WRAL loses CBS affiliation effective next month

[mvcg66b3r 100]

With WNCN switching to CBS, it would form a regional network with MG's CBS affiliate in Greenville (WNCT). Here's their coverage map:

[squiggy 10]

Nashville could be VERY interesting.....depending on how the Media General merger drama plays out.

Newb and Nashville native here.

 

Is the stability that the Nashville affiliates have with their networks a normal thing in mid-market stations? They've all been with their networks since the 50s and WZTV has been with Fox since 1990.

[Samantha 2896]

And that article says WNCN is in Greensboro. It's actually licensed to Goldsboro.

 

That's an important difference...

[Ntropolis 596]

That's an important difference...

 

Two VERY different places!

[Samantha 2896]

Newb and Nashville native here.

 

Is the stability that the Nashville affiliates have with their networks a normal thing in mid-market stations? They've all been with their networks since the 50s and WZTV has been with Fox since 1990.

 

It's relatively usual.

 

There were several times in history where affiliation switches were really common, aside from the 1950s which were more of a formative period:

 

-The 70s, where ABC was hungry for affiliate upgrades commensurate with its status as a full-fledged third network, especially in the southern US:

-1994-97, as a result of Fox nabbing the NFL rights and launching its own affiliate upgrade campaign. (This in turn sparked other group deals and affiliation bouncing because it was so disruptive in major markets.)

 

Of course, there have been "off-cycle" changes. WRAL is a good example of one of these. In 1982, it lost its ABC affiliation upon ABC merging with WTVD's owner, Capital Cities; WTVD at the time was the CBS affiliate. There's a rising wave, though, of affiliation changes based on scale and the rise of network cuts of retrans fees. (2016 has been highly unusual so far in that we've had three announced affiliation switches in just two weeks.) There's also, closer to Raleigh, the curious case of WJZY, which was sold by Capitol to Fox in what likely was an attempt to keep control of WRAZ.

 

I should mention that Nashville almost had an affiliation change in 1994. WSMV was up for sale at the time, and New World almost bought it and flipped it to Fox. In fact, it was even reported by some outlets (notably Broadcasting & Cable) as a done deal. Cook Inlet, the company that owned WSMV, had some turmoil at the time, and additionally, Fox's affiliation contract with WZTV stretched into 1998.

[TennTV1983 804]

Newb and Nashville native here.

 

Is the stability that the Nashville affiliates have with their networks a normal thing in mid-market stations? They've all been with their networks since the 50s and WZTV has been with Fox since 1990.

It's one of those rare cases, but you also have to consider the fact that Sinclair owns two stations in the market and operates a third one through an outsourcing agreement (essentially cornering half of the media market). Unless either WKRN (MG), WSMV (Meredith), or WTVF (Scripps) has some sort of corporate fallout in the future, the odds of any affiliation switches are nil.

[NEOMatrix 1299]

Kind of surprising that Sinclair didn't hop on that affiliation and make WLFL "CBS 22". If that happened, would WRAL pulled a WISH and bought WLFL's CW contract (for WRAZ), with Fox sliding over to WRAL?

[mvcg66b3r 100]

Kind of surprising that Sinclair didn't hop on that affiliation and make WLFL "CBS 22". If that happened, would WRAL pulled a WISH and bought WLFL's CW contract (for WRAZ), with Fox sliding over to WRAL?

But WLFL has no news department. It airs a 10pm newscast produced by WTVD.

[elfuego35 90]

But WLFL has no news department. It airs a 10pm newscast produced by WTVD.

 

That didn't stop Sinclair in Winston-Salem with WXLV, when ABC required them to have newscasts. They instead decided to outsource their news from Time Warner Cable News. That is likely would have happened in this instance.

 

That said, if Sinclair was interested, or felt they had a chance they would have held off renewing their CW affiliation for WLFL until they saw what was happening in the market, like Media General did.

[tw-804 192]

Forgive me for being late, but... WOW! I'm shocked. CBS goes to WNCN while NBC goes to WRAL. Man, this is gonna be interesting...

