Fox affiliate switches of 1994
Encyclopedia
The United States television network affiliate switches of 1994 were a series of events resulting from a multi-million dollar deal between Fox Broadcasting Company
, known commonly as Fox, and New World Communications
, an owner of several VHF television stations affiliated with major networks, primarily CBS
.
The major impetus for the changes was to improve local coverage of the fledgling network's new National Football League
packages. As a result of various other deals that followed as a result of the affiliation switches, most notably the buyout of CBS by Westinghouse, the switches constituted some of the most sweeping changes in American television
history. As a result of these changes, Fox ascended to the status of a major television network, comparable in influence to the Big Three television networks
(CBS, NBC
and ABC
).
Nearly 70 stations in 30 media market
s throughout the United States changed affiliations starting in the fall of 1994 and continuing through early 1996.
, chief executive officer of News Corporation
, the parent company of the Fox network, lusted after a major-league sports presence for his network. He thought that landing a live sports broadcasting package would elevate Fox to the level of ABC
, CBS
and NBC
, the other nationwide broadcast networks in the United States at the time.
In 1987, the network bid for Monday Night Football
, then the NFL's crown-jewel program, but the offer was rejected. Six years later, Fox stunned the sports and TV worlds by acquiring partial rights to the NFL. The package – covering four seasons of games involving teams in the National Football Conference
, as well as Super Bowl XXXI
, a package previously owned by CBS – cost Fox $1.58 billion. CBS, then run by the cost-cutting Laurence Tisch
, had reportedly bid only $290 million and was unwilling to even approach the Fox offer.
At the time of Fox's bid, most of its affiliates were lower-powered UHF
stations. As Fox put together its new sports division to cover the NFL, it wanted to affiliate with VHF
stations that had lower channel numbers (channels 2 to 13), more established histories, and carried more value with advertisers.
In addition, two Citicasters stations, ABC affiliates WKRC-TV
in Cincinnati
and WTSP
in St. Petersburg, Florida
, were left out of the New World deal, though neither station would have been of any benefit to Fox. In WKRC's case, the Cincinnati Bengals
aired on NBC and WLWT
at the time. Ironically, the Bengals' games now air on WKRC. And in WTSP's case, New World already owned WTVT, which was the higher-rated of the two stations at the time and had more full coverage of the Tampa area as WTSP transmitted from a more northerly location which forced ABC (then WTSP's network) to maintain an additional affiliate in Sarasota
(WWSB
) to serve the entire market.
Not all the stations involved would switch to Fox:
, San Francisco 49ers
, and Washington Redskins
—were co-located with VHF Fox affiliates. The Fox stations in New York
, Los Angeles
, and Washington, D.C.
are three of the network's original six owned-and-operated outlets. The San Francisco affiliate, KTVU
, has been owned by Cox Enterprises
since 1964.
Most of the stations involved in the New World deal were located in markets with teams from the NFC
, which was at the time considered the more prestigious of the two NFL conferences for a variety of reasons. In particular, NFC teams were located in nine of the ten largest television markets at the time with the lone exception being Boston, whose only NFL team, the New England Patriots
, played in the AFC
. Also, most of the NFC teams existed before the formation of the old AFL
and therefore contain longer histories, rivalries and traditions. During this time, the NFC was also in the midst of a 13-game winning streak against the AFC in the Super Bowl
.
Many of the stations slated that switched to Fox were CBS affiliates in markets where NFC teams were located, thus fans would continue to see at least their team's road games on local VHF stations.
NFC teams in markets related to deal:
AFC teams in markets related to deal:
KTBC and WITI served markets containing significant fan bases for nearby NFC teams. KTBC had aired Cowboys games for years (including during preseason), while WITI had broadcast Packers games to its Milwaukee audience since becoming a CBS affiliate in 1977 (through 1994, the Packers also played some games in Milwaukee).
In 1995, a year after the Fox switches, St. Louis received an NFC team when the Rams relocated from Los Angeles following the 1994 season, making KTVI the eighth station (and sixth in an NFC market) among the stations involved in the switchover and bringing the total number of NFC teams with VHF Fox affiliates to nine. That same year, the Carolina Panthers
joined the NFL as an expansion team, which made WGHP another satellite "home" station for an NFL team as the Panthers are based in Charlotte
, which is directly south of the Piedmont Triad
region where WGHP is situated.
It should be noted that, because of the time it took for the FCC to approve the NewsCorp investment in New World (as well as waiting for affiliation contracts to expire), the old, "lame duck" affiliates actually carried the NFL on Fox
games for most of the 1994 season
. For example, most Cowboys games were on KDAF
in Dallas and KBVO in Austin, and the Lions were seen on WKBD-TV, while WCGV-TV
in Milwaukee carried Packers games until WITI's affiliation deal with CBS ended at the start of December 1994, the only break in WITI's carriage of team games since 1977, when that station took CBS affiliation. As late as the 1995 season
, New Orleans Saints
games were on WNOL, not WVUE (see the Burnham Broadcasting section below). The same season the Cowboys returned to KDFW, they won Super Bowl XXX
.
Fox would become minority owner of these stations; majority partner Savoy Broadcasting, was a minority-owned communications firm. The deal gave Fox upgrades for the home markets of two more teams: the Packers and the New Orleans Saints
, giving Fox VHF affiliates in eleven of the fifteen NFC markets. SF Broadcasting, as the Savoy Pictures
-Fox joint venture was known, had been founded in March 1994. It was capitalized with $100 million – $58 million from Fox, $41 million from Savoy, and $1 million from the chairmen of Savoy Pictures. Fox had no voting stock (if they did, the stations would be counted against the FCC ownership total); instead, Savoy Pictures chairmen Victor A. Kaufman and Lewis J. Korman held all the stock.
The second season WLUK carried the Packers , the team won the Super Bowl
, the first time Fox carried the game.
The transition was straightforward in some cases, as Kansas City, St. Louis, Austin, Cleveland and the Piedmont Triad saw the old Fox affiliates simply swap with the new ones. Respectively, KSHB-TV
replaced WDAF-TV as Kansas City's NBC affiliate, while KDNL-TV
and WXLV-TV
affiliated with ABC in St. Louis and the Piedmont Triad, likewise with WPTY
/Memphis after Fox's purchase of WHBQ. KBVO (now KEYE-TV
) in Austin and WOIO
in Cleveland affiliated with CBS. All five were UHF stations.
The largest affiliation swap occurred in Birmingham, a market that expanded to include three other central Alabama cities, Tuscaloosa
, Gadsden
, and Anniston
. Six different stations changed affiliations due to WBRC moving from ABC to Fox. WCFT-TV and WJSU-TV, the CBS affiliates for Tuscaloosa and Anniston, merged and became the combined ABC affiliate for Birmingham and Central Alabama. (In addition, because reception of both stations were poor in center city, the owner of the two stations purchased low-power WBMA-LP
and also made it an ABC station, in fact being the main station of the cluster.) WNAL
, the former Fox affiliate for Gadsden, became the CBS affiliate for northeast Alabama before eventually becoming the Pax network affiliate for Birmingham. WTTO
and WDBB, the Fox affiliates for Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, became independent stations before eventually affiliating with The WB Television Network
.
As expected, CBS bore the worst brunt of the changes. The network had already developed a stodgy and overly budgeted image under Laurence Tisch, who had become CEO in 1985. Tisch was already notorious for having made deep cuts at CBS News
and by selling off major portions of the company, such as Columbia Records
to Sony
. When CBS lost the NFL to Fox, the problems accelerated as the "Tiffany Network" struggled to compete with NBC and ABC in the ratings, even though the network still finished ahead of Fox. CBS eventually recovered and by 1999, was the most-watched network until it was surpassed by ABC in 2000 and NBC in 2001 before retaking the lead again in 2002. NBC took the lead again in 2003 and 2004 before CBS retook the lead once again in 2005.
CBS' problems were especially evident in the recruiting of new affiliates. As a direct result of the New World-Fox alliance, only four new CBS affiliates were VHF stations:
The affiliate switches also led to another deal involving the E.W. Scripps Company, the parent company of KSHB-TV. Scripps' two highest-profile stations, ABC affiliates WEWS in Cleveland and WXYZ-TV
in Detroit, were being courted by CBS to replace WJW and WJBK, respectively. In order to keep ABC on WEWS and WXYZ, Scripps required ABC to switch its affiliations to four of the company's non-ABC affiliates:
The switchovers angered WJZ-TV's parent company, Westinghouse Broadcasting
. Group W had already been in talks with several networks – including CBS, NBC, and Fox – for new affiliations for its stations prior to the announcement of the New World deal. These talks accelerated once that deal was announced. Later in 1994, the company agreed to affiliate three of its five stations with CBS. (The other two stations, KDKA-TV
in Pittsburgh
and KPIX in San Francisco
were already CBS affiliates.) In September 1994, KPIX and KDKA-TV, both of whom along the rest of the Westinghouse stations were known for pre-empting some network programs, began carrying the entire CBS schedule as a condition of the deal. This was followed by WJZ-TV and Boston NBC affiliate WBZ-TV
switching to CBS at the end of 1994, and then the switchover before the beginning of the 1995-1996 television season of KYW-TV
in Philadelphia
from NBC to CBS, to whom Westinghouse also sold a minority share of KYW-TV.
Because of the New World deal, eventual deals involving Scripps and Westinghouse's stations, and the unwillingness of rival stations in affected markets to switch network affiliations, CBS was left with lesser-known affiliates in Atlanta, Detroit, and Milwaukee, where the new affiliates were all low-profile UHF stations with far less transmitting power than their previous affiliates:
By the time of the Fox buyout of New World, some stations in the New World station group were still under-performing. Observers cited "a reluctance of station managers to embrace the new network and a tendency to cling to conservative news and promotional styles." Indeed, many New World Fox affiliates received major image overhauls between 1996 and 1998, such as WTVT and WAGA dropping their heritage Eyewitness News
branding and KSAZ dropping its "sunset 10" logo after nearly fifteen years.
New World's Fox affiliates saw mixed results with their newscasts:
Additionally, some of the new Fox affiliates, perhaps in appealing to Fox's younger-skewing audiences, moved many older news personalities to daytime broadcasts or released them entirely from their news teams. Some of these personalities eventually wound up on other stations, such as the new Big Three affiliates.
Unfortunately, many of the new Big Three affiliates were not as lucky. As these were former Fox affiliates (or independents) that did not have newscasts at the time, almost all of them had to give in to launching them to back up the nationally-aired newscasts provided by the networks. Generally, the stations that continue to air newscasts to this day have finished in fourth place behind their VHF competitors. However, many of these stations, such as Scripps' KNXV; WFTS; and KSHB, have seen gradual growth in their ratings.
Still, other new affiliates that launched newscasts experienced no permanent success. In Detroit, WWJ-TV premiered a newscast in fall 2001 produced by sister station WKBD. Both the WKBD and WWJ newscasts were canceled in late 2002 under an agreement made by WXYZ-TV to produce WKBD's news. Therefore, WWJ became now the largest-market major-network affiliate, and the only O&O of any major network, to have no newscasts. From 2006 to 2008, WWJ-TV made light of this fact by using a slogan, Where No News is Good News, for promoting programming during periods where there would usually be newscasts. In 2009, local news returned to WWJ, with a morning newscast produced by the Detroit Free Press
.
Two ABC affiliates, KDNL-TV in St. Louis and WXLV in the Piedmont Triad region, also experienced difficulty. KDNL's news department lasted for six years until its cancellation, which was widely blamed on a transmitter problem, and is now the fifth-rated station in the St. Louis market, behind CW affiliate KPLR-TV
, and only maintains a nominal sports presence and Good Morning America
weather cut-ins provided by Columbus, Ohio
sister station WSYX
almost 400 miles to the east. KDNL's current position as one of ABC's weakest affiliates, perhaps the weakest among Top 50 markets stands in sharp contrast to KTVI, which was one of ABC's strongest stations. Ironically, the market's NFL team, the Rams, won Super Bowl XXXIV
, which aired on ABC. In 2011, local news returned to KDNL through a news share agreement with St. Louis' local NBC affiliate KSDK
. WXLV's newscast was canceled under orders of its owner Sinclair
(through its controversial News Central
division) due to poor ratings. WXLV also had run newscasts since becoming an ABC affiliate until January 2002. WXLV will air outsourced newscasts produced by Time Warner Cable
beginning in 2012.
In 1994, when Fox started airing NFL games, only a few Fox affiliates had local newscasts. Fox then demanded that its affiliates start local newscasts, probably because Fox now had a news department. Since then most Fox affiliates that didn't have already have local news have premiered local newscasts, usually starting with a 10pm news and adding other time periods over time (most medium and small markets, however have had a local Big Three affiliate produce the newscasts for the Fox affiliate, though a few of those Fox stations with such an agreement have ended those partnerships to start producing their own newscasts). Currently, the largest market whose Fox affiliate has no local news is WUTV
in Buffalo, who has shown sitcom reruns instead because Buffalo stations are seen in Toronto
and Hamilton, Ontario
, and most of the Canadian stations in these cities air local news.
children's programming due to interest in airing more local news, which is uncharacteristic of a broadcast network affiliate. Big Three affiliates are required to air their network's children's program block (although the Big Three only aired their shows on Saturdays compared to Fox Kids' six).
Upon its switch to Fox, WGHP in Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, owing to it being acquired by the network outright, initially cleared Fox Kids; however, by the spring of 1996, Fox had decided to allow its owned-and-operated stations to drop Fox Kids if another station in the market was interested (as the New World stations had done), and at that time Fox Kids moved to WB
affiliate WBFX (now WCWG
). WBRC in Birmingham, which until then had also planned to air Fox Kids, likewise permitted former Fox affiliate WTTO to continue airing Fox Kids even after it went independent (eventually joining The WB as well). These moves, along with WBRC remaining an ABC affiliate for its first six months under Fox ownership and the eventual acquisition of New World, made it the fourth network which had O&Os that did not air all network programming (after CBS, as WCAU did not air CBS' Sunday morning cartoons during 1978; ABC, as WPVI-TV
continued preempting one hour of the network's programs after its owner
bought the network in 1986; and NBC, as it bought WTVJ in 1987, but could not switch it from CBS to NBC until 1989). WTTO dropped Fox Kids in 2000, with the renamed WTWB-TV following suit a year later.
In St. Louis, religious station KNLC
, owned by the New Life Christian Church and new outlet for Fox Kids after the switches, chose to air ministry messages in place of commercials; the church's reverend, Larry Rice, refused to show commercials during Fox Kids programming. Uncomfortable with messages on controversial topics such as abortion being shown during Fox Kids programming, Fox ended up moving Fox Kids to KTVI, which remained the only ex-New World station airing 4Kids TV; however, the station aired it two hours earlier than other stations that carry 4Kids TV, due to a morning newscast airing at 9 am. Although six stations (KSAZ, WGHP, WJW, KTBC and WAGA) had rejected Fox Kids programming (in its Fox Kids, FoxBox and 4Kids TV
iterations), none of them filled the timeslots with local news on Saturday morning
, instead filling the time with paid programming, local home selling presentation shows; and E/I programming acquired via syndication.
Many stations that rejected Fox Kids passed it to another station in the market, typically an independent station or a smaller network affiliate, this especially true following Fox's purchase of Chris-Craft/United Television
in 2001. However in four ex-New World markets (Atlanta, Austin, Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, Birmingham), 4Kids TV did not air on another station in any of those markets due to stations dropping the lineup. In Milwaukee, 4Kids TV had aired on independent station WMLW-CA
, a Class A television station, since September 2004. Though the station has extended cable coverage throughout the market, it is much less than former Fox Kids station WCGV. In the Phoenix market, KTVK
acquired Fox Kids. However, when KTVK's program inventory grew unmanageable for the station (they could not air Saturday morning news) and upstart KASW
's television time was bought out in a local marketing agreement
, Fox Kids and the WB (and later The CW) moved there. Because CW4Kids came as part of the CW affiliation (which it obtained in May 2006), 4Kids TV was shifted to Sunday mornings and had been until its demise.
At least three other stations (two of which are owned by Fox) have pulled such a maneuver. WFLD in Chicago, one of the original Fox O&Os dropped 4Kids TV and moved it to sister station WPWR in 2003. Minneapolis' KMSP also dropped 4Kids TV in 2006, moving it to sister station WFTC
in the process. KABB
in San Antonio (owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
) moved 4Kids TV to then-MyNetworkTV, (now CW) affiliate KMYS
(also owned by Sinclair) the same year. In the cases of the latter two, it was due to an expansion of their morning newscasts to Saturday mornings.
Because these Fox stations denied clearance of 4Kids TV, 4Kids TV was merely a syndication package, despite Fox continuing to advertise in promos airing during select Fox primetime shows that 4Kids TV programming was part of the network. If Fox limited 4Kids TV to air on Fox stations only, affiliates could have been given the choice to broadcast the lineup around local news, as the case is with ABC and CBS.
All Fox-owned stations that did not air 4Kids TV aired syndicated educational programs that meet E/I
guidelines (unlike those seen on 4Kids TV) in its place, either following a newscast or in place of it, such as Safari Tracks and Beakman's World
, so as to not violate FCC
regulations requiring commercial broadcasters to air a certain amount (three hours) of children's programming (deemed educational and informative) each week. (Fox MLB coverage includes one half hour of E/I programming seen across the network: This Week in Baseball
.)
The 4Kids TV programming block ended its run on December 27, 2008. Fox gave two of the block's four hours back to the stations, and began to program a two hour block of paid programming under the branding Weekend Marketplace
. Many of the stations which took 4KidsTV in lieu of the local Fox stations chose not to take Weekend Marketplace (such as WBFS and WMLW-CA), along with those Fox stations, and the block sees low clearance outside of O&O's and Fox stations which took 4KidsTV.
