CBS Moving to WUPA in Atlanta

[MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie 1158]

2 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Looks like Gray is getting the last laugh on letting CBSAtlanta.com get away.

 

CBS probably can't afford to buy it under the new Skydance management!

Well, it wouldn't work under their current naming protocols... it's cbsnews.com/MARKETNAMEHERE... it would never have been cbsatlanta.com

[GraphicsMan 345]

1 hour ago, tyrannical bastard said:

It could be an interesting legal precedent if CBS takes Gray to court. 

Could it technically be cyber squatting if Gray owns the domain yet no longer has the rights to CBS in Atlanta?  It's a power move to keep their WANF viewers in the tent since the station was once known as "CBS Atlanta".

Never thought of that, but I can see why it would be a power move, WANF was the baby station and will be until September. They wanna keep the little viewers that they have I could understand that.

[mre29 1967]

1 hour ago, MichiganNewsGraphicsJunkie said:

Well, it wouldn't work under their current naming protocols... it's cbsnews.com/MARKETNAMEHERE... it would never have been cbsatlanta.com

 

For what it's worth, CBS also has a number of cbsnewsCITYORMARKETNAME.com domains, including cbsnewsatlanta.com. Some of them, such as cbsnewsboston.com, redirect to the livestream pages, while others such as cbsnewslosangeles.com and cbsnewsbaltimore.com, go to the homepages, so I suspect it's up to station management. I should also note that cbsnewstexas.com, cbsnewsdallas,com, and cbsnewsdfw.com all point to cbsnews,com/texas,

 

That said, there are domains that CBS doesn't have but probably really should, such as cbsnewsla.com, cbsnewsny.com, cbsnewsnyc.com, and.... cbsnewschicago.com.

 

Edited August 7, 2025 by mre29

[carolinanews4 455]

2 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Could it technically be cyber squatting if Gray owns the domain yet no longer has the rights to CBS in Atlanta?  

 

Never say never, but it would be very challenging for CBS to prevail over Gray in court. Cyber or domain squatting requires one party to prove that another party has acted in bad faith, which, on its face, is notoriously difficult to prove. Now, consider that Gray has had a legitimate business reason to own and promote cbsatlanta.com and domain squatting becomes almost a non-starter from a legal perspective. 

 

Gray could also argue that forcing them to sell the URL would harm their business, as it would eliminate their ability to redirect traffic to their new URL automatically. This would reduce traffic to their website, impairing their ability to sell advertising and thus harming their business.  

 

Meanwhile, CBS would have a strong copyright case against the use of its intellectual property. Is Gray participating in copyright infringement by owning, but not actively using or promoting, a domain with CBS in the name? Perhaps. But I suspect the devil is in the distinction between owning and promoting/using. 

 

Ultimately, I think you will see an agreement between the two parties where Gray retains ownership of the domain for a set period of time before having to sell to CBS at a fair market price. WCCB in Charlotte retained foxcharlotte.com after they lost their Fox affiliation, causing Fox O&O WJZY to use myfoxcarolinas.com. This grace period allowed consumers time to switch from foxcharlotte.com to wccbcharlotte.com. Later, WCCB would sell the domain to Fox, which still retains ownership of the domain today despite having sold WJZY years ago. Today, the URL redirects to Nexstar's qcnews.com. I suspect a similar delayed domain sale will play out in Atlanta. 

[nathannah 2792]

1 hour ago, carolinanews4 said:

WCCB in Charlotte retained foxcharlotte.com after they lost their Fox affiliation, causing Fox O&O WJZY to use myfoxcarolinas.com. This grace period allowed consumers time to switch from foxcharlotte.com to wccbcharlotte.com. Later, WCCB would sell the domain to Fox, which still retains ownership of the domain today despite having sold WJZY years ago. Today, the URL redirects to Nexstar's qcnews.com. I suspect a similar delayed domain sale will play out in Atlanta. 