[tyrannical bastard 3955]

It's one of those rare cases, but you also have to consider the fact that Sinclair owns two stations in the market and operates a third one through an outsourcing agreement (essentially cornering half of the media market). Unless either WKRN (MG), WSMV (Meredith), or WTVF (Scripps) has some sort of corporate fallout in the future, the odds of any affiliation switches are nil.

 

WTVF is one of Scripps' few CBS stations, and WSMV is Meredith's ONLY NBC affiliate. FOX is pretty much a lock on WZTV with Sinclair, and WKRN is likely the hot potato destined to be traded off should Media General get Meredith or if Scripps decides to pull ABC for WTVF.

 

Scripps has CBS on WTVF until 2018. After that, it's anyone's guess. The article says that CBS's deal with KMTV in Omaha is only through midway this year.

 

A three way swap could happen if CBS ends up on WSMV (if MMG goes through), Scripps puts ABC on WTVF, and NBC winds up on WKRN whoever owns them...

[mre29 1537]

Well, this is big news!

 

CBS has poor relations with Scripps and Hearst though...

 

Interesting. I'd have figured CBS was quite happy with its two Hearst-owned affiliates, KCCI and WLKY, because of their strength in their respective markets. (And the same for Scripps's WTVF.)

[Samantha 2896]

Kind of surprising that Sinclair didn't hop on that affiliation and make WLFL "CBS 22". If that happened, would WRAL pulled a WISH and bought WLFL's CW contract (for WRAZ), with Fox sliding over to WRAL?

 

Raleigh is probably one of Sinclair's worst markets in terms of the opportunities it could have had with its stations.

[RGSJenkins 435]

The one day I take my iPad back to the shop, this happens.

 

o_OI need a drink...however I don't drink. I drink some milk instead.

[johnnya2k6 171]

Damn. The hits just keep coming. I'm wondering what affiliate ABC's gonna drop- they and Fox are next in the "drop a major market affiliate like a turd into the toilet" race they're having.

 

Though it ain't going to happen anytime soon, Atlanta could be ready for WGCL "ABC 46" (with WSB headed to CBS)!

[TheRolyPoly 2449]

Well, this is big news!

 

 

 

Interesting. I'd have figured CBS was quite happy with its two Hearst-owned affiliates, KCCI and WLKY, because of their strength in their respective markets. (And the same for Scripps's WTVF.)

 

KCCI is #1 in Des Moines and I believe that WLKY is #1 now in Louisville, even though a recent promo by WDRB claims that they are #1 in 55 and under (if you've seen that promo by now and the bottom refers to Nielsen at 5:00-9:00am, 11:30am-12:30pm, 4:00-5:00, 6:00-7:00 and 10:00-11:00pm).

[TheOneManHerd 553]

The big winner here is clear: NBC. After years of anemic ratings in the Triangle, they've hit the proverbial affiliate jackpot.

 

WRAL is probably happy to avoid paying the exorbitant retrans fees that CBS was wanting; but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for, and NBC has a weaker primetime schedule than CBS (Sunday Night Football notwithstanding).

 

WNCN, being owned by large group, can probably afford CBS' fees much more easily than family-owned WRAL; and in return they'll get an overall stronger programming slate (including March Madness, which is bigger asset in NC than perhaps anywhere else).

 

CBS, on the other hand, may have killed the golden goose; in this market at least. They are ending up on a weaker station, and while CBS could help bring WNCN into contention (like they helped do with WLKY), in all likelihood CBS is going to take a permanent ratings hit in the R-D market which will affect those sweet, sweet retrans fees down the road. They better hope linear TV becomes obsolete, that's the only way the scorched earth policy with affiliates is going to work.

[TheOneManHerd 553]

Let's not forget Seth Meyers' affiliate mug on his first show was...a WNCN mug. How time flies.