(PBS) Public television, with exceptions made to allow additional stations for areas that could pick them up over the air (thus, some British Columbia towns were cleared for Fox from KAYU-TV
Spokane, Washington, and the Windsor
-Essex County
region received nearly the full lineup of Detroit stations on cable and over-the-air, while towns in Alberta were denied such an importation of signals). This obscure rule dated to the late 1970s. In June 1994, the CRTC was not willing to modify this rule, but by September, due to pressure from cable operators, it cleared Canadian cable companies to pick up Fox without having to bump a Big Three network for it
Additional changes were in store for Canadian cable companies that carried the affiliates from Detroit; while they were still able to keep WJBK, the CBS switching to Fox there, thanks to the new rules, they also had to add CBS, often from WWJ-TV
, the new affiliate in the market.
At least one other station owner has pulled off a similar maneuver. In 2002, Meredith Corporation
moved the Fox affiliation in the Portland, Oregon
-Vancouver, Washington
market from KPDX
, on UHF channel 49, to KPTV
, on VHF channel 12 (coincidentally, KPTV was a charter Fox affiliate from 1986–88). KPTV was bought by News Corporation with the Chris-Craft stations, but was later traded to Meredith in exchange for Orlando
Fox affiliate WOFL
. In an ironic twist, most of the remaining UPN-affiliated, former Chris-Craft stations retained by Fox (WWOR-TV
in New York City, KCOP in Los Angeles, and KUTP
in Phoenix among them) would join MyNetworkTV
in 2006, as part of the 2006 United States broadcast TV realignment
. This makes for an indirect connection between the last two major changes in broadcast affiliate lineups in the U.S.
Another took place on August 1, 2008: XETV, whose presence in the San Diego market discouraged Fox from switching the affiliation to KNSD, switched with KSWB-TV
and became a CW
affiliate. KSWB was one of 16 charter CW affiliates owned by Tribune Broadcasting
. Although it might been seen a downgrade on the surface, as KSWB's UHF analog position was Channel 69, while XETV was on analog Channel 6, the market has heavy cable penetration and has the majority of their stations on UHF, which then brand according to their dominant cable channel slot rather than their broadcast channel designation; as such, the station brands itself as Fox 5 and only uses their over-the-air channel position in legally-required promos, their PSIP virtual channel
and a short sweep in their newscast logo of a "Fox 69" logo. In regards to the NFL, it is also not a major problem, as the Chargers play in the AFC and thus most of their games are on KFMB-TV
(ironically, they were on KNSD from 1977-97).
On the other hand, CBS saw an affiliate downgrade from VHF to UHF in an unrelated transaction, which occurred in the Jacksonville, Florida
-Brunswick, Georgia
market, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars
. (Being in the AFC, most Jaguars game are on CBS.) In the summer of 2002
, Post-Newsweek Stations
, which owns WJXT
, terminated that station's longtime affiliation with CBS in a dispute over compensation. The new affiliate became WTEV-TV
, which had been the local outlet of UPN
(which was then co-owned with CBS). WJXT broadcasts on channel 4; WTEV on channel 47. The new UPN affiliate became Fox affiliate WAWS
, on a secondary basis. Both WAWS and WTEV were sold by Clear Channel to Newport Television
, but because of FCC regulations forbidding the ownership of two of the four top-rated stations in a market (Clear Channel had purchased WTEV when it was a low-rated UPN station), Newport sold WTEV to High Plains Television, though Newport continues to operate the station through a joint sales agreement
and shared services
agreement. Due to the network switch in Jacksonville, nearby Gainesville, Florida
's WB affiliate WGFL
(channel 53), also switched to CBS in order to keep the network available in that area, sending the WB affiliation to a digital subchannel of WGFL (now the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate, as well as low-power WMYG-LP
).
Only one other AFC team plays home games in a market with a UHF CBS affiliate: the Cleveland
market, home of the Browns
, has WOIO (channel 19) as its CBS affiliate (though in technicality in the digital age WOIO transmits over Channel 10 but retains their virtual channel 19). WOIO was Cleveland's charter Fox affiliate before the market was involved in the New World deal - and has even held the teams' preseason game rights twice; from 1988 to 1995 as a Fox affiliate, and again in 2005 as a CBS affiliate. However, WOIO only carries the CBS games and news coverage of the Browns, due to conflicts between the Browns and WOIO's news department over coverage about personal issues involving team players and ownership, and WKYC, the market's NBC affiliate, carries the bulk of the team's preseason games and other Browns programming.
. In addition, the National Hockey League aired on Fox from 1995 to 1999 and the Bowl Championship Series
(except for the Rose Bowl Game
) was on the network from 2007 to 2010
.
It also airs coverage of the Cotton Bowl Classic and is the exclusive television home of the Daytona 500
. Fox Sports' coverage now also includes four Formula One
races, the final game of the UEFA Champions League
, and the World Superbike event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
. As of fall 2011, the Big Ten
and Pac-12 championship games in college football will be added. Fox Sports' coverage also has expanded beyond terrestrial television with several cable networks, led by Fox Sports Net
, which offers 24-hour sports coverage and many home team broadcasts.
, as well as newer programs like American Idol
and 24
. In fact, Idol has been the number one rated primetime program on all networks the last eight seasons, from 2003-04 to 2010-11
. This is the longest such streak in U.S. television history.
saw the Denver Broncos
, an original AFL team, defeat the Green Bay Packers
in Super Bowl XXXII
, which aired on NBC and ended a 13-year drought against the NFC in the Super Bowl.
Around the time CBS took over the rights to the AFC saw the trend of the 1980s and 1990s reverse, in that the AFC became the dominant conference over the NFC (1998 also saw the Broncos win the Super Bowl). The New England Patriots
dynasty in the 2000s in the only AFC-only top-ten market also contributed to the ratings surge. In fact, the primary stations for both the Broncos and Patriots are the same as when NBC carried the AFC (until 1995) - KCNC-TV
in Denver, and WBZ-TV
in Boston (KUSA and WHDH-TV
carried those teams' games from 1995-97).
In addition, the current AFC deal also saw CBS indirectly acquire rights to air games played by the Pittsburgh Steelers
, which air locally on KDKA-TV
(which was a CBS O&O by the time NFL rights were reacquired and has long been one of CBS's strongest stations) and often get the highest ratings for an NFL team on television due to the team's rabid fanbase on a national level (coincidentally, before the AFL-NFL merger, Steelers road games had aired on KDKA as part of the network's deal to air NFL games [home games could not be televised at all during this period, even if they did sell out]).
, WAGA
, WJBK, KSAZ-TV
, WTVT
and KTBC
) are still owned and operated by News Corporation
. Fox Television Stations Group
, the division of NewsCorp that controls the stations, announced its intent on June 13, 2007 to sell nine of their stations, six of which are former New World stations (WJW-TV, KTVI
, WDAF-TV
, WITI-TV, WBRC-TV and WGHP
; the other stations Fox has announced its intention to sell are KDVR
in Denver
, KSTU
in Salt Lake City
, and WHBQ-TV
in Memphis
). Of these nine, only KTVI is located in an NFC market (by way of the St. Louis Rams
), while WITI is part of the Green Bay Packers
' unique two market area encompassing Green Bay and Milwaukee. WDAF-TV, however, is in an interesting situation as regular season games of the Kansas City Chiefs
franchise—which is in the AFC conference, only air when the Chiefs host an NFC opponent; otherwise, the Chiefs' regular season games are broadcast on CBS affiliate KCTV
(channel 5). Subsequently, on December 21 of that same year, Fox agreed to sell eight of the stations—all except WHBQ—to Local TV
, a subsidiary of Oak Hill Capital Partners. This group deal closed on July 14, 2008.
Under the control of Local TV, the eight stations will remain Fox affiliates for the foreseeable future (WHBQ remained on the market until January 16, 2009 because Local TV could not buy it, for the same reason Newport sold WTEV. Local TV is the licensee for Memphis' CBS affiliate, WREG
). Local TV later swapped WBRC to Raycom Media
. The Local TV stations are run under a co-managment agreement with Tribune Broadcasting
, which provides web hosting, technical and engineering services to Local TV stations, along with news sharing among all of the stations, and the Local TV/Tribune stations make up the nucleus of the Antenna TV
digital subchannel
network, which carries classic television programming and films.
Fox no longer owns any of the former Burnham stations. Savoy/Fox (SF) sold the stations in 1997 to now-defunct Silver King Broadcasting (later USA Broadcasting
) and later to Emmis Communications
to 1998. Emmis has since sold WLUK and WALA to LIN TV
and KHON to Montecito Broadcast Group
, who later sold KHON to New Vision Television
. It took until May 2008 for Emmis to finally find a buyer for WVUE, when the Louisiana Media Company, a new media holdings group founded by New Orleans Saints
owner Tom Benson
, purchased the station. WVUE's sale process had been made more difficult in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
, which greatly affected its New Orleans viewing area. (The sale closed on July 18, 2008; 18 months later, the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV
, a game shown on CBS.) All stations are still Fox affiliates.
As a result of the affiliation deals, Fox now has VHF affiliates in 13 out of 16 television markets with NFL teams that are based in the NFC, including the Seattle Seahawks
, who moved from the AFC to the NFC in 2002; Seattle's Fox affiliate, KCPQ
, broadcasts on VHF channel 13. Only the Carolina Panthers
, Chicago Bears
and Philadelphia Eagles
are located in markets with UHF Fox affiliates. Two of them, WFLD
in Chicago and WTXF in Philadelphia, are owned by the network. The third station, WCCB
in Charlotte, is owned by Bahakel Communications
.
Westinghouse bought CBS in 1996 after the affiliation deals, making all stations CBS owned-and-operated stations. Viacom bought CBS in 1999, which created duopolies
in several markets between CBS O&O's and UPN O&O's. Viacom
and CBS split in 2006, with the current CBS Corporation
retaining the broadcasting side of the company including UPN. Shortly afterward, CBS and Time Warner
announced the merger of UPN and The WB to form The CW
. All of the stations that CBS acquired either by the station swap with NBC or when the network itself was acquired by Westinghouse are still owned by CBS except for KUTV which was sold to Cerberus Capital Management
's Four Points Media Group
in 2007.
On November 3, 2010, Broadcasting & Cable
magazine announced that SJL Broadcasting, now owned by the principal owners of Lilly Broadcasting, made an agreement with Disney to buy back WJRT and WTVG for a total of $30 million, upon speculation that Disney may sell off ABC. Both stations are expected to retain their affiliations with ABC. SJL teamed up with a new private equity partner, Bain Capital
, whose affiliated offshoot Sankaty Advisors provided the capital for the purchases. The sale was completed on April 1, 2011. As a result, ABC now no longer owns any television stations anywhere near Detroit, where the network had owned WXYZ-TV from its founding in 1948 until 1986 when it was sold to current owner Scripps.
On October 3, 2011, McGraw-Hill announced the sale of its entire television broadcasting division to Scripps for $212 million. This group deal would add four additional ABC affiliates to the six already owned by Scripps, making that company the second-largest owner of ABC-affiliated stations in total market coverage (after Hearst Television).
was also not affected by the switches at the time and its major network affiliates remain the same, it was not a Top 10 market when the switches took place, as Houston only became a Top 10 market in 2005-06, surpassing Detroit.
San Francisco was also unaffected by the 1994 switches, as Westinghouse-owned KPIX-TV was already an affiliate of CBS, since its 1948 founding. In 2002, however, the Bay Area's longtime NBC affiliate, KRON-TV
, became an independent station after a bitter dispute between new KRON owner Young Broadcasting
and NBC; after Young outbid NBC to purchase the station from its original owner Chronicle Publishing
, NBC demanded that Young run the station in a fashion similar to that of an NBC O&O as a condition of renewal of its affiliation; Young Broadcasting refused these demands along with the affiliation renewal. NBC then struck an affiliation deal with, and soon thereafter bought, San Jose station KNTV
, which was airing The WB at the time after ending a long-time affiliation with ABC two years before, due to ABC O&O KGO-TV
claiming market exclusivity for the network in San Jose. KNTV had been serving the Monterey Bay
area (50 miles south of San Jose) as its ABC affiliate, more so than San Jose; KGO was added to cable systems in the Monterey Bay area as compensation for the loss. (KSBW-TV, the NBC affiliate, has completed plans to put ABC on a digital subchannel for Monterey-Salinas market viewers, which launched on April 18, 2011.)
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, known commonly as Fox, and New World Communications
New World Communications
New World Pictures was an independent motion picture and television production company, and later television station owner in the United States from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s...
, an owner of several VHF television stations affiliated with major networks, primarily CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
.
The major impetus for the changes was to improve local coverage of the fledgling network's new National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
packages. As a result of various other deals that followed as a result of the affiliation switches, most notably the buyout of CBS by Westinghouse, the switches constituted some of the most sweeping changes in American television
Television in the United States
Television is one of the major mass media of the United States. Ninety-nine percent of American households have at least one television and the majority of households have more than one...
history. As a result of these changes, Fox ascended to the status of a major television network, comparable in influence to the Big Three television networks
Big Three Television Networks
The Big Three Television Networks are the three traditional commercial broadcast television networks in the United States: ABC, CBS and NBC...
(CBS, NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
).
Nearly 70 stations in 30 media market
Media market
A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area , Television Market Area , or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same television and radio station offerings, and may also include other types of media including newspapers and Internet content...
s throughout the United States changed affiliations starting in the fall of 1994 and continuing through early 1996.
NFL on Fox
For some time, Rupert MurdochRupert Murdoch
Keith Rupert Murdoch, AC, KSG is an Australian-American business magnate. He is the founder and Chairman and CEO of , the world's second-largest media conglomerate....
, chief executive officer of News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
, the parent company of the Fox network, lusted after a major-league sports presence for his network. He thought that landing a live sports broadcasting package would elevate Fox to the level of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
, CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
and NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, the other nationwide broadcast networks in the United States at the time.
In 1987, the network bid for Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
, then the NFL's crown-jewel program, but the offer was rejected. Six years later, Fox stunned the sports and TV worlds by acquiring partial rights to the NFL. The package – covering four seasons of games involving teams in the National Football Conference
National Football Conference
The National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...
, as well as Super Bowl XXXI
Super Bowl XXXI
Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game played on January 26, 1997, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 1996 regular season. The National Football Conference champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American...
, a package previously owned by CBS – cost Fox $1.58 billion. CBS, then run by the cost-cutting Laurence Tisch
Laurence Tisch
Laurence Alan "Larry" Tisch was an American businessman, Wall Street investor and self-made billionaire. He was the CEO of CBS television network from 1986 to 1995...
, had reportedly bid only $290 million and was unwilling to even approach the Fox offer.
At the time of Fox's bid, most of its affiliates were lower-powered UHF
Ultra high frequency
Ultra-High Frequency designates the ITU Radio frequency range of electromagnetic waves between 300 MHz and 3 GHz , also known as the decimetre band or decimetre wave as the wavelengths range from one to ten decimetres...
stations. As Fox put together its new sports division to cover the NFL, it wanted to affiliate with VHF
Very high frequency
Very high frequency is the radio frequency range from 30 MHz to 300 MHz. Frequencies immediately below VHF are denoted High frequency , and the next higher frequencies are known as Ultra high frequency...
stations that had lower channel numbers (channels 2 to 13), more established histories, and carried more value with advertisers.
New World Deal
On May 23, 1994, months after completing the NFL contract, Fox agreed to purchase a 20 percent stake (a $500 million investment) in New World Communications. The following stations were part of the deal:Existing New World stations
- KNSDKNSDKNSD is the NBC television station based in San Diego, California. It is owned by a joint venture of NBCUniversal and LIN TV . However, because NBCUniversal has majority control, KNSD is run as an NBC owned and operated station...
(channel 39), San DiegoSan Diego, CaliforniaSan Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, affiliated with NBC - WAGA-TVWAGA-TVWAGA-TV, virtual channel 5.1 is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Television Network and based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
(channel 5), AtlantaAtlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, affiliated with CBS - WJBK-TV (channel 2), DetroitDetroit, MichiganDetroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, affiliated with CBS - WITI-TV (channel 6), MilwaukeeMilwaukee, WisconsinMilwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
, affiliated with CBS - WJW-TV (channel 8), ClevelandCleveland, OhioCleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
, affiliated with CBS - WTVTWTVTWTVT, channel 13, is a television station in Tampa, Florida. It is an owned and operated station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the News Corporation...
(channel 13), TampaTampa, FloridaTampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
, affiliated with CBS - WSBK-TVWSBK-TVWSBK-TV is a MyNetworkTV television station for eastern Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire that is licensed to Boston. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter along the Needham and Wellesley town line southwest of the MA 9 and I-95 / MA 128...
(channel 38), Boston, independent station
Stations that were acquired from Argyle Television
- KDFW-TV (channel 4), DallasDallas, TexasDallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
, affiliated with CBS - KTBC-TV (channel 7), Austin, TexasAustin, TexasAustin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
, affiliated with CBS - KTVIKTVIKTVI, virtual channel 2, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the St. Louis, Missouri, designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, under a local marketing agreement with Tribune-owned CW affiliate KPLR...
(channel 2), St. LouisSt. Louis, MissouriSt. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
, affiliated with ABC - WVTM-TVWVTM-TVWVTM-TV, channel 13, is the NBC-affiliated television station in the Birmingham-Anniston-Tuscaloosa-Gadsden, Alabama television market. The station is owned by Media General...
(channel 13), Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, AlabamaBirmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
, affiliated with NBC
Stations that were acquired from Citicasters
- KSAZ-TVKSAZ-TVKSAZ-TV, virtual channel 10.1, is the Fox owned-and-operated station in Phoenix, Arizona. It is owned by Fox Television Stations in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV station KUTP ....
(channel 10), PhoenixPhoenix, ArizonaPhoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
, affiliated with CBS - WBRC-TV (channel 6), Birmingham, affiliated with ABC
- WDAF-TVWDAF-TVWDAF-TV, virtual channel 4.1, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners. Its studios and transmitter are located in the Signal Hill...
(channel 4), Kansas City, MissouriKansas City, MissouriKansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, affiliated with NBC - WGHPWGHPWGHP, channel 8, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem, North Carolina designated market area...
