After WUTR's sale to Mission Broadcasting, insiders speculated that Nexstar would establish a combined news department for WUTR and its sister stations, WFXV and WPNY. In March 2011, the company announced it would launch a news operation for the three stations by mid-September, and said it would invest $1 million for staff and equipment. WUTR's "Eyewitness News" operation began on September 12, 2011, and broadcast in true high definition, making it the first station in the Utica-Rome market to air full high-definition news broadcasts. (WFXV would become the second such station four hours later, when its 10 p.m. newscast launched.) Late-evening newscasts are broadcast at 10 p.m. on WFXV and at 11 p.m. on WUTR.