Network affilate switches of the mid-1990s

[ohstuskaterpunk]

I don't know if there's a topic concerning the network affiliation switches of the mid-1990s...here goes...

When Fox acquired the NFL from CBS in late 1993, the deal sparked a number of affilate switches in between 1994 and 1996. According to Wikipedia:

Existing New World stations

KNSD, San Diego, affiliated with NBC (didn't affiliated with Fox since the network had a VHF station in that market, XETV)
WAGA, Atlanta, affiliated with CBS (CBS in now with WGCL; former Fox O&O WATL became WB in 1995 then MyNTV in 2006)
WJBK, Detroit, affiliated with CBS (CBS is now with WWJ)
WITI, Milwaukee, affiliated with CBS (CBS is now with WDJT)
WJW, Cleveland, affiliated with CBS (CBS is now with former Fox affiliate WOIO)
WTVT, Tampa/St. Petersburg, affiliated with CBS (WFTS switched from Fox to ABC and WTSP switched from ABC to CBS)
WSBK, Boston, independent station (remained independent when Fox bought WFXT; UPN from 1995-2006)

Stations that were acquired from Argyle Television
KDFW, Dallas/Fort Worth, affiliated with CBS (CBS is now with KTVT; The former Fox O&O, KDAF, became a WB affiliate, and is now affiliated with The CW)
KTBC, Austin, affiliated with CBS (CBS is now on former Fox affiliate KEYE)
KTVI, St. Louis, affiliated with ABC (ABC is now on former Fox affilate KDNL)
WVTM, Birmingham, affiliated with NBC (remained with NBC since Fox bought WBRC in 1996)

Stations that were acquired from Citicasters
KSAZ, Phoenix, affiliated with CBS (CBS is with KPHO)
WBRC, Birmingham, affiliated with ABC (ABC affiliation is with a signal created from the signals of former CBS affilates WJSU and WCFT; WTTO turned down the ABC affiliation, eventually took the WB (1996-2006) and latter the CW (since 2006); WNAL/WPXH changed from Fox to CBS to Pax/i/ion)
WDAF, Kansas City, affiliated with NBC (NBC is now on former Fox affiliate KSHB)
WGHP, Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, affiliated with ABC (ABC is now on former Fox affiliate WXLV)

Burnham Broadcasting
Just weeks after completing the New World deal, Fox announced another purchase, this one of Burnham Broadcasting. The stations involved were:

WVUE, New Orleans, affiliated with ABC (WNOL, which had been the market's Fox affiliate, took the WB affiliation (1996-2006, now with the CW); the ABC affiliation went to WGNO.)
WLUK, Green Bay, affiliated with NBC (NBC is now on former Fox affiliate WGBA)
WALA, Mobile, affiliated with NBC (NBC is on former Fox affiliate WPMI)
KHON, Honolulu, affiliated with NBC (NBC is on former Fox affiliate KHNL)

 

[fybush]

I don't know if there's a topic concerning the network affiliation switches of the mid-1990s...here goes...

This topic seems to pop up here every year or so. Is there anything new to add?

 

[jal41]

I don't know if there's a topic concerning the network affiliation switches of the mid-1990s...here goes...

This topic has been discussed until the skin is peeling from the hot sun. But there are new developments involving some of those stations that have occured over the past few months.

In Dallas, Birmingham, and San Diego, the NBC stations (KXAS, WTVM, and KNSD respectively) were sold to NBC. LIN TV purchased part ownership in KXAS and KNSD, although they operate as NBC O&O's. WTVM has since been sold to Media General (which sold WIAT/42 to make room).

CBS purchased what would become WWJ-TV/62 Detroit and WUPA/69 Atlanta as a result. CBS get a reprieve when now WGCL/46 agreed to affiliate. WUPA was sold to Paramount as a UPN O&O, which would later become part of CBS after the CBS/Viacom merger and later split. (WUPA is a CBS O&O once again under the CW). No such luck in Detroit, where every attempt at a newscast has failed.

WSBK/38 Boston was sold to Paramount as a UPN O&O, and like WUPA became a CBS O&O (only as an indie).

XETV/6 San Diego is losing Fox as of September, where it will go to Tribune's KSWB/69. The issue is political, in that XETV is a Mexican station.

Of the stations mentioned, WBRC, WGHP, WJW, WDAF, KTVI, and WITI are in the process of being sold to Local TV.

