Editing Yule Log (TV program) (section)

==Legacy==
In 2003, [[Tribune Broadcasting]]—then the owner of WPIX—announced that in addition to being broadcast in New York City, ''The Yule Log'' would air on television stations that the company owned in other [[media market|television markets]] throughout the U.S., and would be remastered for broadcast in [[high-definition television|high definition]]. The program made its national debut in 2004 on cable channel Superstation WGN (later WGN America, now [[NewsNation]]), at the time serving as the [[superstation]] feed of Tribune's [[flagship (broadcasting)|flagship station]] [[WGN-TV]], which broadcast the special in the [[Chicago]] market.

In 2008, the Tribune stations aired their own version, with holiday-themed [[Golden Age of Radio|old-time radio]] programs being played in the background instead of music; this was reverted to the original WPIX version for the 2009 broadcast. WGN America chose not to broadcast ''The Yule Log'' in 2010 and 2011, citing the economic infeasibility of devoting several hours to commercial-free programming on a national channel; however, the program was broadcast in the Chicago market by WGN-TV, and by Tribune Broadcasting's other television stations. For the 2010 edition, WPIX and [[Los Angeles]] sister station [[KTLA]] (channel 5) aired a four-hour broadcast of ''The Yule Log'' on Christmas morning.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://theyulelog.aimoo.com/NEWS-S/Conversation-with-Sean-Compton-regarding-national-coverage-1-1927361.html|title=Conversation with Sean Compton regarding national coverage|last=Arcuri|first=Lawrence F.|date=November 4, 2010 <!-- 02:08 --> |work=The Yule Log.com Message Board|access-date=28 December 2010}}</ref> In 2011, [[Antenna TV]], a [[digital subchannel|digital multicast]] network that Tribune had launched that January, aired ''The Yule Log'' for the first time, making the concept available nationwide once again.

In December 2006, to commemorate the program's 40th anniversary, WPIX also aired ''A Log's Life''—a documentary on the history of ''The Yule Log'', narrated by WPIX news anchors [[Jim Watkins (news anchor)|Jim Watkins]] and [[Kaity Tong]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://nypost.com/2006/12/20/light-my-fire-story-behind-legend-of-new-yorks-dura-flame/|title=Light My Fire – Story Behind Legend of New York's Dura-Flame|last=Smith|first=Austin|date=2006-12-20|work=[[New York Post]]|access-date=2019-01-02}}</ref> In 2013, WPIX [[streaming media|streamed]] ''The Yule Log'' on its website during Christmas Eve, in addition to televising it on Christmas Day.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pix11.com/2013/12/16/magic-garden-christmas-special-returns-to-wpix-yule-log-to-be-shown-online-christmas-eve/|title='Magic Garden Christmas' special returns to WPIX; 'Yule Log' to be shown online Christmas Eve|last=Pujol|first=Rolando|work=WPIX |publisher=pix11.com|date=December 16, 2013}}</ref> In recent years, Tribune's [[New Orleans]] [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] affiliate [[WGNO|WGNO-TV]] (channel 26) has also aired the ''Yule Log'' on Christmas Day (the only time in which the station does not air most of its regular newscasts, as [[NBA on ABC|ABC]] airs [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] [[National Basketball Association Christmas games|games on that day]]), in place of network news programs ''[[World News Now]]'' and ''[[America This Morning]]'', and WGNO's local weekday morning newscast.

In 2019, Tribune merged with [[Nexstar Media Group]], and WPIX was sold to the [[E. W. Scripps Company]] to keep Nexstar under regulatory national coverage limits for station owners. (Tribune spun off a handful of other television stations to Scripps and [[Tegna Inc.|Tegna]] for similar reasons as well as to resolve ownership conflicts with existing Nexstar stations in certain markets.) Despite the sale, WPIX, along with the Tribune stations acquired by Nexstar, continued to all carry the traditional ''Yule Log'' presentation without any changes in 2019. In 2020, Nexstar partner company [[Mission Broadcasting]] exercised its option to buy WPIX, through which Nexstar would assume operational responsibilities for the station;<ref>{{cite web|url=https://tvnewscheck.com/article/top-news/251137/mission-broadcasting-buying-wpix-from-scripps/|title=Mission Broadcasting Buying WPIX From Scripps|first=Mark K.|last=Miller|work=TVNewsCheck|publisher=NewsCheckMedia|date=July 13, 2020|access-date=July 13, 2020}}</ref> the sale was approved by the FCC on December 1, 2020, and was completed on December 30, effectively reuniting the station with most of the former Tribune stations bought directly by Nexstar.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://scripps.com/press-releases/scripps-completes-sale-of-wpix/|title=Scripps completes sale of WPIX|first=Kari|last=Wethington|publisher=[[E. W. Scripps Company]]|date=December 30, 2020|access-date=December 30, 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://licensing.fcc.gov/cgi-bin/ws.exe/prod/cdbs/pubacc/Auth_Files/1819389.pdf|title=Notice of Consent to Assignment|work=[[Federal Communications Commission]]|date=1 December 2020|accessdate=2 December 2020}}</ref> The ''Yule Log'' was again left intact under the new ownership.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/christmas-tradition-wpix-yule-log-121006700.html|title=Christmas Tradition: WPIX Yule Log 2020|first=Lanning|last=Taliaferro|publisher=Yahoo! News|date=December 24, 2020|access-date=December 25, 2021}}</ref>