Eight CBS Stations to Ditch CW and Go Independent This Fall

[Georgie56 2959]

KPYX-specific bug on KPIX’s new primetime newscast.

 

[The Frog 373]

9 hours ago, Adam MadMan said:

According to the Seattle Times, they're still running Comet during non-CW hours. Either that's a sign of the syndication market's inexorable decline, all the other stations taking all the decent programming, talks being really down to the wire, or just weapon's grade laziness on Sinclair's part.

Comet is essentially syndicated programming. It's as watchable as any other station's lineup. I'll take reruns of The X-Files over a Byron Allen court show. It wouldn't be out of place on an independent station in another era.

 

I'm surprised we don't see more stations fill non-network/news hours with programming from their in-house diginet rather than spending money on dwindling syndicated fare. If Nexstar wants to cut CW's programming costs, why not nuke the syndicated CW+ shows and fill the time with a mix of programming from their diginets?

[mrschimpf 1785]

It's too bad KBCB got TCT'ed after Fox's attempted purchase during their triennial fight with Tribune over KCPQ's affiliation.

 

What I'm more surprised about is that Nexstar didn't make a modest attempt to get it on KFFV or KVOS, or they did and Weigel shut them out entirely, saying 'why? We're losing CW in Chicago no matter what, why should we help you out and lose viewer goodwill from Me or H&I prime being pre-empted?'. This has to be on par with WJMN being dumped from CBS in big L's for Perry.

[tyrannical bastard 3186]

4 hours ago, The Frog said:

Comet is essentially syndicated programming. It's as watchable as any other station's lineup. I'll take reruns of The X-Files over a Byron Allen court show. It wouldn't be out of place on an independent station in another era.

 

I'm surprised we don't see more stations fill non-network/news hours with programming from their in-house diginet rather than spending money on dwindling syndicated fare. If Nexstar wants to cut CW's programming costs, why not nuke the syndicated CW+ shows and fill the time with a mix of programming from their diginets?

Due to the 11th hour-nature of the pickup, it's probably going to be this way for this year.  Sinclair is basically having to create a new channel to build the CW programming around.  By next year, it may resemble more of a CW-like station lineup once deals are secured.

 

I"m assuming that the ex-CW stations owned by CBS are still going to be carried by YouTube TV?  They've traditionally carried their existing independents like WLNY, KCAL and WTXA.

 

KOCB may be dropped unless Sinclair elects to keep them on.  It would be their only independent station on YouTube TV.

 

And Nexstar should be running with all of their new affiliates, sans WADL since that deal hasn't closed yet?

Edited September 2 by tyrannical bastard

[AmericanErrorist 76]

41 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

And Nexstar should be running with all of their new affiliates, sans WADL since that deal hasn't closed yet?

 

The CW on WADL rolled out yesterday, despite the sale being ongoing.

[T.L. Hughes 639]

57 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

KOCB may be dropped unless Sinclair elects to keep them on.  It would be their only independent station on YouTube TV.

I believe YTTV carries some (if not all) of Sinclair’s MyNetworkTV affiliates. Someone CMIIW, but I think WPNT was among those that it carried even before the station switched to The CW. So, it’s very possible nothing changes as far as KOCB’s carriage goes.

Edited September 2 by T.L. Hughes

[mrschimpf 1785]

On 9/2/2023 at 1:12 PM, T.L. Hughes said:

I believe YTTV carries some (if not all) of Sinclair’s MyNetworkTV affiliates. Someone CMIIW, but I think WPNT was among those that it carried even before the station switched to The CW. So, it’s very possible nothing changes as far as KOCB’s carriage goes.

It's doubtful anything changes, as most providers just seamlessly transitioned to the new Fox subchannels a few years ago when Sinclair transferred affiliations from their shell company stations while dumping whichever subnet was the new primary affiliation on the shellco which was mainly used as an ATSC 3 lighthouse (though some like Dabl already have carriage on the services). Same with WCGV when it became WVTV-DT2. I wouldn't see KOCB removed at all at this time.

[The Frog 373]

An affiliation switch flew under the radar. The CW departed Scripps' MTN group of stations for Nexstar's KSVI.

[Adam MadMan 231]

9 hours ago, The Frog said:

An affiliation switch flew under the radar. The CW departed Scripps' MTN group of stations for Nexstar's KSVI.

Not great for The CW, since it leaves the rest of Montana unaccounted for AFAIK, but I think I know what Scripps' endgame is. They recently bought the broadcast rights to the NHL's Vegas Golden Knights, and with The CW gone, I noticed they've turned those subchannels into independents. Since Montana is in the Golden Knights' territory, they're probably going to run the games on those channels.

[CircleSeven 1907]

CBS has picked up a couple of NHL rights for two indie stations.

 

From B&C, KCAL 9 will air six LA Kings regular season games. While WPKD will air two Pittsburgh Penguins preseason games.

 

[CoopInTheHouse 9]

As part of that big switch just over 3 weeks ago, MyNetworkTV moves to WSNN-LD (Suncoast News Network), channel 39, airing it in primetime. WTTA still airs MyNetworkTV during the overnight hours (1:00am to 3:00am to be exact).

[ColtFromGulfcoast 677]

3 hours ago, CoopInTheHouse said:

As part of that big switch just over 3 weeks ago, MyNetworkTV moves to WSNN-LD (Suncoast News Network), channel 39, airing it in primetime. WTTA still airs MyNetworkTV during the overnight hours (1:00am to 3:00am to be exact).

 

I admit I'm surprised more stations don't do this and that this wasn't a thing when UPN and WB were in operation. At least this would have technically been good for ratings.