T.L. Hughes 753 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Gray Television has added three more CBS affiliates to its roster, as it has signed an affiliation agreement with the network to bring CBS programming to three markets in Florida, West Virginia and Virginia not currently served by an in-market affiliate. WIYE-LP/Parkersburg, West Virginia, WECP-LD/Panama City, Florida and WSVF-CA/Harrisonburg, West Virginia will join the network starting in the fall (on dates TBD). Neither market is served by an in-market CBS affiliate: Panama City is served by Gray's WTVY out of Dothan, Harrisonburg is served by Gannett's WUSA/Washington, D.C. and Parkersburg is served by WBNS from Columbus, Ohio. Gray purportedly has the largest number of CBS affiliates out of all U.S. station groups with 17 stations aligned with the network (if one includes KGIN/Grand Island, the satellite of KOLN/Lincoln), which by this fall will increase to 20 once the currently silent low-power stations return to the air as network affiliates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CLT-DCA-ORF-PTI 86 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I always found it interesting that Harrisonburg is served by WUSA rather than WCAV out of Charlottesville - Charlottesville is about 20 mins away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProButtonPusher 230 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 WTVY is owned by Gray. It's been the default CBS for Panama City since the dawn of time, so this is an interesting (and smart) move. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T.L. Hughes 753 Posted July 17, 2012 Author Share Posted July 17, 2012 WTVY is owned by Gray. It's been the default CBS for Panama City since the dawn of time, so this is an interesting (and smart) move. Sorry about the ownership error, it's been fixed. The thing is while WTVY won't be the default CBS affiliate for much longer, if WECP gets cable coverage, it would most likely join the pantheon of in-market stations in smaller cities competing against out-of-market counterparts (unless WECP gets a non-duplication notice removing WTVY from cable and satellite in the Panama City area). According to the FCC coverage maps on RabbitEars, WTVY and WECP will have redundant coverage areas as WECP's planned coverage area covers much of the central portion of WTVY's current coverage area. Also, because of the redundant coverage areas between WECP and WTVY plus the fact that Gray owns Panama City NBC affiliate WJHG-TV, it would create an indirect virtual triopoly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ABC 7 Denver 1554 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I'm excited to see what these new affiliates in action! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ProButtonPusher 230 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Sorry about the ownership error, it's been fixed. The thing is while WTVY won't be the default CBS affiliate for much longer, if WECP gets cable coverage, it would most likely join the pantheon of in-market stations in smaller cities competing against out-of-market counterparts (unless WECP gets a non-duplication notice removing WTVY from cable and satellite in the Panama City area). According to the FCC coverage maps on RabbitEars, WTVY and WECP will have redundant coverage areas as WECP's planned coverage area covers much of the central portion of WTVY's current coverage area. Also, because of the redundant coverage areas between WECP and WTVY plus the fact that Gray owns Panama City NBC affiliate WJHG-TV, it would create an indirect virtual triopoly. WTVY will probably be removed from the cable system, as the news release makes it pretty clear that WECP will be available on cable and satellite as Panama City's CBS. As a plus, It won't hurt Gray Television, since they'll still have the CBS affiliation in both markets -- and CBS makes cash. It's another way of making revenue, having a more locally-focused CBS affiliate with better signal coverage in the Panama City area (WTVY is very hard to get over-the-air in PC and PCB.) It will be a duopoly, and that should be interesting in itself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tyrannical bastard 3471 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Since WECP is an LD station, it doesn't count as a duopoly when WJHG is factored in. WTVY and WCTV will still cover the fringes of the market quite well. I imagine this station came about in order to alleviate the syndication overlap that existed with WTVY, and to provide an in-market affiliate for cable and satellite companies to carry. Now that there's another transmitter, I wonder if WJHG will dump one or more of their subchannels on WECP.... Could WECP simulcast WJHG's newscasts? Or even start their own shows? (like WLOX and WDAM airing a special 6:30 news on their new subchannels) And....could Dothan be getting their own NBC affiliate down the road? I know that some company tried to sign a deal with them on a low power station, but nothing has happened yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.