Founded on November 19, 1969 by Howard Green, owner of WENY radio stations on 1230 AM and 92.7 FM, WENY-TV came into being as the first television station to serve the Western Twin Tiers region of Southern Upstate New York and Northern Pennsylvania, operating as an ABC affiliate from its earliest broadcasts. Green sold the station in 2000 to Lilly Broadcasting, founded by the Lilly family, which had been operating television stations since 1983 through predecessor companies SJL Broadcasting and Montecito Broadcast Group. Today, WENY operates under Lilly Broadcasting, L.L.C., with studios on Old Ithaca Road in Horseheads, New York, serving as dual ABC and CBS affiliate for the region. Today, WENY is mainly focused on local Twin Tiers news, weather, sports, and community coverage spanning Chemung, Steuben, Schuyler, Tioga, and Tompkins Counties in New York and Bradford and Tioga Counties in Pennsylvania from their studios in Horseheads, New York. One interesting fact: In July 2014 WENY became the subject of national media criticism when it cut away from the final minutes of the 2014 FIFA World Cup Final between Germany and Argentina to broadcast a local tornado warning, a decision that sparked a viral debate about the balance between breaking local emergency coverage and major international sporting events.