CBS Moving to WUPA in Atlanta

[Georgie56 3324]

In an explosive announcement, CBS is moving their affiliation to WUPA in Atlanta, making it an O&O.

 

[MediaZone4K 2250]

12 minutes ago, Georgie56 said:

In an explosive announcement, CBS is moving their affiliation to WUPA in Atlanta, making it an O&O.

 

Long predicted, interesting to see this come into fruition. Top market Atlanta will now have another O&O besides WAGA.

 

Hopefully whatever newscast they produce isn't as generic and lifeless as their former CBS "Nowcasts". I don't anticipate CBS News Atlanta will perform any better than WXIA or WANF but let's see.

Edited Monday at 05:36 PM by MediaZone4K

[Rusty Muck 4403]

The least surprised person has to be @Weeters, he suggested to me privately that WUPA easily could become CBS-owned after WWJ-TV finally got a news service. Or that they'd be used as a bargaining tool with the other groups.

 

Now it's a matter of when WTOG and KSTW become CBS-owned, not if. As KIRO is already for sale; things could get spicy...

[MidwestTV 1240]

From how I understand it, CBS has been demanding an extraordinary sum to affiliates to keep CBS on their channel  (tens of millions of dollars in markets the size of 60-70, so imagine how much they wanted for Atlanta). Gray basically told CBS to F off, we're not going to pay you that much. CBS's response was 'ok that's understandable' and went to WUPA (which CBS already owned!). Good thing channel numbers don't matter much anymore (WUPA is channel 69).

[ColtFromGulfcoast 728]

38 minutes ago, Georgie56 said:

In an explosive announcement, CBS is moving their affiliation to WUPA in Atlanta, making it an O&O.

 

It only took them 30 years. 

[swillh2k2 205]

Wow.

 

Wonder what the path forward is for WANF/WPCH at this point? Not sure what the benefit is of having an independent primary/secondary pairing.

 

Shows how much I watch linear TV here in ATL. Completely forgot CW was on WPCH now.

Edited Monday at 06:25 PM by swillh2k2

[TheRolyPoly 2581]

Wow. Wooow. Woooooooow.

 

Gray is going to take serious advantage now of WANF and its new status as a news-intensive Independent. I wonder how they'll use WPCH now since they'll use WANF to air more news.

[Rusty Muck 4403]

2 minutes ago, swillh2k2 said:

Wow.

 

Wonder what the path forward is for WANF/WPCH at this point? Not sure what the benefit is of having an independent primary/secondary pairing.

Just move the CW to 46 and put sports PBP on 17. Simple enough and it would make WANF a news-intensive CW station just like WPIX, KRON, KTLA and WGN.

[MD TV 282]

Well there is the WHDH/WLVI duo as an example of an indie/CW pairing.

 

Since Gray made a big deal over airing some Braves games you might as well go for all of it on the old WTBS.

[Georgie56 3324]

And WJXT/WCWJ…

[GoldenShine_10 104]

11 minutes ago, MD TV said:

Well there is the WHDH/WLVI duo as an example of an indie/CW pairing.

 

Since Gray made a big deal over airing some Braves games you might as well go for all of it on the old WTBS.

 

I can see Gray doing just that. I could also see it being a regional superstation that becomes a sub on Gray's other Georgia stations (although they'd probably want to go from 95% coverage to 100% coverage as they are missing Chattanooga and Jacksonville in the corners of the state).

Edited Monday at 06:40 PM by GoldenShine_10

[Recovering Producer 229]

I'm just looking forward to the new CBS Atlanta rebranding itself every few years like the old one did.

Hopefully, they'll skip the awkward "Clear News" phase 46 went through starting in 2000.

[MarkAnimates 20]

Oh boy...

[newsman123 124]

Side note.. for those in the atlanta market who know.. I am curious.. has the rebrand to WANF and all the investment there made a dent in the ratings? Where do they stand? That news operation still seems to have a lot of turnover for all the money pumped in. 
 

 

1 minute ago, Recovering Producer said:

I'm just looking forward to the new CBS Atlanta rebranding itself every few years like the old one did.

Hopefully, they'll skip the awkward "Clear News" phase 46 went through starting in 2000.

The CBS Atlanta of the mid 2000s rocked. The tough questions era. 

