Scripps and Westinghouse Behavior in 1994-95

[SteveRichards]

I have some questions involving the behavior of Scripps and Westinghouse in regard to the affiliation switches that occurred in 1994 and 1995 as a result of the Fox/New World deal.

In regard to Scripps, I know that CBS was wooing Scripps-owned ABC affiliates WXYZ/Detroit and WEWS/Cleveland, as CBS was losing its affiliates to Fox in those cities and CBS didn’t want to be relegated to UHF stations in either market. I also understand that Scripps informed ABC that if the network wanted to remain on WXYZ and WEWS, ABC would have to agree to affiliate with Scripps-owned stations in Baltimore, Phoenix, Cincinnati, and Tampa. I completely understand why Scripps wanted ABC affiliations in Phoenix, Cincinnati, and Tampa, but why was Scripps so hot to drop first-place NBC from WMAR in Baltimore? At or about the same time, Scripps was gaining an NBC affiliation in Kansas City as a result of WDAF switching to Fox, and Scripps had owned the NBC affiliates in Tulsa and West Palm Beach for years. I would like to know why Scripps insisted on WMAR being part of the affiliation deal with ABC.

Now Westinghouse, who was losing ABC in Baltimore due to the Scripps deal with the network, felt slighted by ABC and went looking for a group-wide affiliation deal, which it ultimately got with CBS. My question is why did Westinghouse feel so threatened? If Westinghouse had done next to nothing, the company probably would have inherited NBC in Baltimore by default (unless NBC wasn’t in favor of a simple Baltimore swap and worked out a deal with Hearst/WBAL before Westinghouse/WJZ worked out a deal with CBS, but I’ve never seen that specifically alluded to anywhere). At the time, Westinghouse owned NBC affiliates in Philadelphia and Boston, so Westinghouse obviously had a working relationship with NBC, which was the number one network at the time. So why did WJZ not want NBC in Baltimore, and/or was NBC hesitant about affiliating with WJZ, fearing a good number of network preemptions like in Boston and Philadelphia?

As things ultimately worked out, Westinghouse got its group deal with CBS, which set off other affiliation switches and station swaps in Boston, Philadelphia, Denver, Salt Lake City, and Miami. Westinghouse merged with CBS, and then Viacom swallowed CBS.

Logic would suggest that if Scripps and Westinghouse had cooled their heels a bit back in 1994, the TV landscape would probably look somewhat different today.

 

[EJM]

I would like to know why Scripps insisted on WMAR being part of the affiliation deal with ABC.

This came up in a separate, broader thread recently: Some of the appropriate Wikipedia entries link to a B&C story from the era (at http://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-IDX/94-OCR/BC-1994-06-20-Page-0007.pdf) that reported that ABC, at the time, had been souring on WJZ's preemptions--even before a new Orioles deal was set to kick in. So, it may have been more of a case of ABC wanting to go to WMAR than Scripps wanting it. If that was indeed the case, then Group W may have felt that it needed to shore up all of its stations' affiliations--especially since I think that Fox may have also been talking with them (beyond the reference in that B&C story about Fox angling to affiliate with WJZ).

 

[SteveRichards]

Thanks for the link.

The Wikipedia entry for WJZ-TV says (although there is no reference, so it just very well may have been the author's opinion) that ABC was reluctant to include WMAR in the Scripps deal due to the station's low ratings. The linked B&C story says that CBS tried to beat ABC to the punch for a group deal with Scripps...although it doesn't specify what Scripps stations would be included, but we all know WXYZ and WEWS were the stations CBS really wanted. It's doubtful CBS would have wanted back on WMAR, as the network had dumped the station as an affiliate over a decade before over preemptions (mostly for Orioles baseball) and low news ratings.

I was not aware of the Orioles deal at the time with WJZ-TV, which likely would have led to ABC preemptions beyond what WJZ was already doing, and may have tempted ABC to find another affiliate in Baltimore. It's always been my understanding, and most articles that I've read confirm this, that the Westinghouse deal with CBS stipulated no preemptions. How did WJZ get around that when it came to the Orioles games, or did CBS allow exceptions when it came to Orioles games on WJZ? If CBS did allow exceptions for the Orioles, that would seem a bit ironic since CBS had dumped WMAR largely due to preemptions caused by Orioles games.

 

[fybush]

I feel like I've written about this at least once or twice a year every year since it happened way back in 1995, but since it's damned near impossible to find anything that was written before this site's ill-conceived "upgrade" last month, here goes again:

Westinghouse was after more than just a long-term group affiliation deal by the time 1994 rolled around. Recall that this was when the FCC had begun loosening the strings on the old 7/7/7 ownership caps, and it was clear that even 12/12/12 wasn't going to remain the cap for much longer. Westinghouse knew it needed to grow to survive, and it wanted a partner. There were years and years of tension between Westinghouse and NBC over preemptions, and bad blood going all the way back to the 1950s and the Philadelphia/Cleveland deal. (NBC would have pulled itself off WBZ-TV, too, had it been allowed to buy WNAC-TV back in 1960.)

