Updated at 11:59am PT
At present, The CW Network can be viewed in the South’s biggest market on CBS News & Stations’ WUPA-69. However, that affiliation is about to end, given CBS’s prior announcement that it is ending its relationship with the network today 75% owned by Nexstar Media Group.
As a result, a Gray Television-owned crosstown property led by Erik Schrader is poised to gain The CW, starting September 2.
Saturday marks the debut of The CW on WPCH-17, branded as “PeachtreeTV.”
It is part of a newly expanded and extended network affiliation agreement with Gray Television in which the Atlanta-headquartered broadcast company will continue carrying The CW on television stations in a total of 55 markets across the country, 42 of which are covered under the terms of the new agreement and 13 of which are covered by previous agreements with the network.
Dennis Miller, President of The CW Network, commented, “We look forward to sharing more success together as we transform and grow the network and add WPCH-TV to The CW’s expanding portfolio of affiliate partners. Atlanta is an important market for the CW, especially with ACC football and basketball debuting this Fall and NASCAR’s Xfinity
Series racing coming in 2025.”
Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
AN INDEPENDENT ROAD FOR CBS
For WUPA, CBS News & Stations has confirmed the station will be rebranded as “Atlanta 69.”
Local news will air in the 8pm time slot, with “Family Feud” taking the 7pm and 10pm time slots. At 9pm, “48 Hours” will air once it enters syndication on September 11.
A similar programming schedule is in place for KMAX-TV in Sacramento, one of the eight CBS News & Stations properties that on September 1 will shed The CW Network.
As part of the transition, KBCW-TV in San Francisco will change its call letters to KPYX and be branded as “KPIX+,” while WPCW in Pittsburgh will change its call letters to WPKD-TV and be branded as “KDKA+.” The stations’ new brands align with the call letters for each market’s CBS siblings.
The other six stations will keep their current call letters and will be branded with the city where they are based and channel number.
As such, KSTW-TV becomes “Seattle11,” with similar nomenclature for Philadelphia, Detroit, and Tampa-St. Petersburg in addition to Atlanta.
In Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Sacramento, the first 8pm newscasts in each market are debuting on WPSG-TV, WPKD-TV and KMAX-TV.
For “KPIX+,” local newscasts will air at 8pm and at 9pm, with “The Big Bang Theory” and “Young Sheldon” serving as bookends.
Additionally, KPIX+ is bowing a new local 7am-9am breakfast newscast, “The Morning Edition from CBS News Bay Area.”
“We are excited to be in this unique position that allows us to reimagine our local brands and programming lineups at these eight stations,” CBS Stations President Tom Canedo said. “We are beginning by opportunistically establishing local news beachheads in primetime in several markets. And, the timing couldn’t be better for us as we look forward to the upcoming launch of ’48 Hours’ in weekday syndication. These are the first brush strokes on a fresh canvas. We will continue to seek out opportunities to add even more local programming, including live sports and shows from across the Paramount Global brands in the months ahead.”
