Sports programming preempts them (prime examples include the Masters Tournament and the NCAA tournament and Final Four). News operation As WMHQ, it partnered with NBC affiliate WNYT to launch the market's first prime time newscast at 10 which ran from