CBS Moving to WUPA in Atlanta

[GoldenShine_10 104]

37 minutes ago, Howard Beale said:

Gray doesn't really have a choice.  To be fair, neither do any other broadcasting companies.  They can't cut the cord and abandon traditional broadcast TV because that's where they've tied up their money, by investing in infrastructure and technology, and by relying on retransmission fees and --- to a lesser extent for some companies -- advertising revenue.  Broadcasters missed the boat when it came to adopting a digital news and programming strategy that could also be effectively monetized.

 

I also think what Gray is doing at WANF is a sign of what's eventually to come for broadcasters.  Networks really don't need affiliates anymore.  Certainly not as great a need as what existed in decades past.  The time will come when the networks get rid of affiliates and rely solely on their streaming platforms.  Affiliates will then either sink or swim.  Those that do swim will rely on a heavy mix of local news and local programming.  But the long-term sustainability of such a plan is in doubt.  In 2029, the NFL can opt out of most of its TV contracts, and if it does so, then so goes what is perhaps the biggest reason why people still watch broadcast TV.

 

Since the NFL still requires streaming-exclusive games to have a local broadcaster air them, that would be an easy gain for Falcons games on Gray, without CBS prices.

[JCB4TV 351]

This is from 1994 when CBS originally accounced that they purchased WVEU with the intent of making it the CBS affaliate in Atlanta. This clip was from WAGA, which was in the process of leaving CBS for FOX.

[Justin Hill 42]

With CBS moving to channel 69, their unrealized attempt at moving to that station in 1994 will finally be realized, bringing those plans "full eyeball" (a reference to the CBS Eye logo)...

 

 

[Samantha 2902]

6 hours ago, nathannah said:

...it really didn't work out well for CBS, which is de facto irrelevant in Miami.

 

WFOR has been a better station than you're giving it credit.

[cg4 9]

13 hours ago, TVLurker said:

I do not get modern broadcasting trends.

 

Normally you would affiliate with the station that provides a benefit in terms of audience and stature and it's been that way for decades until up to this year.

 

The WPLG affiliation switch in retrospect was definitely a sign of things to come, the networks have devolved from strategic alignment to focusing on the bottom line which happens to be money and nothing else.

 

I have a feeling CBS is considering even more affiliation swaps with the stations that they own. I wouldn't be surprised if KTSW became a CBS owned and operated station.

 

I would try to figure out the sense of it but of course it's Shari Redstone who's actions make no sense whatsoever.

 

Good luck to WANF, I have a feeling their independence is going to net better ratings then whatever WUPA can come up with.

KSTW is technically already a CBS O&O.

[Howard Beale 83]

8 hours ago, GoldenShine_10 said:

 

Since the NFL still requires streaming-exclusive games to have a local broadcaster air them, that would be an easy gain for Falcons games on Gray, without CBS prices.

The NFL still requires it...for now.  That may very well change in 2029 if the NFL feels such a change is in its best interests.

[Big Rollo Smokes 264]

2 hours ago, cg4 said:

KSTW is technically already a CBS O&O.

 

...and has been a CBS affiliate thrice previously: 1953—1958, 1960–1962 (both as KTNT-TV) and 1995–1997. So CBS leaving KIRO-TV and going back to Channel 11 in Tacoma won't be much of a stunning development as what's about to happen in Atlanta.

Edited Tuesday at 01:45 PM by Big Rollo Smokes

[Rusty Muck 4405]

6 hours ago, Samantha said:

 

WFOR has been a better station than you're giving it credit.

Yeah, it was WCIX that was irrelevant because of a poor signal and limited resources for their news department. Once Steve Maudlin came in as GM by 1998, they became competitive.

[mer764KCTV5 157]

1 hour ago, Rusty Muck said:

Yeah, it was WCIX that was irrelevant because of a poor signal and limited resources for their news department. Once Steve Maudlin came in as GM by 1998, they became competitive.

After it (WCIX ch.6/WFOR-TV ch.4) had a callsign change and a channel swap...

 

[Yankees15 1]

11 hours ago, GoldenShine_10 said:

 

Since the NFL still requires streaming-exclusive games to have a local broadcaster air them, that would be an easy gain for Falcons games on Gray, without CBS prices.

