with the expansion of fox's primetime programming and the move of sports coverage to cable on comcast sportsnet chicago and its forerunners and the big ten network, much of wqrf's off-network reruns from yesteryear and sports coverage had gradually disappeared. the station joined nexstar as part of the company's acquisition of quorum broadcasting in late 2003. on november 22, 2004, mission broadcasting bought wtvo from young broadcasting for $21 million, entered into a shared services agreement with wqrf, with wqrf moving into wtvo's studio, though wqrf is technically the senior partner.