U.S. television network affiliate switches of 1994

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The United States television network affiliate switches of 1994 were a series of events resulting from a multi-million dollar deal between Fox Broadcasting Company, known commonly as Fox, and New World Communications, an owner of several VHF television stations affiliated with major networks, primarily CBS.

The major impetus for the changes was to improve local coverage of the fledgling network's new National Football League packages. As a result of various other deals that followed as a result of the affiliation switches, most notably the buyout of CBS by Westinghouse, the switches constituted some of the most sweeping changes in American television history. As a result of these changes, Fox ascended to the status of a major television network, comparable in influence to the Big Three television networks (CBS, NBC and ABC).

Nearly 70 stations in 30 media markets throughout the United States changed affiliations starting in the fall of 1994 and continuing through early 1996.

Contents

[edit] NFL on Fox

Main article: NFL on Fox

For some time, Rupert Murdoch, chief executive officer of News Corporation, the parent company of the Fox network, lusted after a major-league sports presence for his network. He thought that landing a live sports broadcasting package would elevate Fox to the level of ABC, CBS and NBC, the other nationwide broadcast networks in the United States at the time.

In 1987, the network bid for Monday Night Football, then the NFL's crown-jewel program, but the offer was rejected. Six years later, Fox stunned the sports and TV worlds by acquiring partial rights to the NFL. The package – covering four seasons of games involving teams in the National Football Conference, as well as Super Bowl XXXI, a package previously owned by CBS – cost Fox $1.58 billion. CBS, then run by the cost-cutting Laurence Tisch, had reportedly bid only $290 million and was unwilling to even approach the Fox offer.

At the time of Fox's bid, most of its affiliates were lower-powered UHF stations. As Fox put together its new sports division to cover the NFL, it wanted to affiliate with VHF stations that had lower channel numbers (channels 2 to 13), more established histories, and carried more value with advertisers.

[edit] New World Deal

Main article: New World Communications

On May 23, 1994,[1] months after completing the NFL contract, Fox agreed to purchase a 20 percent stake (a $500 million investment) in New World Communications. The following stations were part of the deal:

[edit] Existing New World stations

[edit] Stations that were acquired from Argyle Television

[edit] Stations that were acquired from Citicasters

In addition, two Citicasters stations, ABC affiliates WKRC-TV in Cincinnati and WTSP in St. Petersburg, Florida, were left out of the New World deal, though neither station would have been of any benefit to Fox. In WKRC's case, the Cincinnati Bengals aired on NBC and WLWT at the time. Ironically, the Bengals' games now air on WKRC. And in WTSP's case, New World already owned WTVT, which was the higher-rated of the two stations at the time and had more full coverage of the Tampa area as WTSP transmitted from a more northerly location which forced ABC (then WTSP's network) to maintain an additional affiliate in Sarasota (WWSB) to serve the entire market.

Not all the stations involved would switch to Fox:

  • Because of Federal Communications Commission rules of the time, New World could not keep WBRC and WVTM; WBRC was placed in a blind trust and would later be sold to Fox directly, as would WGHP. WBRC would later be sold to Raycom Media, while Local TV LLC would buy WGHP.
  • As a side effect of the sale of WBRC, WVTM, which New World kept, retained its NBC affiliation; KNSD also stayed with NBC, as in San Diego Fox already had an affiliate on the VHF band, XETV (channel 6). Both were directly sold to the NBC network for $425 million in May 1996.[2] Today, NBC Universal owns 76 percent of KNSD, and LIN TV 24 percent. WVTM would be later sold along with other smaller NBC-owned stations to Media General.
  • WSBK did not join Fox because the network would reacquire its existing affiliate, WFXT. WSBK would later be sold to Viacom and became a charter member of UPN, which launched on January 15, 1995.

[edit] NFL connection to deal

The key to the deal was that Fox upgraded its affiliate stations in several markets. Before the deal, of the 14 NFC teams at the time, only four—the Los Angeles Rams, New York Giants, San Francisco 49ers, and Washington Redskins—were co-located with VHF Fox affiliates. The Fox stations in New York, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C. are three of the network's original six owned-and-operated outlets. The San Francisco affiliate, KTVU, has been owned by Cox Enterprises since 1964.

Most of the stations involved in the New World deal were located in markets with teams from the NFC, which was at the time considered the more prestigious of the two NFL conferences for a variety of reasons. In particular, NFC teams were located in nine of the ten largest television markets at the time with the lone exception being Boston, whose only NFL team, the New England Patriots, played in the American Football Conference. Also, most of the NFC teams existed before the formation of the old American Football League and therefore contain longer histories, rivalries and traditions. During this time, the NFC was also in the midst of a 13-game winning streak against the AFC in the Super Bowl.

Many of the stations slated that switched to Fox were CBS affiliates in markets where NFC teams were located, thus fans would continue to see at least their team's road games on local VHF stations.

NFC teams in markets related to deal:

AFC teams in markets related to deal:

KTBC and WITI served markets containing significant fan bases for nearby NFC teams. KTBC had aired Cowboys games for years (including during preseason), while WITI had broadcast Packers games to its Milwaukee audience since becoming a CBS affiliate in 1977 (through 1994, the Packers also played some games in Milwaukee).

In 1995, a year after the Fox switches, St. Louis received an NFC team when the Rams relocated from Los Angeles following the 1994 season, making KTVI the eighth station (and sixth in an NFC market) among the stations involved in the switchover and bringing the total number of NFC teams with VHF Fox affiliates to nine. That same year, the Carolina Panthers joined the NFL as an expansion team, which made WGHP another satellite "home" station for an NFL team as the Panthers are based in Charlotte, which is directly south of the Piedmont Triad region where WGHP is situated.

It should be noted that, because of the time it took for the FCC to approve the NewsCorp investment in New World (as well as waiting for affiliation contracts to expire), the old, "lame duck" affiliates actually carried the NFL on Fox games for most of the 1994 season. For example, most Cowboys games were on KDAF in Dallas and KBVO in Austin, and the Lions were seen on WKBD-TV, while WCGV-TV in Milwaukee carried Packers games until WITI's affiliation deal with CBS ended at the start of December 1994, the only break in WITI's carriage of team games since 1977, when that station took CBS affiliation. As late as the 1995 season, New Orleans Saints games were on WNOL, not WVUE (see the Burnham Broadcasting section below). The same season the Cowboys returned to KDFW, they won Super Bowl XXX.