Burnham Broadcasting
Just weeks after completing the New World deal, Fox announced another purchase, this one of Burnham Broadcasting. The stations involved were:

WVUE, New Orleans, affiliated with ABC (WNOL, which had been the market's Fox affiliate, took the WB affiliation (1996-2006, now with the CW); the ABC affiliation went to WGNO.)
WLUK, Green Bay, affiliated with NBC (NBC is now on former Fox affiliate WGBA)
WALA, Mobile, affiliated with NBC (NBC is on former Fox affiliate WPMI)
KHON, Honolulu, affiliated with NBC (NBC is on former Fox affiliate KHNL)

Fox never took ownership of these stations. They arranged for a third party to do so. Emmis bought (and sold) these stations. WVUE has been sold to local ownership (the owner of the New Orleans Saints).

 

[johnfox]

Hard to believe it's been over 10 years. Here in Dallas, I still haven't got used to CBS on KTVT 11. KTVT was a great independent with Slam Bang Theater. and later in the 80s Ranger Baseball.

 

[KML0224]

All of that big push to put FOX on major VHF stations! Funny how with digital TV, most stations are gonna be on the UHF band from channels 14 to 51!

Although these didn't involve FOX, there was also a huge network swap in the 1990s involving Westinghouse. It affected Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore quite a bit. In Boston, WBZ-TV channel 4 went from NBC to CBS. In Philadelphia, KYW-TV channel 3 went from NBC to CBS, while in Baltimore, WJZ-TV channel 13 went from ABC to CBS [All of the "Big 3" made switches there]. It made perfect sense, since all of the Westinghouse stations were now all one network (they also owned KDKA-TV channel 2 in Pittsburgh and KPIX-TV channel 5 in San Francisco).

 

[w9wi]

All of that big push to put FOX on major VHF stations! Funny how with digital TV, most stations are gonna be on the UHF band from channels 14 to 51!

When it all shakes out, it may not be quite as worthless as it might first appear... Looking at the list of stations ohstuskaterpunk posted, of those that stayed with Fox, their permanent DTV channels:

WAGA, Atlanta: 27
WJBK, Detroit: 7
WITI, Milwaukee: 33
WJW, Cleveland: 8
WTVT, Tampa/St. Petersburg: 12
KDFW, Dallas/Fort Worth: 35
KTBC, Austin: 7
KTVI, St. Louis: 43
KSAZ, Phoenix: 10
WBRC, Birmingham: 50
WDAF, Kansas City: 34
WGHP, Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point: 8
WVUE, New Orleans: 8
WLUK, Green Bay: 11
WALA, Mobile: 9
KHON, Honolulu 8

Ten out of 16 stations will be on VHF for their permanent DTV facilities.

But IMHO what Fox really bought was not the technical facilities - it was the traditions. People were simply used to watching channel 6 (WITI) in Milwaukee - many of them didn't even know Fox 24 existed. Likewise in the other markets.

The VHF/UHF difference for DTV is invisible to viewers. As far as they can tell, every station on the above list is VHF - they will tune a channel between 2 and 13 to receive any of them - whether they're watching on cable, satellite, or OTA DTV.

In the DTV world the VHF advantage goes only to the lower utility bills. (which however is not a negligible advantage!)

 

[anotherguyTN]

WHBQ (Then ABC) 13 in Memphis was bought by Fox during that period as well. The former Fox affiliate WPTY 24 picked up ABC.

 

[Markxxx]

Actually the wikipedia has a pretty good article

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fox_affiliate_switches_of_1994

You can make changes and additions there too.

 

[ssetta]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the 1995 swap in Providence of WLNE (CBS to ABC) and WPRI (ABC to CBS). It happened in September. Did it have to do with any of the reasons posted above?

 

[bpatrick]

And how about the three ABC affiliates in Indiana
that went to Fox: WTVW/7 Evansville, WSJV/28
South Bend, and WBAK/38 Terre Haute?

ABC also lost WGXA/24 Macon, GA and WLOV/27
Columbus-Tupelo, MS, to Fox.

 

[Charles1]

ABC also lost...WLOV/27
Columbus-Tupelo, MS, to Fox.

And this left Columbus and Tupelo to depend on WCFT-33/WJSU-40 Tuscaloosa/Anniston/Birmingham, WPTY-24 Memphis, and WBBJ-7 in Jackson, Tennessee as the de facto ABC affiliates for the market until WKDH-45 signed on in 2001. Even today, 33/40 highlights many eastern Mississippi counties during its severe weather coverage.

 

[Tim-In-Houston]

And how about the three ABC affiliates in Indiana
that went to Fox: WTVW/7 Evansville, WSJV/28
South Bend, and WBAK/38 Terre Haute?