This feels like what will happen; Gray still holds the domain until January 19 right now, so when they are at the point of renewing, they will transfer it to CBS with compensation to keep registration continuity.

 

What may happen is once CBS goes dark, it either goes to an FAQ about the switchover, or a 'CBS has moved to channel 69, (pagelink)' statement. You have to assume since this switchover was more expected, that Gray and CBS agreed to a proper handover as part of their new affiliation agreement without Atlanta and there won't be the 'New York ivory tower' attitude you heard from WPLG their first day, which is just not the 'Gray style'.

[NYAZSporty 196]

4 minutes ago, nathannah said:

You have to assume since this switchover was more expected, that Gray and CBS agreed to a proper handover as part of their new affiliation agreement without Atlanta and there won't be the 'New York ivory tower' attitude you heard from WPLG their first day, which is just not the 'Gray style'.

That's not gonna happen seeing WANF taking shots at CBS, especially considering Gray did renew contracts for its other CBS affiliates & they won't want to badmouth them, even if some of what CBS has done recently might make it easy for them to mock.

[TheNewsTV 342]

Has it been announced what WANF's programming will be like without CBS?

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

On 8/8/2025 at 7:35 AM, TheNewsTV said:

Has it been announced what WANF's programming will be like without CBS?

 

It seems like OnTVTonight has finally given us a first glimpse into what that will be like. Granted, its only next Saturday that's available for now but still... something.

 

07:00-08:00 AM: Local News Live Saturday

08:00-10:00 AM: ANF News LIVE Weekend

10:00AM-10:00PM: High School Football (Four matches back-to-back-to-back-to-back; they've done this for years though, mainly on WPCH, so no surprise here)

10:00-11:30 PM: ANF News LIVE

11:30PM-12:00AM: Investigate TV+ Weekend

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Another day, according to OnTVTonight. It looks like WANF will have weekend news from 8-10am, 5-7pm, and 10-11:30pm. Obviously, it may be different depending on when the weekend after that may look like, but right now, this is what it has.

 

Sunday, August 17th:

07:00-08:00 AM: Local News Live Sunday

08:00-10:00 AM: ANF News LIVE Weekend

10:00-10:30 AM: Inside Edition Weekend

10:30-11:00 AM: Positively America

11:00-11:30 AM: On The Record

11:30AM-12:00PM: Paid Program

12:00-12:30 PM: Investigate TV+ Weekend

12:30-01:30 PM: Opry

01:30-02:00 PM: The Song

02:00-03:00 PM: Paid Programming

03:00-05:00 PM: To Be Announced

05:00-07:00 PM: ANF News LIVE (this means Atlanta will have their very first weekend newscast at 5:00pm).

07:00-08:00 PM: Uncovered: ANF Investigates (x2)

08:00-08:30 PM: Investigate TV+ Weekend (repeat)

08:30-10:30 PM: WNBA - Atlanta Dream (ANF is the local flagship for it, thanks to PSN) at Golden State Valkyries

10:30-11:30 PM: ANF News LIVE

11:30PM-12:00AM: Paid Program

12:00-01:00 AM: Uncovered: ANF Investigates (x2; repeat)

 

So as you can see, a little mix of everything from news to music to investigations to even live sports on this particular night. I'm excited to see what Monday's schedule looks like, which will give us an indication as to how much more weekday news WANF will be producing.

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

Finally, what y'all have been waiting for and curious to see, just like me... the weekday schedule for WANF and it is about to pump out a WHOLE LOT more news. Yes, its OnTVTonight again as my resource for this.

