I think it is a mandate for all of Raycom's stations, no matter the affiliation, to have 4pm news and HD. Myrtle Beach has it; Charleston has had it since they were a JP station; Savannah has it, Wilmington carries Oprah otherwise they probably would; and Richmond has one.
Live 5 probably has at least 3 or 4 stories per newscast from their sister stations; I wonder what WIS has. Hard to believe just four or five years ago they were the "newscast of record" in South Carolina. They had the best talent (David Stanton, Craig Melvin and Susan Aude Fisher), very good reporters, covered more stories than anyone else, and had their huge cable reach.
Now, WLTX is probably the better newscast in the Columbia area. WIS's talent has gone downhill, losing Mandy Mitchell to WRAL, Angie Goff, Melvin, and several others.
It's also huge having WIS losing the SEC Network rights and them going to WOLO. That will be a big boost for WOLO, and people will tune into their newscasts more.