 

[elfuego35 90]

I don't think it is the in market viewership that is going to take as much of a hit as it is the outer market. WRAL-TV has significantly viewed status on Cable Systems for most of the Western Half of the Greenville Market, and WNCT's Newscasts aren't the most popular, appears to be on the last leg half of the time,and has high staff turnover. WITN, the NBC affiliate for the area, by contrast has the popular personalities, and surprisingly low turnover for a small market.

 

The thing that will hurt WRAL the most? Not having March Madness. Basketball is big in the market, and with at least one of the tobacco road schools in the NCAA tournament every year, that is significant viewership lost. That said, WRAL will still have rights to the ACC Tournament, and that will draw eyeballs to the station.

 

On the subject of basketball. What will likely happen to the ACC Network package is that WRAZ or WRAL.2 will get the bulk of the Weeknight games, with only the games vs in state rivals WRAL likely keeping. Weekend games will likely move to WRAL, since NBC doesn't have much sports programming of interest to the market.

[TheOneManHerd 553]

.Scripps has CBS on WTVF until 2018. After that, it's anyone's guess. The article says that CBS's deal with KMTV in Omaha is only through midway this year.

 

CBS has a good rapport with Gray; maybe KMTV swaps with WOWT (again).

[mardek1995 200]

Let's not forget Seth Meyers' affiliate mug on his first show was...a WNCN mug. How time flies.

 

And then WRAL will be in a mug instead.

CBS has a good rapport with Gray; maybe KMTV swaps with WOWT (again).

CBS also has decent rapport with TEGNA seeing as how CBS has a bureau in DC where WUSA is as well as TEGNA owning CBS affiliates in larger markets

[Weeters 1916]

Once again, please please please keep wild speculation to a minimum. There is zero evidence this will happen anywhere else. An affiliation swap in one market is not grounds to speculate what will happen in every other market in the country.

[rkolsen 1684]

WRAL is probably happy to avoid paying the exorbitant retrans fees that CBS was wanting; but as the saying goes, you get what you pay for, and NBC has a weaker primetime schedule than CBS (Sunday Night Football notwithstanding).

There was a news article out recently that said minus SNF NBC won the key demographics last season. They may not draw the viewers CBS has but they got what the advertisers want.

 

Also how will they incorporate the peacock into their logo? (Isn't that required?)

 

Also they're doing damage control on Facebook.

 

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154570400902178

 

Edit: The NBC ratings I was referring to were from this season. So far minus football NBC averages 3.4 million to CBS' 2.9 million in the 18-49 demographic. CBS still comes out top in viewership with 11.1 to NBC's 9.4 million.

[Eat News 4745]

Once again, please please please keep wild speculation to a minimum. There is zero evidence this will happen anywhere else. An affiliation swap in one market is not grounds to speculate what will happen in every other market in the country.

 

Todays secret call letters are..._ _ _ _

[Rusty Muck 4378]

They had CBS affiliates up until 1996 and never got another until they merged with Journal

Scripps signed their then-group-wide affiliation pact with ABC (save for KJRH and WPTV) because ABC didn't want WEWS and WXYZ to become CBS affiliates. Pretty clean-cut.

 

The CBS that would have been jilted by Scripps in 1994 ceased to exist in 1996 when Group W bought it. It's been merged and de-merged. Such speculation that "CBS has poor relations with Scripps" is a very generous supposition to make.

 

Newb and Nashville native here.

 

Is the stability that the Nashville affiliates have with their networks a normal thing in mid-market stations? They've all been with their networks since the 50s and WZTV has been with Fox since 1990.

Outside of channel 2 and 8 swapping licenses and transmission towers in December of 1973, of course...

 

Entire markets like Columbus, Ohio (where 4, 6 and 10 have had the same affiliations since the early 1950) are rare.

 

But certain stations in markets prone to change are equally just as rare - to wit, WKYC has been an NBC affiliate since day one in 1948, when NBC built and signed it on as WNBK, the TV extension of WTAM 1100 radio, and NBC held a minority ownership stake in WKYC until 1999.

 

And I'd be remiss not to include KMOX-TV/KMOV.