(channel 8), High Point, North CarolinaHigh Point, North CarolinaHigh Point is a city located in the Piedmont Triad region of North Carolina. As of 2010 the city had a total population of 104,371, according to the US Census Bureau. High Point is currently the eighth-largest municipality in North Carolina....
, affiliated with ABC
In addition, two Citicasters stations, ABC affiliates WKRC-TV
WKRC-TV
WKRC-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Tri-State area of Southern Ohio, Northern Kentucky, and Southeastern Indiana that is licensed to Cincinnati. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 12 from a transmitter at its studios on Highland Avenue in the Mount...
in Cincinnati
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
and WTSP
WTSP
WTSP is a CBS-affiliated television station in St. Petersburg, Florida . It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 10....
in St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
, were left out of the New World deal, though neither station would have been of any benefit to Fox. In WKRC's case, the Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati Bengals
The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional football team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. They are members of the AFC's North Division in the National Football League . The Bengals began play in 1968 as an expansion team in the American Football League , and joined the NFL in 1970 in the AFL-NFL...
aired on NBC and WLWT
WLWT
WLWT, virtual channel 5 , is an NBC-affiliated television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, the station is owned by Hearst Television...
at the time. Ironically, the Bengals' games now air on WKRC. And in WTSP's case, New World already owned WTVT, which was the higher-rated of the two stations at the time and had more full coverage of the Tampa area as WTSP transmitted from a more northerly location which forced ABC (then WTSP's network) to maintain an additional affiliate in Sarasota
Sarasota, Florida
Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
(WWSB
WWSB
WWSB Channel 40 is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Florida Suncoast that is licensed to Sarasota. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter on Rutland Road in the unincorporated Manatee County community of Rye, about 5 miles ESE of Parrish...
) to serve the entire market.
Not all the stations involved would switch to Fox:
- Because of Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications CommissionThe Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
rules of the time, New World could not keep WBRC and WVTM; WBRC was placed in a blind trustBlind trustA blind trust is a trust in which the fiduciaries, namely the trustees or those who have been given power of attorney, have full discretion over the assets, and the trust beneficiaries have no knowledge of the holdings of the trust and no right to intervene in their handling...
and would later be sold to Fox directly, as would WGHP. WBRC would later be sold to Raycom MediaRaycom Media- History :Although Raycom Media dates its birth to 1996, the core of the company was formed in 1992 when Atlanta native Bert Ellis formed Ellis Communications. He eventually controlled 13 television stations and two radio stations....
, while Local TV LLC would buy WGHP. - As a side effect of the sale of WBRC, WVTM, which New World kept, retained its NBC affiliation; KNSD also stayed with NBC, as in San Diego Fox already had an affiliate on the VHF band, XETVXETVXETV is a television station licensed to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, serving as the CW Television Network affiliate for the San Diego, California area across the international border in the United States...
(channel 6). Both were directly sold to the NBC network for $425 million in May 1996. Today, NBC UniversalNBC UniversalNBCUniversal Media, LLC is a media and entertainment company engaged in the production and marketing of entertainment, news, and information products and services to a global customer base...
owns 76 percent of KNSD, and LIN TVLIN TVLIN TV Corporation is an American holding company that operates 31 television stations.-History:LIN TV's roots trace back to the founding of its former parent, LIN Broadcasting Corporation, in 1961. LIN Broadcasting was engaged in radio, television, direct marketing, information and learning, music...
24 percent. WVTM would be later sold along with other smaller NBC-owned stations to Media GeneralMedia GeneralMedia General, Inc. is a media company based in the Southeastern United States. Its major properties include newspapers such as The Tampa Tribune, the Winston-Salem Journal, and the Richmond Times-Dispatch, as well as numerous television stations, such as flagship station WFLA-TV.The company was...
. - WSBK did not join Fox because the network would reacquire its existing affiliate, WFXTWFXTWFXT is a television station owned and operated by the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Boston, Massachusetts. The station's studio and office facility is in Dedham, Massachusetts, and its transmitter is located in Needham, Massachusetts...
. WSBK would later be sold to Viacom and became a charter member of UPNUPNUnited Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
, which launched on January 15, 1995.
NFL connection to deal
The key to the deal was that Fox upgraded its affiliate stations in several markets. Before the deal, of the 14 NFC teams at the time, only four—the Los Angeles Rams, New York GiantsNew York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
, San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
, and Washington Redskins
Washington Redskins
The Washington Redskins are a professional American football team and members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team plays at FedExField in Landover, Maryland, while its headquarters and training facility are at Redskin Park in Ashburn,...
—were co-located with VHF Fox affiliates. The Fox stations in New York
WNYW
WNYW, virtual channel 5 , is the flagship television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in New York City. The station's transmitter is atop the Empire State Building and its studio facilities are located in the Yorkville section of Manhattan...
, Los Angeles
KTTV
KTTV, channel 11, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Los Angeles, California. Serving the vast Los Angeles metropolitan area, KTTV is a sister station to KCOP , Los Angeles' MyNetworkTV station...
, and Washington, D.C.
WTTG
WTTG, channel 5, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, located in the American capital city of Washington, D.C...
are three of the network's original six owned-and-operated outlets. The San Francisco affiliate, KTVU
KTVU
KTVU, virtual channel 2 , is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the San Francisco Bay Area. Licensed to Oakland, California, the station has been owned by Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises since 1964, making it the largest Fox affiliate by market size that is not owned and operated by the...
, has been owned by Cox Enterprises
Cox Enterprises
Cox Enterprises is the successor to the publishing company founded in Dayton, Ohio, United States, by James Middleton Cox, who began with the Dayton Daily News. He was the Democratic candidate for the President of the United States in the election of 1920...
since 1964.
Most of the stations involved in the New World deal were located in markets with teams from the NFC
National Football Conference
The National Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the American Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL.-Current teams:Since 2002, the NFC has comprised 16 teams,...
, which was at the time considered the more prestigious of the two NFL conferences for a variety of reasons. In particular, NFC teams were located in nine of the ten largest television markets at the time with the lone exception being Boston, whose only NFL team, the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
, played in the AFC
American Football Conference
The American Football Conference is one of the two conferences of the National Football League . This conference and its counterpart, the National Football Conference , currently contain 16 teams each, making up the 32 teams of the NFL....
. Also, most of the NFC teams existed before the formation of the old AFL
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
and therefore contain longer histories, rivalries and traditions. During this time, the NFC was also in the midst of a 13-game winning streak against the AFC in the Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
.
Many of the stations slated that switched to Fox were CBS affiliates in markets where NFC teams were located, thus fans would continue to see at least their team's road games on local VHF stations.
NFC teams in markets related to deal:
- Arizona CardinalsArizona CardinalsThe Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
(KSAZ-TV) - Atlanta FalconsAtlanta FalconsThe Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a member of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
(WAGA) - Dallas CowboysDallas CowboysThe Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football franchise which plays in the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League . They are headquartered in Valley Ranch in Irving, Texas, a suburb of Dallas...
(KDFW and KTBC) - Detroit LionsDetroit LionsThe Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
(WJBK) - Green Bay PackersGreen Bay PackersThe Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
(WITI) - Tampa Bay BuccaneersTampa Bay BuccaneersThe Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football franchise based in Tampa, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the Southern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League – they are the only team in the division not to come from the old NFC West...
(WTVT)
AFC teams in markets related to deal:
- Cleveland BrownsCleveland BrownsThe Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
(WJW) - Kansas City ChiefsKansas City ChiefsThe Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
(WDAF)
KTBC and WITI served markets containing significant fan bases for nearby NFC teams. KTBC had aired Cowboys games for years (including during preseason), while WITI had broadcast Packers games to its Milwaukee audience since becoming a CBS affiliate in 1977 (through 1994, the Packers also played some games in Milwaukee).
In 1995, a year after the Fox switches, St. Louis received an NFC team when the Rams relocated from Los Angeles following the 1994 season, making KTVI the eighth station (and sixth in an NFC market) among the stations involved in the switchover and bringing the total number of NFC teams with VHF Fox affiliates to nine. That same year, the Carolina Panthers
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as expansion...
joined the NFL as an expansion team, which made WGHP another satellite "home" station for an NFL team as the Panthers are based in Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the seat of Mecklenburg County. In 2010, Charlotte's population according to the US Census Bureau was 731,424, making it the 17th largest city in the United States based on population. The Charlotte metropolitan area had a 2009...
, which is directly south of the Piedmont Triad
Piedmont Triad
The Piedmont Triad, or Triad, is a north-central region of the U.S. state of North Carolina that consists of the area within and surrounding the three major cities of Greensboro, Winston-Salem, and High Point. This close group or "triad" of cities lies in the Piedmont geographical region of the...
region where WGHP is situated.
It should be noted that, because of the time it took for the FCC to approve the NewsCorp investment in New World (as well as waiting for affiliation contracts to expire), the old, "lame duck" affiliates actually carried the NFL on Fox
NFL on FOX
NFL on Fox is the brand name of the Fox Broadcasting Company's coverage of the National Football League's National Football Conference games, produced by Fox Sports...
games for most of the 1994 season
1994 NFL season
The 1994 NFL season was the 75th regular season of the National Football League. To honor the NFL's 75th season, a special anniversary logo was designed and each player wore a patch on their jerseys with this logo throughout the season...
. For example, most Cowboys games were on KDAF
KDAF
KDAF, virtual channel 33 , is a CW-affiliated television station serving the Dallas-Fort Worth television market area. The station is licensed to Dallas and owned by the Tribune Company with its studios located off the John W. Carpenter Freeway in northwest Dallas. The station's transmitter is...
in Dallas and KBVO in Austin, and the Lions were seen on WKBD-TV, while WCGV-TV
WCGV-TV
WCGV-TV, digital channel 25 , is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, affiliated with MyNetworkTV Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin, including the cities of Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha...
in Milwaukee carried Packers games until WITI's affiliation deal with CBS ended at the start of December 1994, the only break in WITI's carriage of team games since 1977, when that station took CBS affiliation. As late as the 1995 season
1995 NFL season
The 1995 NFL season was the 76th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded to 30 teams with the addition of the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars...
, New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
games were on WNOL, not WVUE (see the Burnham Broadcasting section below). The same season the Cowboys returned to KDFW, they won Super Bowl XXX
Super Bowl XXX
Super Bowl XXX was an American football game played on January 28, 1996 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona to decide the National Football League champion following the 1995 regular season...
.
Burnham Broadcasting
Just weeks after completing the New World deal, Fox announced another purchase, this one of Burnham Broadcasting. The stations involved were the following:- WVUEWVUEWVUE-DT, broadcasting on virtual channel 8, is a TV station in New Orleans, Louisiana, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company. WVUE is owned by Louisiana Media Company, with studios in the Gert Town section of New Orleans and transmitter in Chalmette, Louisiana.- Digital television :WVUE-DT...
(channel 8), New OrleansNew Orleans, LouisianaNew Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
, affiliated with ABC - WLUK-TVWLUK-TVWLUK-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Fox River Valley area and Northeastern Wisconsin. Licensed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, the station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter on Scray's Hill in Ledgeview; the station also broadcasts in...
(channel 11), Green Bay, WisconsinGreen Bay, WisconsinGreen Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
, affiliated with NBC - WALA-TVWALA-TVWALA-TV is the Fox-affiliated television station for Southern Alabama, Southeastern Mississippi, and the Western Florida Panhandle that is licensed to Mobile. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter in Spanish Fort, Alabama...
(channel 10), Mobile, AlabamaMobile, AlabamaMobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...
, affiliated with NBC - KHON-TVKHON-TVKHON-TV is a Fox-affiliated television station in Honolulu, Hawaii. The station broadcasts on virtual channel 2.In addition to its Honolulu broadcast facilities, KHON has relays on all the major Hawaiian Islands to rebroadcast programs outside of metropolitan Honolulu: KHAW-TV in Hilo; KAII-TV in...
(channel 2), Honolulu, HawaiiHonolulu, HawaiiHonolulu is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii. Honolulu is the southernmost major U.S. city. Although the name "Honolulu" refers to the urban area on the southeastern shore of the island of Oahu, the city and county government are consolidated as the City and...
, affiliated with NBC
Fox would become minority owner of these stations; majority partner Savoy Broadcasting, was a minority-owned communications firm. The deal gave Fox upgrades for the home markets of two more teams: the Packers and the New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
, giving Fox VHF affiliates in eleven of the fifteen NFC markets. SF Broadcasting, as the Savoy Pictures
Savoy Pictures
Savoy Pictures Inc. was an independent motion picture company in operation from 1992 to 1997.-History:Victor A. Kaufman became chairman and chief executive officer of Savoy Pictures in 1992 along with vice chairman executive, Lewis J. Korman...
-Fox joint venture was known, had been founded in March 1994. It was capitalized with $100 million – $58 million from Fox, $41 million from Savoy, and $1 million from the chairmen of Savoy Pictures. Fox had no voting stock (if they did, the stations would be counted against the FCC ownership total); instead, Savoy Pictures chairmen Victor A. Kaufman and Lewis J. Korman held all the stock.
The second season WLUK carried the Packers , the team won the Super Bowl
Super Bowl XXXI
Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game played on January 26, 1997, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 1996 regular season. The National Football Conference champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American...
, the first time Fox carried the game.
Repercussions
Overnight, the landscape of local television in many areas changed as viewers were confronted with new affiliations on their familiar stations.The transition was straightforward in some cases, as Kansas City, St. Louis, Austin, Cleveland and the Piedmont Triad saw the old Fox affiliates simply swap with the new ones. Respectively, KSHB-TV
KSHB-TV
KSHB-TV, virtual channel 41, is the NBC-affiliated television station serving the entire Kansas City metropolitan area; the station is commonly known by its branding NBC Action News. It is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, alongside independent station KMCI as the company's only existing duopoly...
replaced WDAF-TV as Kansas City's NBC affiliate, while KDNL-TV
KDNL-TV
KDNL-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for St. Louis, Missouri. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 31 from a transmitter in Shrewsbury. The station can also be seen on Charter channel 12 and in high definition on digital channel 780. Owned by the Sinclair...
and WXLV-TV
WXLV-TV
WXLV-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina that is licensed to Winston-Salem. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 29 from a transmitter in Randleman along I-73/U.S. 220...
affiliated with ABC in St. Louis and the Piedmont Triad, likewise with WPTY
WPTY-TV
WPTY-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for west Tennessee that is licensed to Memphis. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 25 from a transmitter in the Brunswick section of Arlington. Owned by Newport Television, the station is sister to CW affiliate WLMT and Fox...
/Memphis after Fox's purchase of WHBQ. KBVO (now KEYE-TV
KEYE-TV
KEYE-TV, digital channel 43 , is the CBS affiliate in Austin, Texas. It is owned by the Four Points Media Group, LLC Sinclair Broadcasting Group has announced a purchase of the the Four Points stations, and has begun operating KEYE-TV through a local service agreement in anticipation of FCC...
) in Austin and WOIO
WOIO
WOIO, virtual channel 19 , is the CBS affiliate in Cleveland, Ohio. It is licensed to the nearby suburb of Shaker Heights. WOIO is owned by Raycom Media and its sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate WUAB . The two stations share a studio facility in Cleveland and WOIO's transmitter is located in...
in Cleveland affiliated with CBS. All five were UHF stations.
The largest affiliation swap occurred in Birmingham, a market that expanded to include three other central Alabama cities, Tuscaloosa
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Tuscaloosa is a city in and the seat of Tuscaloosa County in west central Alabama . Located on the Black Warrior River, it is the fifth-largest city in Alabama, with a population of 90,468 in 2010...
, Gadsden
Gadsden, Alabama
The city of Gadsden is the county seat of Etowah County in the U.S. state of Alabama, and it is located about 65 miles northeast of Birmingham, Alabama. It is the primary city of the Gadsden Metropolitan Statistical Area, which has a population of 103,459. Gadsden is closely associated with the...
, and Anniston
Anniston, Alabama
Anniston is a city in Calhoun County in the state of Alabama, United States.As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 24,276. According to the 2005 U.S. Census estimates, the city had a population of 23,741...
. Six different stations changed affiliations due to WBRC moving from ABC to Fox. WCFT-TV and WJSU-TV, the CBS affiliates for Tuscaloosa and Anniston, merged and became the combined ABC affiliate for Birmingham and Central Alabama. (In addition, because reception of both stations were poor in center city, the owner of the two stations purchased low-power WBMA-LP
WBMA-LP
WBMA-LD, channel 58, is the ABC television affiliate for Birmingham and central Alabama. Its transmitter is located in Birmingham, while its studio is in Hoover, a suburb of Birmingham....
and also made it an ABC station, in fact being the main station of the cluster.) WNAL
WPXH
WPXH-TV, digital channel 45, is the Ion Television network affiliate for the Birmingham/Gadsden/Anniston/Tuscaloosa market. The station's city of license is Gadsden. The station is owned by ION Media Networks...
, the former Fox affiliate for Gadsden, became the CBS affiliate for northeast Alabama before eventually becoming the Pax network affiliate for Birmingham. WTTO
WTTO
WTTO is a CW affiliate for the Birmingham/Anniston/Tuscaloosa, Alabama market. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 28, however through the use of PSIP technology, digital television receivers display WTTO's virtual channel as 21. It is licensed to Homewood, a Birmingham suburb...
and WDBB, the Fox affiliates for Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, became independent stations before eventually affiliating with The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
.
As expected, CBS bore the worst brunt of the changes. The network had already developed a stodgy and overly budgeted image under Laurence Tisch, who had become CEO in 1985. Tisch was already notorious for having made deep cuts at CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
and by selling off major portions of the company, such as Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
to Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
. When CBS lost the NFL to Fox, the problems accelerated as the "Tiffany Network" struggled to compete with NBC and ABC in the ratings, even though the network still finished ahead of Fox. CBS eventually recovered and by 1999, was the most-watched network until it was surpassed by ABC in 2000 and NBC in 2001 before retaking the lead again in 2002. NBC took the lead again in 2003 and 2004 before CBS retook the lead once again in 2005.
