1994–1996 United States Broadcast Television Realignment
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Between 1994 and 1996, a wide-ranging realignment of television network affiliations took place in the United States as the result of a multimillion-dollar deal between the
Fox Broadcasting Company Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an Television in the United States, American commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast television broadcaster, television network serving as the flagship proper ...
and
New World Communications New World Pictures (also known as New World Entertainment, New World Communications Group, Inc., and New World International) was an American independent production, distribution, and (in its final years as an autonomous entity) multimedia comp ...
, announced on May 23, 1994. Unprecedented in the broadcast industry, the deal resulted in twelve stations owned by, or in the process of being purchased by New World, switching network affiliations to Fox over the course of a two-year period when existing contracts expired. These stations were long-standing affiliates of the traditional " Big Three"
television networks A television broadcaster or television network is a telecommunications network for the distribution of television show, television content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations, pay television providers or ...
,
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
, and
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
, in some of the country's largest markets, with the majority having been aligned with CBS individually for over 40 years. The major impetus for the changes was to allow Fox to improve its local affiliate coverage after having successfully outbid CBS for broadcast rights to the
National Football Conference The National Football Conference (NFC) is a conference of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The NFC and its counterpart, the American Football Conference (AFC), each h ...
(NFC), which the
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(NFL) awarded to the fledgling network in December 1993. The alliance started a
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of similar deals between the other networks and their affiliates, mainly to shore up existing affiliate bases and, in the case of CBS, to recoup lost affiliates; CBS signed a critical pact with
Westinghouse Broadcasting The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndi ...
that resulted in Westinghouse's
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purchasing CBS outright. The switches took place throughout the United States between September 1994 and September 1996, with one additional switch taking place in February 1997, in markets ranging in size from
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, to
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. In the case of four markets, CBS and NBC exchanged owned-stations between each other, with one market seeing their CBS- and NBC-owned stations swap both channel positions and transmitters. The complexities of these deals saw the "Big Three" affiliates in two markets,
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and
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, exchange networks with each other, but the Fox affiliate was unchanged. In total, these constitute some of the most sweeping and expansive changes in American television history. As a result of this realignment, Fox ascended to the status of a major television network, comparable in influence to CBS, NBC, and ABC. Multiple New World-owned stations (which Fox purchased outright in 1996) struggled to adjust to their new affiliations, but many ultimately recovered with news-intensive schedules and were buoyed by Fox's success in prime time, particularly throughout the 2000s. CBS was most impacted among the "Big Three" networks, consigned to UHF stations with high channel numbers in markets like
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,
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and
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, but started to recover in the late 1990s by claiming the
American Football Conference The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The AFC and its counterpart, the National Football Conference ...
(AFC) rights from
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
.
Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...
, particularly the ''
NFL on Fox The ''NFL on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox NFL'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports and televised on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox broadcast network. ...
'', has won acclaim since its 1994 launch for innovations in game presentation, and the network's aggressive bidding in 1993 signaled long-term trends both in American television and professional sports.


Television affiliation switches prior to 1994

Affiliation switches led by changing fortunes at the major national networks—the traditional " Big Three" of
ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...
,
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
, and
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
—began in the late 1970s with the rise of ABC, which had traditionally been in third place, to number one in the national ratings. Even though ABC's national coverage alone was not a disadvantage, the quality of affiliates in larger markets was, and the network began a concerted campaign to pry loose stations associated with its competitors. From January 1976 to the end of 1978 alone, ABC secured defections from 20 affiliates of the other "Big Three" networks, 11 from CBS and 9 from NBC. By 1983, NBC alone had lost 20 affiliates to ABC, defections that cost the network a full rating point on the ''
NBC Nightly News ''NBC Nightly News'' (titled as ''NBC Nightly News with Tom Llamas'' for its weeknight broadcasts ) is the flagship daily evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program for NBC News, the news division of the NBC television network ...
