That move would make KFMB-DT2 the sole MyNetworkTV affiliate.
-
Get involved.
We want your input!
Apply for Membership and join the conversations about everything related to broadcasting.
After we receive your registration, a moderator will review it. After your registration is approved, you will be permitted to post.
If you use a disposable or false email address, your registration will be rejected.
After your membership is approved, please take a minute to tell us a little bit about yourself.
https://www.radiodiscussions.com/forums/introduce-yourself.1088/
Thanks in advance and have fun!
RadioDiscussions Administrators
CBS owned CW affiliates to drop CW affiliation and go independent
- Thread starter nelsonincharlotte
- Start date
How about the markets that are owned by CBS but are not affiliated with the network, like Tampa, Atlanta, and Seattle? Are these stations going to be put up for sale?
I predict Fox might get a duopoly for both Atlanta and Tampa for an MNTV o&o, Gray or E.W. Scripps might enter Seattle if Tegna refuses to affiliate CW for KONG.
Just those 3 I believe. I haven't seen any indication they might sell but that could change any day.
I can't imagine CBS relaunching another OTA broadcast tv network or carrying a competitor's network so they will exist as either independent stations or could potentially grab the CBS affiliation in those markets.
Atlanta's CBS is owned by Gray and they're the largest owner of CBS stations, not really a good idea to mess with that. Tegna owns the CBS station in Tampa and they too have many CBS stations. Cox has three CBS affiliates include the one in Seattle and that seems the most possible one to be wrestled away.
KSTW only lasted more 2 years 1995-1997 but would be suprised if KIRO loses CBS again pulling something like NBC did in Boston from the start of 2017 when they pulled out of Sunbeam's WHDH for a new low-powered station with the backing of NECN regional cable news channel and Telemundo Nueva Inglaterra. WPCH was my favorite in line to pick up CW since 12.5 percent shareholder WBD once owned the superstation that would become TBS.
Atlanta is out of the question because of Gray renewing CBS affiliates in a multi-year deal, including flagship WGCL. My bet is putting The CW on co-owned WPCH instead.
Tampa Bay is already set in stone with Nexstar-owned WTTA to become The CW (no word about their current MNTV affiliation).
Seattle is a bit tricky considering the other possible candidates for The CW. There is of course Tegna-owned KONG, but there is also Weigel-owned KFFV, currently a MeTV affiliate, that could also be a potential candidate, and Weigel is no stranger to The CW since their flagship station is a CW affiliate (Chicago's WCIU), but then again, wasn't LIV golf pre-empted to WGN?
Tampa Bay is already set in stone with Nexstar-owned WTTA to become The CW (no word about their current MNTV affiliation).
Seattle is a bit tricky considering the other possible candidates for The CW. There is of course Tegna-owned KONG, but there is also Weigel-owned KFFV, currently a MeTV affiliate, that could also be a potential candidate, and Weigel is no stranger to The CW since their flagship station is a CW affiliate (Chicago's WCIU), but then again, wasn't LIV golf pre-empted to WGN?
Last edited:
They should call it UPN.
They could call it this but then again not going to happen given that they have to protect the Paramount+ app.
Paramount Television Network - Wikipedia
The last time CBS converted a contract affiliate into an O&O was when Viacom had KMAX Sacramento as the then UPN affiliate and they had to trade in a station. This was the time when CBS had to sell KFRC-AM as part of the trade to get KOVR Sacramento which was at the time transitioning from Sinclair management to CBS management.
And then there’s this unrealized effort from the 1970s: Paramount Television Service - Wikipedia
Um, Scripps is already in Seattle. I'm sitting inside of the KWPX facility right now.
Unless they make a duopoly by either KSTW or KIRO
JeeperOne
Banned
How could Scripps enter Seattle?? There's no realistic outlet for them there
JeeperOne
Banned
Problem
1). It's A;READY been said Scripps DOES NOT want The CW on ANY station it owns (Plus they wouldn't want a STANDALONE CW affiliate anyway)
2(. Nexstar has a better chance of buying KSTW & making it a CW O&O (Assuming CBS is even interested in selling, which I CAN see in this case)
3). Cox would NEVER sell KIRO anymore than (Before you go there)) Sinclair would sell KOMO (Why would EOYJRT of THEM get in the middle of this?? What incentive do they have??)
Scripps is at 35% "FCC coverage" as of 2022 so they are close to the cap. I suppose they could buy one of those two (if they are for sale) and toss KWPX over to Inyo if it crosses the 39% line. Not sure I'd pay KSTW or KIRO prices just to keep or put the CW on the station. Seems like a great way to immediately reduce the value of KIRO and drive away what CBS viewership there is. And I've seen the ratings for KSTW with the CW and they're not good.
JeeperOne
Banned
OK Darren - I have to wonder - ARE YOU ON DRIGS right now??
There is NO way NO how ANYTHING like this is going to happen in Seattle
Scripps does have some CW stations in Phoenix, Tucson, Miami, and Norfolk plus subchannels in Montana, San Luis Obispo, and Lafayette.
What if Nexstar bought WTTO from Sinclair?
WKRN could have bought WNAB instead of letting CW move to a subchannel of WZTV.
WKRN could have bought WNAB instead of letting CW move to a subchannel of WZTV.
KSTW (under its original KTNT call letters) was actually a CBS affiliate in the fifties and early sixties. As you note, it was a CBS affiliate again for two years in the nineties as a result of a joint deal (CBS wanted to affiliate with KTVT in Dallas/Fort Worth and had to agree to also take on KSTW in order to get the deal from the then-owner of both stations, Gaylord). The likelihood that it will become a CBS station for a third time is probably pretty low since history says that hasn't worked out well for CBS in the past. Notably, if the ratings hadn't been horrible in the nineties, I'm thinking that CBS wouldn't have been as quick to jump back to KIRO as they were.
Whether CBS would be willing to sell KSTW to someone who might want to make it into a CW affiliate is another matter, since I'm not sure how valuable a stand-alone independent station really is to them. While KSTW was once one of the most successful independent stations in the country and was even a regional superstation ("We're entertaining the whole northwest", "KSTWashington"), those days are long gone. Now it's just another "has been" station with a minimal news presence and very little image outside of being a generic CW affiliate -- whatever value there might have been in the station's heritage got blown away during those two years as a CBS affiliate from 1995 to 1997, and nothing that has happened since to recreate that heritage.
I grew up watching that station, but it's pretty clearly that what is left is an empty husk that probably is only worth whatever the stick value is to get into the Seattle/Tacoma market.
Also interestingly KSTW news staff is from KPIX San Francisco. Paramount is in an odd situation with WTOG, WUPA and KSTW given that they can't just grab the CBS affiliation for them given the contracts Paramount agree to with other parties especially Gray Television renewed a deal with CBS affiliation.
- Status