Key Points
- Nexstar has ended its affiliation agreement with CBS NewsPath at more than three dozen CBS-affiliated stations it owns or operates.
- The change took effect August 1, according to sources and social media posts reviewed by The Desk.
- TEGNA-owned CBS affiliates continue to use CBS NewsPath because TEGNA remains separate from Nexstar under a federal hold-separate order.
Nexstar Media Group has ended its affiliation agreement with CBS NewsPath at more than three dozen CBS-affiliated television stations it owns or operates, according to three sources familiar with the matter and social media posts reviewed by The Desk.
The change took effect August 1 and affects CBS affiliates that previously relied on CBS NewsPath for national news packages, edited video and live feeds from Paramount’s national news wire service.
Stations impacted by the move include KGPE (Channel 47) in Fresno, WIVB (Channel 4) in Buffalo, KLAS (Channel 8) in Las Vegas and KOIN (Channel 12) in Portland. The decision also applies to some stations operated by Nexstar under shared services agreements, including KOLR (Channel 10) in Springfield, Missouri and WYOU (Channel 22) in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
The move does not apply to 15 CBS affiliates owned by TEGNA, which continue to use CBS NewsPath under an agreement that pre-dates Nexstar’s acquisition of the company. TEGNA remains separate from Nexstar under a preliminary injunction issued by a federal court in April as part of an antitrust lawsuit challenging the transaction.
Nexstar’s decision follows similar moves involving other national news wire services. The broadcaster previously ended its agreement with CNN Newsource and, more recently, NBC NewsChannel, affecting dozens of NBC-affiliated stations.
In those cases, Nexstar moved to increase reliance on NewsNation, its national cable news channel, for packages that can be used by local stations. NewsNation competes with CNN and previously competed more directly with NBC Universal’s cable news assets before MS NOW was spun out into Versant.
The end of the CBS NewsPath deal means CBS News will no longer receive live feeds from many Nexstar-owned CBS affiliates during breaking news events. CBS may be able to offset some of that loss through new affiliation arrangements in markets where CBS is moving away from Nexstar stations, including Albuquerque and other cities.
Producers at Nexstar-owned CBS affiliates are now incorporating more NewsNation material into local newscasts. Two producers said the reporting quality is generally comparable to CBS NewsPath but said some NewsNation packages are more difficult to use in local newscasts because they are produced for cable news rather than tightly timed station news blocks. The producers agreed to speak on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive business-related matters with a reporter.
One producer said some stations have repeated the same NewsNation story across multiple newscasts for more than a day, giving national coverage a stale appearance compared with competing local stations.
Nexstar may take similar action with ABC NewsOne in the coming months, sources said. The company is currently maintaining its relationship with Fox News Edge because of participation clauses in its Fox affiliation agreements.
