Eight CBS Stations to Ditch CW and Go Independent This Fall

[mrschimpf 1861]

1 hour ago, AmericanErrorist said:

The source says Hispanic leaders in the area aren't pleased.

I'd say; I can't blame Univision to tell them to go kick rocks (and also pull their affiliation in Portland). And if Sinclair knew they were killing Stadium OTA in September already for A&E's Crumbs..I mean The Nest, why didn't they just put The CW on a KUNS sub in the first place?! Also that 'they have a channel if they want it' line sounds more like a mob threat than a kind offer, as if they should be thankful Sinclair deigned to affiliate them in the first place (which they didn't, they bought out Fisher).

 

We know where they won't go because of ancient beef though; KFFV and KVOS are out (Weigel/WCIU). KONG's subchannels are fair game though, or KRUM-LD.

Edited November 14 by mrschimpf

[CoopInTheHouse 31]

Ok, this is from a different thread, but well, I’m gonna post it anyway cause you’re not my mom and you can’t tell me what to do.

 

Effective this coming Monday, KASW will ditch the CW and become independent. KNXV’s second sub-channel will take the CW.

[mrschimpf 1861]

2 hours ago, CoopInTheHouse said:

Ok, this is from a different thread, but well, I’m gonna post it anyway cause you’re not my mom and you can’t tell me what to do.

 

Effective this coming Monday, KASW will ditch the CW and become independent. KNXV’s second sub-channel will take the CW.

Smart way to use the WMYD leverage to fix what was an awkward situation of sports lead-ins and outs doing absolutely nothing. TVTitan shows it'll be rebranded so creatively as "Arizona 61", and it combines two Nexstar operations onto one signal for 15.2

[CoopInTheHouse 31]

4 hours ago, mrschimpf said:

TVTitan shows it'll be rebranded so creatively as "Arizona 61"

Oh yeah, how creative.. bleh

[tyrannical bastard 3257]

I guess Scripps figured the sports real estate was more valuable than the CW.

 

The irony is that this was a Nexstar station after Meredith dumped it after acquiring KTVK.  They figured cap space elsewhere was more valuable than having a station in Phoenix.

 

And even more ironic, KASW signed on because KTVK wanted to stay an independent rather than run the WB programming in primetime. 

[Megatron81 166]

I was surprised that KASW didn't air Coytes from the start and put it on the .2 and not The CW on the .2.

[T.L. Hughes 677]

So, I stumbled across this article in The Desk, from the same day the cease-and-desist was sent to Scripps, in which Adell explains his side of the story on WADL sale/CW affiliation dispute:

Quote

While the deal was working its way through the regulatory process, Adell said Nexstar CEO Perry Sook reached out to him to inquire about what it would take to bring CW Network programming to WADL. Adell said he had no interest in running WADL as a CW Network affiliate under his ownership, but he agreed to make certain changes and upgrades at his station because he knew the Mission deal was predicated on WADL becoming the new home of CW Network shows in the market.

 

“I put a lot of expense into it — changing all the promos, the website, getting the station up to their level, all the fiber [communication lines], all the stuff they wanted,” Adell told The Desk on Wednesday. “[Nexstar] gave me a to-do list. And I said, no problem. It’s just a checkbook and a list of things to do.”

 

Shortly after the upgrades were done, Adell said Nexstar sent “some old, retired guy” to hand-deliver a contract concerning the CW Network. Adell said he was not impressed with the way the Nexstar executive looked — he mentioned more than once that the executive, whom he didn’t name, was wearing gym shoes — but he was particularly unimpressed with the deal Nexstar wanted him to sign, which would have made WADL the home of the CW Network for 36 months.

 

Adell said he refused to sign the agreement, fearing that if Mission backed out of the deal for WADL, he would be stuck with the CW Network for three years. He didn’t want to run a CW Network affiliate — he wanted to sell the station. “I built the station from the ground up,” Adell said. “The reason why I’m selling it is because I took it as far as I could take it — I can’t take it any farther. There’s nothing more for me to do.” But Adell feared if he signed the agreement, he might lose his leverage in selling the station. When asked by The Desk if he was open to an agreement with a shorter affiliation term — say, three to six months — Adell curtly replied that he “wouldn’t sign an affiliate deal for three seconds.”

 

After the visit from the “old retired guy,” Adell said he reached out to Sook with a different offer: Nexstar would pay WADL to distribute CW Network programming until the deal with Mission went through. Once the purchase was consummated, Mission and Nexstar could do whatever they wanted with the station, and Adell would be up $75 million and then some.

 

Adell said that offer went nowhere. When he called Nexstar to try to talk with Sook, he was told more than once that Sook was too busy or had left for the day. (When The Desk reached out to Nexstar for comment on this story, a receptionist put the call on hold, then said the company’s spokesperson, Gary Weitman, had gone home.) Feeling rebuffed, Adell used the last bit of leverage he felt he had: Earlier this month, he dropped the CW Network from WADL. The move didn’t send Nexstar back to his doorstep; instead, on Monday, the company announced an agreement with Scripps to move the CW Network affiliation to WMYD.

 

The announcement infuriated Adell. The two stations have a long-running — and, at times, acrimonious — feud in the Detroit market, where a heightened sense of competition has led to a bitter rivalry between two companies whose main offices are less than 100 feet from each other. (Adell Broadcasting is co-located with Adell’s other venture, the international religious outlet The Word Network, which is next door to WMYD; WADL’s studios are in a different part of the city.)

 

As Adell sees it, Scripps should have known that he had a pending deal for Mission to purchase WADL, and that the entire agreement was predicated on WADL becoming the new home of the CW Network. After all, the acquisition was widely reported, and transaction-related documents that were filed with the FCC are public records that can be easily discovered with a Google search.

 

“It would be like if I took the ABC affiliation from Channel 7,” Adell said, referring to WXYZ-TV (Channel 7, ABC), which is also owned by Scripps. “What would happen to that deal? They would sue me for interfering, don’t you think?” (A spokesperson for Scripps declined to comment on the matter.)

 

Edited November 18 by T.L. Hughes

[CircleWXYZ 159]

Um, Adell dropped CW.   He did it by choice!!  He needs to stop!

[Adam MadMan 245]

On 11/17/2023 at 9:51 PM, T.L. Hughes said:

So, I stumbled across this article in The Desk, from the same day the cease-and-desist was sent to Scripps, in which Adell explains his side of the story on WADL sale/CW affiliation dispute:

 

I suppose he explained this so people would see his point of view.

 

In reality, he just looks like more of a moron than ever. Especially since he flat out admitted that he wanted nothing to do with The CW in the first place, and only let WADL affiliate with it because he was planning to sell.

 

Then why the hell is he whining about WMYD taking the affiliation he specifically said he didn't want in the first place?????

 

EDIT 11/27/2023: And he's got Jesse Jackson and the families of the original African-American investors to back him. Somehow.

Edited Tuesday at 03:35 AM by Adam MadMan

[T.L. Hughes 677]

WPKD’s upcoming 8:00 p.m. newscast now has a premiere date and a title: Primetime News on KDKA+ will replace the interim 8:00 and 8:30 runs of Family Feud on January 8.

Edited 5 hours ago by T.L. Hughes