Can't speak for any of the other two, but for WTVW (I grew up in the southern Illinois portion of the Evansville market) I know that they had been owned through the 80s into the mid-90s by Banam Broadcasting, the television arm of the (old, pre-NationsBank merger) BankAmerica, hence the name of the company: BAN(k)AM(erica). Banam also owned the Monroe, Louisiana ABC affiliate KARD-14, the Fox affiliate in Springfield, Missouri, KDEB (now KSFX) and KLBK, the CBS affiliate in Lubbock, Texas.

In May 1995, Banam announced the intention to sell their television group to Petracom Broadcasting of Tampa. However, the company did not have enough money for the deal and approached NewsCorp about injecting some cash with the promise that WTVW and KARD would affiliate with Fox (KDEB was an existing Fox affiliate and I am unsure why KLBK did not affiliate with Fox). Newscorp agreed to inject about $10 Million into the transaction. All of these stations are currently owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Corp, which acquired them from Quorum Broadcasting in 2003 or 2004. When Newscorp's financial interest in the stations ended I do not know.

In December 1995, WTVW flipped to Fox from ABC, WEHT flipped to ABC from CBS and WEVV flipped from Fox to CBS.

ABC also lost...WLOV/27
Columbus-Tupelo, MS, to Fox.

And this left Columbus and Tupelo to depend on WCFT-33/WJSU-40 Tuscaloosa/Anniston/Birmingham, WPTY-24 Memphis, and WBBJ-7 in Jackson, Tennessee as the de facto ABC affiliates for the market until WKDH-45 signed on in 2001. Even today, 33/40 highlights many eastern Mississippi counties during its severe weather coverage.

Add WAPT-16-Jackson, MS which is still carried on the Starkville, MS cable system. Though to be honest I think I'd much rather watch ABC 33/40 out of Birmingham than WAPT from Jackson.

ABC 33/40 in Birmingham, to me, is one of the most interesting outcomes of the Fox station raids of the mid-90s. The station, a conglomeration (as mentioned) of signals from Tuscaloosa, Anniston and an LP repeater in Birmingham would seemingly have had an incredibly tough climb in building a viewer base. Most of the stations that picked up the leftovers after the Fox raids did (and still do, just look at Atlanta, Milwaukee or Dallas among others).

Whether it was smart hires early on (meteorologist James Spann among others), smart programming decisions (the promise to provide wall-to-wall coverage during tornadic severe weather) or Albritton's money flow the station has overcome the odds and consistently ranks #1 in the market.

 

[Markd]

Since this topic has been brought up many times why start a new thread? Anyhow one issue not mentioned was the fact that most New World stations did not include Fox Kids programs as part of the deal. What the original deal specified was that in markets that New WOrld was switching their stations to Fox, the Fox stations losing affiliation would have the rights of first refusal and would be allowed to keep Fox Kids. But in most markets the former Fox stations would be taking networks. Phoenix, St Louis, and Tampa former Fox affiliates got ABC. Cleveland and Austin former Fox affiliates got CBS. Kansas City got NBC. So those stations had no interest in taking Fox Kids. Former Fox stations in Detroit, Dallas, Atlanta, and Milwaukee were left independent stations taking UPN in Detroit and Millwaukee and WB in the rest. Those stations simply kept Fox Kids.

In situations where the former Fox affiliate took big 3 networks and would have no room for Fox Kids, the New World station would have to run Fox Kids by default unless they found another station to take it. In every New World Market, an independent to run Fox Kids was initially found.

Now in situations like SF Broadcasting getting Fox for New Orleans, Hawaii, Mobile, and Green Bay, Fox Kids was included in the deal and thos stations took Fox Kids though they were News based outlets as well. WHBQ Memphis, WBRC Birmingham and WGHP Greensboro were becoming O & O stations and they too were to take Fox Kids. WGHP switched to Fox September 95 and they took Fox Kids an hour early weekdays. WBRC was slated to take Fox Kids in the Fall of 96 when they would be evicting ABC. But in 1996 the police changed to allow Fox O & O stations also to not have to take Fox Kids if they could find an outlet to run it.

In Greensboro when a Christian station became a WB affiliate and a commercial independent in 1996, WGHP opted to assign the rights to Fox Kids to that station in the Fall and they became the first O & O to drop Fox Kids. In Brimingham, WTTO which was losing Fox and becoming an independent wanted to keep Fox Kids, so WBRC decided to not take Fox Kids afterall. Also with advertising regulations making it difficult to make money with cartoons, Fox reevaluated its policy on Fox Kids.