CBS' problems were especially evident in the recruiting of new affiliates. As a direct result of the New World-Fox alliance, only four new CBS affiliates were VHF stations:
- In the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Gaylord BroadcastingGaylord Entertainment CompanyThe Gaylord Entertainment Company operates a number of hotel, resort, and media companies that were built by Edward Gaylord. It was previously a subsidiary of the Oklahoma City-based Oklahoma Publishing Company, which is owned by the Gaylord family and publishes the Daily Oklahoman newspaper...
-owned KTVTKTVTKTVT, virtual channel 11, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, and serving the Dallas-Fort Worth designated market area. The station is co-owned with independent station KTXA , and the two stations share facilities in Dallas and Fort Worth...
(channel 11) became the new CBS affiliate after KDFW switched to Fox (and KTVT would eventually be purchased by CBS itself four years after the switches took place). KDAFKDAFKDAF, virtual channel 33 , is a CW-affiliated television station serving the Dallas-Fort Worth television market area. The station is licensed to Dallas and owned by the Tribune Company with its studios located off the John W. Carpenter Freeway in northwest Dallas. The station's transmitter is...
(channel 33), an original Fox-owned station, became a WB affiliate, and is now affiliated with the CW Television Network. - As a by-product of the KTVT deal, another new VHF CBS affiliate at the time was sister station KSTWKSTWKSTW is a television station serving the Seattle, Washington media market. It is owned by CBS Corporation, and is a part of The CW Television Network. It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 11...
(channel 11) in the SeattleSeattle, WashingtonSeattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...
-TacomaTacoma, WashingtonTacoma is a mid-sized urban port city and the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. The city is on Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Park. The population was 198,397, according to...
area, replacing KIRO-TVKIRO-TVKIRO-TV, virtual channel 7, is the CBS affiliate television station in Seattle, Washington. It broadcasts on digital channel 39. The station's offices and broadcasting center are located near Seattle Center in Belltown, and its transmitter is located on Queen Anne Hill...
(channel 7). This affiliation only lasted two years though, as KIRO-TV returned to CBS in 1997 following a sale of the station from Belo Corporation to Cox Enterprises.- In 1997, Fox planned to trade KSAZ to Belo for KIRO, but that fell through. Ironically, KIRO would be the "home station" of the Seattle SeahawksSeattle SeahawksThe Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...
from 1998-2001, before giving way to Fox affiliate KCPQKCPQKCPQ, channel 13, is the Fox television affiliate licensed to Tacoma, Washington serving the Seattle/Tacoma television market, owned by the Tribune Company...
.
- In 1997, Fox planned to trade KSAZ to Belo for KIRO, but that fell through. Ironically, KIRO would be the "home station" of the Seattle Seahawks
- In Phoenix, CBS moved to former independent station KPHO-TVKPHO-TVKPHO-TV, channel 5, is a CBS-affiliate television station located in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. KPHO-TV is owned by the Meredith Corporation, and has its studios located on Black Canyon Highway in the Alhambra Village section of Phoenix, with its transmitter located on South Mountain in Phoenix...
, which ironically was CBS's original Phoenix affiliate. As part of the deal with KPHO parent Meredith CorporationMeredith CorporationThe Meredith Corporation is a media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The company has two divisions, National Media and Local Media.-History:...
, CBS moved to WNEM-TVWNEM-TVWNEM-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Flint/Tri-Cities market in Michigan. It is licensed to Bay City, and broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 22 . Owned by the Meredith Corporation, the station has studios on North Franklin Street in downtown Saginaw, as...
(channel 5), replacing WEYI-TVWEYI-TVWEYI-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station for the Flint/Tri-Cities market that is licensed to Saginaw. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 30 from a 193 kilowatt, high transmitter at its studios on West Willard Road in Vienna Township along the Genesee and...
(channel 25) in the FlintFlint, MichiganFlint is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and is located along the Flint River, northwest of Detroit. The U.S. Census Bureau reports the 2010 population to be placed at 102,434, making Flint the seventh largest city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Genesee County which lies in the...
-SaginawSaginaw, MichiganSaginaw is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw was once a thriving lumber town and manufacturing center. Saginaw and Saginaw County lie in the Flint/Tri-Cities region of Michigan...
-Bay City, MichiganBay City, MichiganBay City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and is the principal city of the Bay City Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Saginaw-Bay City-Saginaw Township North...
market. WEYI-TV took on WNEM's NBC affiliation as a result. CBS protected its relationship with Meredith's Kansas City station, KCTV, through this deal as well.
The affiliate switches also led to another deal involving the E.W. Scripps Company, the parent company of KSHB-TV. Scripps' two highest-profile stations, ABC affiliates WEWS in Cleveland and WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV
WXYZ-TV, channel 7, is an ABC-affiliated television station in Detroit, Michigan, USA. WXYZ-TV is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company, and is the media company's largest-market TV station property...
in Detroit, were being courted by CBS to replace WJW and WJBK, respectively. In order to keep ABC on WEWS and WXYZ, Scripps required ABC to switch its affiliations to four of the company's non-ABC affiliates:
- NBC affiliate WMAR-TVWMAR-TVWMAR-TV, channel 2, is the ABC affiliate television station in Baltimore, Maryland, owned by the broadcasting division of the E.W. Scripps Company...
in Baltimore, replacing WJZ-TVWJZ-TVWJZ-TV, channel 13, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Baltimore, Maryland. WJZ-TV's studios and offices are located on Television Hill in the Woodberry section of Baltimore, adjacent to the transmission tower it shares with four other Baltimore...
; - CBS station WCPO-TVWCPO-TVWCPO-TV, virtual channel 9 , is an ABC-affiliated television station in Cincinnati, Ohio. WCPO's studio is located in the Mount Adams neighborhood of Cincinnati, just outside of Eden Park. Its transmitter is located along Symmes Street, just south of East McMillan Street in Cincinnati.The station...
in Cincinnati, replacing WKRC-TV and reversing an affiliation switch which occurred in 1961; - KNXV-TVKNXV-TVKNXV-TV, is an ABC-affiliated television station in Phoenix, Arizona, broadcasting in digital on UHF channel 15. Owned by The E. W. Scripps Company, its transmitter is located on South Mountain in Phoenix....
in Phoenix, slated to lose Fox due to the New World deal, replacing then-market leader KTVKKTVKKTVK is a full-service, independent television station in Phoenix, Arizona. It broadcasts in digital on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter located on South Mountain in Phoenix, and can be seen across northern Arizona on a network of nearly two dozen translator stations...
; and - WFTS in Tampa, who was also slated to lose Fox due through the New World deal, replacing WTSP.
The switchovers angered WJZ-TV's parent company, Westinghouse Broadcasting
Westinghouse Broadcasting
The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndication....
. Group W had already been in talks with several networks – including CBS, NBC, and Fox – for new affiliations for its stations prior to the announcement of the New World deal. These talks accelerated once that deal was announced. Later in 1994, the company agreed to affiliate three of its five stations with CBS. (The other two stations, KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV, channel 2, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. KDKA-TV broadcasts from a transmitter located in the Perry North neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and its studios are located in downtown Pittsburgh at Gateway Center....
in Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
and KPIX in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
were already CBS affiliates.) In September 1994, KPIX and KDKA-TV, both of whom along the rest of the Westinghouse stations were known for pre-empting some network programs, began carrying the entire CBS schedule as a condition of the deal. This was followed by WJZ-TV and Boston NBC affiliate WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WBZ-TV's studios and office facilities, shared with sister station WSBK-TV , are located in the Allston-Brighton section of Boston, and its transmitter is located in Needham,...
switching to CBS at the end of 1994, and then the switchover before the beginning of the 1995-1996 television season of KYW-TV
KYW-TV
KYW-TV, virtual channel 3, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. KYW-TV shares a studio facility with its sister station, CW flagship WPSG just north of Center City Philadelphia...
in Philadelphia
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
from NBC to CBS, to whom Westinghouse also sold a minority share of KYW-TV.
Because of the New World deal, eventual deals involving Scripps and Westinghouse's stations, and the unwillingness of rival stations in affected markets to switch network affiliations, CBS was left with lesser-known affiliates in Atlanta, Detroit, and Milwaukee, where the new affiliates were all low-profile UHF stations with far less transmitting power than their previous affiliates:
- In Atlanta, CBS almost purchased WVEU, which broadcast on channel 69, the highest available channel in the U.S. during the later era of analog televisionAnalog televisionAnalog television is the analog transmission that involves the broadcasting of encoded analog audio and analog video signal: one in which the message conveyed by the broadcast signal is a function of deliberate variations in the amplitude and/or frequency of the signal...
. Eventually, they reached a deal with WGNX (channel 46, now WGCL-TVWGCL-TVWGCL-TV, virtual channel 46.1 is the CBS-affiliated television station serving the Atlanta, Georgia area. Its city of license is Atlanta, and the station is owned by Meredith Corporation, making it the largest-market CBS station not owned by the network...
), then owned by Tribune BroadcastingTribune BroadcastingThe Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
. WGNX was slated to become Atlanta's WB affiliate prior to agreeing to terms with CBS. Ironically, CBS now owns channel 69, WUPAWUPAWUPA, channel 69, is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia. An owned and operated station of the The CW Television Network, it identifies itself as "CW 69". It is owned by CBS Corporation, which is half-owner of The CW. Founded November 10, 1980, the station is broadcast locally in...
, as a CW affiliate; it was with UPNUPNUnited Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
until September 2006. The market's former Fox O&O, WATL (channel 36) became an affiliate (and later O&O) of the WB, and in 2006 moved over to another new network, MyNetworkTVMyNetworkTVMyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
. - Milwaukee's new CBS station, WDJT-TVWDJT-TVWDJT-TV, channel 58, is the CBS-affiliated television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin broadcasting on UHF digital channel 46, that displays WDJT's virtual channel as its former analog channel assignment of 58 via PSIP...
(channel 58), had a general syndicated schedule, with some ethnic and time-brokered religious programming mixed in, along with very low cable carriage in the market. The station's owners, Weigel BroadcastingWeigel BroadcastingWeigel Broadcasting is an American locally based television broadcasting company. The company is based in downtown Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV , at the apt address of 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood.- History :The company was founded by Chicago...
, had its roots in running Chicago independent station WCIU-TVWCIU-TVWCIU-TV is an independent television station located in Chicago, Illinois. It operates on UHF digital channel 27 and is Chicago's oldest UHF station, signing on the air in 1964. WCIU-TV is the flagship station of Weigel Broadcasting, a locally-based broadcaster which has owned the station since...
, and at the time never had any station of theirs affiliated with a major network. WDJT joined the network just one week before the switch, after an attempt by CBS to buy religious station WVCY-TVWVCY-TVWVCY-TV is a conservative Christian television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It broadcasts digitally on Channel 22, but maps on a virtual channel via PSIP to their former analog channel position, Channel 30.-Sister Stations:...
(channel 30) fell through. The station then built a new transmitter in 1999 which has transmitting power equal with the market's other five commercial stations. Part of the switches resulted in several of CBS' remaining sports properties, most notably the Daytona 500Daytona 500The Daytona 500 is a -long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is one of four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule....
, not being carried in some parts of Milwaukee in 1995. Former Fox affiliate WCGV-TVWCGV-TVWCGV-TV, digital channel 25 , is a television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, affiliated with MyNetworkTV Its signal covers most of southeastern Wisconsin, including the cities of Racine, Kenosha, Sheboygan and Waukesha...
(channel 24) joined the then-upstart UPN network, and is now affiliated with MyNetworkTV after UPN folded. - In Detroit, finding a replacement affiliate proved especially difficult for CBS. CBS could not lure NBC affiliate WDIV or ABC affiliate WXYZ to switch affiliations, and most of Southeastern Michigan's remaining independent stations were either uninterested or unable to enter into negotiations with CBS. In an eleventh-hour deal reached mere days before WJBK-TV was due to drop CBS programming, CBS purchased WGPR-TV (channel 62) from an African-American group of MasonsFreemasonryFreemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
and changed its name to WWJ-TVWWJ-TVWWJ-TV, virtual channel 62 , is the CBS-owned and operated television station in Detroit, Michigan. It is co-owned with Detroit's CW station, WKBD-TV , and the two stations share a studio in Southfield, Michigan, a Detroit suburb....
. CBS had preferred to reach a deal with another station, WADLWADL (TV)WADL Channel 38 is a full-power, commercially licensed broadcast television station in the Midwestern United States. As an independent television station licensed to the town of Mount Clemens, Michigan, the station serves the entire Detroit metropolitan area. The station also serves most of the...
(channel 38), but broke off negotiations when WADL's owner began making unreasonable demands. WGPR previously had the weakest signal of any UHF station in Detroit, but CBS invested heavily in the station and significantly upgraded its facilities. The former Fox affiliate, WKBD-TV, also joined UPN, and is now a CW affiliate co-owned with WWJ-TV, which is strangely the lesser partner in the duopoly; the other CBS duopolies have the CBS affiliate as the senior partner.
Other repercussions
- As a result of the affiliation switches, NBC became the most-watched network in the United States, as it not only experienced the fewest effects of the switchover, but also benefited from a strong slate of programming at the time (including FriendsFriendsFriends is an American sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994 to May 6, 2004. The series revolves around a group of friends in Manhattan. The series was produced by Bright/Kauffman/Crane Productions, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, FrasierFrasierFrasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, SeinfeldSeinfeldSeinfeld is an American television sitcom that originally aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, lasting nine seasons, and is now in syndication. It was created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, the latter starring as a fictionalized version of himself...
, ERER (TV series)ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
and the Dateline NBCDateline NBCDateline NBC, or Dateline, is a U.S. weekly television newsmagazine broadcast by NBC. It previously was NBC's flagship news magazine, but now focuses on true crime stories. It airs Friday at 9 p.m. EST and after football season on Sunday at 7 p.m. EST.-History:Dateline is historically notable for...
franchise). They would remain in first until 19991999 NFL seasonThe 1999 NFL season was the 80th regular season of the National Football League. The Cleveland Browns returned to the field for the first time since the 1995 season...
, when CBS overtook NBC at number one. This was also following the first year since NBC lost rights to AFC games in the NFL to CBS. The NFL would eventually return to NBC in 20062006 NFL seasonThe 2006 NFL season was the 87th regular season of the National Football League.Regular season play was held from September 7 to December 31, 2006...
with the league's Sunday night packageNBC Sunday Night FootballNBC Sunday Night Football is a weekly television broadcast of Sunday evening National Football League games on NBC that began airing on Sunday, August 6, 2006 with the pre-season opening Hall of Fame Game. Al Michaels serves as the play-by-play announcer, with Cris Collinsworth as the color...
after ESPNESPNEntertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
(who previously held the latter package) took over Monday Night FootballMonday Night FootballMonday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
from sister network ABC.
- Because of the Westinghouse deal involving WBZ-TV, CBS had to sell WPRI-TVWPRI-TVWPRI-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the state of Rhode Island and Bristol County, Massachusetts that is licensed to Providence. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 13 from a transmitter on Homestead Avenue in Rehoboth, Massachusetts...
in Providence, Rhode IslandProvidence, Rhode IslandProvidence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
, which it had just acquired months before. That purchase was the catalyst of an additional affiliation switch, as WPRI's former alliance with ABC moved to Freedom CommunicationsFreedom CommunicationsFreedom Communications, Inc. is a media conglomerate in the United States. It owns approximately 100 daily and weekly newspapers in the US, with a combined daily circulation of nearly one million subscribers, and also operates over seventy local news websites...
-owned WLNEWLNE-TVWLNE-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Rhode Island and the South Coast of Massachusetts. It is licensed to New Bedford, Massachusetts, but is headquartered in and operates from studios at 10 Orms Street in downtown Providence, Rhode Island. It is one of two major Rhode Island...
, which was previously a CBS station. WPRI's signal carried from Rhode Island over into most of the Boston area whereas WBZ-TV's Boston signal traveled all the way into almost all of the state of Rhode Island. FCC regulations at the time prevented common ownership of stations whose signals overlapped and would not even consider a waiver for stations with large overlapping coverage areas.
- When KYW-TV switched to CBS from NBC, CBS traded its Philadelphia station, WCAU-TV, to NBC in exchange for KCNC-TVKCNC-TVKCNC-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated station television station in Denver, Colorado, owned by CBS Television Stations, Inc. KCNC broadcasts on UHF channel 35 from Lookout Mountain near Golden, Colorado.- Digital programming :...
in Denver and KUTV in Salt Lake City. As compensation for these station trades, CBS-owned WCIX in Miami swapped facilities with NBC-owned WTVJWTVJWTVJ, virtual channel 6 , is an owned-and-operated television station of the NBC television network, located in Broward County. WTVJ shares its TV studio and office facility with co-owned Telemundo station WSCV in Miramar, Florida, and its transmitter is located near Sun Life Stadium in north...
. Westinghouse and CBS then formed a joint venture involving its new properties and WCIX, which became WFOR-TVWFOR-TVWFOR-TV, virtual channel 4.1 , is the CBS owned-and-operated station in Miami, Florida. WFOR shares its TV studio facilities with sister station WBFS-TV in Doral, near Miami International Airport, and its transmitter is located in Miramar.WFOR-TV also previously had two translator stations in the...
, with Westinghouse as the majority owner.
- At one point, New World considered buying WCAU, which would have turned that station into a Fox affiliate (and thus also continue broadcasting Philadelphia EaglesPhiladelphia EaglesThe Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
games, which it had done since 1950). Additionally, Fox had bought WGBS-TVWPSGWPSG, channel 57, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. WPSG is owned by the CBS Corporation and is the east coast flagship station for the CW Television Network, which is owned jointly by CBS and Time Warner...
(channel 57) as a result of rumors that ParamountParamount PicturesParamount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
's WTXF-TVWTXF-TVWTXF-TV, virtual channel 29 , is an owned-and-operated station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...
