The channel was launched on October 7, 1991, as
NewsChannel 8. The "8" branding was selected as a part of the name to attempt to get Washington-area cable providers to place the channel between its parent ABC-affiliated station, WJLA-TV (at channel 7), and local
CBS affiliate
WUSA-TV on channel 9. Allbritton also bundled the channel along with WJLA in carriage contracts. In 1995, the channel began airing timeshifted
ABC News programs hours or days after their original broadcast. On September 5, 2006, Comcast moved NewsChannel 8, at the channel's request, to channel 28 on the analog tiers of some of its systems, placing it next to sister station WJLA-TV on channel 27 (Comcast's systems in the immediate Washington, D.C., area slot the market's broadcast stations in the 20-29 channel range; this is an artifact from when television stations broadcast in
analog prior to the 2009
digital television transition in order to avert
co-channel interference with the broadcast signals). Systems outside of Washington proper carry it on channel 8, next to WJLA on channel 7. In all cases, however, the channel's
high definition feed is carried on
digital channel 808. On July 17, 2013, satellite provider
DirecTV began carrying NewsChannel 8 on channel 8 within the Washington market. On December 21, 2015, the channel was added to satellite provider
Dish Network's D.C.-area broadcast lineup, also on channel 8. On August 9, 2010, the channel was rebranded as
TBD TV, in order to associate it with the recently established news website
TBD.com, which provided news content for both the channel and WJLA. Allbritton subsequently reverted its news channel's branding to the original NewsChannel 8 name in February 2011. On July 29, 2013, Allbritton Communications announced that it would sell its entire television group, including NewsChannel 8 and WJLA-TV, to
Hunt Valley-based
Sinclair Broadcast Group (owners of
flagship station
WBFF, as well as operators of
two other stations in the adjacent
Baltimore market). Sinclair had indicated that it may use NewsChannel 8 as a base to launch a national cable news channel. On July 23, 2018, WJLA announced that NewsChannel 8 will be rebranded as
WJLA 24/7 News on Tuesday July 24, aligning it further with the call letters of its broadcast station, WJLA-TV. On March 25, 2021, Sinclair launched ATSC 3.0 operations on
WIAV-CD and for the first time, made the channel available over the air via the station. ==Programming==