 

Monday, August 18th, WANF's first full day of a news-heavy independent schedule:

04:00-07:00 AM: ANF Early Edition (they're expanding to 4am to compete against WSB)

07:00-10:00 AM: ANF A.M. LIVE (the 9am goes back to an hour)

10:00-11:00 AM: ATL LIVE (new timeslot and expands to an hour)

11:00-11:30 AM: Inside Edition (the new episode will remain on WPCH)

11:30AM-12:00PM: Investigate TV+

12:00-01:00 PM: ANF News LIVE at 12 Noon (expands to an hour now that it doesn't have to worry about CBS Daytime anymore)

01:00-02:00 PM: ATL LIVE (repeat)

02:00-03:00 PM: Local News LIVE

03:00-04:00 PM: ANF News LIVE at 3:00 (going back to an hour on WANF proper though its been that way on WPCH for quite some time now ever since Investigate TV+ premiered on syndie)

04:00-06:30 PM: ANF News LIVE

06:30-07:00 PM: ANF First Alert Weather Extra (yep, they're getting their own 30-minute all-weather program just like a handful of other Gray sisters out there, i.e. KCTV and WBRC)

07:00-07:30 PM: ANF News LIVE at 7:00

07:30-09:00 PM: The Big Bang Theory (x3)

09:00-10:00 PM: ANF News LIVE at 9:00 (the primetime newscast it once had, for WPCH, is back and on WANF proper)

10:00-11:30 PM: ANF News LIVE (no word if WPCH will continue to simulcast WANF's 6-9am, noon, 3, and 10pm newscasts)

11:30PM-12:00AM: ANF Sports Overtime (new to WANF proper but just like what KTVK/KPHO is doing with The Extra Point plus WANF has done this on streaming for some time too)

12:00-12:30 AM: Young Sheldon

12:30-01:00 AM: The Conners

01:00-01:30 AM: ANF News LIVE at 11:00 (repeat)

01:30-02:00 AM: ANF Sports Overtime (repeat)

02:00-03:00 AM: Georgia High School Sports Daily (from PSN: Peachtree Sports Network)

03:00-04:00 AM: Law and Order: SVU

[Rusty Muck 4688]

WANF, Your Official Shovelware Station!!

 

Seriously... they knew this was coming and this is the best they could do??? Gray might as well have moved Peachtree Sports to 46.1. Would have saved them a lot of time and trouble.

 

What a freaking waste.

[Horizon 300]

Welcome to visual radio, where you get news, talk, and sports on your OTA TV. WANF's schedule is showing us that it is starting to happen, and it is abysmal. 

[Georgie56 3661]

WPLG executed their independence better than WANF will. The former at least has the Merv Griffin Fun Hour and Live with Kelly & Mark on their schedule.

Edited August 10, 2025 by Georgie56

[NowBergen 924]

What is the difference between local news live and WANF news live?  A name?

[Horizon 300]

13 minutes ago, NowBergen said:

What is the difference between local news live and WANF news live?  A name?

Local News Live is a Gray streaming news channel that has since expanded to become an OTA news program on Gray stations that decide to air it.

Edited August 10, 2025 by Horizon

[Rusty Muck 4688]

51 minutes ago, Georgie56 said:

WPLG executed their independence better than WANF will. The former at least has the Merv Griffin Fun Hour and Live with Kelly & Mark on their schedule.

To say WPLG did it better than WANF is like saying the flu is better than measles. Both have excessive amounts of local news output the marketplace cannot support and typify the laziness that has caused local television in be in this terminally sclerotic state.

 

In any event, PLG will inevitably lose Live to WSVN .2 and WoF/J! goes away entirely next year. So by 2026 it'll be all shovelware news with diminishing returns for ratings.

Edited August 10, 2025 by Rusty Muck

[TheRolyPoly 3510]

46 minutes ago, Horizon said:

Local News Live is a Gray streaming news channel that has since expanded to become an OTA news program on Gray stations that decide to air it.

 

And, apparently, on Spectrum systems too, under the name Local Look Today (which I looked up the schedule via Zap2it via Gracenote... most of the time is LNL but part of it is also... sports. Yep).

 

Edited August 10, 2025 by TheRolyPoly
Added the logo.

