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Central Illinois Network Change

L

LC

Guest
According to www.wandtv.com, I hear that Channel 17 is moving from ABC to NBC and become "NBC17" starting Labor Day. If this is true, then wouldn't WICS and/or WICD move to ABC?
 
ABC will move to WICS/WICD on September 5th. LIN, owner of WAND-TV, flipped its Dayton station (WDTN-TV) from ABC to NBC about a year ago, and the upcoming network switch in Springfield/Decatur/Champaign is part of that deal.
 
This same thing happened in Rockford about 5 or so years ago with WREX (ABC now NBC) and WTVO (NBC now ABC) switching. They are not owned by the same company. I've heard of stations doing this, why would they do this?

> ABC will move to WICS/WICD on September 5th. LIN, owner of
> WAND-TV, flipped its Dayton station (WDTN-TV) from ABC to
> NBC about a year ago, and the upcoming network switch in
> Springfield/Decatur/Champaign is part of that deal.
>
 
Network switches happen for a variety of reasons. A station may wish to switch networks if the station's current network has been not doing well for a period of time; a network may seek a better-performing affiliate in a given market, and/or an affiliate with a stronger signal (VHF vs. UHF); it could be part of a larger corporate deal, such as the recent LIN switches to NBC in Dayton and Springfield, etc.

I don't know the particulars of the network switch that occurred in Rockford, but I believe it occurred around 1995, not five years ago. NBC was the top network at the time, and perhaps they saw a chance to switch from a UHF station (WTVO on Ch. 17) to a VHF (WREX on Ch. 13). Quincy Newspapers, Inc. (QNI), the owner of WREX, also seems to have a good working relationship with NBC. At my count, they currently own 5 NBC's and 5 ABC's, plus one Fox. According to QNI's website, QNI acquired its current stable of ABC affiliates when it purchased Shockley Communuications in 2001...well after 1995. QNI didn't purchase WREX until 1995 (apparently the year of the network switch), so it would seem that WREX's switch to NBC was concurrent with the sale of the station or happened soon thereafter (whenever the network contracts expired). With the exception of QNI's Fox affiliate in South Bend, it seems that all of QNI's stations were with NBC in the mid-'90s.
 
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