It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Florence-licensed CW owned-and-operated station WHDF (channel 15).

The two stations share studios on Holmes Avenue Northwest in downtown Huntsville; WHNT-TV's transmitter is located on Monte Sano Mountain.

WHNT began operations on Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1963 (the first new station to be launched after President John F. Kennedy was assassinated).

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) originally licensed the frequency for WHNT to the city of Fort Payne some 40 miles (64 km) to the southeast.

In 1980, Grisham sold WHNT to The New York Times Company, which operated it for over a quarter century and the third station owned by their broadcasting division.

The move was prompted by a fire that destroyed rival WAFF-TV (channel 48)'s studios, then on Governors Drive, five years earlier.

[24][25] (As WHDF does not rank among the top four in total-day viewership and therefore is not in conflict with existing FCC in-market ownership rules, it was retained by Nexstar, thus creating a new duopoly with WHNT.)

On August 18, 2008, WHNT became the first television station in Huntsville to begin broadcasting all of its news programs in digital 16:9 widescreen.

On August 18, 2010, during the 10 p.m. newscast, WHNT became the first station in Huntsville to begin airing news segments in full high definition.

During the two-month transition to HD, the station's newscast originated from another part of the building while the studio was completely renovated for the first time since 1987.

WHNT-TV became a charter affiliate of Antenna TV upon its launch on January 1, 2011; it is carried on digital subchannel 19.3 (as of April 25, 2016).