It made an ill-fated foray into subscription television (STV) from 1979 to 1983, broadcasting a pay service under the ON TV brand that was dogged by a poor relationship with the station and signal piracy issues exacerbated by Detroit's proximity to Canada.

However, its high debt load motivated several attempts to sell the station, one of which fell apart after The WB merged with UPN to form The CW but did not include WDWB as an affiliate.

At the end of January 1965, Aben Johnson, majority owner of a chemical manufacturing company and with several real estate holdings, filed with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to build a television station on channel 44 in Pontiac, in Oakland County.

[5] Johnson also held construction permits for stations in Hammond, Indiana, and Akron, Ohio, which he called the Action Network and proposed to focus on programming for teen audiences.

Syndicated reruns and movies were joined by Rae Dean and Friends, a series of children's puppets conducted by Frank Deal and previously seen on WJRT-TV in Flint.

[14] United proposed to return it to the air with a focus on specialty ethnic programs from the new Southfield UHF mast,[15] but planned dates came and went without any activity, including an announced May 1969 groundbreaking on studios.

[16] However, United faced increasing legal scrutiny that primarily centered around issues at its radio and television stations in Washington, D.C., WOOK and WFAN-TV, and extended to several other properties.

[17] Land mobile radio users protested the proposal, asking for the fallow channel 20 to be turned over for their use,[17] but the FCC approved the deal in June 1972, finding that United's inability to utilize the improved WJMY-TV facility was due to its own financial troubles.

Twice during the decade, it aired a television version of the long-running Middle East Melodies radio show, which featured guests as well as belly dancers.

[29] As early as 1970, WXON eyed the possibility of broadcasting scrambled subscription television (STV) programming to paying subscribers, filing one of the first applications for such a service at the FCC.

[38] In the case of the Wolverines, it even ran one experimental 1979 telecast live, a presentation spearheaded by Michigan athletic director Don Canham with the blessing of the NCAA.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission's then-ongoing study of pay television services prompted ON TV to halt any plans to start its own business operations there;[39] when asked about the possibility of ON TV being legal in Canada, Minister of Communications David MacDonald replied that the idea "would appear to fly in the face of every statement that's ever been made about Canadian broadcasting".

This activity was unregulated in Canada, but as Americans began to purchase the Canadian decoders and use them in the United States, they posed a serious legal threat to the viability of Chartwell's subscription operation.

[42][43][44] In response, Video Gallery obtained an injunction in an Ontario court preventing ON TV representatives from interfering with customers entering its store.

[47] Even then, it was estimated that some 10,000 additional households received ON TV in southwestern Ontario, including on master antenna systems in apartment complexes—none of them making money for Chartwell.

[51] When ON TV closed in Detroit on March 31, 1983, with the alleged "censorship" and other issues being cited,[51] Chartwell shuttered a business in which it had invested $13 million but never turned a profit.

[9] Doug Johnson cited the acquisition of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and its companion She-Ra: Princess of Power as a turning point for the station's program inventory.

[63] Though Granite reluctantly put WDWB on the market in 2001 in an attempt to improve its balance sheet,[64] and bidders such as Tribune Broadcasting and other local station owners were reported to show interest, nothing came of discussions.

[67] In 2004, the station became the new over-the-air broadcast home of the NBA's Detroit Pistons under a three-year deal, replacing WKBD, which no longer had time to air the team after doing so for 25 years.

[71] Granite's high debt load continued to motivate attempts to sell WDWB and its San Francisco sister station KBWB.

[73] In September 2005, Granite announced its intention to sell WDWB and KBWB to AM Media Holdings, Inc., a company mostly owned by ACON Investments, for a total of $180 million.

[78] A deal to sell the two WB affiliates to DS Audible, a consortium of four private equity firms, was reached, with the new buyers paying $30 million less than AM Media would have.

[79] However, once Granite obtained a new senior credit facility, it opted to retain the Detroit station while continuing to seek a different buyer for the San Francisco outlet.

[82] Granite would sue The WB and CBS for damages from the collapse of the sale and file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2006, when it settled with the networks for $13.2 million.

The program was dropped from WMYD's schedule on February 14, 2010, three months after Chiller Drive-In reached a deal with the Retro Television Network to show reruns as well as new episodes.

[112] As part of the SAFER Act, WMYD kept its analog signal on the air until March 4 to inform viewers of the digital television transition through a loop of public service announcements from the National Association of Broadcasters.