Nexstar Media Group has formed new affiliation packs with three local television stations that will begin offering entertainment and sports from the CW Network in September.
The new affiliation agreements with stations in Arizona, California and Texas help Nexstar achieve near-national reach with the CW Network, which it acquired from Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) two years ago. (Paramount and WBD each hold small minority stakes in the network.)
The new channels that will become CW Network affiliates from September 1 are:
- KCOY (Channel 12) in Santa Barbara, California
- KTTU (Channel 18) in Tucson, Arizona
- KSCC (Channel 38) in Corpus Christi, Texas
It wasn’t immediately clear if the stations in Santa Barbara and Corpus Christi intend to distribute the CW Network on their main channel, or relegate CW programming to a digital sub-channel of their over-the-air signal In Corpus Christi, KSCC operates as the market’s main Fox affiliate. KCOY currently offers Telemundo programming to Santa Barbara through its main signal, while relegating Fox programming to a digital subchannel; in that market, KSBY (Channel 8, NBC) offered CW Network programming on a digital subchannel.
Things are more clear in Tucson, where TEGNA-owned KTTU operates largely as an independent station that carries MyNetwork-distributed shows in prime-time. There, MyNetwork will be relegated to the late evenings, while CW Network will take over in prime-time, according to a knowledgeable source who is familiar with the station’s forthcoming schedule. KTTU will also clear the CW Network’s slate of sports and weekend programming, the person affirmed.
The news comes less than one day after Nexstar announced it had reached an agreement with Paramount Global to offer CW Network programming through its independent stations in Miami and Detroit. The agreement was part of a comprehensive deal that also included the renewal of CBS affiliation agreements on around 40 Nexstar-owned or operated stations.
Over the past 18 months, Nexstar has also announced deals to move the CW Network to some of its owned-and-operated stations, including KRON-TV (Channel 4) in San Francisco and KUSI (Channel 51) in San Diego, along with stations owned by Hearst Television, Sinclair and other broadcasters.