[edit] Burnham Broadcasting

Just weeks after completing the New World deal, Fox announced another purchase, this one of Burnham Broadcasting. The stations involved were the following:

Fox would become minority owner of these stations; majority partner Savoy Broadcasting, was a minority-owned communications firm. The deal gave Fox upgrades for the home markets of two more teams: the Packers and the New Orleans Saints, giving Fox VHF affiliates in eleven of the fifteen NFC markets, though in Green Bay it was a return to VHF as that market had gone through a smaller shuffle in 1992, when longtime Packer flagship WBAY-TV lost the rights to most Packers games when it took ABC affiliation in the wake of their former network, CBS's purchase of WFRV-TV. SF Broadcasting, as the Savoy Pictures-Fox joint venture was known, had been founded in March 1994. It was capitalized with $100 million – $58 million from Fox, $41 million from Savoy, and $1 million from the chairmen of Savoy Pictures. Fox had no voting stock (if they did, the stations would be counted against the FCC ownership total); instead, Savoy Pictures chairmen Victor A. Kaufman and Lewis J. Korman held all the stock.[3]

The second season WLUK carried the Packers (1996), the team won the Super Bowl, the first time Fox carried the game.

[edit] Repercussions

Overnight, the landscape of local television in many areas changed as viewers were confronted with new affiliations on their familiar stations.

The transition was straightforward in some cases, as Kansas City, St. Louis, Austin, Cleveland and the Piedmont Triad saw the old Fox affiliates simply swap with the new ones. KSHB-TV replaced WDAF-TV as Kansas City's NBC affiliate, while KDNL-TV and WXLV-TV affiliated with ABC in St. Louis and the Piedmont Triad respectively. KBVO (now KEYE-TV) in Austin and WOIO in Cleveland affiliated with CBS. All five were UHF stations.

The largest affiliation swap occurred in Birmingham, a market that expanded to include three other central Alabama cities, Tuscaloosa, Gadsden, and Anniston. Six different stations changed affiliations due to WBRC moving from ABC to Fox. WCFT-TV and WJSU-TV, the respective CBS affiliates for Tuscaloosa and Anniston, merged and became the combined ABC affiliate for Birmingham and central Alabama. (In addition, because reception of both stations were poor in center city, the owner of the two stations purchased low-power WBMA-LP and also made it an ABC station, in fact being the main station of the cluster.) WNAL, the former Fox affiliate for Gadsden, became the CBS affiliate for northeast Alabama before eventually becoming the Pax network affiliate for Birmingham. WTTO and WDBB, the Fox affiliates for Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, became independent stations before eventually affiliating with the WB Television Network.

As expected, CBS bore the worst brunt of the changes. The network had already developed a stodgy and overly budgeted image under Laurence Tisch, who had become CEO in 1985. Tisch was already notorious for having made deep cuts at CBS News and by selling off major portions of the company, such as Columbia Records to Sony. When CBS lost the NFL to Fox, the problems accelerated as the "Tiffany Network" struggled to compete with NBC and ABC in the ratings, even though the network still finished ahead of Fox. CBS eventually recovered and by 1999, was the most-watched network until it was surpassed by ABC in 2000 and NBC in 2001 before retaking the lead again in 2002. NBC took the lead again in 2003 and 2004 before CBS retook the lead once again in 2005.

CBS' problems were especially evident in the recruiting of new affiliates. As a direct result of the New World-Fox alliance, only four new CBS affiliates were VHF stations:

  • In the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Gaylord Broadcasting-owned KTVT (channel 11) became the new CBS affiliate after KDFW switched to Fox (and KTVT would eventually be purchased by CBS itself four years after the switches took place). KDAF (channel 33), an original Fox-owned station, became a WB affiliate, and is now affiliated with the CW Television Network.
  • As a by-product of the KTVT deal, another new VHF CBS affiliate at the time was sister station KSTW (channel 11) in the Seattle-Tacoma area, replacing KIRO-TV (channel 7). This affiliation only lasted two years though, as KIRO-TV returned to CBS in 1997 following a sale of the station from Belo Corporation to Cox Enterprises.
    • In 1997, Fox planned to trade KSAZ to Belo for KIRO, but that fell through. Ironically, KIRO would be the "home station" of the Seattle Seahawks from 1998–2001, before giving way to Fox affiliate KCPQ.[citation needed]
  • In Phoenix, CBS moved to former independent station KPHO-TV (channel 5), which ironically was CBS's original Phoenix affiliate. As part of the deal with KPHO parent Meredith Corporation, CBS moved to WNEM-TV (channel 5), replacing WEYI-TV (channel 25) in the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Michigan area. WEYI-TV took on WNEM's NBC affiliation as a result. CBS protected its relationship with Meredith's Kansas City station, KCTV, through this deal as well.

The affiliate switches also led to another deal involving the E.W. Scripps Company, the parent company of KSHB-TV. Scripps' two highest-profile stations, ABC affiliates WEWS in Cleveland and WXYZ-TV in Detroit, were being courted by CBS to replace WJW and WJBK, respectively. In order to keep ABC on WEWS and WXYZ, Scripps required ABC to switch its affiliations to four of the company's non-ABC affiliates:

  • NBC affiliate WMAR-TV in Baltimore, replacing WJZ-TV;
  • CBS station WCPO-TV in Cincinnati, replacing WKRC-TV and reversing an affiliation switch which occurred in 1961;
  • KNXV-TV in Phoenix, slated to lose Fox due to the New World deal, replacing then-market leader KTVK; and
  • WFTS in Tampa, who was also scheduled to lose Fox through the New World deal, replacing WTSP.

The switchovers angered WJZ-TV's parent company, Westinghouse Broadcasting. Group W had already been in talks with several networks – including CBS, NBC, and Fox – for new affiliations for its stations prior to the announcement of the New World deal. These talks accelerated once that deal was announced.[4] Later in 1994, the company agreed to affiliate three of its five stations with CBS. (The other two stations, KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh and KPIX in San Francisco were already CBS affiliates.) In September 1994, KPIX and KDKA-TV, both of whom along the rest of the Westinghouse stations were known for pre-empting some network programs, began carrying the entire CBS schedule as a condition of the deal. This was followed by WJZ-TV and Boston NBC affiliate WBZ-TV switching to CBS at the end of 1994, and then the switchover before the beginning of the 1995-1996 television season of KYW-TV in Philadelphia from NBC to CBS, to whom Westinghouse also sold a minority share of KYW-TV.