(the market's Fox affiliate) was switching to UPN, but later canceled those plans and made a bid to buy the station if New World passed up the opportunity. WTXF was eventually sold to Fox with Paramount buying WGBS-TV (and renaming it WPSG) and NBC winding up with WCAU.
- The broadcasting division of publishing firm McGraw-HillMcGraw-HillThe McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are financial, education, publishing, broadcasting, and business services...
also had arranged a new affiliation deal, in which all four of its stations would affiliate with ABC. The company's two ABC affiliates, WRTVWRTVWRTV, channel 6, is the ABC television affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana; it is owned by McGraw-Hill. Its transmitter is located on the northwest side of Indianapolis at 8001 Township Line Road. Its studios are found at 1330 N...
in IndianapolisIndianapolisIndianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...
and KGTVKGTVKGTV, digital channel 10, is the ABC television affiliate in San Diego, California. The station can be seen on Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable, and AT&T U-verse on cable channel 10 in standard definition. Cox Communications and Time Warner Cable carry its high definition signal on cable...
in San Diego, would be joined by CBS affiliates KERO-TVKERO-TVKERO-TV is a television station serving Bakersfield, California. It is an ABC affiliate owned by McGraw-Hill, and transmits its digital signal on VHF channel 10. Syndicated programming on KERO includes: Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!, and Ellen....
in Bakersfield, CaliforniaBakersfield, CaliforniaBakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....
and KMGH-TVKMGH-TVKMGH-TV, channel 7, is the ABC-affiliated television station in Denver, Colorado. The station itself is usually branded as "Denver's 7", but its newscasts are branded as "7 News". It broadcasts its digital signal on VHF channel 7 from a transmitter located in Golden, Colorado...
in Denver, the former of which had to wait for its affiliation deal with CBS to expire before switching to ABC.
- In the SacramentoSacramento, CaliforniaSacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
television market, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, as part of a deal to make KDNL/St. Louis and WXLV-TVWXLV-TVWXLV-TV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Piedmont Triad area of North Carolina that is licensed to Winston-Salem. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 29 from a transmitter in Randleman along I-73/U.S. 220...
/Winston-Salem ABC affiliates, agreed to give up KOVRKOVRKOVR, channel 13, is an owned-and-operated station of the CBS Television Network located in Sacramento, California and licensed to Stockton. KOVR-TV shares its offices and studio facilities with sister station KMAX-TV in West Sacramento, California, and its transmitter is located in Walnut Grove,...
's ABC affiliation to then-Belo owned CBS affiliate KXTVKXTVKXTV, channel 10, is an ABC affiliate television station in Sacramento, California. It is owned and operated by the Gannett Company. Its transmitter tower is located in Walnut Grove, California, and studios are located on Broadway, just south of Business Loop 80 at the south edge of downtown...
(as part of a deal with Belo to reaffiliate their sister stations in Dallas, Norfolk, Louisville and Austin) on March 3, 1995. Since then, Gannett has purchased KXTV from Belo, while CBS acquired KOVR and its sister station KMAXKMAX-TVKMAX-TV, channel 31, is the CW affiliate serving the Sacramento-Stockton-Modesto, California broadcast area. The station is owned by CBS Television Stations along with the local CBS station, KOVR; the two stations are two of the 3 English network O&Os in the market, along with Ion Television...
. Since KOVR switched from ABC to CBS, the station launched what would become a successful programming schedule in which the CBS prime-time line starts an hour earlier at 7 PM and ends at 10 PM, making them the only station in the Pacific Time ZonePacific Time ZoneThe Pacific Time Zone observes standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time . The clock time in this zone is based on the mean solar time of the 120th meridian west of the Greenwich Observatory. During daylight saving time, its time offset is UTC-7.In the United States...
to hold that position.
- A similar situation would take place in EvansvilleEvansville, IndianaEvansville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Indiana and the largest city in Southern Indiana. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 117,429. It is the county seat of Vanderburgh County and the regional hub for both Southwestern Indiana and the...
, where in the wake of WTVWWTVWBanam sold WTVW to Petracom Broadcasting in 1995. A 20-percent equity stake in Petracom was purchased by Fox soon afterward, eventually leading to a three-way affiliation swap in which WTVW ended its 39-year ABC affiliation and joined Fox on December 3, 1995, with ABC moving to former CBS...
's switch to Fox in 1995, the ABC affiliation would instead go to CBS affiliate WEHTWEHTWEHT is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Tri-State area of Southwestern Indiana, Northwestern Kentucky and Southeastern Illinois; it is owned by Nexstar Broadcasting Group under a shared services agreement with independent station WTVW...
, who in turn would give up the CBS affiliation to WEVVWEVVWEVV-TV is a CBS-affiliated television station located in Evansville, Indiana. The station operates on digital channel 45, or virtual channel 44 via PSIP, from a transmitter located in Henderson, Kentucky. WEVV is owned and operated by Communications Corporation of America...
, which was the Fox affiliate. On July 1, 2011, WEVV's digital subchannel became the new Fox affiliate, as Fox has dropped WTVW.
- In another affiliation deal, Allbritton Communications CompanyAllbritton Communications CompanyThe Allbritton Communications Company is an owner of television stations and other media, based in Arlington, Virginia. All of its stations are affiliated with ABC after signing an affiliation agreement in 1997.-Currently owned:...
, the parent company of several ABC affiliates, including WJLA-TVWJLA-TVWJLA-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliated television station in Washington, D.C.. It is the flagship station of the Allbritton Communications Company, which also operates local cable station NewsChannel 8. The two stations share broadcast facilities in the Rosslyn section of Arlington, Virginia...
in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, and the new combined WCFT/WJSU operation in Birmingham which replaced WBRC, also switched all of its stations to ABC, including NBC affiliate WCIVWCIVWCIV is the ABC-affiliated television station for the Lowcountry area of South Carolina licensed to Charleston. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 34 from a transmitter in Awendaw. The station can also be seen on Time Warner channel 4 as well as Comcast and Knology...
in Charleston, South CarolinaCharleston, South CarolinaCharleston is the second largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. It was made the county seat of Charleston County in 1901 when Charleston County was founded. The city's original name was Charles Towne in 1670, and it moved to its present location from a location on the west bank of the...
and new station WJXXWJXXWJXX is the ABC-affiliated television station television for Jacksonville, Florida. The station broadcasts a digital signal on VHF channel 10, identifying via PSIP as virtual channel 25 . The station is owned by Gannett as part of a duopoly with the area's NBC affiliate, WTLV...
in JacksonvilleJacksonville, FloridaJacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
, as well as WBThe WB Television NetworkThe WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
affiliate WBSG-TVWPXC-TVWPXC-TV is the Ion Television television station in the Jacksonville, Florida, market, but licenced to serve Brunswick, Georgia. Owned by Ion Media Networks, the station broadcasts on digital channel 24. In addition, the station has a low power repeater in Jacksonville, WPXJ-LP, on channel...
in Brunswick, GeorgiaBrunswick, GeorgiaBrunswick is the major urban and economic center in southeastern Georgia in the United States. The municipality is located on a harbor near the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 30 miles north of Florida and 70 miles south of South Carolina. Brunswick is bordered on the east by the Atlantic...
(located in the northern fringes of the Jacksonville viewing area). (WBSG left ABC for Pax in 2000.)
- In San Diego, UPN affiliate KUSI-TVKUSI-TVKUSI-TV, virtual channel 51.1, is an independent television station based in San Diego, California. The station is owned and operated by Channel 51 of San Diego, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of McKinnon Broadcasting...
(now an independent station) tried unsuccessfully to take the Fox affiliation away from XETV, which was based in Tijuana, Mexico, citing FCC regulations preventing Mexican-licensed stations (or any foreign station outside of the United States) from airing live American sporting events without an FCC-approved license, but Fox was eventually granted the permit. XETV switched to the CW in August 2008 after losing its Fox affiliation to KSWB-TVKSWB-TVKSWB-TV, virtual channel 69, is a Fox-affiliated television station in San Diego, California. It broadcasts a 720p high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter southeast of Spring Valley...
.
- Because of the deals involving KCNC and KMGH, Gannett arranged another affiliation deal with NBC to affiliate with the Denver area's displaced ABC affiliate, KUSA-TVKUSA-TVKUSA, channel 9, is an NBC-affiliated television station in Denver, Colorado. KUSA is owned by the Gannett Company, and is a sister station to MyNetworkTV affiliate KTVD...
. A similar situation happened to Hearst Broadcasting in which its Baltimore CBS affiliate, WBAL-TVWBAL-TVWBAL-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station in Baltimore, Maryland. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 11. It is one of the flagship stations of Hearst Television, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation, which also owns sister radio stations WBAL and...
, returned to NBC (it had been affiliated with that network until 1981 when it affiliated with CBS, who was dissatisfied with its then-Baltimore affiliate WMAR-TV frequently preempting CBS programming). Additionally, two former CBS affiliates displaced by the Westinghouse/CBS deal (KSL-TVKSL-TVKSL-TV, virtual channel 5, is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. KSL-TV is owned by Bonneville International Corporation, which is in turn owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints...
in Salt Lake City and WHDH-TVWHDH-TVWHDH, digital channel 42 , is an NBC-affiliated television station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest NBC station not owned by the network. Owned by Sunbeam Television, WHDH is a sister station to CW affiliate WLVI...
in BostonBostonBoston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
) affiliated with NBC. WHDH-TV remains NBC's biggest affiliate, and was in a row with the station in 2009 over telecasting The Jay Leno ShowThe Jay Leno ShowThe Jay Leno Show is an American comedy show created by and starring Jay Leno, that aired from September 14, 2009 to February 9, 2010 on NBC following the May 29, 2009 conclusion of Leno's first tenure as host of The Tonight Show...
.
- In Phoenix, KTVK turned down CBS's offer to affiliate with the then-ABC affiliate in anticipation of ABC renewing its affiliation agreement with the station. However, after the Scripps deal went through resulting in ABC's move to KNXV, KTVK was disappointed and eventually began to gradually phase out its ABC offerings. On its final day as an ABC affiliate, KTVK only had ABC's prime-time lineup, major soaps, and sports programs remaining.
- Prior to switching on December 11, WAGA began turning down some weaker CBS programs on a week-by-week basis, similar to how KTVK phased out some ABC programs and gave them to KNXV.
- CBS remedied their Cincinnati and Tampa-St. Petersburg situations by picking up both of the Citicasters stations displaced in the ABC-Scripps alliance. WTSP in Tampa-St. Petersburg switched to CBS in December 1994, while WKRC-TV in Cincinnati had to wait until WCPO-TV's affiliation contract with CBS ended in June 1996 before it could make its switch.
- Since WBRC's affiliation agreement with ABC did not expire until the end of the 1995–1996 television season, Fox had to run WBRC as an ABC affiliate for over one and a half years. The only other recent instance in which a major network has had to run a rival network's affiliate was in 1988, when NBC was forced to run WTVJ in Miami as a CBS affiliate for one year after Sunbeam TelevisionSunbeam TelevisionSunbeam Television Corporation is a broadcasting company based in Miami, Florida, and owns three television stations in the United States.-History:...
, which owned rival outlet WSVNWSVNWSVN, channel 7, is a television station located in Miami, Florida, USA. WSVN is owned by Sunbeam Television, and is an affiliate of the Fox Broadcasting Company. The station has its studio facilities located in North Bay Village and transmitter based in north Miami-Dade County.WSVN operates a Key...
, refused to end that station's contract with NBC until it expired at the end of the year. On January 1, 1989, WSVN replaced WCIX as Miami's Fox affiliate, with WCIX acquiring CBS and NBC moving over to WTVJ.
- Before the Scripps deal, ABC purchased its affiliate WJRT-TVWJRT-TVWJRT-TV, channel 12, is the ABC-affiliated station for the Flint/Tri-Cities television market, owned by SJL Broadcasting. Its studios are located in Flint, Michigan, with offices and a second newsroom for the Tri-Cities located in Saginaw...
in Flint, Michigan and NBC affiliate WTVGWTVGThis is about the TV station in Toledo, Ohio for the former WTVG-TV in Newark, New Jersey see WFUT-DT.WTVG, channel 13, is the ABC-affiliated television station for Northwest Ohio and licensed in Toledo, Ohio. WTVG's studios and offices are located in Toledo and its transmitter is located in...
in Toledo, OhioToledo, OhioToledo is the fourth most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Lucas County. Toledo is in northwest Ohio, on the western end of Lake Erie, and borders the State of Michigan...
as a contingency plan in the event that its Detroit affiliate WXYZ-TV flipped to CBS. While WXYZ eventually remained with ABC, the deal eventually went through. However, for two months, ABC had to run WTVG (which as WSPD-TV was an ABC primary affiliate from 1958 to 1970) as an NBC affiliate while the latter network searched for a new affiliate (which turned out to be Toledo's former ABC affiliate, WNWO-TVWNWO-TVWNWO-TV is the NBC-affiliated television station in Northwest Ohio that is licensed to Toledo. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 49 from a transmitter northeast of Oregon. Owned by Barrington Broadcasting, the station has studios on South Byrne Road...
). ABC's purchase of WJRT-TV was a factor in dislocated NBC affiliating with former CBS affiliate WEYI-TV. Coincidentally, WNWO and WEYI are now both owned by the same company, Barrington BroadcastingBarrington BroadcastingBarrington Broadcasting Company, LLC , headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois is an entity wholly focused on broadcast television. The company's assets mainly consist of television stations in middle and small sized markets...
.
- In Honolulu, NBC, who lost KHON in the SF/Fox deal, was hoping to offer the affiliation to ABC affiliate KITVKITVKITV is the American Broadcasting Company television station affiliate licensed to Honolulu, Hawaii. Based in Honolulu and broadcasting on digital channel 40, displayed as channel 4 the station is owned by Hearst Television and operates several satellites and translators on all the major Hawaiian...
at first, but after KITV was sold to Argyle and opted to stay with ABC instead, NBC went with former Fox affiliate KHNLKHNLKHNL is the NBC-affiliated television station for the state of Hawaii that is licensed to Honolulu. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 35 from a transmitter in Palehua...
.
- Several first-run syndicated programs, such as The Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey ShowThe Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy!Jeopardy!Griffin's first conception of the game used a board comprising ten categories with ten clues each, but after finding that this board could not be shown on camera easily, he reduced it to two rounds of thirty clues each, with five clues in each of six categories...
and Entertainment TonightEntertainment TonightEntertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...
were dropped by some of the New World stations, who had aired them in favor of lower-budget syndicated programs or newer shows such as Access HollywoodAccess HollywoodAccess Hollywood is a weekday television entertainment news program covering events and celebrities in the entertainment industry. It was created by former Entertainment Tonight executive producer Jim Van Messel, and is currently directed by Robert Silverstein. In previous years, Doug Dougherty and...
and Judge JudyJudge JudyJudge Judy is an American court show featuring former family court judge Judith Sheindlin arbitrating over small claims cases in small claims court...
. In several of the markets affected, at least one of these shows now airs on their former network's new affiliate. For example, two Fox affiliates involved in the Burnham/Savoy deal, WVUE in New Orleans and Green Bay's WLUK, now air both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! KHON continued to carry Oprah up until her show ended in May 2011 and continues to carry Wheel.
- Before the New World deal was announced, WATL was in the planning stages of launching a news department and had even hired a news director. After the New World deal was announced, WATL shelved these plans. The station would not air news until 2006, when Gannett purchased WATL and launched a 10 p.m. newscast produced by sister station WXIA-TVWXIA-TVWXIA-TV, virtual channel 11.1 , is the NBC-affiliated television station in Atlanta, Georgia. Popularly known by its 11 Alive moniker, WXIA is owned by the Gannett Company in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate WATL...
.
- Some areas with a strong NFL team fanbase outside the core markets were unprepared for the switch, and did not have a Fox affiliate at all, putting the network in the awkward position of airing NFL games on the affiliate station of another network which had no interest in airing Fox's general schedule, until a Fox station could be launched or courted. This occurred in Wausau, WisconsinWausau, WisconsinWausau is a city in and the county seat of Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. The Wisconsin River divides the city. The city is adjacent to the town of Wausau.According to the 2000 census, Wausau had a population of 38,426 people...
, where ABC affiliate WAOW-TVWAOW-TVWAOW is the ABC-affiliated television station for North Central Wisconsin's Northern Highland area licensed to Wausau. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on VHF channel 9 from a transmitter on Rib Mountain. The station can also be seen on Charter channel 6 and in high definition on...
aired the NFL on Fox package for five years (in addition to already airing Monday Night FootballMonday Night FootballMonday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
games as an ABC affiliate) to assuage the Packer-dominated market, until WittenbergWittenberg, WisconsinWittenberg is a village in Shawano County, Wisconsin, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 1,177 at the 2000 census. The village is located within the Town of Wittenberg.-Geography:Wittenberg is located at ....
-licensed WFXS launched to allow the network an affiliate in the area (the net effect being that WAOW carried up to 13 Packers games a year from 1994-98 from both Fox and ABC). Subsequently, WAOW has since provided a 9 pm newscast to WFXS and provided assistance to the station by broadcasting it as a digital subchannelDigital subchannelIn broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
during an arduous and complicated digital television transition in February 2009, exacerbated by bad weather in the Wausau area. KOCR in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a Fox affiliate with its own problems (it would go out of business in 1994 due to non-payment of power bills and eviction from its facilities), gave the rights to the NFL on Fox package to CBS affiliate KGAN-TV.
- Following CBS's decision in Detroit to purchase WWJ-TV, its previous owners sued to gain control of the station. However, these owners could not stop CBS from moving its affiliation over to WWJ-TV. A court later ruled the following year in CBS's favor.
- In Milwaukee, CBS was threatening to have to import the signals of CBS-owned stations WBBM-TVWBBM-TVWBBM-TV, virtual channel 2 , is the CBS owned-and-operated television station in Chicago, Illinois. WBBM-TV's main studios and offices are located in The Loop section of Chicago, as part of the development at Block 37, and its transmitter is atop the Willis Tower.-History:WBBM-TV traces its history...
in ChicagoChicagoChicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
or WFRV-TVWFRV-TVWFRV-TV is a CBS-affiliated television station licensed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and serving Green Bay, the Fox Valley, and Northeastern Wisconsin. The station broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 39 from a transmitter north of the Brown County town of Morrison...
in Green BayGreen Bay, WisconsinGreen Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...
