Fox 17

What Fox 17 does

Fox 17 (legal entity WZTV, operated under the FOX 17 Nashville brand) is a Fox-affiliated local broadcast television station serving the Nashville, Tennessee Designated Market Area, including Middle Tennessee and parts of Southern Kentucky. The station has operated since 1994 and is owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: SBGI), a publicly traded television broadcasting conglomerate headquartered in Maryland that operates approximately 300 stations across 90 US markets. Fox 17 produces and distributes local news, weather, sports, traffic, and entertainment programming to a general consumer audience in the Nashville metro region.

The station's core technology stack combines traditional over-the-air broadcast transmission, cable and satellite carriage (including DirecTV and Dish Network), digital streaming via fox17.com, and dedicated mobile applications on iOS and Android. Content franchises include FOX 17 Code Red Weather (a branded severe weather alert system with real-time radar integration), FOX 17 Investigates (investigative journalism unit), Fox 17 SkyEye (aerial newsgathering), and the Sinclair-produced Criminally Obsessed podcast. Sports coverage encompasses the Tennessee Titans, Nashville Predators, Nashville SC, and Nashville Sounds. Distribution channels also extend to social media platforms (Facebook, X/Twitter, Instagram, TikTok) and email newsletters for audience engagement.

Fox 17 operates as a non-autonomous subsidiary within Sinclair; revenue is generated primarily through local and national advertising sales (political, automotive, retail), retransmission consent fees paid by cable and satellite distributors, and digital advertising on web and mobile properties. The station has 11-50 employees based in Nashville. There is no publicly disclosed station-level financial data, and Fox 17 does not operate as an independent fundraising entity. Operating geographies are limited to the Nashville DMA; there is no global footprint. No acquisitions, leadership changes, funding rounds, or regulatory actions at the station level were reported in the source material.

Name

Fox 17

Legal name

Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc.

Website

https://fox17.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Fox 17 (WZTV) is a Fox-affiliated local broadcast television station serving the Nashville, Tennessee DMA, owned and operated by Sinclair Broadcast Group. It delivers local news, weather, sports, and investigative content via over-the-air broadcast, mobile apps, and digital streaming.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Local Broadcast Television News

NAICS

Television Broadcasting Stations (51612), Television Broadcasting Stations (516120), Radio and Television Broadcasting Stations (5161), Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (5162)

SIC

Television Broadcasting Stations (4833)

akta.pro primary industry

Network-Affiliated Local TV Stations (ABC/CBS/NBC/FOX/CW/Telemundo/Univision, etc.) (MPABACAE)

Keywords

• Local television broadcasting
• Local news coverage
• Weather forecasting services
• Investigative journalism
• Sports news reporting

Headquarters

HQ city

Nashville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Fox 17 (WZTV) is a Fox-affiliated local broadcast television station that produces and distributes local news, weather, sports, traffic, and entertainment content for the Nashville, Middle Tennessee, and Southern Kentucky markets. Its core offerings include daily newscasts, the proprietary FOX 17 Code Red Weather severe weather alerting service, investigative journalism through FOX 17 Investigates, sports coverage of local teams, and aerial newsgathering via SkyEye, delivered via over-the-air broadcast, website streaming, and mobile applications.

Product overview

Fox 17 (WZTV) is a local broadcast television station serving Nashville and Middle Tennessee, operating as part of the Sinclair Broadcast Group. The station delivers news content through its primary broadcast channel, a mobile application for iOS and Android, and web properties. Its product portfolio centers on news and weather content with specialized offerings including FOX 17 Code Red Weather (severe weather forecasting), FOX 17 Investigates (investigative journalism), and the Criminally Obsessed podcast series. Additional offerings include aerial SkyEye coverage, traffic cameras, sports reporting, and a dedicated Money section for financial content. The station's content architecture is organized as a broadcast-plus-digital hybrid, with the mobile app enabling on-demand access to live streams, weather radar, and local news stories.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Fox 17 News Local and regional news broadcasting service covering Nashville and Middle Tennessee, including breaking news, politics, crime, and community stories, delivered across broadcast television, fox17.com, and mobile applications.
• FOX 17 Code Red Weather

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Regional players

• WATE 6 On Your Side: ABC-affiliated local TV station serving Knoxville and East Tennessee. Comparable as another Tennessee mid-market local broadcaster with similar content mix (news, weather, sports, investigative), but operating in a different DMA.
• WHNT CBS 19 Huntsville: CBS-affiliated local TV station serving Huntsville and northern Alabama, a fast-growing mid-size Southeastern DMA. Comparable as a regional broadcaster in a similar growth market with overlapping Tennessee Valley viewership reach into Fox 17's Southern Kentucky coverage area.

Emerging players

• The Tennessean (USA TODAY Network): Regional newspaper and digital news outlet serving Nashville. Comparable as a competing source of local Nashville news, weather, and community information targeting the same audience and local advertising market as Fox 17.

Broad incumbents

• Gray Television: Major publicly traded U.S. local TV broadcaster with stations across mid-size and smaller markets. Comparable as a Sinclair-like peer group operator providing shared content, sales leverage, and operating scale.
• WZTV (Fox 17) sibling Sinclair stations (e.g., WTTE Columbus, WSYX Columbus): Other FOX-affiliated Sinclair-owned local TV stations in mid-size U.S. DMAs. Comparable as peer stations in similar market sizes under the same parent company, with shared content, sales, and operating playbook.
• Nexstar Media Group: Largest U.S. owner of local TV stations, with significant presence in mid-size markets. Comparable as the largest peer station-group operator whose Nashville-area stations compete for advertisers with Fox 17.
• Tegna (parent of WKRN): Large publicly traded owner of local TV stations, including WKRN in Nashville. Comparable as a peer station-group operator whose station in the same DMA competes directly with Fox 17.

Direct peers

• WSMV (Channel 4 Nashville): NBC-affiliated local TV station serving the Nashville market. Competes head-to-head with Fox 17 in local news, weather, and sports coverage for Middle Tennessee viewers.
• WKRN (News 2 Nashville): ABC-affiliated local TV station serving Nashville and Middle Tennessee. Directly comparable as a competing major-network affiliate producing local news, weather, and sports for the same DMA.
• WTVF (NewsChannel 5): CBS-affiliated local TV station in Nashville and a long-dominant local news brand in the market. Directly competes with Fox 17 for Nashville DMA viewers and advertisers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks4 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/wztv_fox17
• Facebookfacebook.com/foxnashville
• Instagraminstagram.com/foxnashville
• TikToktiktok.com/@fox17nashville
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fox-17

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fox 17