Because of the New World deal, eventual deals involving Scripps and Westinghouse's stations, and the unwillingness of rival stations in affected markets to switch network affiliations, CBS was left with lesser-known affiliates in Atlanta, Detroit, and Milwaukee, where the new affiliates were all low-profile UHF stations with far less transmitting power than their previous affiliates:

  • In Atlanta, CBS almost purchased WVEU, which broadcast on channel 69, the highest available channel in the U.S. during the later era of analog television. Eventually, they reached a deal with WGNX (channel 46, now WGCL-TV), then owned by Tribune Broadcasting. WGNX was slated to become Atlanta's WB affiliate prior to agreeing to terms with CBS. Ironically, CBS now owns channel 69, WUPA, as a CW affiliate; it was with UPN until September 2006. The market's former Fox O&O, WATL (channel 36) became an affiliate (and later O&O[5]) of the WB, and in 2006 moved over to another new network, MyNetworkTV.
  • Milwaukee's new CBS station, WDJT-TV (channel 58), had a general syndicated schedule, with some ethnic and time-brokered religious programming mixed in, along with very low cable carriage in the market. The station's owners, Weigel Broadcasting, had its roots in running Chicago independent station WCIU-TV, and at the time never had any station of theirs affiliated with a major network. WDJT joined the network just one week before the switch, after an attempt by CBS to buy religious station WVCY-TV (channel 30) fell through. The station then built a new transmitter in 1999 which has transmitting power equal with the market's other five commercial stations. Part of the switches resulted in several of CBS' remaining sports properties, most notably the Daytona 500, not being carried over some southeastern Wisconsin systems in 1995 until carriage contracts were signed. Former Fox affiliate WCGV-TV (channel 24) joined the then-upstart UPN network, and is now affiliated with MyNetworkTV after UPN folded.
  • In Detroit, finding a replacement affiliate proved especially difficult for CBS. Unable to lure the market's remaining major network station, NBC affiliate WDIV to switch affiliations, CBS also deal with most of southeastern Michigan's remaining independent stations displaying either disinterest or an unwillingness to enter into negotiations with the network. In an eleventh-hour deal reached mere days before WJBK-TV was due to drop CBS programming, CBS purchased WGPR-TV (channel 62) from an African-American group of Masons and changed its name to WWJ-TV. CBS had preferred to reach a deal with another station, WADL (channel 38), but broke off negotiations when WADL's owner began making unreasonable demands. WGPR previously had the weakest signal of any UHF station in Detroit, but CBS invested heavily in the station and significantly upgraded its facilities. The former Fox affiliate, WKBD-TV, also joined UPN, and is now a CW affiliate co-owned with WWJ-TV, which is strangely the lesser partner in the duopoly; the other CBS duopolies have the CBS affiliate as the senior partner.