[nathannah 2792]

The schedule was just as I thought it would be; KVVU/Arizona's Family East, though with some more sports programming. They have a successful template in those stations (even back to Meredith), so I think it's worth a try in Atlanta. Be relieved there's not a single Byron Allen program on it at the very least.

[ATLNewsExpert 508]

5 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

Finally, what y'all have been waiting for and curious to see, just like me... the weekday schedule for WANF and it is about to pump out a WHOLE LOT more news. Yes, its OnTVTonight again as my resource for this.

 

Monday, August 18th, WANF's first full day of a news-heavy independent schedule:

04:00-07:00 AM: ANF Early Edition (they're expanding to 4am to compete against WSB)

07:00-10:00 AM: ANF A.M. LIVE (the 9am goes back to an hour)

10:00-11:00 AM: ATL LIVE (new timeslot and expands to an hour)

11:00-11:30 AM: Inside Edition (the new episode will remain on WPCH)

11:30AM-12:00PM: Investigate TV+

12:00-01:00 PM: ANF News LIVE at 12 Noon (expands to an hour now that it doesn't have to worry about CBS Daytime anymore)

01:00-02:00 PM: ATL LIVE (repeat)

02:00-03:00 PM: Local News LIVE

03:00-04:00 PM: ANF News LIVE at 3:00 (going back to an hour on WANF proper though its been that way on WPCH for quite some time now ever since Investigate TV+ premiered on syndie)

04:00-06:30 PM: ANF News LIVE

06:30-07:00 PM: ANF First Alert Weather Extra (yep, they're getting their own 30-minute all-weather program just like a handful of other Gray sisters out there, i.e. KCTV and WBRC)

07:00-07:30 PM: ANF News LIVE at 7:00

07:30-09:00 PM: The Big Bang Theory (x3)

09:00-10:00 PM: ANF News LIVE at 9:00 (the primetime newscast it once had, for WPCH, is back and on WANF proper)

10:00-11:30 PM: ANF News LIVE (no word if WPCH will continue to simulcast WANF's 6-9am, noon, 3, and 10pm newscasts)

11:30PM-12:00AM: ANF Sports Overtime (new to WANF proper but just like what KTVK/KPHO is doing with The Extra Point plus WANF has done this on streaming for some time too)

12:00-12:30 AM: Young Sheldon

12:30-01:00 AM: The Conners

01:00-01:30 AM: ANF News LIVE at 11:00 (repeat)

01:30-02:00 AM: ANF Sports Overtime (repeat)

02:00-03:00 AM: Georgia High School Sports Daily (from PSN: Peachtree Sports Network)

03:00-04:00 AM: Law and Order: SVU

This is kind of disappointing, on what world does Atlanta need an hour and a half of TBBT? Something smarter would have been to make the 6:00 an hour long, and move the weather show to 7:30, and then air an hour of LNL at 8. 

 

I personally would not complain if they go the WPLG route and have a ''world news'' newscast, possibly at 7 or 8?

Edited August 11, 2025 by ATLNewsExpert

[MediaZone4K 2661]

8 hours ago, TheRolyPoly said:

Finally, what y'all have been waiting for and curious to see, just like me... the weekday schedule for WANF and it is about to pump out a WHOLE LOT more news. Yes, its OnTVTonight again as my resource for this.

 

Monday, August 18th, WANF's first full day of a news-heavy independent schedule:

04:00-07:00 AM: ANF Early Edition (they're expanding to 4am to compete against WSB)

07:00-10:00 AM: ANF A.M. LIVE (the 9am goes back to an hour)

10:00-11:00 AM: ATL LIVE (new timeslot and expands to an hour)

11:00-11:30 AM: Inside Edition (the new episode will remain on WPCH)

11:30AM-12:00PM: Investigate TV+

12:00-01:00 PM: ANF News LIVE at 12 Noon (expands to an hour now that it doesn't have to worry about CBS Daytime anymore)

01:00-02:00 PM: ATL LIVE (repeat)

