Editing WIAT (section)

===Sale to New Vision Television===
In 2006, Media General announced it would acquire a package of four smaller-market NBC affiliates owned by the NBC network, which included WVTM. Media General opted to keep WVTM because its signal reached more households;<ref>{{Cite news|first=Bob|last=Carlton|page=1B|title=NBC 13 bought; CBS 42 for sale: Media General deal covers other stations|date=April 7, 2006|work=The Birmingham News}}</ref> it also was third in the market in revenue compared to WIAT in fourth.<ref name="BC070622">{{Cite news|first=Michael|last=Malone|work=Broadcasting & Cable|url=https://www.nexttv.com/news/sweet-home-alabama-83068|date=June 22, 2007|title=Sweet Home Alabama|access-date=December 20, 2023|archive-date=September 22, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210922015151/https://www.nexttv.com/news/sweet-home-alabama-83068|url-status=live}}</ref> The company put four of its stations up for the sale, including WIAT, to finance the purchase and meet ownership limits in the Birmingham market.<ref>{{cite news|title=Media General to Buy NBC Affiliates for $600 Million|url=https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/media-general-to-buy-nbc-affiliates-for-600-million/?_r=0|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=April 6, 2006|access-date=March 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170911205221/https://dealbook.nytimes.com/2006/04/06/media-general-to-buy-nbc-affiliates-for-600-million/?_r=0|archive-date=September 11, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Media General buying WVTM-NBC13, selling WIAT-CBS|url=http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2006/04/03/daily20.html?jst=b_ln_hl|newspaper=Birmingham Business Journal|date=April 6, 2006|access-date=December 12, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170912055527/https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2006/04/03/daily20.html?jst=b_ln_hl|archive-date=September 12, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> WIAT and [[KIMT]] in [[Mason City, Iowa]], were sold to Atlanta-based [[New Vision Television]] in a deal announced in August and completed in October 2006.<ref>{{cite press release|title=Media General Completes Sale of Iowa, Alabama Stations to New Vision|url=http://www.media-general.com/press/2006/oct12_Iowa_Ala.html|website=Media General|date=June 26, 2006|access-date=September 10, 2012|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120910091927/http://www.media-general.com/press/2006/oct12_Iowa_Ala.html|archive-date=September 10, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After the sale, WIAT cemented itself as the number-three station in ratings.{{r|BC070622}} It debuted a full-fledged morning newscast in September 2007,<ref>{{Cite news|work=Broadcasting & Cable|title=Station Cooperation|first=Michael|last=Malone|date=February 2, 2009|id={{ProQuest|225345712}} }}</ref> and it began attracting noted news personalities under general manager Bill Ballard, who ran the station from 2003 to 2013.{{r|Birm131014}} Herb Winches, a veteran Birmingham sportscaster for WBRC and WVTM, worked at channel 42 from 2007 to 2008<ref>{{cite news|date=September 7, 2008|first=Jimmy|last=DeButts|url=https://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2008/09/08/story9.html|title=Sportscaster Winches sues Channel 42 over contract|work=Birmingham Business Journal|access-date=December 20, 2023|archive-date=May 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529155943/http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2008/09/08/story9.html|url-status=live}}</ref> before being replaced by Jim Dunaway, a 15-year veteran of WVTM and sports talk radio host.<ref>{{Cite news|date=May 11, 2015|title=Birmingham sportscaster Jim Dunaway moves to the news desk at CBS 42|first=Bob|last=Carlton|work=The Birmingham News}}</ref> The station also hired other longtime news presenters in Birmingham, including Ken Lass, Mark Prater, and David Neal.<ref>{{Cite news|date=September 30, 2008|title=Weatherman David Neal returns to TV on CBS 42|first=Jimmy|last=DeButts|work=Birmingham Business Journal}}</ref><ref name="Birm131014">{{Cite news|first=Bob|last=Carlton|date=October 14, 2013|title=CBS 42 executive Bill Ballard is out after station's owner elects not to renew his contract |work=The Birmingham News}}</ref>

WIAT shut down its analog signal, over [[Ultra high frequency|UHF]] channel 42, on June 12, 2009, the official date on which full-power television stations in the United States [[Digital television transition in the United States|transitioned from analog to digital broadcasts]] under federal mandate. The station's digital signal remained on its pre-transition UHF channel 30, using [[virtual channel]] 42.<ref>{{cite web|title=DTV Tentative Channel Designations for the First and Second Rounds|url=http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf|publisher=[[Federal Communications Commission]]|access-date=March 24, 2012|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20150520010356/http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DA-06-1082A2.pdf|archive-date=May 20, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>