It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a local marketing agreement (LMA) with Nexstar Media Group, owner of dual CBS/MyNetworkTV affiliate WPRI-TV (channel 12), for the provision of certain services.

The two stations share studios on Catamore Boulevard in East Providence, Rhode Island; WNAC-TV's transmitter is located on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts.

In October 1953, the FCC barred Cherry & Webb, the permittee of WPRO-TV, from beginning broadcasting until it conducted a hearing on the economic injury claims made by Channel 16 of Rhode Island.

[16][17] An attempt to have a VHF channel inserted at Westerly for its use failed;[18] litigation with Cherry & Webb stretched into 1957 before the parties reached a settlement.

[21] The FCC deleted WNET's construction permit and call letters in April 1969 after it determined that the company's refusal to build in light of a ruling on cable television signals was a business decision.

[26] Shortly after the authorization, Sy Weintraub and Gordon McLendon bought an interest in Subscription Television of America, which was owned by Clint Murchison.

[28] The Golden West deal never came to pass; the Pay Television Corporation received the rights to program the STV system on channel 64, as well as an option to buy 80 percent of the station, in November 1980 as part of a court settlement.

[29] The construction permit took the call letters WSTG on September 22, 1980,[24] and Pay Television Corporation announced at the start of 1981 that it would have the station up and running by the end of the year.

[30] Channel 64 went back on the air as early as November 1981[4] as a test, intending to broadcast as a part-time subscription TV station;[3] it operated from the original WNET studio building.

Instead, it operated on a limited basis while Subscription Television of America sought a buyer, a process complicated with the death of company vice president Paul Mowrey in August 1982.

[33] The company intended to work with UPI Media, a subsidiary related to the United Press International wire service, to provide programming support.

[35] Under new general manager Ric Gorman, the station repaired its transmitter to return to full-power broadcasting, affiliated with the brand-new Fox network, and changed its call sign to WNAC-TV.

[37] To build a local identity, channel 64 picked up a package of University of Rhode Island Rams men's basketball games, the first regular television exposure for the team since 1982.

[42] Even as other local stations struggled with a decline in advertising and consequent layoffs, WNAC-TV withstood the recession due to its leaner operational structure (with just 36 full-time employees), financial backing by Northstar, and the growth of Fox.

Sunrise was one of two television companies owned by the private equity firm of Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, alongside LIN Broadcasting.

[61][62] On August 31, 2020, Nexstar exercised its option to purchase WNAC through its partner company, Mission Broadcasting, for more than $3.2 million;[63] the transaction was completed on June 16, 2021.

[64] WNAC, LLC—the Super Towers subsidiary that had been the licensee prior to the Mission purchase—filed objections to the license renewals of 14 Nexstar stations including WPRI-TV in 2023, claiming that the company was late in uploading documents to its public inspection file.

[65] Alongside the LMA with Clear Channel came the ability for WPRI-TV to produce a local 10 p.m. newscast for WNAC-TV, which had previously entertained proposals from another station and New England Cable News.