'' and resulted in the loss of $9 million in advertising revenue from ''Nightly'' and $15 million in prime time. Among the defections from NBC were a string of major coups in sizable markets:
WRTV WRTV (channel 6) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Meridian Street (Indianapolis), Mer ...
in
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;
KGTV KGTV (channel 10) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Air Way in the Riverview-Webster section of San Diego, and its ...
in
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;
WSOC-TV WSOC-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and Telemundo. It is owned by Cox Media Group alongside Kannapolis-licensed independent station WAXN-TV ...
in Charlotte;
KSTP-TV KSTP-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, serving the Twin Cities area as an affiliate of ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Hubbard Broadcasting, which has owned th ...
in the
Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...
; and
WSB-TV WSB-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Cox Media Group, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to rad ...
in
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. However, as NBC became the number-one network in the mid-1980s, it gained the upper hand. One of the last defectors from NBC to ABC was
KOTA-TV KOTA-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Rapid City, South Dakota, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Gray Media alongside MeTV affiliate KHME (channel 23) and low-power broadcasting#Televisi ...
in
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, which changed in 1984; the reversal in fortune was not what KOTA-TV officials had expected and instead brought them closer with their primary competitor. The next year, NBC began a campaign to reverse some of the losses it had experienced. Two former NBC affiliates returned to the network after short stints with ABC:
WSAV-TV WSAV-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Savannah, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC. Its second digital subchannel serves as an owned-and-operated station of The CW (via The CW Plus), and also airs programming from MyNetwork ...
in
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, returned after three years, as did
KCEN-TV KCEN-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Temple, Texas, United States, serving Central Texas as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on North 3rd Street in downtown Temple, with a news bureau ...
in
Temple, Texas Temple is a city in Bell County, Texas, United States. As of 2020, the city has a population of 82,073 according to the 2020 United States census, U.S. census. Temple lies in the region referred to as Central Texas and is a principal city in th ...
, after changing in 1984. Between then and 1988, NBC upgraded its affiliations in a number of markets, including
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;
Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in Knox County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. It is located on the Tennessee River and had a population of 190,740 at the 2020 United States census. It is the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division ...
; and
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. NBC president Pierson Mapes told ''
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'' that NBC was looking for upgrades based on a number of factors: "Mostly it's because the local news product isn't what it should be, the owners don't want to invest in the station to improve its performance or it's a
UHF Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...
outlet that we want to upgrade." Many of the stations added to NBC were stronger than their replacements; the Knoxville station,
WBIR-TV WBIR-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Knoxville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Bill Williams Avenue in Knoxville's Belle Morris section, and its transmitter is lo ...
, was the dominant station there and commanded nearly half of the television audience for its early evening newscast. ABC struck back in 1990 with the signing of
WHAS-TV WHAS-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on West Chestnut Street in Downtown Louisville, and its transmitter is located in rur ...
in
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...
, the market's number-one station and a CBS outlet for 40 years; this attracted interest on the part of as many as a dozen CBS affiliates in switching to ABC. In one of the largest single affiliation switches, six television stations in the
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
and
West Palm Beach West Palm Beach is a city in and the county seat of Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It is located immediately to the west of the adjacent Palm Beach, Florida, Palm Beach, which is situated on a barrier island across the Lake Worth Lag ...
markets in
South Florida South Florida, sometimes colloquially shortened to SoFlo, is the Regions of the United States#Florida, southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the two others are ...
changed affiliations on January 1, 1989, when CBS purchased Miami's Fox affiliate WCIX (channel 6) after NBC purchased Miami's CBS affiliate WTVJ (channel 4).


Fox launches and pursues the NFL

The genesis of the
Fox Broadcasting Company Fox Broadcasting Company, LLC (commonly known as Fox; stylized in all caps) is an Television in the United States, American commercial broadcasting, commercial broadcast television broadcaster, television network serving as the flagship proper ...
took place through two 1985 transactions made by
News Corporation The original incarnation of News Corporation (abbreviated News Corp. and also variously known as News Corporation Limited) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational mass media corporation founded and controlled by media mogul Ru ...