Westinghouse partnered with CBS, then, not only because it provided a stable long-term affiliation for WBZ-TV and eventually for WJZ, but also because CBS had capital and licenses (Miami, Denver, Salt Lake) to contribute to a joint venture to buy more stations together. Dereg-driven consolidation moved so quickly at that point that by the time the joint venture would have started up in early '95, Westinghouse had instead simply swallowed CBS outright.

Understand that because it was a joint venture, some of the preemption issues that would have caused tension in a traditional affiliate/network relationship didn't apply. By the time the Baltimore affiliation swap was complete, WJZ ended up as not merely a CBS affiliate but an O&O, and if the bottom line was better served by carrying Orioles instead of CBS network, so be it.

 

[Markd]

In Baltimore Scripps Howard did not mind NBC and would have been happy keeping NBC there. ABC, though needed a home and wanted WMAR rather than WBAL TV. WBAL TV was and is owned by Hearst. Hearst was horrible with CBS preemptions and ABC felt they could have a better deal with Scripps. Actually Scripps wanted badly to drop CBS in Cincinnati and wanted ABC there so Scripps agreed to take WMAR for ABC to affiliate with WCPO Cincinnati. The deals with WXYZ Detroit, WEWS Cleveland were that Scripps would keep ABC there in exchange for ABC taking KNXV Phoenix and WFTS Tampa. The WMAR deal was related to the deal with WCPO. Scripps had a deal with NBC that they would they would sign their Tulsa and Memphis and West palm Beach stations for long term deals with NBC if NBC took 41 KSHB as well. NBC wound up on Hearst's WBAL TV Baltimore. ABC could ahve fit on either WMAR or WBAL as could NBC. ABC just wanted WMAR due to WBAL's local record for preemptions (WBAL TV had News 7 to noon Saturdays which would bump the cartoons from ABC or move them to like 6 to 8 AM Saturdays and 6 to 8 AM Sundays and out of pattern. WMAR was willing to keep the News from 6 to 9 AM and cartoons 9 to 1 PM Saturday and the remaining hour Sundays at 7 AM...Scripps agreed to run ABC's entire lineup as Group W did not previously

 

[SteveRichards]

Thanks for all the info, guys.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

I don't know if it's true (it may not be), but I heard that originally, Group W/Westinghouse would not only have sold-off WCAU-10 Philadelphia to NBC, but that originally, WBZ-4 in Boston also would have been sold to the Peacock, but in the end, NBC didn't want an O&O in Boston.

 

[fybush]

I don't know if it's true (it may not be), but I heard that originally, Group W/Westinghouse would not only have sold-off WCAU-10 Philadelphia to NBC, but that originally, WBZ-4 in Boston also would have been sold to the Peacock, but in the end, NBC didn't want an O&O in Boston.

I don't know where you heard this, Joseph, but it is not true. (And remember, I was at WBZ when this was all going down.)

Think about it and it doesn't even make any sense: Group W had to sell a Philadelphia station in order to merge with CBS, and by selling one of those stations to NBC, Group W/CBS ended up with a much better channel in Miami and new O&Os in Denver and Salt Lake. It was a complete win for Group W and CBS. How would they have won by selling off an O&O in another top-10 market, Boston, especially with no prospect of a better replacement? Hearst was tied to ABC at WCVB, and Sunbeam's WHDH was already preempting CBS like crazy.

 

[Joseph_Gallant]

Thanks, Scott!

From what I recall, what I heard about WBZ-4 did not come from anyone in the industry.

One thing I have noted is that since 1995, network affiliates pre-empt network programming far less often. That may be part of the legacy of The Great Affiliation Switches Of 1994-95.

 

[Markd]

Actually, CBS and Group W made a deal to just affiliate with each other. All 5 Group W stations were to stay Group W stations. There was also a deal fro CBS and Group W to jointly own KCNC 4 Denver and KUTV 2 Salt Lake City and Channel 4 Miami where the WTVJ NBC unit would move to Channel 6. Back in Spring of 1994, though Westinghouse considered a joint CBS NBC deal where WBZ TV and KYW TV would remain NBC affiliates but with no preemptions and the two CBS affilaites would retain CBS and WJZ 13 Baltimore would convert to CBS. But by Summer a deal was made to affiliate all 5 Group W stations with CBS. A deal included a clause to not preempt any CBS shows except for a local huge news event. An agreement was made for CBS to sell Channel 10 WCAU TV. Soon after, CBS and Westinghouse made a deal to jointly own several stations as a swap with NBC. A merger deal was not made until August of 1995, days after ABC and Disney announced their merger. The affiliation transition with CBS and Group W were complete September of 1995. The merger with Westinghouse was made official early in 1996. Later that year, CBS and Infinity would merge as well.

Yes as an NBC station WBZ TV was preempting NBC shows like crazy since the 60's. They preempted Another World from 83 on and tons of other NBC game shows and by the 90's NBC daytime Talk shows. 7 WHDH was not bad with CBS preemptions till the late 80's and dumped CBS Early Morning News in 1993 when Ansin bought the station. But bothe stations were far from perfect as was WCVB, which also preempted tons of ABC shows, though WMUR ran the stuff WCVB did not in most cases.