Paramount has renewed its agreement to continue offering CBS programming on three dozen local television stations owned by Nexstar Media Group, but the deal will also see some Nexstar stations end their agreement with CBS in August, The Desk has learned.
The move will impact viewers in a number of communities, including Albuquerque, New Mexico; Jackson, Mississippi; Bismarck, North Dakota; Birmingham, Alabama; Greenville, South Carolina and Rapid City, South Dakota — where Nexstar will replace CBS programming with that of another network.
In Albuquerque, KRQE (Channel 13) will convert from a CBS affiliate into a full-time Fox affiliate, a Nexstar spokesperson said by e-mail. In the other three markets, the affected CBS affiliates — WJTV (Channel 12), WIAT (Channel 42) and WSPA (Channel 7) — will become CW Network-owned stations. The changes will take place on August 1.
Those stations will increase their output of local news and community-oriented programming. Those programs are expected to fill some daytime and evening voids left by the lack of CBS game shows, talk shows and late night comedy programs, two sources said.
In four markets, Hearst Television will take over the CBS affiliate from a Nexstar-owned station and will begin distributing CBS entertainment, news and sports on a digital sub-channel of a station already affiliated with a competing broadcast network. The stations that will begin distributing CBS programming from August 1 are:
- KOAT (Channel 7, ABC) in Albuquerque
- WAPT (Channel 16, ABC) in Jackson, Mississippi
- WVTM (Channel 13, NBC) in Birmingham, Alabama
- WYFF (Channel 2, NBC) in Greenville, South Carolina
In several other markets, stations owned by Forum Communications will bring CBS programming to viewers, including:
- KBMY (Channel 17) in Bismarck, South Dakota
- KMCY (Channel 14) in Minot, North Dakota
- KNBN (Channel 21) in Rapid City, South Dakota
The changes were confirmed by officials at Paramount, Nexstar and Forum Communications following an early report by The Desk on Thursday, which was preceded by days of rumors that circulated on social media and some industry blogs. Some of those rumors began to take off after a handful of workers at KRQE began discussing the station’s refreshed branding on social media, including the removal of the CBS “eye” mark from the station’s digital identifier and website logo, according to posts reviewed by The Desk. KRQE is one of the stations where an all-staff meeting took place earlier this week.
Reached by e-mail, Nexstar spokesperson Gary Weitman confirmed the company renewed its agreement to continue carrying CBS programming on 36 stations and would replace CBS programming with Fox on its Albuquerque outlet and CW Network programming on the other three affected stations. The agreement was renewed earlier this month.
A spokesperson for Paramount also confirmed the changes when asked for additional comment on Thursday.
“We are pleased to have entered into several new CBS Television Network affiliation agreements, including extending our long-standing partnership with Nexstar, expanding our relationship with Hearst Television and welcoming Forum Communications Company into the CBS family,” the Paramount spokesperson said by e-mail. “CBS has an unwavering commitment to our audience, and we are excited to continue to deliver our leading sports, news and entertainment programming to viewers across the country.”
Hearst Television has not yet returned a request for comment, but the broadcaster is expected to deliver its own announcement by the end of the week. Forum Communications announced its deal with CBS to add the network’s programming to some of its stations in a statement released Thursday morning.
The shuffle comes as some large pay television station groups complain about significantly higher fees charged by broadcasters like CBS and ABC to offset increased investments in national news and sports programming. The complaints largely center around streaming services launched by broadcasters that offer the same national programming directly to consumer, a move that deprives local broadcasters of viewers and advertising revenue opportunities.
Some smaller local broadcast operations have opted to end their affiliation agreements with major networks and convert their stations to full-time independents, filling out their daytime and evening schedules with more local news and community-oriented programming, instead of accepting demands for higher network-related fees.
Last year, WPLG (Channel 10) in Miami ended its affiliation agreement with ABC and converted to a full-time independent after complaining about strong-arm tactics by the Walt Disney Company to charge more for its news and sports programming while simultaneously distributing that same content over its services Hulu and ESPN Plus.
—
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story initially reported Lansing and Providence were among the affected markets, based on information provided by a local television executive. The CBS affiliates in those markets are not affected by the change and will continue offering shows and other programs from the network.