[Recovering Producer 229]

The other headline in this is CBS/Gray renewed their deal with every other CBS affiliate in the Gray group. So, no other shoes to drop with CBS/Gray, at least for now. 

[TennTV1983 807]

21 minutes ago, Recovering Producer said:

I'm just looking forward to the new CBS Atlanta rebranding itself every few years like the old one did.

Hopefully, they'll skip the awkward "Clear News" phase 46 went through starting in 2000.

 

They need to go back to this era somewhat, which was right before the ill-fated Atlanta's Newschannel happened.

 

 

[Megatron81 282]

CBS going to use the indies to become CBS O&Os if TV station groups in the big markets don't want to shell out the $$$ for CBS. Yeah, I think that WANF will move The CW over and WPCH goes indie and airs sports in my opinion. The Big 4 don't mind switching TV stations any more than say 30 years ago when CBS lost the legacy channels in major markets like Detroit, ATL etc.  

[tyrannical bastard 4033]

More proof that CBS is following the money, regardless of ratings or market share. 

They must really be hard off thinking they can do better on their own station rather than having to extort be paid by Gray in Atlanta.

 

Had they waited a little longer, they could have made a deal with WSB or WXIA when their deals were up.

 

But yay! another soul-less CBS (insert city here) newscast.  Maybe this time it will actually come out of Atlanta.

 

Gray has probably seen this coming since the last renewal.  And it may have been the reason they have stripped affiliate logos from many of their stations.  At least they're making the effort to make something out of WANF.

 

As for Tampa, it looks like WTSP (and all of Tegna's CBS affiliations) are locked in through 2028. 

Since "Coxpollo" is private, this information is not available through their annual report, so there's no word on KIRO's contract.

Edited Monday at 07:27 PM by tyrannical bastard

[TresGriffin 142]

Well, knock me over with a feather with this one...(sarcasm)

 

It begs some real estate questions too.  Surely CBS (assuming they'll start producing local newscasts) won't be operating a WUPA from that cramped Northeast Expressway studio once this shift happens.

 

I could see Gray building new studios for WANF/WPCH on the Assembly Studios campus and Gray simply sells their 14th Street studios to CBS for them to use.  Or, I could see either party relocating to some of the space that CNN just vacated downtown at what's now known as "The Center".

[tyrannical bastard 4033]

WANF and Gray aren't wasting any time on the news either.

 I hope this is a good thing for the Atlanta viewers and not a way for Gray to assume more control of other market's stations.  Many in the region were decimated in favor of regionalizing newscasts.

 

But this was clearly an expected outcome that they've been planning for years.  WHEN this happens to other stations, they may not be so lucky when they realize they have more hours of programming to fill when their network walks...

 

 

Edited Monday at 07:34 PM by tyrannical bastard

[GoldenShine_10 104]

6 minutes ago, tyrannical bastard said:

WANF and Gray aren't wasting any time on the news either.

 I hope this is a good thing for the Atlanta viewers and not a way for Gray to assume more control of other market's stations.  Many in the region were decimated in favor of regionalizing newscasts.

 

But this was clearly an expected outcome that they've been planning for years.  WHEN this happens to other stations, they may not be so lucky when they realize they have more hours of programming to fill when their network walks...

 

 

 

I think the best option is to keep WANF as all-Atlanta and focused on the area, while WPCH acts as a regional superstation with the sporting events and state coverage (for things like the Legislature), with the latter also becoming a subchannel on Gray's other channels in the state. For example, in Savannah, WPCH could go on 11.3 or 11.4 or something.

[TresGriffin 142]

1 hour ago, Rusty Muck said:

Just move the CW to 46 and put sports PBP on 17. Simple enough and it would make WANF a news-intensive CW station just like WPIX, KRON, KTLA and WGN.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the case. It always seemed like they were just temporarily "parking" CW on WPCH until CBS' eventual exit from WANF.

[tyrannical bastard 4033]

If CW moves from 17 to 46,  WPCH is one step closer to returning to it's "Superstation" roots...

[ColtFromGulfcoast 728]

I low-key could see CW being booted too for some reason. I don't know why but I wouldn't be surprised if it were. 

[tyrannical bastard 4033]

6 minutes ago, ColtFromGulfcoast said:

I low-key could see CW being booted too for some reason. I don't know why but I wouldn't be surprised if it were. 

Bonus points if it ends up back on WUPA as 69.2