WWLP operates a full-time low-power digital repeater, WFXQ-CD (channel 28), whose transmitter is located at the top of the old Mount Tom Ski Area in Holyoke.

WFXQ-CD primarily serves as a way for the few viewers in the core of the Springfield market without cable or satellite to have UHF access to WWLP's signal, as VHF antennas have some issues with reception in the digital age.

Springfield was sandwiched between Boston to the east, Hartford–New Haven to the south, and the Capital District of New York State to the west, and all available VHF channels were tied up between them.

LIN TV Corporation acquired WWLP in 2000[3] by swapping KAKE-TV in Wichita, Kansas, and WOWT-TV in Omaha, Nebraska, to Benedek.

Shortly after the change, then-pending owner LIN TV constructed an addition at WWLP's new facilities which would serve as a master control hub for company-owned stations in the Northeast.

That eventually became the case with sister stations WTNH, WCTX, WPRI-TV (LIN TV flagship), and WNAC-TV having master control and some internal operations currently located at the Chicopee studios.

In September 2006, the show was canceled by the station because of the costs associated with new FCC regulations requiring all over-the-air television programming in the United States to be closed-captioned for the deaf and hard of hearing.

[7][8][9] On January 27, 2016, however, Nexstar Broadcasting Group announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire Media General, who subsequently abandoned its plans to purchase Meredith.

WRLP served the northern portion of the Pioneer Valley market, where WWLP's signal was marginal at best due to the area's rugged and mountainous terrain.

From a transmitter on Gunn Mountain in Winchester, New Hampshire (one of the highest points in the region), WRLP could also be seen in Springfield as well, creating a strong combined signal with over 50 percent overlap.

Almost immediately after WRLP left the air, its transmitter was shipped to Salt Lake City, Utah, in order to launch KSTU, an independent sister station on UHF channel 20.

Since it was only available on cable, the call sign was fictional in nature solely for the purposes of electronic program guide and rating diary identification, and thus not officially recognized by the FCC.

In August 2006, the call letters changed again to WFXQ-CA after word was confirmed that WBQT would continue operations as Springfield's CW affiliate.

The network launched on September 18 with proper on-air changes on WBQT, along with a website on The CW Plus's web presence with schedule information.

During its cable-exclusive period with The WB and The CW, the station did not have an actual owner and had a signal provided to cable companies through a closed circuit satellite feed.

In April 2017, Charter Communications was forced to drop WWLP in Berkshire County, due to new terms in NBC's retransmission consent agreements which require that only the station assigned to that community can be carried on a cable system.

The offices of Senators Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, along with Congressman Richard E. Neal, pressured Charter and WWLP's owner, Nexstar, to restore the station's newscasts in some manner.

This came at the end of February 2020, when Nexstar and Charter announced they would authorize a return of WWLP to Berkshire County systems, which was launched on March 31, 2020, on SD channels 14/16 (dependent on location), and 1204 in HD.

WWLP serves as the western Massachusetts affiliate for the New England Patriots' preseason television network, carrying the team's games not nationally broadcast.

This has been achieved (most of the time) by beating rival ABC affiliate WGGB-TV (channel 40) in the local Nielsen ratings since both stations went on-the-air.

However, WWLP consistently outpaced WGGB after Sinclair Broadcast Group acquired that station in 1998 and drastically cut its news operation.

However, when WRLP converted to a separate Independent channel in 1974, its own newscasts were established tailored toward the Northern Pioneer Valley as well as Brattleboro and Keene.

After WGGB-TV recently became locally owned (bought by John J. Gormally who publishes the Business West magazine), there was a chance the ratings could change.

Although low-powered CBS affiliate WSHM-LP established its own news department in October 2005, it initially did not compete on the same level as WWLP and WGGB.