on july 1, 2013, local tv announced that its 19 stations would be acquired by the tribune company for $2.75 billion; tribune owns "the morning call" in allentown. although allentown is part of the philadelphia television market, wnep has long claimed the lehigh valley as part of its coverage area. the fcc ruled that tribune could not keep wnep due to its ban on newspaper-television cross-ownership within a single market, "the morning call" serving a city within wnep's coverage area (although tribune has maintained cross-ownership waivers for its newspaper-television station combinations in los angeles, chicago, miami, and hartford). tribune spun off wnep-tv to dreamcatcher broadcasting, an unrelated company owned by former tribune company executive ed wilson. however, tribune will operate the station and provide other services under a shared services agreement, and will hold an option to buy back wnep outright in the future. the sale was completed on december 27. tribune later announced on july 10, 2013 that it would spin off its newspapers (including "the morning call") into a separate company, the tribune publishing company, in 2014, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. the split was completed in august 2014, though as of yet tribune has not announced plans to acquire dreamcatcher outright.