, headed by Australian publishing magnate
Rupert Murdoch Keith Rupert Murdoch ( ; born 11 March 1931) is an Australian - American retired business magnate, investor, and media mogul. Through his company News Corp, he is the owner of hundreds of List of assets owned by News Corp, local, national, a ...
. After a failed takeover of
Warner Communications Warner Media, LLC (doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warner ...
, Murdoch purchased a 50% interest in 20th Century-Fox Film Corporation (TCF) on March 20, 1985, for $250 million. Murdoch and TCF minority investor
Marvin Davis Marvin H. Davis (August 31, 1925 – September 25, 2004) was an American industrialist. He made his fortunes as the chair of Davis Petroleum and at one time owned 20th Century Fox, the Pebble Beach Corporation, the Beverly Hills Hotel, and the ...
then announced a $2.5 billion purchase of
Metromedia Metromedia, Inc. (also often MetroMedia) was an American media company that owned radio station, radio and television stations in the United States from 1956 to 1986 and controlled Orion Pictures from 1988 to 1997. Metromedia was established in ...
's program syndication unit and six television stations—including
WNEW-TV WNYW (channel 5) is a television station in New York City, serving as the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside Secauc ...
in
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,
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in
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and
WTTG WTTG (channel 5) is a television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the market's Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV station WDCA (cha ...
in
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—from
John Kluge John Werner Kluge (; September 21, 1914September 7, 2010) was a German-American entrepreneur who became a television industry mogul in the United States. At one time he was the richest person in the U.S. Early life and education Kluge was b ...
on May 6, 1985. Murdoch boasted that the Metromedia stations could exploit TCF's film and television library, prompting speculation these stations might form a new "
fourth television network The early history of television in the United States, particularly between 1956 and 1986, was dominated by the Big Three television networks: the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), the Columbia Broadcasting System ( CBS), and the American Broa ...
" alongside ABC, CBS, and NBC. To win regulatory approval for the deal, Murdoch gave up his Australian citizenship and became a naturalized U.S. citizen on September 4, 1985. Davis, who later revealed he declined to participate in the Metromedia purchase, sold his stake in TCF to Murdoch 20 days later. The Metromedia deal closed on March 6, 1986, forming Fox Television Stations Group. After consummation, Fox, which only consisted of president Jamie Kellner and his secretary, began recruiting an executive team. In July 1986, syndicated newspaper columnist Gary Deeb reported on the possibility ABC might not renew their broadcast rights to ''
Monday Night Football ''Monday Night Football'' (often abbreviated as ''MNF'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games that air on Monday nights. It originally ran on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1970 NFL season, 1970 t ...
'' (''MNF''), then the league's top-rated program, unless NFL commissioner
Pete Rozelle Alvin Ray "Pete" Rozelle (; March 1, 1926 – December 6, 1996) was an American professional football executive. Rozelle served as the commissioner of the National Football League (NFL) for nearly thirty years, from January 1960 until his retire ...
agreed to lower the television rights fee significantly. The previous contract was set in 1981 when the annual
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was at a substantial 13%, a rate that fell to 3%–4% by 1986, in turn, causing ABC Sports to lose $40 million. ABC had been purchased earlier in 1986 by Capital Cities, owner of some of ABC's most influential affiliates, and was under pressure to cut costs in both their
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and
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divisions. By September 1986, CBS, rights-holder for the
National Football Conference The National Football Conference (NFC) is a conference of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The NFC and its counterpart, the American Football Conference (AFC), each h ...
(NFC), and NBC, rights-holder for the
American Football Conference The American Football Conference (AFC) is one of the two conferences of the National Football League (NFL), the highest level of professional American football in the United States. The AFC and its counterpart, the National Football Conference ...