[edit] Other repercussions

  • As a result of the affiliation switches, NBC became the most-watched network in the United States, as it not only experienced the fewest effects of the switchover, but also benefited from a strong slate of programming at the time (including Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld, ER and the Dateline NBC franchise). They would remain in first until 1999, when CBS overtook NBC at number one. This was also following the first year since NBC lost rights to AFC games in the NFL to CBS. The NFL would eventually return to NBC in 2006 with the league's Sunday night package after ESPN (who previously held the latter package) took over Monday Night Football from sister network ABC.
  • Because of the Westinghouse deal involving WBZ-TV, CBS had to sell WPRI-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, which it had just acquired months before. That purchase was the catalyst of an additional affiliation switch, as WPRI's former alliance with ABC moved to Freedom Communications-owned WLNE, which was previously a CBS station. WPRI's signal carried from Rhode Island over into most of the Boston area whereas WBZ-TV's Boston signal traveled all the way into almost all of the state of Rhode Island. FCC regulations at the time prevented common ownership of stations whose signals overlapped and would not even consider a waiver for stations with large overlapping coverage areas.
  • When KYW-TV switched to CBS from NBC, CBS traded its Philadelphia station, WCAU-TV, to NBC in exchange for KCNC-TV in Denver and KUTV in Salt Lake City. As compensation for these station trades, CBS-owned WCIX in Miami swapped facilities with NBC-owned WTVJ. Westinghouse and CBS then formed a joint venture involving its new properties and WCIX, which became WFOR-TV, with Westinghouse as the majority owner.
  • At one point, New World considered buying WCAU, which would have turned that station into a Fox affiliate (and thus also continue broadcasting Philadelphia Eagles games, which it had done since 1950). Additionally, Fox had bought WGBS-TV (channel 57) as a result of rumors that Paramount's WTXF-TV (the market's Fox affiliate) was switching to UPN, but later canceled those plans and made a bid to buy the station if New World passed up the opportunity. WTXF was eventually sold to Fox with Paramount buying WGBS-TV (and renaming it WPSG) and NBC winding up with WCAU.
  • The broadcasting division of publishing firm McGraw-Hill also had arranged a new affiliation deal, in which all four of its stations would affiliate with ABC. The company's two ABC affiliates, WRTV in Indianapolis and KGTV in San Diego, would be joined by CBS affiliates KERO-TV in Bakersfield, California and KMGH-TV in Denver, the former of which had to wait for its affiliation deal with CBS to expire before switching to ABC.
  • In the Sacramento television market, Sinclair Broadcasting Group, as part of a deal to make KDNL/St. Louis and WXLV-TV/Winston-Salem ABC affiliates, agreed to give up KOVR's ABC affiliation to then-Belo owned CBS affiliate KXTV (as part of a deal with Belo to reaffiliate their sister stations in Dallas, Norfolk, Louisville and Austin) on March 3, 1995. Since then, Gannett has purchased KXTV from Belo, while CBS acquired KOVR and its sister station KMAX. Since KOVR switched from ABC to CBS, the station launched what would become a successful programming schedule in which the CBS prime-time line starts an hour earlier at 7 PM and ends at 10 PM, making them the only station in the Pacific Time Zone to hold that position.
  • A similar situation would take place in Evansville, where in the wake of WTVW's switch to Fox in 1995, the ABC affiliation would instead go to CBS affiliate WEHT, who in turn would give up the CBS affiliation to WEVV, which was the Fox affiliate. On July 1, 2011, WEVV's digital subchannel became the new Fox affiliate, as Fox has dropped WTVW.
  • In San Diego, UPN affiliate KUSI-TV (now an independent station) tried unsuccessfully to take the Fox affiliation away from XETV, which was based in Tijuana, Mexico, citing FCC regulations preventing Mexican-licensed stations (or any foreign station outside of the United States) from airing live American sporting events without an FCC-approved license, but Fox was eventually granted the permit. XETV switched to the CW in August 2008 after losing its Fox affiliation to KSWB-TV.
  • Because of the deals involving KCNC and KMGH, Gannett arranged another affiliation deal with NBC to affiliate with the Denver area's displaced ABC affiliate, KUSA-TV. A similar situation happened to Hearst Broadcasting in which its Baltimore CBS affiliate, WBAL-TV, returned to NBC (it had been affiliated with that network until 1981 when it affiliated with CBS, who was dissatisfied with its then-Baltimore affiliate WMAR-TV frequently preempting CBS programming). Additionally, two former CBS affiliates displaced by the Westinghouse/CBS deal (KSL-TV in Salt Lake City and WHDH-TV in Boston) affiliated with NBC. WHDH-TV remains NBC's biggest affiliate, and was in a row with the station in 2009 over telecasting The Jay Leno Show.
  • In Phoenix, KTVK turned down CBS's offer to affiliate with the then-ABC affiliate in anticipation of ABC renewing its affiliation agreement with the station. However, after the Scripps deal went through resulting in ABC's move to KNXV, KTVK was disappointed and eventually began to gradually phase out its ABC offerings. On its final day as an ABC affiliate, KTVK only had ABC's prime-time lineup, major soaps, and sports programs remaining.
  • Prior to switching on December 11, WAGA began turning down some weaker CBS programs on a week-by-week basis, similar to how KTVK phased out some ABC programs and gave them to KNXV.[6]
  • CBS remedied their Cincinnati and Tampa-St. Petersburg situations by picking up both of the Citicasters stations displaced in the ABC-Scripps alliance. WTSP in Tampa-St. Petersburg switched to CBS in December 1994, while WKRC-TV in Cincinnati had to wait until WCPO-TV's affiliation contract with CBS ended in June 1996 before it could make its switch.
  • Since WBRC's affiliation agreement with ABC did not expire until the end of the 1995–1996 television season, Fox had to run WBRC as an ABC affiliate for over one and a half years. The only other recent instance in which a major network has had to run a rival network's affiliate was in 1988, when NBC was forced to run WTVJ in Miami as a CBS affiliate for one year after Sunbeam Television, which owned rival outlet WSVN, refused to end that station's contract with NBC until it expired at the end of the year. On January 1, 1989, WSVN replaced WCIX as Miami's Fox affiliate, with WCIX acquiring CBS and NBC moving over to WTVJ.
  • Before the Scripps deal, ABC purchased its affiliate WJRT-TV in Flint, Michigan and NBC affiliate WTVG in Toledo, Ohio as a contingency plan in the event that its Detroit affiliate WXYZ-TV flipped to CBS. While WXYZ eventually remained with ABC, the deal eventually went through. However, for two months, ABC had to run WTVG (which as WSPD-TV was an ABC primary affiliate from 1958 to 1970) as an NBC affiliate while the latter network searched for a new affiliate (which turned out to be Toledo's former ABC affiliate, WNWO-TV). ABC's purchase of WJRT-TV was a factor in dislocated NBC affiliating with former CBS affiliate WEYI-TV. Coincidentally, WNWO and WEYI are now both owned by the same company, Barrington Broadcasting.
  • In Honolulu, NBC, who lost KHON in the SF/Fox deal, was hoping to offer the affiliation to ABC affiliate KITV at first, but after KITV was sold to Argyle and opted to stay with ABC instead, NBC went with former Fox affiliate KHNL.
  • Several first-run syndicated programs, such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Wheel of Fortune, Jeopardy! and Entertainment Tonight were dropped by some of the New World stations, who had aired them in favor of lower-budget syndicated programs or newer shows such as Access Hollywood and Judge Judy. In several of the markets affected, at least one of these shows now airs on their former network's new affiliate. For example, two Fox affiliates involved in the Burnham/Savoy deal, WVUE in New Orleans and Green Bay's WLUK, now air both Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy! KHON continued to carry Oprah up until her show ended in May 2011 and continues to carry Wheel.
  • Before the New World deal was announced, WATL was in the planning stages of launching a news department and had even hired a news director. After the New World deal was announced, WATL shelved these plans. The station would not air news until 2006, when Gannett purchased WATL and launched a 10 p.m. newscast produced by sister station WXIA-TV.
  • Some areas with a strong NFL team fanbase outside the core markets were unprepared for the switch, and did not have a Fox affiliate at all, putting the network in the awkward position of airing NFL games on the affiliate station of another network which had no interest in airing Fox's general schedule, until a Fox station could be launched or courted. This occurred in Wausau, Wisconsin, where ABC affiliate WAOW-TV aired the NFL on Fox package for five years (in addition to already airing Monday Night Football games as an ABC affiliate) to assuage the Packer-dominated market, until Wittenberg-licensed WFXS launched to allow the network an affiliate in the area (the net effect being that WAOW carried up to 13 Packers games a year from 1994-98 from both Fox and ABC). Subsequently, WAOW has since provided a 9 pm newscast to WFXS and provided assistance to the station by broadcasting it as a digital subchannel during an arduous and complicated digital television transition in February 2009, exacerbated by bad weather in the Wausau area. KOCR in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, a Fox affiliate with its own problems (it would go out of business in 1994 due to non-payment of power bills and eviction from its facilities), gave the rights to the NFL on Fox package to CBS affiliate KGAN-TV.
  • Following CBS's decision in Detroit to purchase WWJ-TV, its previous owners sued to gain control of the station. However, these owners could not stop CBS from moving its affiliation over to WWJ-TV. A court later ruled the following year in CBS's favor.
  • In Milwaukee, CBS was threatening to have to import the signals of CBS-owned stations WBBM-TV in Chicago or WFRV-TV in Green Bay, or its affiliate station WISC-TV in Madison, Wisconsin, via cable as a result of its difficulty finding a new affiliate to replace WITI. As WDJT's unexpected switchover to CBS came only days after it was announced as the market's new affiliate, a primitive logo featuring the CBS eye to the left of its "58" logo (scripted in italic Times New Roman) served as the station's logo for several months. Generic CBS promos were also used at this time while WDJT looked to start a news department and find larger studio facilities (until then the station was based facilities in a downtown hotel which had been regarded as antiquated, being the home of other television and radio stations in the past before modern facilities cold be built for them).
  • As with WDJT, Weigel also found itself with another network switch in the South Bend, Indiana market in 1995, when full-power ABC affiliate WSJV, owned by Quincy Newspapers, switched to Fox. Weigel's W58BT, a low-power translator station of Chicago's WCIU which also carried Fox programming, ended up becoming an ABC affiliate almost by default due to the lack of another full-power station allocation in the market (the only other choice being owned by a religious organization with no intent to sell), causing the same cable entanglements and reception problems as had happened in Milwaukee, though the market had fringe access to several other ABC stations, including Chicago's WLS-TV and Battle Creek's WOTV. W58BT eventually became a licensed low-power operation with the calls WBND-LP, but did not start a limited news operation using reporting from South Bend and WDJT staff anchoring and weathercasting for the station until 2008, and a full locally-based news organization in 2011. Because of the weakness of the station in the market, WBND, along with their sister MyNetworkTV and CW low power stations, were to be sold to Schurz Communications, the founding owners of CBS affiliate WSBT-TV in late 2008. However, FCC inaction and local fears of Schurz holding a virtual monopoly over South Bend media led to the deal being called off in August 2009. (The deal was legal, because all three Weigel stations are low-powered, for which there are no current FCC ownership limits.)
  • Another situation would take place in Terre Haute, where in the wake of WBAK-TV's (later WFXW) switch from ABC to Fox, left the market that with fringe access to several other ABC stations, including Indianapolis' WRTV and the aforementioned WEHT in Evansville in the Indiana side of the market and Champaign's WAND-TV (and later WICD/WICS). On September 1, 2011, Fox is now airing on the second digital subchannel of CBS affiliate WTHI, as Fox has dropped WFXW, which became an ABC affiliate again under the call sign WAWV-TV, reversing the affiliation switch.

