At that point, the station joined WLUC, Saginaw's NBC affiliate WEYI-TV and (to a degree) Toledo, Ohio's NBC affiliate WNWO-TV as part of Barrington's family of stations in and around Michigan.
In 1983, Ziff Davis sold WTOV, along with then-sister stations WEYI-TV in Saginaw, Michigan, WRDW-TV in Augusta, Georgia and WROC-TV in Rochester, New York, to Television Station Partners, L.P. WTOV, along with WEYI and WROC, were sold to Smith Broadcast Group in 1996.