WFXS-DT

Since it was granted an original construction permit after the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) finalized the digital television allotment plan on April 21, 1997,[1] the station did not initially receive a companion channel for a digital television station, and was thus required to "flash-cut" to digital upon completing the transition to digital. WFXS installed a direct fiber optic line to Charter's local headend for use by it and satellite providers to allow the services to carry a high definition signal. The FCC eventually allocated UHF channel 50 (later assigned to channel 31) to its digital service. WFXS was required to surrender analog channel 55 after its conversion, as that spectrum was sold to Qualcomm for use by its MediaFLO mobile video application.

Like all Wausau commercial stations, WFXS decided to go ahead with the February 17, 2009 conversion date despite the DTV Delay Act changing the actual switch date to June 12. At that time, the station's digital antenna was installed. However, the weather that week was bitterly cold and uncooperative. Several issues caused problems such as hydraulic fluid freezing on the heavy winch system (required to lift the new antenna), high winds, and the installation not going as planned as a result. These issues caused the new digital antenna to be damaged which had to be repaired elsewhere. Management of the station received cooperation of WAOW-TV to air WFXS' signal digitally until the antenna could be installed. It did so over the third digital subchannel of WAOW (and its satellite in Eagle River, WYOW) replacing the Retro Television Network (RTV).

The digital antenna was installed successfully on March 1 and put into service shortly thereafter without any problems. The WAOW-DT3/WYOW-DT3 simulcast continued for an additional day to make sure WFXS' transmitter was running well. The next day, both third digital subchannels of WAOW and WYOW began airing This TV. WFXS was back on-air with full-power on digital channel 31 featuring a 720p high definition broadcast.[2] Overnight on March 3, 2009, a cooling line in the transmitter building burst causing heavy water damage to the building's floor and furnishings. The water also caused minor damage to WFXS' transmitter which had to be taken off-line. Once again, it received permission from WAOW/WYOW to broadcast over 9.3/34.3 while the damage was repaired.[3]

On March 9, WFXS resumed normal digital operations and asked viewers to rescan digital televisions and converter boxes. The station was able to return the favor to WAOW a short time later when digital reception problems at WYOW prevented the signal from being received. WFXS temporarily added WAOW's signal to its own second subchannel in order to feed WAOW's signal to WYOW. WAOW added a microwave feed to the WYOW tower site to fix the problem permanently.

In April 2009, WFXS added a second digital subchannel to carry Untamed Sports TV; the station then added a third subchannel to return RTV (previously carried on WAOW-DT3/WYOW-DT3) to the Wausau airwaves in early-September 2009. The station changed its calls to WFXS-DT on December 15, 2009. In late-March 2011, Untamed Sports TV programming was replaced by MeTV (then a sister operation to This TV). WFXS-DT2 was also seen on Charter digital channel 965 while WFXS-DT3 could also be seen on Charter digital channel 964. Retro TV on 55.3 was replaced on October 1, 2014 with MeTV's sister network Movies!; WFXS was the last remaining affiliate of Retro TV in the state of Wisconsin, as all the other markets in the state dropped the network by the end of 2012.[4]

On July 1, 2015, Gray Television (owner of CBS affiliate WSAW-TV, channel 7) bought WFXS' non-license assets and established a new low-power station (WZAW-LD channel 33). All of WFXS' program streams including WFXS' existing PSIP channel numbering was then moved to the low-powered outlet (though at the time, WFXS' transmitter facilities were merely transferred to the WZAW-LD license, with its transmitter power reduced to meet the low-power license requirements and its channels re-numbered to WZAW's channel 33). Subsequently, the WFXS license ceased broadcasting after nearly sixteen years on-the-air and its studios on North 3rd Street were shut down.[5] In consenting to the interference that would be caused by WZAW operating under special temporary authority on channel 31 (the same RF channel as WFXS) rather than its licensed channel 33, Davis Television stated that it would return the WFXS license to the FCC for cancellation following the sale;[6] the license was canceled on July 23, 2015.[7]