 

But won't CBS just air the games on their new local station? How would Gray get the rights

[24994J 5629]

50 minutes ago, Yankees15 said:

But won't CBS just air the games on their new local station? How would Gray get the rights

 

Local stations "bid" on the OTA rights of games that are otherwise streaming-only (Prime, Netflix, etc.) or on cable, no matter their affiliations. That said, the Falcons only have 2 such games, this season, so that obviously wouldn't be enough to prop up a station.

Edited Tuesday at 04:19 PM by 24994J

[NowBergen 702]

47 minutes ago, Yankees15 said:

 

But won't CBS just air the games on their new local station? How would Gray get the rights

The only games Gray could get in Atlanta are if they bought a pre-season package of 3 meaningless  games, and any local rights to a Thursday night Amazon Prime game if the Falcons are in the game.  The regular season football package is exclusive to CBS, NBC, Fox, ESPN/ABC and to their O&Os/affiliates.  

[nickp 340]

I think Gray may just be thrilled of letting go of the CBS affiliation because no sec football games

[mre29 1563]

On 6/2/2025 at 3:53 PM, tyrannical bastard said:

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

 

And since its call letters have the exact same number of syllables as "WTBS", it could use an updated version of this classic:
 

 

 

"Celebrate! Celebrate! Superstation P-C-H!"  

 

[NowBergen 702]

8 minutes ago, nickp said:

I think Gray may just be thrilled of letting go of the CBS affiliation because no sec football games

 

Yes, however, they kept all other CBS affiliations and they over index in SEC territory markets (GA, FL, SC, AL, MS, TX (granted not all are CBS stations).

[The Frog 435]

The plot thickens. Gray is interested in acquiring WSB-TV.

[SFTV 532]

23 hours ago, NowBergen said:

Will they hire, build and launch a newsroom and product in just 10 weeks?   If it is outsourced again to WCBS, WFOR, KTVT, WBZ or other O&O, I just can't see how they will have an actual local presence and build viewership.  Because there is a large Gray affiliation agreement part of all this, I wonder who pushed whom?  It puts a little different light on this.

Most likely be a VR set, quicker setup

[TVLurker 239]

35 minutes ago, The Frog said:

The plot thickens. Gray is interested in acquiring WSB-TV.

Gray has really put a lot of work into WANF to make it into a valuable station. Why CBS did not acquire WANF I do not know. Then again, I don't even know the logic behind taking the CBS affiliation and putting it on WUPA in the first place.

 

I get that they own the station but they have to put money into WUPA to bring it to at least the bare minimum for a CBS affiliate like say... news department and such.

[Howard Beale 83]

1 hour ago, TVLurker said:

Gray has really put a lot of work into WANF to make it into a valuable station. Why CBS did not acquire WANF I do not know. Then again, I don't even know the logic behind taking the CBS affiliation and putting it on WUPA in the first place.

 

I get that they own the station but they have to put money into WUPA to bring it to at least the bare minimum for a CBS affiliate like say... news department and such.

What incentive would CBS have to purchase WANF?  Gray poured a lot of money and resources into WANF and would likely not sell unless it was for a LOT of money.  CBS is also not in the mood or the shape to go on a buying spree right now.

[TVLurker 239]

7 minutes ago, Howard Beale said:

What incentive would CBS have to purchase WANF?  Gray poured a lot of money and resources into WANF and would likely not sell unless it was for a LOT of money.  CBS is also not in the mood or the shape to go on a buying spree right now.

CBS purchasing WANF would save them a lot of money in the long run since they have an established news department and other departments relating to community involvement. CBS by moving to WUPA not only has to spend money on a news department but also build up the station to be on equal footing with WANF.

 

I doubt CBS is going to put in the time and effort into WUPA. The move to WUPA is going to be disastrous for CBS in the long run. Prepare for WANF to become a WHDH like juggernaut.

[atlnews2 595]

A reminder for folks when it comes to cbs buying stations. 
 

1. their finances aren’t exactly in the best shape right now. Buying a non appreciating asset like a broadcast station would not be a smart move financially 

 

2. The current administration has a vendetta against Paramount. Even if cbs wanted to it’s likely to be held up by regulators for petty reasons 

[Recovering Producer 230]

57 minutes ago, TVLurker said:

CBS purchasing WANF would save them a lot of money in the long run since they have an established news department and other departments relating to community involvement. CBS by moving to WUPA not only has to spend money on a news department but also build up the station to be on equal footing with WANF.

 

I doubt CBS is going to put in the time and effort into WUPA. The move to WUPA is going to be disastrous for CBS in the long run. Prepare for WANF to become a WHDH like juggernaut.

