What does the future hold for Ed Ansin and his Boston station WHDH?

Since becoming independent in 2017, the owner of Boston’s WHDH Ed Ansin talks about his love of television and possible futures for the station.

• After multiple run ins with NBC, WHDH became an independent station Jan. 1, 2017, after NBC opted to covert WBTS to an owned station in the market.
• Since that debut, WBTS has seen improvements in the ratings, but still remains in last place in the market.
• While WHDH hasn’t topped the local news ratings — that belongs to Hearst owned ABC affiliate WCVB — it’s still aggressively pursing the genre.
• Meanwhile, Ansin, who is 83, says the station is still profitable but he doesn’t see it as remaining independent forever.
• He is open about saying he would like WHDH to become a Fox affiliate for the Boston market, just like the other station he owns in Miami, WSVN.
• Both stations brand on air as “7 News” and “The News Station” and are known for their over the top production values (though Boston’s are dialed back a bit).
• The market has a Fox affiliate, of course — WFXT.
• However, the station is currently owned by Cox Media, but is in the process of being sold to Apollo Management Group.