[edit] Local newscasts

The primary plus for the new Fox stations collectively was an increase in the amount of news covered on these stations, which Fox had high interest in doing as the network had (and still to this day has) no national newscasts. Over time, the former Big Three stations which had aired newscasts for years expanded them along with many original Fox stations. Morning newscasts on Fox stations gradually expanded to compete with the national morning shows aired by the Big Three.

By the time of the Fox buyout of New World, some stations in the New World station group were still under-performing. Observers cited "a reluctance of station managers to embrace the new network and a tendency to cling to conservative news and promotional styles."[7] Indeed, many New World Fox affiliates received major image overhauls between 1996 and 1998, such as WTVT and WAGA dropping their heritage Eyewitness News branding and KSAZ dropping its "sunset 10" logo after nearly fifteen years.

New World's Fox affiliates saw mixed results with their newscasts:

  • After switching to Fox, WTVT in Tampa lost its number one position in the market to NBC affiliate WFLA-TV, which was the only major-network station in Tampa not affected by the switch.
  • In Cleveland, WJW-TV fell from first place in its market. The problems were especially evident following the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, as Fox had no news division; Fox News Channel did not exist until the following year. WEWS (which shunned CBS via the ABC-Scripps deal) would overtake the station as the market leader, while also-ran NBC affiliate WKYC-TV also began to post higher ratings for the first time in decades. That October, WJW controversially dropped their long-running NewsCenter 8 brand in favor of ei8ht IS NEWS, which was short-lived upon Fox's purchase of the station several months later, consigning WJW to the standard Fox 8 brand. WJW has since regained the ratings lead for most of its newscasts.
  • KTBC in Austin, long the market's dominant news station (and sole VHF station), fell to the bottom of the ratings behind two UHF stations, NBC affiliate KXAN, and ABC affiliate KVUE.
  • Phoenix's NBC affiliate, KPNX, which was the only station unaffected by the affiliation switches in the Phoenix area, went from being the market's third-place station to its top-rated one.
  • Some New World stations, however, have maintained their ratings dominance. In Birmingham, WBRC's primetime newscast is considered one of the nation's highest-rated newscasts. Additionally, WDAF in Kansas City has finished number one in several time slots, including at 9:00 pm.
  • Another key positive was also in regards to the morning news shows on the new Fox affiliates, most of which perform competitively and even place first in the ratings, unlike the constant flux and upheavals with CBS's morning shows and schedules.

Additionally, some of the new Fox affiliates, perhaps in appealing to Fox's younger-skewing audiences, moved many older news personalities to daytime broadcasts or released them entirely from their news teams. Some of these personalities eventually wound up on other stations, such as the new Big Three affiliates.

Unfortunately, many of the new Big Three affiliates were not as lucky. As these were former Fox affiliates (or independents) that did not have newscasts at the time, almost all of them had to give in to launching them to back up the nationally-aired newscasts provided by the networks. Generally, the stations that continue to air newscasts to this day have finished in fourth place behind their VHF competitors. However, many of these stations, such as Scripps' KNXV; WFTS; and KSHB, have seen gradual growth in their ratings.

Still, other new affiliates that launched newscasts experienced no permanent success. In Detroit, WWJ-TV premiered a newscast in fall 2001 produced by sister station WKBD. Both the WKBD and WWJ newscasts were canceled in late 2002 under an agreement made by WXYZ-TV to produce WKBD's news. Therefore, WWJ became now the largest-market major-network affiliate, and the only O&O of any major network, to have no newscasts. From 2006 to 2008, WWJ-TV made light of this fact by using a slogan, Where No News is Good News, for promoting programming during periods where there would usually be newscasts. In 2009, local news returned to WWJ, with a morning newscast produced by the Detroit Free Press.

Two ABC affiliates, KDNL-TV in St. Louis and WXLV in the Piedmont Triad region, also experienced difficulty. KDNL's news department lasted for six years until its cancellation, which was widely blamed on a transmitter problem, and is now the fifth-rated station in the St. Louis market, behind CW affiliate KPLR-TV, and only maintains a nominal sports presence and Good Morning America weather cut-ins provided by Columbus, Ohio sister station WSYX almost 400 miles to the east. KDNL's current position as one of ABC's weakest affiliates, perhaps the weakest among Top 50 markets stands in sharp contrast to KTVI, which was one of ABC's strongest stations. Ironically, the market's NFL team, the Rams, won Super Bowl XXXIV, which aired on ABC. In 2011, local news returned to KDNL through a news share agreement with St. Louis' local NBC affiliate KSDK. WXLV's newscast was canceled under orders of its owner Sinclair (through its controversial News Central division) due to poor ratings. WXLV also had run newscasts since becoming an ABC affiliate until January 2002. WXLV will air outsourced newscasts produced by Time Warner Cable beginning in 2012.

In 1994, when Fox started airing NFL games, only a few Fox affiliates had local newscasts. Fox then demanded that its affiliates start local newscasts in the run up to the launch of Fox News Channel in mid-1995 and their connecting affiliate news sharing service. Since then most Fox affiliates that didn't have already have local news have premiered local newscasts, usually starting with a 10pm news and adding other time periods over time (most medium and small markets, however have had a local Big Three affiliate produce the newscasts for the Fox affiliate, though a few of those Fox stations with such an agreement have ended those partnerships to start producing their own newscasts). Currently, the largest market whose Fox affiliate has no local news is WUTV in Buffalo, who has shown sitcom reruns instead because Buffalo stations are seen in Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, and most of the Canadian stations in these cities air local news.

[edit] Fox Kids repercussions

When Fox made the affiliation agreement with New World, nearly all of the 12 stations that switched to Fox chose not to carry Fox's Monday-Saturday Fox Kids children's programming due to interest in airing more local news, which is uncharacteristic of a broadcast network affiliate. Big Three affiliates are required to air their network's children's program block (although the Big Three only aired their shows on Saturdays compared to Fox Kids' six).

