With the sale of WWBT completed yesterday, the Richmond area now has two television stations with the same owner.

But it will be only temporary.

Raycom Media Inc., which already owns WTVR, bought WWBT. That's generally against federal regulations, but the Federal Communications Commission agreed last week to allow the situation to stand for six months. During that time, Raycom will have to sell WTVR.

Tom Henson of Belmoro Corporate Advisors in Charlotte, N.C., which is handling the WTVR sale, said no changes will be made at WWBT in front of the camera or behind it.

"It's a wonderful television station, and it will be folded into the Raycom umbrella," Henson said. "In terms of personnel changes, etc., it doesn't mean anything. We're just going to build on what they've accomplished."

Viewers can expect to see one change, however, Henson said. The station will begin to air editorials. The editorials will be written and produced by the station staff and are part of the company's mission to interact with the community.

In the $583 million cash deal that included WWBT, Montgomery, Ala.-based Raycom acquired the three network-affiliated TV stations owned by Lincoln Financial Group, plus Philadelphia-based Lincoln Financial's sports syndication business.

"They're all three a perfect fit for Raycom's profile," said Raycom Vice President Jeff Rosser, citing the company's concentration in the South and Southeast. The company owns 46 TV stations in 18 states.

The other stations involved in the sale, WBTV in Charlotte, and WCSC in Charleston, S.C., are not in cities where Raycom already owns other stations.

Choosing to keep WWBT and sell WTVR was a difficult decision for Raycom because of the company's 11-year ownership of the station.

"If you look at the ratings report cards and financial report cards, WWBT has had the strongest numbers," Rosser said.

Media General, parent company of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, briefly owned WTVR in the mid-1990s. In 1997, WTVR went to Raycom after Media General swapped it for a station in Georgia and two in Mississippi, in keeping with the FCC rules prohibiting a daily newspaper and a broadcast TV station in the same market.

For the period that they are owned by the same company, WWBT and WTVR will be run separately, Henson said. The news staffs will be kept separate, which was part of the arrangement to get the temporary waiver from the FCC.

WWBT currently provides the 10 p.m. news for Fox affiliate WRLH. Meanwhile, WTVR has a shared-service agreement with CW affiliate WUPV, in which it provides not only the 10 p.m. news but also engineering, marketing and corporate services.

With the sale, Raycom has assumed the news-providing agreement with WRLH.

For the time being, WWBT will continue to provide the news for WRLH, and WTVR will provide the news for WUPV. When WTVR is sold, however, WWBT will provide the news for WRLH and WUPV. In the future, Rosser said, WUPV may not be able to have its newscast at 10 p.m.

Henson said Belmoro is accepting bids for WTVR.

"We're engaged in an orderly process," he said. "We're right in the middle of that process, and it's going well. Those things can't be rushed."