On May 15, 2012, Sinclair Broadcast Group and Fox agreed to a five-year affiliation agreement extension for Sinclair's then-19 Fox-affiliated stations until 2017. This included an option, exercisable between July 1, 2012 and March 31, 2013, for Fox's then-parent News Corporation to buy a combination of six Sinclair-owned stations (two CW/MyNetworkTV duopolies and two standalone MyNetworkTV affiliates) in three out of four markets; WSTR-TV was included in the Fox purchase option, along with stations in Raleigh (WLFL and WRDC), Norfolk (WTVZ) and Las Vegas (KVCW and KVMY). In January 2013, Fox announced that it would not exercise its option to buy any of the Sinclair stations in those four markets. On July 19, 2012, Sinclair announced that it would sell the WSTR-TV license to Deerfield Media (which in turn is owned by the principals of Manhan Media, which purchased WWHO in Chillicothe, serving the Columbus market, earlier in 2012) to comply with the FCC's ownership regulations following the acquisition of WKRC-TV from Newport Television; Sinclair continues to operate WSTR under a local marketing agreement. The sale was completed on December 3, 2012.