Upon its switch to Fox, WGHP in Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, owing to it being acquired by the network outright, initially cleared Fox Kids; however, by the spring of 1996, Fox had decided to allow its owned-and-operated stations to drop Fox Kids if another station in the market was interested (as the New World stations had done), and at that time Fox Kids moved to WB affiliate WBFX (now WCWG). WBRC in Birmingham, which until then had also planned to air Fox Kids, likewise permitted former Fox affiliate WTTO to continue airing Fox Kids even after it went independent (eventually joining The WB as well). These moves, along with WBRC remaining an ABC affiliate for its first six months under Fox ownership and the eventual acquisition of New World, made it the fourth network which had O&Os that did not air all network programming (after CBS, as WCAU did not air CBS' Sunday morning cartoons during 1978; ABC, as WPVI-TV continued preempting one hour of the network's programs after its owner bought the network in 1986; and NBC, as it bought WTVJ in 1987, but could not switch it from CBS to NBC until 1989). WTTO dropped Fox Kids in 2000, with the renamed WTWB-TV following suit a year later.

In St. Louis, religious station KNLC, owned by the New Life Christian Church and new outlet for Fox Kids after the switches, chose to air ministry messages in place of commercials; the church's reverend, Larry Rice, refused to show commercials during Fox Kids programming. Uncomfortable with messages on controversial topics such as abortion being shown during Fox Kids programming, Fox ended up moving Fox Kids to KTVI, which remained the only ex-New World station airing 4Kids TV; however, the station aired it two hours earlier than other stations that carry 4Kids TV, due to a morning newscast airing at 9 am. Although six stations (KSAZ, WGHP, WJW, KTBC and WAGA) had rejected Fox Kids programming (in its Fox Kids, FoxBox and 4Kids TV iterations), none of them filled the timeslots with local news on Saturday morning, instead filling the time with paid programming, local home selling presentation shows; and E/I programming acquired via syndication.

Many stations that rejected Fox Kids passed it to another station in the market, typically an independent station or a smaller network affiliate, this especially true following Fox's purchase of Chris-Craft/United Television in 2001. However in four ex-New World markets (Atlanta, Austin, Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, Birmingham), 4Kids TV did not air on another station in any of those markets due to stations dropping the lineup. In Milwaukee, 4Kids TV had aired on independent station WMLW-CA, a Class A television station, since September 2004. Though the station has extended cable coverage throughout the market, it is much less than former Fox Kids station WCGV. In the Phoenix market, KTVK acquired Fox Kids. However, when KTVK's program inventory grew unmanageable for the station (they could not air Saturday morning news) and upstart KASW's television time was bought out in a local marketing agreement, Fox Kids and the WB (and later The CW) moved there. Because CW4Kids came as part of the CW affiliation (which it obtained in May 2006), 4Kids TV was shifted to Sunday mornings and had been until its demise.

At least three other stations (two of which are owned by Fox) have pulled such a maneuver. WFLD in Chicago, one of the original Fox O&Os dropped 4Kids TV and moved it to sister station WPWR in 2003. Minneapolis' KMSP also dropped 4Kids TV in 2006, moving it to sister station WFTC in the process. KABB in San Antonio (owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group) moved 4Kids TV to then-MyNetworkTV, (now CW) affiliate KMYS (also owned by Sinclair) the same year. In the cases of the latter two, it was due to an expansion of their morning newscasts to Saturday mornings.

Because these Fox stations denied clearance of 4Kids TV, 4Kids TV was merely a syndication package, despite Fox continuing to advertise in promos airing during select Fox primetime shows that 4Kids TV programming was part of the network. If Fox limited 4Kids TV to air on Fox stations only, affiliates could have been given the choice to broadcast the lineup around local news, as the case is with ABC and CBS.

All Fox-owned stations that did not air 4Kids TV aired syndicated educational programs that meet E/I guidelines (unlike those seen on 4Kids TV) in its place, either following a newscast or in place of it, such as Safari Tracks and Beakman's World, so as to not violate FCC regulations requiring commercial broadcasters to air a certain amount (three hours) of children's programming (deemed educational and informative) each week. (Fox MLB coverage includes one half hour of E/I programming seen across the network: This Week in Baseball.)

The 4Kids TV programming block ended its run on December 27, 2008. Fox gave two of the block's four hours back to the stations, and began to program a two hour block of paid programming under the branding Weekend Marketplace. Many of the stations which took 4KidsTV in lieu of the local Fox stations chose not to take Weekend Marketplace (such as WBFS and WMLW-CA), along with those Fox stations, and the block sees low clearance outside of O&O's and Fox stations which took 4KidsTV.

[edit] Canadian repercussions

Until the affiliation switches, Canadian television providers could pick up (per a Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission rule, commonly referred to by the Commission now as the "4+1 rule") three American commercial networks and those three only if they also committed to carry Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) Public television, with exceptions made to allow additional stations for areas that could pick them up over the air (thus, some British Columbia towns were cleared for Fox from KAYU-TV Spokane, Washington, and the Windsor-Essex County region received nearly the full lineup of Detroit stations on cable and over-the-air, while towns in Alberta were denied such an importation of signals). This obscure rule dated to the late 1970s. In June 1994, the CRTC was not willing to modify this rule,[8] but by September, due to pressure from cable operators, it cleared Canadian cable companies to pick up Fox without having to bump a Big Three network for it[9]

Additional changes were in store for Canadian cable companies that carried the affiliates from Detroit; while they were still able to keep WJBK, the CBS switching to Fox there, thanks to the new rules, they also had to add CBS, often from WWJ-TV, the new affiliate in the market.

[edit] Post-switchover changes

Fox continued to upgrade its stations in at least two unrelated deals struck later:

  • In 1995, News Corporation/Fox purchased ABC affiliate WHBQ-TV in Memphis, Tennessee from Communications Corporation of America. WHBQ-TV was part of the RKO General broadcasting empire, which had collapsed in the late 1980s due to corruption and perjury.
  • In 2002, KMSP-TV in Minneapolis, the home market of the Minnesota Vikings, returned to the Fox network after seven years as a UPN station. Fox had purchased KMSP as part of a group acquisition of Chris-Craft Industries' television station group a year earlier.

At least one other station owner has pulled off a similar maneuver. In 2002, Meredith Corporation moved the Fox affiliation in the Portland, Oregon-Vancouver, Washington market from KPDX, on UHF channel 49, to KPTV, on VHF channel 12 (coincidentally, KPTV was a charter Fox affiliate from 1986–88). KPTV was bought by News Corporation with the Chris-Craft stations, but was later traded to Meredith in exchange for Orlando Fox affiliate WOFL. In an ironic twist, most of the remaining UPN-affiliated, former Chris-Craft stations retained by Fox (WWOR-TV in New York City, KCOP in Los Angeles, and KUTP in Phoenix among them) would join MyNetworkTV in 2006, as part of the 2006 United States broadcast TV realignment. This makes for an indirect connection between the last two major changes in broadcast affiliate lineups in the U.S.