, or its affiliate station WISC-TVWISC-TVWISC-TV is the CBS affiliate television station for Madison, Wisconsin. The station is the flagship of Madison-based Morgan Murphy Media, and has been affiliated with CBS since its launch on June 24, 1956...
in Madison, WisconsinMadison, WisconsinMadison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
, via cable as a result of its difficulty finding a new affiliate to replace WITI. As WDJT's unexpected switchover to CBS came only days after it was announced as the market's new affiliate, a primitive logo featuring the CBS eye to the left of its "58" logo (scripted in italic Times New Roman) served as the station's logo for several months. Generic CBS promos were also used at this time while WDJT looked to start a news department and find larger studio facilities (until then the station was based facilities in a downtown hotel which had been regarded as antiquated, being the home of other television and radio stations in the past before modern facilities cold be built for them).
- As with WDJT, Weigel also found itself with another network switch in the South Bend, IndianaSouth Bend, IndianaThe city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
market in 1995, when full-power ABCAmerican Broadcasting CompanyThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate WSJVWSJVWSJV is the Fox-affiliated television station for the Michiana area of Northern Indiana and Southwestern Michigan that is licensed to Elkhart. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 28 from a transmitter in Mishawaka, Indiana. Owned by Quincy Newspapers, the station has...
, owned by Quincy NewspapersQuincy NewspapersQuincy Newspapers, Inc. is a family-owned media company that originated in the newspapers of Quincy, Illinois. The company's history can be traced back to 1835, when the Bounty Land Register was one of only four newspapers in all of Illinois. Over the next century, a number of mergers followed...
, switched to Fox. Weigel's W58BT, a low-power translator station of Chicago's WCIU which also carried Fox programming, ended up becoming an ABC affiliate almost by default due to the lack of another full-power station allocation in the market (the only other choiceWHME-TVWHME-TV is a full-service Christian and general entertainment television station serving the South Bend market. The station is owned by LeSEA Broadcasting, also known as World Harvest Broadcasting, an organization founded by Assembly of God minister Lester Sumrall , whose sons are still active with...
being owned by a religious organization with no intent to sell), causing the same cable entanglements and reception problems as had happened in Milwaukee, though the market had fringe access to several other ABC stations, including Chicago's WLS-TVWLS-TVWLS-TV, virtual channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. The station operates their full power digital operations on UHF channel 44, with their digital fill-in translator on VHF channel...
and Battle Creek's WOTVWOTVWOTV is the ABC-affiliated television station for Southwestern Michigan that is licensed to Battle Creek. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 20 from a transmitter in Orangeville Township. The station can also be seen on Charter and Comcast channel 4. There is a high...
. W58BT eventually became a licensed low-power operation with the calls WBND-LPWBND-LPWBND-LP, channel 57, is the ABC-affiliated television station serving the South Bend, Indiana designated market area. The station is owned by Chicago-based Weigel Broadcasting. The station broadcasts a low-power digital signal on UHF channel 49, using its analog channel assignment of channel 57 as...
, but did not start a limited news operation using reporting from South Bend and WDJT staff anchoring and weathercasting for the station until 2008, and a full locally-based news organization in 2011. Because of the weakness of the station in the market, WBND, along with their sister MyNetworkTVMyNetworkTVMyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
and CWThe CW Television NetworkThe CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
low power stations, were to be sold to Schurz CommunicationsSchurz CommunicationsSchurz Communications is a South Bend, Indiana-based radio, television, cable tv and newspaper media group.-Cable Television Systems:*Antietam Cable, Hagerstown, Maryland *Advanced Cable Communications, Coral Springs, Florida...
, the founding owners of CBS affiliate WSBT-TVWSBT-TVWSBT-TV, channel 22 is a television station in South Bend, Indiana. WSBT is the flagship television station of Schurz Communications, and is an affiliate of the CBS television network. It's studios are located in Mishawaka. Its transmitter is located in South Bend.-Early broadcasting:WSBT-TV first...
in late 2008. However, FCC inaction and local fears of Schurz holding a virtual monopoly over South Bend media led to the deal being called off in August 2009. (The deal was legal, because all three Weigel stations are low-powered, for which there are no current FCC ownership limits.)
Local newscasts
The primary plus for the new Fox stations collectively was an increase in the amount of news covered on these stations, which Fox had high interest in doing as the network had (and still to this day has) no national newscasts. Over time, the former Big Three stations which had aired newscasts for years expanded them along with many original Fox stations. Morning newscasts on Fox stations gradually expanded to compete with the national morning shows aired by the Big Three.By the time of the Fox buyout of New World, some stations in the New World station group were still under-performing. Observers cited "a reluctance of station managers to embrace the new network and a tendency to cling to conservative news and promotional styles." Indeed, many New World Fox affiliates received major image overhauls between 1996 and 1998, such as WTVT and WAGA dropping their heritage Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News
Eyewitness News is a style of news broadcasting used by local television stations in different markets across the United States. It refers to a particular style of television newscast with an emphasis on visual elements and action video...
branding and KSAZ dropping its "sunset 10" logo after nearly fifteen years.
New World's Fox affiliates saw mixed results with their newscasts:
- After switching to Fox, WTVT in Tampa lost its number one position in the market to NBC affiliate WFLA-TVWFLA-TVWFLA-TV, virtual channel 8, is the NBC-affiliated television station in Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida. The station is the flagship station of its owner and operator, Media General. Its transmitter is located in Riverview, Hillsborough County, Florida. WFLA is the only station in the market to be...
, which was the only major-network station in Tampa not affected by the switch. - In Cleveland, WJW-TV fell from first place in its market. The problems were especially evident following the Oklahoma City bombingOklahoma City bombingThe Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
on April 19, 1995, as Fox had no news division; Fox News ChannelFox News ChannelFox News Channel , often called Fox News, is a cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a subsidiary of News Corporation...
did not exist until the following year. WEWS (which shunned CBS via the ABC-Scripps deal) would overtake the station as the market leader, while also-ran NBC affiliate WKYC-TVWKYC-TVWKYC, virtual channel 3 , is an NBC-affiliated television station located in Cleveland, Ohio, owned by the Gannett Company. Its studio is located on the shores of Lake Erie, while its transmitter is located in Parma, Ohio....
also began to post higher ratings for the first time in decades. That October, WJW controversially dropped their long-running NewsCenter 8 brand in favor of ei8ht IS NEWS, which was short-lived upon Fox's purchase of the station several months later, consigning WJW to the standard Fox 8 brand. WJW has since regained the ratings lead for most of its newscasts. - KTBC in Austin, long the market's dominant news station (and sole VHF station), fell to the bottom of the ratings behind two UHF stations, NBC affiliate KXAN, and ABC affiliate KVUEKVUEKVUE, virtual channel 24 , is the local Austin, Texas-based ABC affiliate, owned by Belo Corporation. Its transmitter is located in West Lake Hills, just west of Downtown...
. - Phoenix's NBC affiliate, KPNXKPNXKPNX is a full-service television station serving the Phoenix, Arizona television market as the NBC affiliate. Its studios and offices are located in Phoenix and its transmitter is on South Mountain in Phoenix but it is licensed to the suburb of Mesa. It is owned by the Gannett Company which also...
, which was the only station unaffected by the affiliation switches in the PhoenixPhoenix, ArizonaPhoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
area, went from being the market's third-place station to its top-rated one. - Some New World stations, however, have maintained their ratings dominance. In Birmingham, WBRC's primetime newscast is considered one of the nation's highest-rated newscasts. Additionally, WDAF in Kansas City has finished number one in several time slots, including at 9:00 pm.
- Another key positive was also in regards to the morning news shows on the new Fox affiliates, most of which perform competitively and even place first in the ratings, unlike the constant flux and upheavals with CBS's morning shows and schedules.
Additionally, some of the new Fox affiliates, perhaps in appealing to Fox's younger-skewing audiences, moved many older news personalities to daytime broadcasts or released them entirely from their news teams. Some of these personalities eventually wound up on other stations, such as the new Big Three affiliates.
Unfortunately, many of the new Big Three affiliates were not as lucky. As these were former Fox affiliates (or independents) that did not have newscasts at the time, almost all of them had to give in to launching them to back up the nationally-aired newscasts provided by the networks. Generally, the stations that continue to air newscasts to this day have finished in fourth place behind their VHF competitors. However, many of these stations, such as Scripps' KNXV; WFTS; and KSHB, have seen gradual growth in their ratings.
Still, other new affiliates that launched newscasts experienced no permanent success. In Detroit, WWJ-TV premiered a newscast in fall 2001 produced by sister station WKBD. Both the WKBD and WWJ newscasts were canceled in late 2002 under an agreement made by WXYZ-TV to produce WKBD's news. Therefore, WWJ became now the largest-market major-network affiliate, and the only O&O of any major network, to have no newscasts. From 2006 to 2008, WWJ-TV made light of this fact by using a slogan, Where No News is Good News, for promoting programming during periods where there would usually be newscasts. In 2009, local news returned to WWJ, with a morning newscast produced by the Detroit Free Press
Detroit Free Press
The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. The Sunday edition is entitled the Sunday Free Press. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep"...
.
Two ABC affiliates, KDNL-TV in St. Louis and WXLV in the Piedmont Triad region, also experienced difficulty. KDNL's news department lasted for six years until its cancellation, which was widely blamed on a transmitter problem, and is now the fifth-rated station in the St. Louis market, behind CW affiliate KPLR-TV
KPLR-TV
KPLR-TV, channel 11, is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri. KPLR is owned by the Tribune Company, and is an affiliate of The CW Television Network. The station's studios are located in Maryland Heights, Missouri, in Northwest St. Louis County KPLR-TV, channel 11, is a television station...
, and only maintains a nominal sports presence and Good Morning America
Good Morning America
Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...
weather cut-ins provided by Columbus, Ohio
Columbus, Ohio
Columbus is the capital of and the largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio. The broader metropolitan area encompasses several counties and is the third largest in Ohio behind those of Cleveland and Cincinnati. Columbus is the third largest city in the American Midwest, and the fifteenth largest city...
sister station WSYX
WSYX
WSYX, channel 6, is an ABC-affiliated television station located in Columbus, Ohio. WSYX is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which also operates Fox affiliate WTTE through a local marketing agreement...
almost 400 miles to the east. KDNL's current position as one of ABC's weakest affiliates, perhaps the weakest among Top 50 markets stands in sharp contrast to KTVI, which was one of ABC's strongest stations. Ironically, the market's NFL team, the Rams, won Super Bowl XXXIV
Super Bowl XXXIV
Super Bowl XXXIV featured the National Football Conference champion St. Louis Rams and the American Football Conference champion Tennessee Titans in an American football game to decide the National Football League champion for the 1999 regular season...
, which aired on ABC. In 2011, local news returned to KDNL through a news share agreement with St. Louis' local NBC affiliate KSDK
KSDK
KSDK, Channel 5, is the NBC-affiliated television station in St. Louis, Missouri. KSDK is owned and operated by Gannett Company, and the station's transmitter is located in Marlborough, Missouri. The station broadcasts a digital signal on UHF channel 35, using its former analog channel assignment...
. WXLV's newscast was canceled under orders of its owner Sinclair
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...
(through its controversial News Central
News Central
News Central was a primetime newscast on Sinclair television stations in the United States, mixing locally produced news with nationally produced news and an opinion segment from Sinclair's Hunt Valley, Maryland studios...
division) due to poor ratings. WXLV also had run newscasts since becoming an ABC affiliate until January 2002. WXLV will air outsourced newscasts produced by Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable
Time Warner Cable is an American cable television company that operates in 28 states and has 31 operating divisions...
beginning in 2012.
In 1994, when Fox started airing NFL games, only a few Fox affiliates had local newscasts. Fox then demanded that its affiliates start local newscasts, probably because Fox now had a news department. Since then most Fox affiliates that didn't have already have local news have premiered local newscasts, usually starting with a 10pm news and adding other time periods over time (most medium and small markets, however have had a local Big Three affiliate produce the newscasts for the Fox affiliate, though a few of those Fox stations with such an agreement have ended those partnerships to start producing their own newscasts). Currently, the largest market whose Fox affiliate has no local news is WUTV
WUTV
WUTV, virtual channel 29, is the Fox-affiliated television station in Buffalo, New York. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 14. The station is owned by the Sinclair Broadcast Group, in a duopoly with the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate WNYO-TV...
in Buffalo, who has shown sitcom reruns instead because Buffalo stations are seen in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
and Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Conceived by George Hamilton when he purchased the Durand farm shortly after the War of 1812, Hamilton has become the centre of a densely populated and industrialized region at the west end of Lake Ontario known as the Golden Horseshoe...
, and most of the Canadian stations in these cities air local news.
Fox Kids repercussions
When Fox made the affiliation agreement with New World, nearly all of the 12 stations that switched to Fox chose not to carry Fox's Monday-Saturday Fox KidsFox Kids
Fox Kids was the Fox Broadcasting Company's American children's programming division and brand name from September 8, 1990 until September 7, 2002. It was owned by Fox Television Entertainment airing programming on Monday–Friday afternoons and Saturday mornings.Depending on the show, the...
children's programming due to interest in airing more local news, which is uncharacteristic of a broadcast network affiliate. Big Three affiliates are required to air their network's children's program block (although the Big Three only aired their shows on Saturdays compared to Fox Kids' six).
Upon its switch to Fox, WGHP in Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, owing to it being acquired by the network outright, initially cleared Fox Kids; however, by the spring of 1996, Fox had decided to allow its owned-and-operated stations to drop Fox Kids if another station in the market was interested (as the New World stations had done), and at that time Fox Kids moved to WB
The WB Television Network
The WB Television Network is a former television network in the United States that was launched on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. and Tribune Broadcasting. On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros...
affiliate WBFX (now WCWG
WCWG
WCWG , is the CW affiliate licensed to Lexington, North Carolina, and serves the Greensboro-Winston-Salem-High Point, North Carolina television market. The station is owned by New World TV Group...
). WBRC in Birmingham, which until then had also planned to air Fox Kids, likewise permitted former Fox affiliate WTTO to continue airing Fox Kids even after it went independent (eventually joining The WB as well). These moves, along with WBRC remaining an ABC affiliate for its first six months under Fox ownership and the eventual acquisition of New World, made it the fourth network which had O&Os that did not air all network programming (after CBS, as WCAU did not air CBS' Sunday morning cartoons during 1978; ABC, as WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV
WPVI-TV, channel 6, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. WPVI has its studios located on the border between Philadelphia and Bala Cynwyd, and its transmitter is located in the...
continued preempting one hour of the network's programs after its owner
Capital Cities Communications
Capital Cities redirects here. For the article about the seat of a government, see Capital .Capital Cities Communications was an American media company best known for its surprise purchase of the much larger American Broadcasting Company in 1985...
bought the network in 1986; and NBC, as it bought WTVJ in 1987, but could not switch it from CBS to NBC until 1989). WTTO dropped Fox Kids in 2000, with the renamed WTWB-TV following suit a year later.
In St. Louis, religious station KNLC
KNLC
KNLC is a religious television station in St. Louis, Missouri. Owned and operated by the New Life Evangelistic Center, the call letters KNLC reflect New Life Evangelistic Center...
, owned by the New Life Christian Church and new outlet for Fox Kids after the switches, chose to air ministry messages in place of commercials; the church's reverend, Larry Rice, refused to show commercials during Fox Kids programming. Uncomfortable with messages on controversial topics such as abortion being shown during Fox Kids programming, Fox ended up moving Fox Kids to KTVI, which remained the only ex-New World station airing 4Kids TV; however, the station aired it two hours earlier than other stations that carry 4Kids TV, due to a morning newscast airing at 9 am. Although six stations (KSAZ, WGHP, WJW, KTBC and WAGA) had rejected Fox Kids programming (in its Fox Kids, FoxBox and 4Kids TV
4Kids TV
4Kids TV was a Saturday morning television programming block on the Fox Broadcasting Company. The block was part of the Fox Network schedule...
iterations), none of them filled the timeslots with local news on Saturday morning
Saturday Morning
-Album credits:*All tracks produced by Ralph Sall for Bulletproof Recording Company Inc.*Executive Producer/Concept: Ralph Sall for Bulletproof Recording Company Inc.*Engineered by Peter McCabe and Larry Fergusson....
, instead filling the time with paid programming, local home selling presentation shows; and E/I programming acquired via syndication.
Many stations that rejected Fox Kids passed it to another station in the market, typically an independent station or a smaller network affiliate, this especially true following Fox's purchase of Chris-Craft/United Television
Chris-Craft Industries
Chris-Craft Industries, Inc., formerly National Automotive Fibers, Inc., was a publicly-held American corporation traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges. It later took on the name of one of its acquisitions, Chris-Craft Boats...
in 2001. However in four ex-New World markets (Atlanta, Austin, Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, Birmingham), 4Kids TV did not air on another station in any of those markets due to stations dropping the lineup. In Milwaukee, 4Kids TV had aired on independent station WMLW-CA
WMLW-CA
WMLW-CA, channel 41 , is a LPTV independent television station located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Its transmitter is located in Milwaukee's Lincoln Park...
, a Class A television station, since September 2004. Though the station has extended cable coverage throughout the market, it is much less than former Fox Kids station WCGV. In the Phoenix market, KTVK
KTVK
KTVK is a full-service, independent television station in Phoenix, Arizona. It broadcasts in digital on UHF channel 24 from a transmitter located on South Mountain in Phoenix, and can be seen across northern Arizona on a network of nearly two dozen translator stations...
acquired Fox Kids. However, when KTVK's program inventory grew unmanageable for the station (they could not air Saturday morning news) and upstart KASW
KASW
KASW is a full-service television station licensed to Phoenix, Arizona. It broadcasts in digital on UHF channel 49 from a transmitter located on South Mountain in Phoenix, on cable channel 6 on major Phoenix cable systems , and several translators in northern and eastern Arizona...
