An easy fix is "Atlanta's CBS"
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CBS Leaving Ch 46
- Thread starter BarryATL
- Start date
Up to now, it's still accurate for channel 46. If it still redirects to WANF after the switch, it's probably because Gray is charging an arm and a leg for the domain name and CBS isn't interested.
Also inconsequential as CBS already owns the cbsatlanta.net domain, which they have utilized off and on since the late 2000s.
Below are some comments from management on Gray’s earnings call Friday with analysts. Sounds like they knew CBS wanted the affiliation. They also mentioned Atlanta was the only market that a network owned an independent station that wasn’t part of a duoploly with the networks affiliate. One inaccuracy is the Super Bowl will be in Atlanta in February 2028 not 2027.
“When Gray acquired Meredith, we knew there was a strong possibility that CBS would move the affiliation to the independent at some point in time. When we closed on the station, we made significant investments we've talked about in prior calls and press releases. We changed the call letters to Atlanta News First, WANF. We made that our -- everything about the station was Atlanta News First. It's not about anything else. It's about Atlanta News First. we added dozens of reporters, tons of hours of local news, tremendous amounts of additional resources. And it shows in research, shows in the ratings, it shows in the station sales. At some point, that station was going to stand on its own as an independent.
With the Super Bowl coming to Atlanta in February 2027, it seemed likely to us that CBS is going to want the affiliation back under independent station at some point prior to the Super Bowl and therefore, probably prior to the 2026 NFL season. So as we were negotiating with CBS this time around, the opportunity came up to take our station independent at this time.”
“When Gray acquired Meredith, we knew there was a strong possibility that CBS would move the affiliation to the independent at some point in time. When we closed on the station, we made significant investments we've talked about in prior calls and press releases. We changed the call letters to Atlanta News First, WANF. We made that our -- everything about the station was Atlanta News First. It's not about anything else. It's about Atlanta News First. we added dozens of reporters, tons of hours of local news, tremendous amounts of additional resources. And it shows in research, shows in the ratings, it shows in the station sales. At some point, that station was going to stand on its own as an independent.
With the Super Bowl coming to Atlanta in February 2027, it seemed likely to us that CBS is going to want the affiliation back under independent station at some point prior to the Super Bowl and therefore, probably prior to the 2026 NFL season. So as we were negotiating with CBS this time around, the opportunity came up to take our station independent at this time.”
ANF unveils new programming with expanded local news, political show and investigations
Atlanta News First is expanding its news footprint with more reporters in the field and more local programming starting Aug. 16 when we end our affiliation with CBS.
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My understanding is that when Gray renewed their CBS group deal they gave up the affiliation in Atlanta in exchange for concessions from CBS (presumably some of their share of retrans revenue.) And remember that "Beyond the Gates" is shot at Gray's Assembly Studios, so both parties have every incentive to maintain a mutually beneficial business relationship.
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I have been watching some of the expanded programming for WPLG Local 10 Miami. They have a great product that definitely has that heritage feel as a very established news room. They absolutely have a good 6:30 PM world news product that has a network news feel to it. They have done a great job so far.
I am hoping WANF Atlanta News First steps up their game to have as good a product. I am wondering if with all of these hours of news to fill if it is going to have that CNN Headline News feel with just repetition all day long.
I am hoping WANF Atlanta News First steps up their game to have as good a product. I am wondering if with all of these hours of news to fill if it is going to have that CNN Headline News feel with just repetition all day long.
The only thing that will matter is if enough people tune into such excessive news coverage to sustain it. I highly highly doubt Berkshire Hathaway is going to want to throw money into the station on a long-term basis and may just give it to Nexstar for a song.
Pre-recording newscasts might be the only way it can work at WANF. Or if Gray is successfully able to buy Cox Media before Sinclair can, then WANF can become an extension of WSB.
Are we still convinced that Sinclair is a buyer and not a seller at this point? After all, they just sold NewsON to Gray.
Again, I fear that, at some point, WANF is going to morph into a localized version of CNN Headline News, looping pre-recorded newscasts throughout the day with the option of cutting in for breaking news. Atlanta is a large market, but I'm not sure it's large enough to sustain what will basically be 24/7 news punctuated with syndicated programming here and there. WJLA Washington has such a channel, but it's cable-only, and even if they were to put it on one of their subchannels, they wouldn't be attempting to build an entire TV station around it. Even WRNN in the NYC market gave up on that and is now a coatrack for various diginets. The closest thing that comes to mind is KCAL Los Angeles, and they are basically a sidecar to KCBS. WANF doesn't have that kind of resources, though the Gray news operation is quite formidable.
It will disappear. I was in Miami a couple of weeks ago and WPLG was taken off YouTube immediately when the ABC affiliation went to WSVN 7.2.
The issue is that streamers such as YTTV don't do deals with individual stations, but rather nationally with networks. Am I correct that WUPA isn't on YTTV right now? It will be added in the morning when it picks up CBS.
I doubt that will happen. They have previously taunted the extended news programming with Peachtree TV before the big switch. 7a-10a, 3p-4p, 9p-11p were all on Peachtree TV at some point before they became CW
If they can make it work, more power to them. Atlanta is a big place, and add to that, its suburbs stretch out 50 miles (give or take) in all directions. There's a lot of local stuff to cover, scattered over a very wide area.
Just want to say this all pretty wild to me. I remember when WVEU afternoon programming was a teenager in a marching band uniform ("Captain Butcher" I believe he called himself) interacting with a Tomy robot toy voiced by Ben Jonathan who later did public affairs shows years and years after playing a toy robot on a kids show. It was bargain basement TV and it was fine. They were a scrappy independent unafraid to try anything as long as it was cheap.
And now here they all all grown up as a full network affiliate. Awww.
And for 46, I remember when they were WANX and still operated out of the red schoolhouse on Briarcliff. It's still there, somehow.
There's no point to these mutterings. Just nostalgia.
And now here they all all grown up as a full network affiliate. Awww.
And for 46, I remember when they were WANX and still operated out of the red schoolhouse on Briarcliff. It's still there, somehow.
There's no point to these mutterings. Just nostalgia.
Nothing wrong with that, nightmanager. I'm happy someone else remembers this stuff besides me.
I remember in the 80s how WAGA/5 (which was a shoddy CBS affiliate, IMO) didn't clear "The [New] $25,000 Pyramid," "Tattletales," "Card Sharks," "Family Feud," and in the early 1990s, even "The Price Is Right," and WVEU/69 was happy to have them.
WAGA also delayed David Letterman's CBS show a half-hour to squeeze in "Love Connection."
If I were CBS, I'd have been quite happy to have WGNX/46 as my affiliate over WAGA any day.
Remember that was the Analog days when "V" stations did "better" OTA. Atlanta was a little different thanks to Ted Turner's channel 17.