Gray Media has reached a deal to affiliate its St. Louis television station with the Walt Disney Company’s broadcast network ABC, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
Starting in August, KMOV (Channel 4) will offer CBS programming on its main station feed while offering ABC shows, sports and news on its secondary digital sub-channel, displacing a rolling feed of local weather reports that currently air on that channel.
Gray Media has not publicly commented on the matter, but an executive at the broadcaster familiar with the change was one of two sources who confirmed the move to The Desk on Thursday. The executive declined to be identified because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
For nearly three decades, Sinclair-owned KDNL (Channel 30) has offered ABC programming as the market’s main network affiliate. It wasn’t clear what Sinclair intends to replace ABC programming with on that station. A spokesperson for Sinclair has not yet returned a request for comment.
Deadline Hollywood was the first to report about the change in St. Louis.
Robert Folliard, Gray Media’s Senior Vice President, Government Relations & Distribution, disputed some elements of an earlier report published by The Desk, writing by e-mailhat he was the primary point person for notifying cable and satellite operators and did not make any outreach efforts this week.
“I am the Gray executive responsible for distribution; I have not notified any cable or satellite operators of anything regarding St. Louis,” Folliard said by e-mail. “No one on my team has done so, either.”
The statement contradicted earlier information provided by two sources that said notifications had been made to some pay television providers about the changes, which is part of a broader station swap involving Gray Media and Sinclair that could be announced as soon as tomorrow.
News of the affiliation swap came several hours after The Desk first reported a plan by Nexstar Media Group to drop CBS network programming from more than a half-dozen of its stations in favor of affiliation agreements with other networks.
In Albuquerque, KRQE (Channel 13) will replace CBS programming in August with shows and sports from Fox, which currently air on one of its digital sub-channels. In other markets, Nexstar intends to replace CBS with shows from its own CW Network, effectively making them CW owned-and-operated stations.
Stations owned by Hearst Television and Forum Communications are absorbing the CBS affiliation in areas where Nexstar is moving on from the network. Hearst-owned stations in four areas — including Albuquerque — will take on CBS, while Forum will add CBS programming to three of its outlets.
The changes come as some local broadcast station groups have pushed back in recent years against demands by broadcast networks for higher affiliation-related fees. CBS, ABC and other networks have justified the higher fees as necessary to offset stronger investments in premium sports programming. CBS is in the process of renegotiating its media rights package with the National Football League (NFL), and is expected to pay more for live football rights in the coming years.
In Miami, Berkshire Hathaway-owned WPLG (Channel 10) ended its affiliation agreement with ABC over fees paid to the network, with the station complaining that ABC’s parent company Disney was depriving it and other local broadcasters of viewers and advertising revenue by offering the same network programming through their direct-to-consumer streaming services. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has opened an informal inquiry into the matter involving that issue with ABC and other networks.
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Editor’s note: This story was updated on Thursday with additional information and a comment from a Gray Media executive.