's television time was bought out in a local marketing agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
, Fox Kids and the WB (and later The CW) moved there. Because CW4Kids came as part of the CW affiliation (which it obtained in May 2006), 4Kids TV was shifted to Sunday mornings and had been until its demise.
At least three other stations (two of which are owned by Fox) have pulled such a maneuver. WFLD in Chicago, one of the original Fox O&Os dropped 4Kids TV and moved it to sister station WPWR in 2003. Minneapolis' KMSP also dropped 4Kids TV in 2006, moving it to sister station WFTC
WFTC
WFTC, channel 29, is a MyNetworkTV owned and operated television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and serving the Minneapolis–Saint Paul metropolitan area...
in the process. KABB
KABB
KABB is the Fox Network affiliate television station in San Antonio, Texas. It is co-owned with The CW Television Network affiliate KMYS by the Sinclair Broadcast Group...
in San Antonio (owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group
Sinclair Broadcast Group
The Sinclair Broadcast Group is an American telecommunications company that operates the largest number of local television stations in the United States. Headquartered in Hunt Valley, Maryland, it owns a total of 57 stations across the country in 35 primarily small and medium markets, many of...
) moved 4Kids TV to then-MyNetworkTV, (now CW) affiliate KMYS
KMYS
KMYS, channel 35, is the CW affiliate in San Antonio, Texas. The station is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. It is licensed to the nearby city of Kerrville. Its transmitter is located near Lakehills, Texas.-Founding:...
(also owned by Sinclair) the same year. In the cases of the latter two, it was due to an expansion of their morning newscasts to Saturday mornings.
Because these Fox stations denied clearance of 4Kids TV, 4Kids TV was merely a syndication package, despite Fox continuing to advertise in promos airing during select Fox primetime shows that 4Kids TV programming was part of the network. If Fox limited 4Kids TV to air on Fox stations only, affiliates could have been given the choice to broadcast the lineup around local news, as the case is with ABC and CBS.
All Fox-owned stations that did not air 4Kids TV aired syndicated educational programs that meet E/I
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
guidelines (unlike those seen on 4Kids TV) in its place, either following a newscast or in place of it, such as Safari Tracks and Beakman's World
Beakman's World
Beakman's World is an educational children's television show produced by ELP Communications, Columbia Pictures Television, Universal Belo Productions, and Columbia TriStar Television Distribution....
, so as to not violate FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
regulations requiring commercial broadcasters to air a certain amount (three hours) of children's programming (deemed educational and informative) each week. (Fox MLB coverage includes one half hour of E/I programming seen across the network: This Week in Baseball
This Week in Baseball
This Week in Baseball is a weekly television program, originally designed to show highlights of the previous week's Major League Baseball action. TWIB debuted in .-Genesis of the series:...
.)
The 4Kids TV programming block ended its run on December 27, 2008. Fox gave two of the block's four hours back to the stations, and began to program a two hour block of paid programming under the branding Weekend Marketplace
Weekend Marketplace
Weekend Marketplace is a two hour Saturday morning block of paid programming airing on Fox that began airing on January 3, 2009, replacing the 4Kids TV Saturday morning cartoon block that aired using time leased by 4Kids from Fox from 2002 until the last Saturday of 2008...
. Many of the stations which took 4KidsTV in lieu of the local Fox stations chose not to take Weekend Marketplace (such as WBFS and WMLW-CA), along with those Fox stations, and the block sees low clearance outside of O&O's and Fox stations which took 4KidsTV.
Canadian repercussions
Until the affiliation switches, Canadian television providers could pick up (per a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission rule, commonly referred to by the Commission now as the "4+1 rule") three American commercial networks and those three only if they also committed to carry Public Broadcasting ServicePublic Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
(PBS) Public television, with exceptions made to allow additional stations for areas that could pick them up over the air (thus, some British Columbia towns were cleared for Fox from KAYU-TV
KAYU-TV
KAYU-TV, channel 28, is the Fox-affiliated television station for Spokane, Washington, owned and operated by Mountain Broadcasting, LLC, a division of Northwest Broadcasting Company.-History:...
Spokane, Washington, and the Windsor
Windsor, Ontario
Windsor is the southernmost city in Canada and is located in Southwestern Ontario at the western end of the heavily populated Quebec City – Windsor Corridor. It is within Essex County, Ontario, although administratively separated from the county government. Separated by the Detroit River, Windsor...
-Essex County
Essex County, Ontario
Essex County is a county and census division located in Southwestern Ontario and covers an area at the southernmost tip of Canada. The administrative seat is Essex...
region received nearly the full lineup of Detroit stations on cable and over-the-air, while towns in Alberta were denied such an importation of signals). This obscure rule dated to the late 1970s. In June 1994, the CRTC was not willing to modify this rule, but by September, due to pressure from cable operators, it cleared Canadian cable companies to pick up Fox without having to bump a Big Three network for it
Additional changes were in store for Canadian cable companies that carried the affiliates from Detroit; while they were still able to keep WJBK, the CBS switching to Fox there, thanks to the new rules, they also had to add CBS, often from WWJ-TV
WWJ-TV
WWJ-TV, virtual channel 62 , is the CBS-owned and operated television station in Detroit, Michigan. It is co-owned with Detroit's CW station, WKBD-TV , and the two stations share a studio in Southfield, Michigan, a Detroit suburb....
, the new affiliate in the market.
Post-switchover changes
Fox continued to upgrade its stations in at least two unrelated deals struck later:- In 1995, News Corporation/Fox purchased ABC affiliate WHBQ-TVWHBQ-TVWHBQ-TV, channel 13, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Memphis, Tennessee. Its studios and transmitter are located in Memphis.-Under RKO General:...
in Memphis, TennesseeMemphis, TennesseeMemphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
from Communications Corporation of America. WHBQ-TV was part of the RKO GeneralRKO GeneralRKO General was the main holding company through 1991 for the noncore businesses of the General Tire and Rubber Company and, after General Tire's reorganization in the 1980s, GenCorp. The business was based around the consolidation of its parent company's broadcasting interests, dating to 1943, and...
broadcasting empire, which had collapsed in the late 1980s due to corruption and perjury. - In 2002, KMSP-TVKMSP-TVKMSP-TV, channel 9, is the Fox-owned-and-operated television station serving the Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota designated market area, owned in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate WFTC...
in MinneapolisMinneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis , nicknamed "City of Lakes" and the "Mill City," is the county seat of Hennepin County, the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and the 48th largest in the United States...
, the home market of the Minnesota VikingsMinnesota VikingsThe Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...
, returned to the Fox network after seven years as a UPN station. Fox had purchased KMSP as part of a group acquisition of Chris-Craft IndustriesChris-Craft IndustriesChris-Craft Industries, Inc., formerly National Automotive Fibers, Inc., was a publicly-held American corporation traded on the New York and Pacific Stock Exchanges. It later took on the name of one of its acquisitions, Chris-Craft Boats...
' television station group a year earlier.
At least one other station owner has pulled off a similar maneuver. In 2002, Meredith Corporation
Meredith Corporation
The Meredith Corporation is a media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, USA. The company has two divisions, National Media and Local Media.-History:...
moved the Fox affiliation in the Portland, Oregon
Portland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
-Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver, Washington
Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington. Incorporated in 1857, it is the fourth largest city in the state with a 2010 census population of 161,791 as of April 1, 2010...
market from KPDX
KPDX
KPDX is the MyNetworkTV-affiliate serving the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 30. In addition, it is seen on channel 13 on most local cable TV systems....
, on UHF channel 49, to KPTV
KPTV
KPTV is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Portland, Oregon market, which includes most of the state of Oregon and portions of Southwest Washington. KPTV is owned by the Meredith Corporation in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate KPDX , with its studios located in Beaverton and...
, on VHF channel 12 (coincidentally, KPTV was a charter Fox affiliate from 1986–88). KPTV was bought by News Corporation with the Chris-Craft stations, but was later traded to Meredith in exchange for Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
Fox affiliate WOFL
WOFL
WOFL, channel 35, is the Fox owned-and-operated television station serving the Orlando, Florida metropolitan area. It is licensed to Orlando, with studios located in Lake Mary. It broadcasts its digital signal on UHF channel 22. On cable, WOFL-TV is currently seen on channel 3 for subscribers of...
. In an ironic twist, most of the remaining UPN-affiliated, former Chris-Craft stations retained by Fox (WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV
WWOR-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the flagship station of the MyNetworkTV programming service, licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey and serving the Tri-State metropolitan area. WWOR is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox network flagship...
in New York City, KCOP in Los Angeles, and KUTP
KUTP
KUTP, channel 45, is a MyNetworkTV-affiliated station in Phoenix, Arizona. It is owned by Fox Television Stations, a division of the News Corporation, and is a sister station to Fox outlet KSAZ-TV . The two stations share studio facilities in Phoenix, and KUTP's transmitter is located on South...
in Phoenix among them) would join MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
in 2006, as part of the 2006 United States broadcast TV realignment
2006 United States broadcast TV realignment
Between winter-fall 2006, the United States broadcast television industry was realigned. In September 2006, the country's two "second-tier" television networks, UPN and The WB Television Network, both shut down on September 15 and 17 respectively, and their operations were transferred to a new...
. This makes for an indirect connection between the last two major changes in broadcast affiliate lineups in the U.S.
Another took place on August 1, 2008: XETV, whose presence in the San Diego market discouraged Fox from switching the affiliation to KNSD, switched with KSWB-TV
KSWB-TV
KSWB-TV, virtual channel 69, is a Fox-affiliated television station in San Diego, California. It broadcasts a 720p high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter southeast of Spring Valley...
and became a CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
affiliate. KSWB was one of 16 charter CW affiliates owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
. Although it might been seen a downgrade on the surface, as KSWB's UHF analog position was Channel 69, while XETV was on analog Channel 6, the market has heavy cable penetration and has the majority of their stations on UHF, which then brand according to their dominant cable channel slot rather than their broadcast channel designation; as such, the station brands itself as Fox 5 and only uses their over-the-air channel position in legally-required promos, their PSIP virtual channel
Virtual channel
In telecommunications, a logical channel number , also known as virtual channel, is a channel designation which differs from that of the actual radio channel on which the signal travels....
and a short sweep in their newscast logo of a "Fox 69" logo. In regards to the NFL, it is also not a major problem, as the Chargers play in the AFC and thus most of their games are on KFMB-TV
KFMB-TV
KFMB-TV is the local CBS television affiliate in San Diego, California. Its studios are located on Engineer Road in the Kearny Mesa area of San Diego along with its sister radio stations, AM 760 and FM 100.7...
(ironically, they were on KNSD from 1977-97).
On the other hand, CBS saw an affiliate downgrade from VHF to UHF in an unrelated transaction, which occurred in the Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
-Brunswick, Georgia
Brunswick, Georgia
Brunswick is the major urban and economic center in southeastern Georgia in the United States. The municipality is located on a harbor near the Atlantic Ocean, approximately 30 miles north of Florida and 70 miles south of South Carolina. Brunswick is bordered on the east by the Atlantic...
market, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars
Jacksonville Jaguars
The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. They are currently members of the South Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
. (Being in the AFC, most Jaguars game are on CBS.) In the summer of 2002
2002 in television
The year 2002 in television involved some significant events.Below is a list of television-related events in 2002.For the American TV schedule, see: 2002–03 United States network television schedule.-Events:-Debuts:-1940s:...
, Post-Newsweek Stations
Post-Newsweek Stations
Post-Newsweek Stations is the official name of the broadcasting division of the Washington Post Company and is a self-contained corporation within that company...
, which owns WJXT
WJXT
WJXT, channel 4 , is an independent television station serving Jacksonville, Florida, and surrounding communities. Its transmitter is in the Kilarney Shores section of Jacksonville, with the WTLV transmitter. The station originally broadcast an analog signal on VHF channel 4 and a digital signal...
, terminated that station's longtime affiliation with CBS in a dispute over compensation. The new affiliate became WTEV-TV
WTEV-TV
WTEV-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for Florida's First Coast licensed to Jacksonville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 19 from a transmitter on Hogan Road in the city's Southside section. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 6 and in high...
, which had been the local outlet of UPN
UPN
United Paramount Network was a television network that was broadcast in over 200 markets in the United States from 1995 to 2006. UPN was originally owned by Viacom/Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries, the former of which, through the Paramount Television Group, produced most of the network's...
(which was then co-owned with CBS). WJXT broadcasts on channel 4; WTEV on channel 47. The new UPN affiliate became Fox affiliate WAWS
WAWS
WAWS is the Fox-affiliated television station for Florida's First Coast licensed to Jacksonville. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 32 from a transmitter on Hogan Road in the city's Southside section. The station can also be seen on Comcast channel 10 and in high...
, on a secondary basis. Both WAWS and WTEV were sold by Clear Channel to Newport Television
Newport Television
Newport Television, LLC is a television station holding company founded by Providence Equity Partners and Sandy DiPasquale in 2007 to acquire the television stations owned by Clear Channel Communications. In September 2007, Newport agreed to sell KFTY and KVOS-TV to LK Station Group LLC for $26.6...
, but because of FCC regulations forbidding the ownership of two of the four top-rated stations in a market (Clear Channel had purchased WTEV when it was a low-rated UPN station), Newport sold WTEV to High Plains Television, though Newport continues to operate the station through a joint sales agreement
Local marketing agreement
In U.S. and Canadian broadcasting, a local marketing agreement is an agreement in which one company agrees to operate a radio or television station owned by another licensee...
and shared services
Shared services
Shared services refers to the provision of a service by one part of an organization or group where that service had previously been found in more than one part of the organization or group. Thus the funding and resourcing of the service is shared and the providing department effectively becomes an...
agreement. Due to the network switch in Jacksonville, nearby Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
's WB affiliate WGFL
WGFL
WGFL is the CBS-affiliated television station for North Central Florida licensed to High Springs. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 28 from a transmitter in Newberry. The station can also be seen on Cox and CommuniComm Services channel 4. There is a high definition feed...
(channel 53), also switched to CBS in order to keep the network available in that area, sending the WB affiliation to a digital subchannel of WGFL (now the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate, as well as low-power WMYG-LP
WMYG-LP
WMYG-LP is the MyNetworkTV-affiliated television station for North Central Florida licensed to Lake City. It broadcasts a low-powered analog signal on VHF channel 11 from a transmitter in the city's Lacymark section. The station can also be seen on CommuniComm Services and Cox channel 11...
).
Only one other AFC team plays home games in a market with a UHF CBS affiliate: the Cleveland
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
market, home of the Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, has WOIO (channel 19) as its CBS affiliate (though in technicality in the digital age WOIO transmits over Channel 10 but retains their virtual channel 19). WOIO was Cleveland's charter Fox affiliate before the market was involved in the New World deal - and has even held the teams' preseason game rights twice; from 1988 to 1995 as a Fox affiliate, and again in 2005 as a CBS affiliate. However, WOIO only carries the CBS games and news coverage of the Browns, due to conflicts between the Browns and WOIO's news department over coverage about personal issues involving team players and ownership, and WKYC, the market's NBC affiliate, carries the bulk of the team's preseason games and other Browns programming.
Growth of Fox Sports
The affiliation switches helped elevate Fox to major network status on par with its older competitors. As of 2007, its sports division has expanded to include Major League Baseball and NASCARNASCAR on Fox
NASCAR on Fox is the Emmy-winning branding used for Fox Sports's broadcasts of NASCAR races airing on the Fox network since 2001. The production has been in high-definition since 2005.-Background:...
. In addition, the National Hockey League aired on Fox from 1995 to 1999 and the Bowl Championship Series
Bowl Championship Series
The Bowl Championship Series is a selection system that creates five bowl match-ups involving ten of the top ranked teams in the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision , including an opportunity for the top two to compete in the BCS National Championship Game.The BCS relies on a combination of...
(except for the Rose Bowl Game
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...
) was on the network from 2007 to 2010
2009–10 NCAA football bowl games
The 2009–10 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision College Football Post-Season followed the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. It comprises 34 team-competitive bowl games, and three all-star games. The games began play on December 19, 2009 and included the 2010 BCS National Championship...
.
It also airs coverage of the Cotton Bowl Classic and is the exclusive television home of the Daytona 500
Daytona 500
The Daytona 500 is a -long NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race held annually at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is one of four restrictor plate races on the Cup schedule....
. Fox Sports' coverage now also includes four Formula One
Formula One
Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...
races, the final game of the UEFA Champions League
UEFA Champions League
The UEFA Champions League, known simply the Champions League and originally known as the European Champion Clubs' Cup or European Cup, is an annual international club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations since 1955 for the top football clubs in Europe. It...
, and the World Superbike event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and the Brickyard 400....
. As of fall 2011, the Big Ten
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference is the United States' oldest Division I college athletic conference. Its twelve member institutions are located primarily in the Midwestern United States, stretching from Nebraska in the west to Pennsylvania in the east...
and Pac-12 championship games in college football will be added. Fox Sports' coverage also has expanded beyond terrestrial television with several cable networks, led by Fox Sports Net
Fox Sports Net
The Fox Sports Regional Networks, or simply Fox Sports Net , are a collection of cable TV regional sports networks in the United States owned and operated by News Corporation.- Beginnings :...
, which offers 24-hour sports coverage and many home team broadcasts.
Rise of Fox in primetime
Fox's entertainment programs have also benefited from the heavy promotion they received during the sportscasts. Some of the beneficiaries include shows already on Fox at the time, such as The SimpsonsThe Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, as well as newer programs like American Idol
American Idol
American Idol, titled American Idol: The Search for a Superstar for the first season, is a reality television singing competition created by Simon Fuller and produced by FremantleMedia North America and 19 Entertainment...
and 24
24 (TV series)
24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
. In fact, Idol has been the number one rated primetime program on all networks the last eight seasons, from 2003-04 to 2010-11
2011 in American television
The following is a list of events affecting American television in 2011. Events listed include television show debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel launches, closures and rebrandings, as well as information about controversies and carriage disputes....
