Editing WATL (section)

===Acquisition by Gannett===
On June 5, 2006, Tribune announced that it entered into an agreement to sell WATL to the [[Gannett Company]], the owners of Atlanta's NBC affiliate WXIA-TV, for $180&nbsp;million. The sale was completed on August 7, 2006, giving Gannett the first television [[duopoly (broadcasting)|duopoly]] in Atlanta.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gannett.com/news/pressrelease/2006/pr080706.htm |title=Gannett completes the acquisition of WATL-TV Channel 36 in Atlanta |publisher=Gannett.com |access-date=November 6, 2008}}</ref> WATL aired [[Atlanta Falcons]] [[Season (sports)|preseason]] games in August 2008 while its sister station was committed to the [[2008 Summer Olympics]].

WATL introduced its new on-air branding, MyAtlTV on August 20, 2006, ahead of the September 5 debut of MyNetworkTV (and about a month before The WB's final night of programming). Prior to the acquisition by Gannett, WATL's studios were located at One Monroe Place. When the station was acquired, WXIA management decided to move WXIA's operations to the Monroe Place studios (an atypical instance where the senior partner in a duopoly relocates to the studios of the junior partner). During construction, WATL's studios were located with WXIA at 1611 West [[Peachtree Street]], behind competitor WSB. In the 2013–2014 television season, WATL changed its on-air name to ''The ATL''.

Around the first week of October 2012, Gannett entered a [[Carriage dispute|dispute]] against [[Dish Network]] regarding [[Retransmission consent|compensation]] fees and Dish's AutoHop commercial-skip feature on its Hopper [[digital video recorder]]s. Gannett ordered that Dish discontinue AutoHop on the account that it is affecting advertising revenues for WXIA and WATL. Gannett threatened to pull both stations should the skirmish continue beyond October 7 and Dish and Gannett fail to reach an agreement.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Loose|first=Ashley|title=DISH customers may lose Gannett programming, including 12 News KPNX, over AutoHop feature|url=http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/dish-customers-may-lose-gannett-programming-including-12-news-kpnx-over-autohop-feature|access-date=October 6, 2012|publisher=[[KNXV-TV]]|date=October 5, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121011013154/http://www.abc15.com/dpp/news/region_phoenix_metro/central_phoenix/dish-customers-may-lose-gannett-programming-including-12-news-kpnx-over-autohop-feature|archive-date=October 11, 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Vuong|first=Andy|title=Gannett threatening to black out stations in its dispute with Dish|url=http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_21710959/gannett-threatening-black-out-stations-its-dispute-dish|access-date=October 6, 2012|newspaper=[[The Denver Post]]|date=October 6, 2012}}</ref> The two parties eventually reached an agreement after extending the deadline for a few hours.<ref>{{cite news|last=Warner|first=Melodie|title=Dish, Gannett Reach New Deal|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10000872396390444897304578044401930225948|access-date=October 8, 2012|newspaper=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|date=October 8, 2012}}</ref>

On June 29, 2015, the Gannett Company split in two, with one side specializing in print media and the other side specializing in broadcast and digital media. At that time, both WATL and WXIA became part of the latter company named [[Tegna Inc.]]<ref>{{Cite web|title = Separation of Gannett into two public companies completed {{!}} TEGNA|date = June 29, 2015|url = http://www.tegna.com/separation-of-gannett-into-two-public-companies-completed/|publisher=Tegna|access-date = June 29, 2015}}</ref>