Another took place on August 1, 2008: XETV, whose presence in the San Diego market discouraged Fox from switching the affiliation to KNSD, switched with KSWB-TV and became a CW affiliate. KSWB was one of 16 charter CW affiliates owned by Tribune Broadcasting. Although it might been seen a downgrade on the surface, as KSWB's UHF analog position was Channel 69, while XETV was on analog Channel 6, the market has heavy cable penetration and has the majority of their stations on UHF, which then brand according to their dominant cable channel slot rather than their broadcast channel designation; as such, the station brands itself as Fox 5 and only uses their over-the-air channel position in legally-required promos, their PSIP virtual channel and a short sweep in their newscast logo of a "Fox 69" logo. In regards to the NFL, it is also not a major problem, as the Chargers play in the AFC and thus most of their games are on KFMB-TV (ironically, they were on KNSD from 1977–97).

On the other hand, CBS saw an affiliate downgrade from VHF to UHF in an unrelated transaction, which occurred in the Jacksonville, Florida-Brunswick, Georgia market, home of the Jacksonville Jaguars. (Being in the AFC, most Jaguars game are on CBS.) In the summer of 2002, Post-Newsweek Stations, which owns WJXT, terminated that station's longtime affiliation with CBS in a dispute over compensation. The new affiliate became WTEV-TV, which had been the local outlet of UPN (which was then co-owned with CBS). WJXT broadcasts on channel 4; WTEV on channel 47. The new UPN affiliate became Fox affiliate WAWS, on a secondary basis. Both WAWS and WTEV were sold by Clear Channel to Newport Television, but because of FCC regulations forbidding the ownership of two of the four top-rated stations in a market (Clear Channel had purchased WTEV when it was a low-rated UPN station), Newport sold WTEV to High Plains Television, though Newport continues to operate the station through a joint sales agreement and shared services agreement. Due to the network switch in Jacksonville, nearby Gainesville, Florida's WB affiliate WGFL (channel 53), also switched to CBS in order to keep the network available in that area, sending the WB affiliation to a digital subchannel of WGFL (now the area's MyNetworkTV affiliate, as well as low-power WMYG-LP).

Only one other AFC team plays home games in a market with a UHF CBS affiliate: the Cleveland market, home of the Browns, has WOIO (channel 19) as its CBS affiliate (though in technicality in the digital age WOIO transmits over Channel 10 but retains their virtual channel 19). WOIO was Cleveland's charter Fox affiliate before the market was involved in the New World deal - and has even held the teams' preseason game rights twice; from 1988 to 1995 as a Fox affiliate, and again in 2005 as a CBS affiliate. However, WOIO only carries the CBS games and news coverage of the Browns, due to conflicts between the Browns and WOIO's news department over coverage about personal issues involving team players and ownership, and WKYC, the market's NBC affiliate, carries the bulk of the team's preseason games and other Browns programming.

[edit] Long-term impact

[edit] Growth of Fox Sports

The affiliation switches helped elevate Fox to major network status on par with its older competitors. As of 2007, its sports division has expanded to include Major League Baseball and NASCAR. In addition, the National Hockey League aired on Fox from 1995 to 1999 and the Bowl Championship Series (except for the Rose Bowl Game) was on the network from 2007 to 2010.

It also airs coverage of the Cotton Bowl Classic and is the exclusive television home of the Daytona 500. Fox Sports' coverage now also includes four Formula One races, the final game of the UEFA Champions League, and the World Superbike event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. As of fall 2011, the Big Ten and Pac-12 championship games in college football will be added. Fox Sports' coverage also has expanded beyond terrestrial television with several cable networks, led by Fox Sports Net, which offers 24-hour sports coverage and many home team broadcasts.

[edit] Rise of Fox in primetime

Fox's entertainment programs have also benefited from the heavy promotion they received during the sportscasts. Some of the beneficiaries include shows already on Fox at the time, such as The Simpsons, as well as newer programs like American Idol and 24. In fact, Idol has been the number one rated primetime program on all networks the last eight seasons, from 2003-04 to 2010-11. This is the longest such streak in U.S. television history.

[edit] The resilience of CBS

While CBS did eventually recover, its recovery is partially linked to, ironically, reacquiring NFL rights in 1998 when it took over rights to the AFC from NBC. The last year NBC had rights to the AFC saw the Denver Broncos, an original AFL team, defeat the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXII, which aired on NBC and ended a 13-year drought against the NFC in the Super Bowl.

Around the time CBS took over the rights to the AFC saw the trend of the 1980s and 1990s reverse, in that the AFC became the dominant conference over the NFC (1998 also saw the Broncos win the Super Bowl). The New England Patriots dynasty in the 2000s (decade) in the only AFC-only top-ten market also contributed to the ratings surge. In fact, the primary stations for both the Broncos and Patriots are the same as when NBC carried the AFC (until 1995) - KCNC-TV in Denver, and WBZ-TV in Boston (KUSA and WHDH-TV carried those teams' games from 1995–97).

In addition, the current AFC deal also saw CBS indirectly acquire rights to air games played by the Pittsburgh Steelers, which air locally on KDKA-TV (which was a CBS O&O by the time NFL rights were reacquired and has long been one of CBS's strongest stations) and often get the highest ratings for an NFL team on television due to the team's rabid fanbase on a national level (coincidentally, before the AFL-NFL merger, Steelers road games had aired on KDKA as part of the network's deal to air NFL games [home games could not be televised at all during this period, even if they did sell out]).

[edit] Current statuses

To this day, six of the Fox stations owned by New World which changed affiliations (KDFW, WAGA, WJBK, KSAZ-TV, WTVT and KTBC) are still owned and operated by News Corporation. Fox Television Stations Group, the division of NewsCorp that controls the stations, announced its intent on June 13, 2007 to sell nine of their stations, six of which are former New World stations (WJW-TV, KTVI, WDAF-TV, WITI-TV, WBRC-TV and WGHP; the other stations Fox has announced its intention to sell are KDVR in Denver, KSTU in Salt Lake City, and WHBQ-TV in Memphis). Of these nine, only KTVI is located in an NFC market (by way of the St. Louis Rams), while WITI is part of the Green Bay Packers' unique two market area encompassing Green Bay and Milwaukee. WDAF-TV, however, is in an interesting situation as regular season games of the Kansas City Chiefs franchise—which is in the AFC conference, only air when the Chiefs host an NFC opponent; otherwise, the Chiefs' regular season games are broadcast on CBS affiliate KCTV (channel 5). Subsequently, on December 21 of that same year, Fox agreed to sell eight of the stations—all except WHBQ—to Local TV, a subsidiary of Oak Hill Capital Partners. This group deal closed on July 14, 2008.

