On June 20, 2017, Ion Media Networks announced that it would purchase KTRV-TV from Block Communications for an undisclosed amount (in a deal separate from another purchase announced on that date of fellow Ion Television affiliates WRBU in St. Louis and WZRB in Columbia, South Carolina from an Ion Media-backed trust overseen by former LIN Media CEO Gary Chapman). The sale was completed on October 24, 2017. With the purchase, KTRV became the first full-power Ion Media-owned station to hold a VHF (2-13) channel number.