WTMJ launched their fourth subchannel in mid-December 2017, though it started with only a blank image merely to activate the channel. It began to carry Grit in early March 2018, after WCGV-TV (channel 24) left the air on January 8, 2018 and merged their two other existing subchannels onto WVTV due to the spectrum auction. This left Grit and getTV without a channel in the market (getTV eventually moved to WIWN-DT4), and Scripps decided to consolidate the network onto WTMJ after their purchase of Katz Broadcasting, the parent of Escape, Grit and Laff (along with Bounce TV, which will remain with WMLW-TV for the time being).