Therefore, in order to reach the entire market, it was simulcast in 1080i full high definition on WSTM-TV's second digital subchannel, which eventually became its permanent over-the-air conduit.

Time Warner Cable added UPN O&O WSBK-TV from Boston to its line-up on channel 6 in July 2001 in advance of the move of Buffy the Vampire Slayer to UPN's schedule two months later from The WB, at the cost of $1 million a year in out-of-market licensing fees, but with a schedule fully filled with syndicated content and Boston sports outside of prime time.

Raycom used "6" to reflect its pending cable channel slot on Time Warner which was obtained July 1, 2003 (replacing WSBK) following WSTQ-LP's acquisition by the company; carriage of WSTQ-LP was now required by Raycom to carry WSTM-TV under FCC regulations giving full-power stations the option of "retransmission consent" for sister stations (and later, digital subchannels) or requesting compensation from cable systems to carry them.

Until 2005, WSTQ-LP carried the Bill Keeler Show (a daily and later weekly local comedy series that was based in Utica and aired on Fox affiliate WFXV).

On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation (which split from Viacom in December 2005) and Time Warner's Warner Bros. Entertainment (the division that operated The WB) announced that they would dissolve UPN and The WB, and move some of their programs to a newly created network operated as a joint venture between the companies, The CW Television Network.

Using the WSTQ-LD call sign (referring to low-power digital), it would have drastically increased the station's coverage area, utilizing the WSTM tower in Onondaga.

The application was withdrawn after the FCC slotted WSYT into the physical channel 14 position as part of their spectrum reallocation across the United States.

In April 2006, WTVH ceased producing all local news programming for WSYT in order to focus on its own newscasts that were cemented in third place by this point.

Since dropping news programming from the CBS outlet, WSYT remains one of a handful of Big Four network-affiliated stations throughout the United States that do not produce or air local newscasts.

The situation changed in January 2013 when the subchannel was upgraded to high definition transmission thus allowing the WSTQ-LP broadcast to be seen terrestrially in HD.