Media General has withdrawn its injunction against Gray Television and has asked the Georgia Supreme Court to dismiss its appeal of the court’s order to allow Gray Television to operate Augusta NBC affiliate WAGT.
In its short and odd fight over operation of Augusta NBC affiliate WAGT, Media General sued to stop Gray from operating WAGT when Gray bought the station in February. Media General said it had a contract with previous owner Schurz to operate the station until 2020. A week after the sale went through, Richmond County Superior Court court allowed Media General to operate WAGT until the state Supreme Court could decide the case. The Supreme Court issued a temporary stay on that injunction, allowing Gray to re-take control of its new station, nearly a month after the FCC approved the sale.
The Augusta Chronicle reports Gray-owned sister station CBS affiliate WRDW, which houses the new WAGT, said yesterday “that Media General’s filing means ‘the disruptive threats of court injunctions against WAGT 26 have now ended.'”
“While WJBF (which houses the Media General version of WAGT) does continue to pursue a lawsuit in state court against Gray, which Gray will continue to defend vigorously, WJBF has given up trying to interfere with Gray’s control of WAGT and its programming,” said WRDW. “Now freed of the risk of further interference, Gray is able to invest fully in its turnaround plans for WAGT.”