Ohio State University announced on March 3, 2017 that it had sold the license for WPBO for $8.8 million in the FCC's spectrum auction. WOSU general manager Tom Rieland told "The Columbus Dispatch" that Portsmouth has "incredible duplication of PBS signals". In addition to the two primary PBS members serving the Huntington/Charleston market, West Virginia Public Broadcasting flagship WVPB-TV in Huntington and Kentucky Educational Television outlet WKAS in Ashland, Kentucky, Portsmouth also receives PBS programming from WOUB-TV in Athens and WCET in Cincinnati. Some parts of the area also receive the main WOSU-TV signal. WPBO ceased operations October 25, 2017; its license was cancelled two days later. Proceeds from the sale of WPBO remained with WOSU-TV, which will continue operations.