The thing is, CBS doesn't need to run WUPA well as a CBS O&O for it to be a financial success to stockholders, which is all that matters. It just needs a better balance sheet than WUPA as an independent. 

 

This paragraph is speculation, but the retransmission deal CBS has with pay TV providers likely is structured that so CBS gets more per subscriber for a station running CBS programming than an independent station.  Plus, they get to keep all of it as opposed to negotiating a reverse compensation affiliation deal with WANF where Gray was paying CBS some percentage of the retransmission fees Gray collected. 

 

Syndicated programming costs will go down in the long-run since CBS network programming covers 11 hours per weekday in the time between CBS Mornings and Colbert. (Plus however many hours of CBS News roundup and CBS News Mornings they air overnight)

 

There will be CBS programming where they can charge more for ads than they could with existing syndicated programming.

 

They don't need to go big or expensive building a news department. That cost can be managed along with the expectations for it, and there is far more space to sell in a local newscast than in syndicated programming. Even if they attract lower quality advertisers, that revenue, ideally, gets made up in added availability to sell.

Edited yesterday at 01:02 AM by Recovering Producer

[atlnewsfan03 84]

12 hours ago, Big Rollo Smokes said:

 

...and has been a CBS affiliate thrice previously: 1953—1958, 1960–1962 (both as KTNT-TV) and 1995–1997. So CBS leaving KIRO-TV and going back to Channel 11 in Tacoma won't be much of a stunning development as what's about to happen in Atlanta.

If (this is speaking theoretically) CBS were to re-affiliate with KSTW 11 and KIRO 7 were to go independent, KIRO would be able to hold its own.

WHDH and WJXT have done remarkably well since losing their network affiliations.  I'd anticipate WPLG, which is also losing its network affiliation in August, along with WANF, holding its own too.

 

4 hours ago, The Frog said:

The plot thickens. Gray is interested in acquiring WSB-TV.

I'd agree with responses by @TVLurker and @Howard Beale about Gray Media investing too much money and resources into WANF (which previous owners Tribune and Meredith, from the WGNX and WGCL days, did very little to no investing), to CBS likely not being interested in buying WANF.

[Howard Beale 83]

13 hours ago, TVLurker said:

CBS purchasing WANF would save them a lot of money in the long run since they have an established news department and other departments relating to community involvement. CBS by moving to WUPA not only has to spend money on a news department but also build up the station to be on equal footing with WANF.

 

I doubt CBS is going to put in the time and effort into WUPA. The move to WUPA is going to be disastrous for CBS in the long run. Prepare for WANF to become a WHDH like juggernaut.

CBS is not in a buying mood.  Blame the looming Skydance merger and the threats from the Trump administration.  Plus, TV stations aren’t the license to print money like they once were.  CBS is content to turn a small station it already owns into a CBS-branded O&O.  Will it be a serious competitor in the Atlanta market?  I doubt it.  CBS gave up on being competitive in Atlanta after it lost longtime affiliate WAGA in the 1994 switch to Fox.

 

As for WANF becoming a "WHDH-like juggernaut?"  History would say otherwise.  WHDH already had good ratings when it went independent.  WANF and its predecessors never had good ratings, and the overall trend of fewer people watching TV in general doesn't bode well for the future -- no matter how much money Gray shovels into WANF.

 

[Rusty Muck 4405]

5 hours ago, Howard Beale said:

CBS is not in a buying mood.  Blame the looming Skydance merger and the threats from the Trump administration.  Plus, TV stations aren’t the license to print money like they once were.  CBS is content to turn a small station it already owns into a CBS-branded O&O.  Will it be a serious competitor in the Atlanta market?  I doubt it.  CBS gave up on being competitive in Atlanta after it lost longtime affiliate WAGA in the 1994 switch to Fox.

Not only is CBS unwilling to buy anything (they haven't since ... what, when they merged into the first Viacom?? in 2000??) they're also stuck with three stations they can't sell: WUPA, KSTW and WTOG. I betcha if no regulations existed anymore, Nexstar would have grabbed WUPA and KSTW as CW-owned stations. But since the 39% cap still exists, CBS can't get rid of them.

 

Putting CBS on WUPA is the path of least resistance, plus it gives this miasma soon to be known as ParamountSkydance another local digital platform to have once viewership totally dries up and CBS becomes nothing more than a brand name for P+ and Pluto.