Under the control of Local TV, the eight stations will remain Fox affiliates for the foreseeable future (WHBQ remained on the market until January 16, 2009 because Local TV could not buy it, for the same reason Newport sold WTEV. Local TV is the licensee for Memphis' CBS affiliate, WREG). Local TV later swapped WBRC to Raycom Media. The Local TV stations are run under a co-management agreement with Tribune Broadcasting, which provides web hosting, technical and engineering services to Local TV stations, along with news sharing among all of the stations, and the Local TV/Tribune stations make up the nucleus of the Antenna TV digital subchannel network, which carries classic television programming and films.

Fox no longer owns any of the former Burnham stations. Savoy/Fox (SF) sold the stations in 1997 to now-defunct Silver King Broadcasting (later USA Broadcasting) and later to Emmis Communications to 1998. Emmis has since sold WLUK and WALA to LIN TV and KHON to Montecito Broadcast Group, who later sold KHON to New Vision Television. It took until May 2008 for Emmis to finally find a buyer for WVUE, when the Louisiana Media Company, a new media holdings group founded by New Orleans Saints owner Tom Benson, purchased the station. WVUE's sale process had been made more difficult in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, which greatly affected its New Orleans viewing area. (The sale closed on July 18, 2008; 18 months later, the Saints won Super Bowl XLIV, a game shown on CBS.) All stations are still Fox affiliates.

As a result of the affiliation deals, Fox now has VHF affiliates in 13 out of 16 television markets with NFL teams that are based in the NFC, including the Seattle Seahawks, who moved from the AFC to the NFC in 2002; Seattle's Fox affiliate, KCPQ, broadcasts on VHF channel 13. Only the Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles are located in markets with UHF Fox affiliates. Two of them, WFLD in Chicago and WTXF in Philadelphia, are owned by the network. The third station, WCCB in Charlotte, is owned by Bahakel Communications.

Westinghouse bought CBS in 1996 after the affiliation deals, making all stations CBS owned-and-operated stations. Viacom bought CBS in 1999, which created duopolies in several markets between CBS O&O's and UPN O&O's. Viacom and CBS split in 2006, with the current CBS Corporation retaining the broadcasting side of the company including UPN. Shortly afterward, CBS and Time Warner announced the merger of UPN and The WB to form The CW. All of the stations that CBS acquired either by the station swap with NBC or when the network itself was acquired by Westinghouse are still owned by CBS except for KUTV which was sold to Cerberus Capital Management's Four Points Media Group in 2007 (it is now owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group).

On November 3, 2010, Broadcasting & Cable magazine announced that SJL Broadcasting, now owned by the principal owners of Lilly Broadcasting, made an agreement with Disney to buy back WJRT and WTVG for a total of $30 million, upon speculation that Disney may sell off ABC. Both stations are expected to retain their affiliations with ABC.[10] SJL teamed up with a new private equity partner, Bain Capital, whose affiliated offshoot Sankaty Advisors provided the capital for the purchases. The sale was completed on April 1, 2011. As a result, ABC now no longer owns any television stations anywhere near Detroit, where the network had owned WXYZ-TV from its founding in 1948 until 1986 when it was sold to current owner Scripps.

On October 3, 2011, McGraw-Hill announced the sale of its entire television broadcasting division to Scripps for $212 million. This group deal would add four additional ABC affiliates to the six already owned by Scripps, making that company the second-largest owner of ABC-affiliated stations in total market coverage (after Hearst Television).

[edit] Effect in Top 10 markets

To this day, Washington, D.C. is the only Top 10 market from 1994 outside of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago not to have its major network affiliations (outside of network shutdowns and debuts) affected during and since the switches (Atlanta, Dallas and Detroit were affected by the New World deal, while Boston and Philadelphia were affected via the Westinghouse deal). While Houston was also not affected by the switches at the time and its major network affiliates remain the same, it was not a Top 10 market when the switches took place, as Houston only became a Top 10 market in 2005-06, surpassing Detroit.

San Francisco was also unaffected by the 1994 switches, as Westinghouse-owned KPIX-TV was already an affiliate of CBS, since its 1948 founding. In 2002, however, the Bay Area's longtime NBC affiliate, KRON-TV, became an independent station after a bitter dispute between new KRON owner Young Broadcasting and NBC; after Young outbid NBC to purchase the station from its original owner Chronicle Publishing, NBC demanded that Young run the station in a fashion similar to that of an NBC O&O as a condition of renewal of its affiliation; Young Broadcasting refused these demands along with the affiliation renewal. NBC then struck an affiliation deal with, and soon thereafter bought, San Jose station KNTV, which was airing The WB at the time after ending a long-time affiliation with ABC two years before, due to ABC O&O KGO-TV claiming market exclusivity for the network in San Jose. KNTV had been serving the Monterey Bay area (50 miles south of San Jose) as its ABC affiliate, more so than San Jose; KGO was added to cable systems in the Monterey Bay area as compensation for the loss. (KSBW-TV, the NBC affiliate, has completed plans to put ABC on a digital subchannel for Monterey-Salinas market viewers, which launched on April 18, 2011.)

[edit] References

  1. ^ "BUSINESS DIGEST". The New York Times 24 May 1994: 1.
  2. ^ Dow Jones. "COMPANY NEWS;NEW WORLD COMMUNICATIONS TO SELL 2 STATIONS." New York Times 23 May 1996; 4.
  3. ^ "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Savoy and Fox TV Venture". New York Times 18 March 1994: 15.
  4. ^ "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Group W's Negotiations". New York Times 11 Jul. 1994: 8.
  5. ^ Tribune owned a stake in the WB network, so the WB stations they owned could be considered, in a way, owned-and-operated stations of the network.
  6. ^ "Picking apart CBS programming in Atlanta." Adweek Western Edition 14 Nov. 1994 (44.46): 10.
  7. ^ Lafayette, Jon. "Change looms for Fox's New World." Electronic Media 20 Jan. 1997: 32-3.
  8. ^ Jenkinson, Michael. "Wishing on a deathstar." Alberta Report / Newsmagazine 6 June 1994: 31-2. Inset: "A FOX in the CRTC's henhouse."
  9. ^ "Canadian cablecos to do the FOX trot." Alberta Report / Newsmagazine 12 September 1994: 43.
  10. ^ Broadcasting & Cable: "EXCLUSIVE: Disney to Sell Two Stations", November 3, 2010.

[edit] See also

Primary NFL television stations

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