Still in St Louis, where Fox Kids could not fit on the former affiliate becoming an ABC station, that programming moved to a Christian Independent in 1995. So KTVI did not have to take it. Then in the Fall of 1996 when KNLC droped Fox Kids, KTVI was forced to take it and was the only New World station to take Fox Kids. So there were 2 O & O stations without it and only one New World station with it.

In 1997, New World stations were acquired by Fox and the New World Policy continued on for the newly acquired Fox affiliates. By 1998, Fox Kids began losing money and in 2000 Fox Affiliates were now allowed to drop Fox Kids without finding an outlet. Fox scaled back its 3 hour block to 2 hours. In 2001, WTTO dropped Fox Kids and WBRC did not pick it up. Later that year it was dropped by WB 20 in Greensboro and WGHP did not pick that back up. Then at the end of 2001, Fox Kids ended weekday programming. Still most New WOrld stations refused to even clear the weekend Fox 4 Kids TV programs. In a few markets 4 Kids TV never aired as a reesult.

In all other situations Big 3 stations switching to Fox all took Fox Kids until the block ended in 2001 weekdays and until 2008 when it ended weekends.

A

 

[Rollo-Smokes]

Since this topic has been brought up many times why start a new thread? Anyhow one issue not mentioned was the fact that most New World stations did not include Fox Kids programs as part of the deal.

It wasn't mentioned because it was a non-issue then, and it's a moot point now.

 

[dave73]

And how about the three ABC affiliates in Indiana
that went to Fox: WTVW/7 Evansville, WSJV/28
South Bend, and WBAK/38 Terre Haute?

ABC also lost WGXA/24 Macon, GA and WLOV/27
Columbus-Tupelo, MS, to Fox.

While I live in Gary Indiana, my local papers (NW Indiana Times & Post Tribune) ran a story on WSJV dropping ABC for Fox. While wikipedia claims that Fox was pushing for their affiliation on a full market signal, the article from years ago mentioned that WSJV's rating were suffering as an ABC station that they dropped the ABC affiliation to become a Fox affiliate. The next day, Weigel Broadcasting took the ABC affiliation and put it on one of their 3 low power stations (WBND-LP 58, then 57 after they lost 58 to WSJV, using it for pre-transition DTV). South Bend Indiana only has 5 full power TV stations on the UHF (always been a UHF only market), and even to this day, ABC remains on a low power station. Neither WNDU (NBC), WSBT (CBS), nor WSJV (Fox) have been willing to pickup the ABC affiliation to broadcast on a subchannel (in the case of WSJV, they don't have any subchannels, and haven't agreed to take back the affiliation). Besides, if any of the top 3 stations in the South Bend market did agree to carry ABC on a subchannel, then it might be possible for ABC to make that station carry local news (easy solution would be to simulcast the news if it were on WNDU or WSBT, but WSJV would have to reair their 10pm news at 11 if they had a subchannel, & carried ABC on it since the main channel is Fox, and news is at 10pm). I don't know the requirement for ABC affiliation. I know in Milwaukee when WITI became a Fox O&O, CBS was forced to affiliate with WDJT after WJJA Racine/Milwaukee showed no interest in any network affiliation (WJJA later became a sister station to WDJT & calls are now WBME), WCGV & WVTV also weren't interested in becoming a CBS affiliate (WVTV used to be WXIX and a CBS O&O in the 50's), and WVCY wasn't interested in selling their station to CBS. WDJT was the only station that was willing to affiliate with CBS, but they had to do major upgrades in their signal, plus spend money to add a news department as part of the condition.

 

[BobbyNBC10]

The low-powered WBND-TV is a poor excuse for South Bend to have an ABC station with just news updates. If the South Bend-Elkhart outlets can't put ABC on a sub channel, ABC should make the nearest ABC station WLS-TV 7 Chicago, South Bend's full -fledged ABC station by default. Look what happened in Terre Haute when the ABC station, switched Fox, and WRTV in Indy became TH's ABC station by default.

 

[radiorob2.0]

A bit more on the Evansville affiliation switch. Prior to WTVW's sale, WEHT had been wooing ABC for the network. Despite WEHT's strong performance, ABC didn't want to give up a VHF affiliate. When the WTVW sale happened and announced the switched to Fox, ABC immediately made an agreement with WEHT. CBS approached WFIE but they were content with NBC. CBS made a deal with WEVV.