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===Belo ownership===
The station's local ownership came to an end in 1994, when the station was bought by the [[Dallas]]-based [[Belo Corporation]]. [[1994 New Orleans Saints season|That year]], channel 4's status as the unofficial "home" station of the [[New Orleans Saints]] came to an end after [[NFL on CBS|CBS]] lost the broadcast rights to the [[National Football Conference]] television package to [[Fox NFL|Fox]] in December 1993.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121105135152/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-4205316.html CBS, NBC Battle for AFC Rights // Fox Steals NFC Package], ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]''
In 2005, [[Viacom (1952–2006)|Viacom]]—which owned [[UPN]] station [[WUPL-TV]] (channel 54, now a [[MyNetworkTV]] affiliate) at the time through its [[Paramount Stations Group]] subsidiary—had made an offer to acquire WWL-TV, which would have created a duopoly with WUPL and turned channel 4 into a CBS [[owned-and-operated station]] (Viacom owned CBS from its 1999 merger with the network, which ironically traces the former company's history back to its existence as a syndicator of CBS programming, until December 2005, when shared parent [[National Amusements]] decided to [[Viacom (1952–2006)#2005 split and re-merger of CBS and Viacom|split Viacom and CBS]] into two [[Viacom (2005–2019)|separate]] [[CBS Corporation|companies]]; they would [[ViacomCBS|remerge]] in 2019). However, after Belo rejected Viacom's purchase offer for WWL, Viacom instead reached a deal to sell WUPL to Belo in July of that year for $14.5 million. The deal was slated to close by the end of 2005, but was placed on hold when [[Hurricane Katrina]] devastated the Greater New Orleans area in late August. As a result, on February 9, 2006, CBS filed a [[breach of contract]] lawsuit against the Belo Corporation over the failure to finalize the sale of WUPL to Belo.<ref>[http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/102874-Nice_Price.php Nice Price], ''[[Broadcasting & Cable]]'', February 19, 2006.</ref><ref>[http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/cbs-sues-belo-over-wupl/78805 CBS Sues Belo Over WUPL], ''Broadcasting & Cable'', February 9, 2006.</ref> The litigation was later settled on February 26, 2007, with Belo announcing that it would complete its purchase of WUPL.<ref>http://www.mediaweek.com/mw/news/tvstations/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003550412 "Belo Nabs WUPL-TV, CBS' New Orleans Affil." By Katy Bachman, MEDIAWEEK.</ref><ref>http://www.belo.com/pressRelease.x2?release=20070223-1126.html "Belo Purchases WUPL-TV, Expanding Its Presence in New Orleans." Belo press release. Retrieved February 28, 2007</ref> The deal had already received [[Federal Communications Commission]] approval, and was finalized on February 26, 2007; Belo moved WUPL's operations into WWL's Rampart Street studio facility in mid-April 2007.
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