WNYS-TV's operations were housed at WSYT's studio facilities on James Street/NY 290 in Syracuse's Near Northeast section; the station's transmitter was located near Maple Grove, a hamlet of Otisco, New York.

WNYS-TV went off the air on January 14, 2020, ahead of the surrender of its license as a condition of Apollo Global Management's 2019 acquisition of Northwest Broadcasting.

In that same year, Max Media Properties (then owner of WSYT) entered into an LMA with WNYS-TV and began operating the station out of that outlet's facility.

As a result, between June 2001 and July 2003, Boston superstation WSBK-TV served as the UPN affiliate for Syracuse Time Warner Cable subscribers.

Sinclair will continue to own the station's studios on James Street and its transmitter site in Otisco for at least ten years.

[8] The sale originated in 2005 as an attempt by Sinclair to buy WNYS outright for $3.1 million; the rights to acquire the station were transferred to Bristlecone as part of its purchase of WSYT, and were in turn sold to Syracuse Broadcasting for $250,000 on August 10, 2015.