. This is the longest such streak in U.S. television history.
The resilience of CBS
While CBS did eventually recover, its recovery is partially linked to, ironically, reacquiring NFL rights in 1998 when it took over rights to the AFC from NBC. The last year NBC had rights to the AFC1997 NFL season
The 1997 NFL season was the 78th regular season of the National Football League. The Oilers relocated from Houston, Texas to Nashville, Tennessee...
saw the Denver Broncos
1997 Denver Broncos season
The Denver Broncos finished the 1997 NFL season by winning Super Bowl XXXII. They went 12–4 during the regular season. The Broncos were the third team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl but not win the Division Title.- Season summary :...
, an original AFL team, defeat the Green Bay Packers
1997 Green Bay Packers season
The 1997 Green Bay Packers season concluded with the team winning its second consecutive NFC championship, but losing in a 31-24 upset to John Elway's Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXII...
in Super Bowl XXXII
Super Bowl XXXII
Super Bowl XXXII was an American football game played on January 25, 1998 at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California to decide the National Football League champion following the 1997 regular season...
, which aired on NBC and ended a 13-year drought against the NFC in the Super Bowl.
Around the time CBS took over the rights to the AFC saw the trend of the 1980s and 1990s reverse, in that the AFC became the dominant conference over the NFC (1998 also saw the Broncos win the Super Bowl). The New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
dynasty in the 2000s in the only AFC-only top-ten market also contributed to the ratings surge. In fact, the primary stations for both the Broncos and Patriots are the same as when NBC carried the AFC (until 1995) - KCNC-TV
KCNC-TV
KCNC-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated station television station in Denver, Colorado, owned by CBS Television Stations, Inc. KCNC broadcasts on UHF channel 35 from Lookout Mountain near Golden, Colorado.- Digital programming :...
in Denver, and WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV
WBZ-TV, virtual channel 4, is a CBS owned-and-operated television station, located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WBZ-TV's studios and office facilities, shared with sister station WSBK-TV , are located in the Allston-Brighton section of Boston, and its transmitter is located in Needham,...
in Boston (KUSA and WHDH-TV
WHDH-TV
WHDH, digital channel 42 , is an NBC-affiliated television station in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest NBC station not owned by the network. Owned by Sunbeam Television, WHDH is a sister station to CW affiliate WLVI...
carried those teams' games from 1995-97).
In addition, the current AFC deal also saw CBS indirectly acquire rights to air games played by the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
, which air locally on KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV
KDKA-TV, channel 2, is an owned and operated television station of the CBS Television Network, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. KDKA-TV broadcasts from a transmitter located in the Perry North neighborhood of Pittsburgh, and its studios are located in downtown Pittsburgh at Gateway Center....
(which was a CBS O&O by the time NFL rights were reacquired and has long been one of CBS's strongest stations) and often get the highest ratings for an NFL team on television due to the team's rabid fanbase on a national level (coincidentally, before the AFL-NFL merger, Steelers road games had aired on KDKA as part of the network's deal to air NFL games [home games could not be televised at all during this period, even if they did sell out]).
Current statuses
To this day, six of the Fox stations owned by New World which changed affiliations (KDFWKDFW
KDFW, virtual channel 4 , is the Fox owned-and-operated television station in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex designated market area....
, WAGA
WAGA (TV)
WAGA-TV, virtual channel 5.1 is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Television Network and based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
, WJBK, KSAZ-TV
KSAZ-TV
KSAZ-TV, virtual channel 10.1, is the Fox owned-and-operated station in Phoenix, Arizona. It is owned by Fox Television Stations in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV station KUTP ....
, WTVT
WTVT
WTVT, channel 13, is a television station in Tampa, Florida. It is an owned and operated station of the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the News Corporation...
and KTBC
KTBC
KTBC, channel 7, is the Fox owned-and-operated television station in Austin, Texas. Studios are located in downtown Austin at the corner of 10th and Brazos Streets , and its transmitter is located in the city....
) are still owned and operated by News Corporation
News Corporation
News Corporation or News Corp. is an American multinational media conglomerate. It is the world's second-largest media conglomerate as of 2011 in terms of revenue, and the world's third largest in entertainment as of 2009, although the BBC remains the world's largest broadcaster...
. Fox Television Stations Group
Fox Television Stations Group
Fox Television Stations, Inc. is a group of television stations located within the United States which are owned-and-operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, a subsidiary of the Fox Entertainment Group, part of News Corporation...
, the division of NewsCorp that controls the stations, announced its intent on June 13, 2007 to sell nine of their stations, six of which are former New World stations (WJW-TV, KTVI
KTVI
KTVI, virtual channel 2, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the St. Louis, Missouri, designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, under a local marketing agreement with Tribune-owned CW affiliate KPLR...
, WDAF-TV
WDAF-TV
WDAF-TV, virtual channel 4.1, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Kansas City, Missouri-Kansas designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners. Its studios and transmitter are located in the Signal Hill...
, WITI-TV, WBRC-TV and WGHP
WGHP
WGHP, channel 8, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Greensboro/High Point/Winston-Salem, North Carolina designated market area...
; the other stations Fox has announced its intention to sell are KDVR
KDVR
KDVR, , is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Denver, Colorado designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, under a local marketing agreement with Tribune-owned CW affiliate KWGN . Its transmitter is...
in Denver
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
, KSTU
KSTU
KSTU, channel 13, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Salt Lake City designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, and its transmitter located on Farnsworth Peak, southwest of Salt Lake City...
in Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
, and WHBQ-TV
WHBQ-TV
WHBQ-TV, channel 13, is an owned-and-operated television station of the News Corporation-owned Fox Broadcasting Company, located in Memphis, Tennessee. Its studios and transmitter are located in Memphis.-Under RKO General:...
in Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
). Of these nine, only KTVI is located in an NFC market (by way of the St. Louis Rams
St. Louis Rams
The St. Louis Rams are a professional American football team based in St. Louis, Missouri. They are currently members of the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Rams have won three NFL Championships .The Rams began playing in 1936 in Cleveland,...
), while WITI is part of the Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers are an American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Packers are the current NFL champions...
' unique two market area encompassing Green Bay and Milwaukee. WDAF-TV, however, is in an interesting situation as regular season games of the Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
franchise—which is in the AFC conference, only air when the Chiefs host an NFC opponent; otherwise, the Chiefs' regular season games are broadcast on CBS affiliate KCTV
KCTV
KCTV channel 5 is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Kansas City Metropolitan Area that is licensed to the Missouri side. Owned by the Meredith Corporation, the station is sister to MyNetworkTV affiliate KSMO-TV and the two share facilities on Shawnee Mission Parkway KCTV channel 5 is...
(channel 5). Subsequently, on December 21 of that same year, Fox agreed to sell eight of the stations—all except WHBQ—to Local TV
Local TV
Local TV LLC is a limited liability corporation, owned by Oak Hill Capital Partners , which operates 18 local network-affiliated television stations in the United States.-History:...
, a subsidiary of Oak Hill Capital Partners. This group deal closed on July 14, 2008.
Under the control of Local TV, the eight stations will remain Fox affiliates for the foreseeable future (WHBQ remained on the market until January 16, 2009 because Local TV could not buy it, for the same reason Newport sold WTEV. Local TV is the licensee for Memphis' CBS affiliate, WREG
WREG-TV
WREG-TV is Memphis, Tennessee's CBS television affiliate, operating on digital channel 28, and uses PSIP 3 as its virtual channel. The station is owned by Local TV, which took over all of the television stations formerly owned by The New York Times Company on May 7, 2007. Its transmitter is...
). Local TV later swapped WBRC to Raycom Media
Raycom Media
- History :Although Raycom Media dates its birth to 1996, the core of the company was formed in 1992 when Atlanta native Bert Ellis formed Ellis Communications. He eventually controlled 13 television stations and two radio stations....
. The Local TV stations are run under a co-managment agreement with Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
, which provides web hosting, technical and engineering services to Local TV stations, along with news sharing among all of the stations, and the Local TV/Tribune stations make up the nucleus of the Antenna TV
Antenna TV
Antenna TV is an American digital broadcast television network, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting, a division of the Chicago-based Tribune Company...
digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
network, which carries classic television programming and films.
Fox no longer owns any of the former Burnham stations. Savoy/Fox (SF) sold the stations in 1997 to now-defunct Silver King Broadcasting (later USA Broadcasting
USA Broadcasting
USA Broadcasting was an American media company owned by veteran entertainment industry executive Barry Diller. This network was the over-the-air broadcasting arm of USA Network....
) and later to Emmis Communications
Emmis Communications
Emmis Communications is a media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company owns radio stations and magazines in the United States, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria.-History:...
to 1998. Emmis has since sold WLUK and WALA to LIN TV
LIN TV
LIN TV Corporation is an American holding company that operates 31 television stations.-History:LIN TV's roots trace back to the founding of its former parent, LIN Broadcasting Corporation, in 1961. LIN Broadcasting was engaged in radio, television, direct marketing, information and learning, music...
and KHON to Montecito Broadcast Group
Montecito Broadcast Group
Lilly Broadcasting, L.L.C. is a privately owned American broadcasting company owned and operated by the father-and-son team of George Lilly and Brian Lilly ....
, who later sold KHON to New Vision Television
New Vision Television
New Vision Television is a broadcast company based in Los Angeles, California. The company owns or manages 18 television stations in medium sized markets.-New Vision I:...
. It took until May 2008 for Emmis to finally find a buyer for WVUE, when the Louisiana Media Company, a new media holdings group founded by New Orleans Saints
New Orleans Saints
The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans, Louisiana. They are members of the South Division of the National Football Conference of the National Football League ....
owner Tom Benson
Tom Benson
See also Tom Benson and Tom Benson for the Northern Ireland Unionist.Tom Benson is the owner of the New Orleans Saints. He is currently the owner of several automobile dealerships in the Greater New Orleans and San Antonio areas...
, purchased the station. WVUE's sale process had been made more difficult in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
, which greatly affected its New Orleans viewing area. (The sale closed on July 18, 2008; 18 months later, the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV
Super Bowl XLIV was an American football game between the American Football Conference champion Indianapolis Colts and the National Football Conference champion New Orleans Saints to decide the National Football League champion for the 2009 season. The Saints defeated the Colts by a score of...
, a game shown on CBS.) All stations are still Fox affiliates.
As a result of the affiliation deals, Fox now has VHF affiliates in 13 out of 16 television markets with NFL teams that are based in the NFC, including the Seattle Seahawks
Seattle Seahawks
The Seattle Seahawks are a professional American football team based in Seattle, Washington. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team joined the NFL in 1976 as an expansion team...
, who moved from the AFC to the NFC in 2002; Seattle's Fox affiliate, KCPQ
KCPQ
KCPQ, channel 13, is the Fox television affiliate licensed to Tacoma, Washington serving the Seattle/Tacoma television market, owned by the Tribune Company...
, broadcasts on VHF channel 13. Only the Carolina Panthers
Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. They are currently members of the South Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The Panthers, along with the Jacksonville Jaguars, joined the NFL as expansion...
, Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
and Philadelphia Eagles
Philadelphia Eagles
The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are members of the East Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
are located in markets with UHF Fox affiliates. Two of them, WFLD
WFLD
WFLD, virtual channel 32 , is the Fox owned-and-operated television station, based in Chicago, Illinois; through its parent company News Corporation, the station is owned in a duopoly with area MyNetworkTV affiliate WPWR-TV...
in Chicago and WTXF in Philadelphia, are owned by the network. The third station, WCCB
WCCB
WCCB is the Fox affiliate television station in Charlotte, North Carolina. The station's headquarters are located just outside Uptown, off Independence Boulevard across from Bojangles' Coliseum at . It is the flagship station of its owner and operator, Bahakel Communications...
in Charlotte, is owned by Bahakel Communications
Bahakel Communications
Bahakel Communications is a Charlotte, North Carolina-based communications company that owns radio and television stations in the United States...
.
Westinghouse bought CBS in 1996 after the affiliation deals, making all stations CBS owned-and-operated stations. Viacom bought CBS in 1999, which created duopolies
Duopoly (broadcasting)
In United States broadcast television and radio, duopoly is a term used to describe a single company which owns two or more stations in the same city or community....
in several markets between CBS O&O's and UPN O&O's. Viacom
Viacom
Viacom Inc. , short for "Video & Audio Communications", is an American media conglomerate with interests primarily in, but not limited to, cinema and cable television...
and CBS split in 2006, with the current CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation
CBS Corporation is an American media conglomerate focused on commercial broadcasting, publishing, billboards and television production, with most of its operations in the United States. The President and CEO of the company is Leslie Moonves. Sumner Redstone, owner of National Amusements, is CBS's...
retaining the broadcasting side of the company including UPN. Shortly afterward, CBS and Time Warner
Time Warner
Time Warner is one of the world's largest media companies, headquartered in the Time Warner Center in New York City. Formerly two separate companies, Warner Communications, Inc...
announced the merger of UPN and The WB to form The CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
. All of the stations that CBS acquired either by the station swap with NBC or when the network itself was acquired by Westinghouse are still owned by CBS except for KUTV which was sold to Cerberus Capital Management
Cerberus Capital Management
Cerberus Capital Management, L.P. is one of the largest private equity investment firms in the United States. The firm is based in New York City, and run by -year-old financier Steve Feinberg. Former U.S...
's Four Points Media Group
Four Points Media Group
Four Points Media Group LLC is a television station holding company founded by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management in 2007 with its purchase of seven television stations previously owned by CBS Television Stations, a subsidiary of CBS Corporation.Four Points Media Group took over...
in 2007.
On November 3, 2010, Broadcasting & Cable
Broadcasting & Cable
Broadcasting & Cable magazine is a television industry trade magazine published by NewBay Media. Previous names included Broadcasting/Telecasting, Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising, and Broadcasting...
magazine announced that SJL Broadcasting, now owned by the principal owners of Lilly Broadcasting, made an agreement with Disney to buy back WJRT and WTVG for a total of $30 million, upon speculation that Disney may sell off ABC. Both stations are expected to retain their affiliations with ABC. SJL teamed up with a new private equity partner, Bain Capital
Bain Capital
Bain Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. Originally conceived as an early-stage, growth-oriented investment fund, Bain Capital today manages approximately $65 billion in assets, and its strategies include private...
, whose affiliated offshoot Sankaty Advisors provided the capital for the purchases. The sale was completed on April 1, 2011. As a result, ABC now no longer owns any television stations anywhere near Detroit, where the network had owned WXYZ-TV from its founding in 1948 until 1986 when it was sold to current owner Scripps.
On October 3, 2011, McGraw-Hill announced the sale of its entire television broadcasting division to Scripps for $212 million. This group deal would add four additional ABC affiliates to the six already owned by Scripps, making that company the second-largest owner of ABC-affiliated stations in total market coverage (after Hearst Television).
Effect in Top 10 markets
To this day, Washington, D.C. is the only Top 10 market from 1994 outside of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago not to have its major network affiliations (outside of network shutdowns and debuts) affected during and since the switches (Atlanta, Dallas and Detroit were affected by the New World deal, while Boston and Philadelphia were affected via the Westinghouse deal). While HoustonHouston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
was also not affected by the switches at the time and its major network affiliates remain the same, it was not a Top 10 market when the switches took place, as Houston only became a Top 10 market in 2005-06, surpassing Detroit.
San Francisco was also unaffected by the 1994 switches, as Westinghouse-owned KPIX-TV was already an affiliate of CBS, since its 1948 founding. In 2002, however, the Bay Area's longtime NBC affiliate, KRON-TV
KRON-TV
KRON-TV, virtual channel 4 , is a television station in San Francisco, California, serving as the Bay Area affiliate of the MyNetworkTV programming service; the station is owned by Young Broadcasting...
, became an independent station after a bitter dispute between new KRON owner Young Broadcasting
Young Broadcasting
New Young Broadcasting Holding Co, Inc. is an owner of 14 television stations in 11 United States media markets. The company was formerly known as Young Broadcasting Inc. and was the outgrowth of the ad representation/invest firm Adam Young, Inc. which was founded in 1944 by Adam Young and is...
and NBC; after Young outbid NBC to purchase the station from its original owner Chronicle Publishing
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
, NBC demanded that Young run the station in a fashion similar to that of an NBC O&O as a condition of renewal of its affiliation; Young Broadcasting refused these demands along with the affiliation renewal. NBC then struck an affiliation deal with, and soon thereafter bought, San Jose station KNTV
KNTV
KNTV, channel 11, is the NBC owned-and-operated television station in the Bay Area market. It is licensed to San Jose, with its transmitter located on San Bruno Mountain, just south of San Francisco. It shares facilities in San Jose with NBC Universal sister station KSTS and CNBC's Silicon...
, which was airing The WB at the time after ending a long-time affiliation with ABC two years before, due to ABC O&O KGO-TV
KGO-TV
KGO-TV, channel 7, is an owned-and-operated television station of the Walt Disney Company-owned American Broadcasting Company, based in San Francisco, California...
claiming market exclusivity for the network in San Jose. KNTV had been serving the Monterey Bay
Monterey Bay
Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean, along the central coast of California. The bay is south of San Francisco and San Jose, between the cities of Santa Cruz and Monterey....
area (50 miles south of San Jose) as its ABC affiliate, more so than San Jose; KGO was added to cable systems in the Monterey Bay area as compensation for the loss. (KSBW-TV, the NBC affiliate, has completed plans to put ABC on a digital subchannel for Monterey-Salinas market viewers, which launched on April 18, 2011.)
See also
Primary NFL television stationsPrimary NFL television stations
A primary, flagship or home television station refers to the local affiliates that carry a majority of the regular season telecasts for a said National Football League team. This list only concentrates on television coverage since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970. From 1970-1993, CBS held the National...