02:00-03:00 PM: Local News LIVE

03:00-04:00 PM: ANF News LIVE at 3:00 (going back to an hour on WANF proper though its been that way on WPCH for quite some time now ever since Investigate TV+ premiered on syndie)

04:00-06:30 PM: ANF News LIVE

06:30-07:00 PM: ANF First Alert Weather Extra (yep, they're getting their own 30-minute all-weather program just like a handful of other Gray sisters out there, i.e. KCTV and WBRC)

07:00-07:30 PM: ANF News LIVE at 7:00

07:30-09:00 PM: The Big Bang Theory (x3)

09:00-10:00 PM: ANF News LIVE at 9:00 (the primetime newscast it once had, for WPCH, is back and on WANF proper)

10:00-11:30 PM: ANF News LIVE (no word if WPCH will continue to simulcast WANF's 6-9am, noon, 3, and 10pm newscasts)

11:30PM-12:00AM: ANF Sports Overtime (new to WANF proper but just like what KTVK/KPHO is doing with The Extra Point plus WANF has done this on streaming for some time too)

12:00-12:30 AM: Young Sheldon

12:30-01:00 AM: The Conners

01:00-01:30 AM: ANF News LIVE at 11:00 (repeat)

01:30-02:00 AM: ANF Sports Overtime (repeat)

02:00-03:00 AM: Georgia High School Sports Daily (from PSN: Peachtree Sports Network)

03:00-04:00 AM: Law and Order: SVU

At what point do these OTA air news intensive stations take the Spectrum News route and simply record a half hour live and just press repeat?

 

EDIT: and three episodes of big bang back to back? Yikes.

Edited August 11, 2025 by MediaZone4K

[Casey Buck 36]

But...but...Moar News is moar better!!11!!!

 

/s

Edited August 11, 2025 by Casey Buck

[mre29 1967]

5 hours ago, Rusty Muck said:

To say WPLG did it better than WANF is like saying the flu is better than measles. Both have excessive amounts of local news output the marketplace cannot support and typify the laziness that has caused local television in be in this terminally sclerotic state.

 

As far as I'm concerned, there are only two, maybe three markets that can support that much news output: New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

 

 

3 hours ago, MediaZone4K said:

EDIT: and three episodes of big bang back to back? Yikes.

 

One for the Big, one for the Bang, and one for the Theory, I guess. 

 

[johnothy 53]

People will want to know where they can find their CBS shows. They aren’t going to care about the WANF schedule of all news…

[NowBergen 924]

6 hours ago, mre29 said:

 

As far as I'm concerned, there are only two, maybe three markets that can support that much news output: New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

 

 

 

 

NY does now have one other than News12(location) which is live 30 minutes, repeated for hours, and NY1.  Neither are "over the air, licensed, etc) like WANF, WPLG,...

[MediaZone4K 2661]

15 hours ago, mre29 said:

 

As far as I'm concerned, there are only two, maybe three markets that can support that much news output: New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago.

 

One for the Big, one for the Bang, and one for the Theory, I guess. 

 

Even by New York City standards this is excessive. A lot of NYC stations resort to repeating stories after a certain hour, for example WNBC's 7 PM broadcast.

22 hours ago, Georgie56 said:

WPLG executed their independence better than WANF will. The former at least has the Merv Griffin Fun Hour and Live with Kelly & Mark on their schedule.

As bad as both stations schedules are, I would agree that WPLG has the better lineup. They have a few decent syndication options such as Live, Wheel and Jeopardy. Add to that Local 10 News is roughly 1st place among the English language stations in the market, putting them in a better position than WANF.

 

In social media posts about these affiliation drops, I've seen viewers champion "more local news", especially without network agendas. What they fail to realize is more than half the time these of newscasts will be filled with national stories from wire services as there isn't enough local news to support such heavy output.

 

Aside from preventing layoffs (such as in WPLG's case) are there any positives to these affiliation drops?? I don't see it.

 

Edited August 11, 2025 by MediaZone4K