The original construction permit was issued to "Ithaca 52 Inc." in December 1999, valid for three years, with the first program tests run in late 2002 to meet a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) deadline.
[6] WNYI, licensed as a full service station despite its low signal power terrestrially, had applied for must-carry access to Time Warner Cable in Syracuse in May 2005.
[8] Univision's national feed was quickly returned to Time Warner Cable (now Spectrum), causing little to no impact for viewers, and due to various technical issues which often plagued Equity's stations, steadied the area's access to the network.
"[12] While the DTV Delay Act extended this deadline to June 12, 2009, Equity had applied for an extension of the digital construction permit in order to retain the broadcast license after the station went dark.
[14] That firm was required to construct digital television facilities on an in-core frequency before WNYI could be returned to the air, which needed to occur before June 12, 2010, lest the license be automatically forfeited to the FCC.