(AFC), declined any interest in ''MNF'', but Fox considered making a bid and even invited former ''MNF'' announcer
Howard Cosell Howard William Cosell (; né Cohen; March 25, 1918 – April 23, 1995) was an American sports journalist, broadcaster and author. Cosell became prominent and influential during his tenure with ABC Sports from 1953 until 1985. Cosell was widel ...
to be a part of it. Fox formally launched as a network on October 9, 1986, with the debut of '' The Late Show with Joan Rivers'' and was preparing to unveil its first night of prime time programming on April 5, 1987. Against this backdrop, TCF chairman
Barry Diller Barry Charles Diller (born February 2, 1942) is an American billionaire businessman. He is chairman and senior executive of IAC and Expedia Group and founded the Fox Broadcasting Company with Rupert Murdoch and USA Broadcasting. Diller was ind ...
announced in January 1987 that Fox was ready to bid on MNF in an attempt to win legitimacy, telling the ''
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'', "We would take ABC's (current) contract and sign it ''today''." Diller viewed an MNF bid as making a long-term investment, and was prepared for Fox to "lose money in the double-digit eight figures" with such a deal buoyed by Murdoch's financial resources. ABC decided to bid for a renewal based largely on Fox's interest in MNF, with a fee reduction saving the network approximately $20 million per year and low-rated
Sunday Sunday (Latin: ''dies solis'' meaning "day of the sun") is the day of the week between Saturday and Monday. Sunday is a Christian sabbath, day of rest in most Western countries and a part of the Workweek and weekend, weekend. In some Middle Ea ...
and
Thursday Thursday is the day of the week between Wednesday and Friday. According to the ISO 8601 international standard, it is the fourth day of the week. In countries which adopt the "Sunday-first" convention, it is the fifth day of the week. Name Th ...
games moved to
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
. While Fox bid $7 million per game compared to ABC's $6.5 million per game, Rozelle was reportedly uninterested in the Fox offer as the network was still unestablished. NFL officials also expressed a willingness to remain with ABC and were unsure if Fox would exist in three years, a fate shared by other past attempts at a "fourth network".


Securing the NFC rights

In 1993, six years after Fox's failed MNF bid, the NFL opened up negotiations for all broadcast contracts, including the NFC and AFC rights. At the same time,
Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...
owner
Jerry Jones Jerral Wayne Jones Sr. (born October 13, 1942) is an American billionaire businessman who is the owner, president, and General manager (American football), general manager of the Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL). He bought t ...
and
Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...
owner
Pat Bowlen Patrick Dennis Bowlen (February 18, 1944 – June 13, 2019) was an American lawyer, executive and the majority owner of the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL), winning three Super Bowls. He was inducted in the Pro Football Hall ...
asserted control over the NFL's broadcasting committee, usurping
Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. The Browns compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The team is named after ...
owner
Art Modell Arthur Bertram Modell (June 23, 1925 – September 6, 2012) was an American businessman, entrepreneur and National Football League (NFL) team owner. He owned the Cleveland Browns franchise for 35 years and established the Baltimore Ravens f ...
, who had been a long-time ally of CBS. Murdoch privately called Jones and declared his intent to bid, saying, "Jerry, I think I was a
stalking horse A stalking horse is a figure used to test a concept or mount a challenge on behalf of a third party. If the idea proves viable or popular, the third party can then declare its interest and advance the concept with little risk of failure. If the con ...
last time (in 1990). I'm not going to do that and be just a stalking horse." When negotiations began on December 7, Murdoch presented to the broadcasting committee a sizzle reel by
Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British broadcasting of sports events, subscription sports channels operated by the satellite television, satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television ...
president David Hill proposing Fox could produce NFL games similarly to Sky's soccer coverage, with emphasis on more cameras and in-game
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, and have the network market the league year-round. Jones later said, "I was just mesmerized by their imaginative thinking. They were changing the presentation of the game." On December 17, 1993, Fox stunned the sports and television worlds by reaching a four-year, $1.58 billion contract with the NFL for NFC regular season and playoff games, effective with the 1994 season. News of the Fox–NFC deal was first reported on during the ''
CBS Evening News The ''CBS Evening News'' is the flagship evening News broadcasting#Television, television news program of CBS News, the news division of the CBS television network in the United States. The ''CBS Evening News'' is a daily evening broadcast featu ...
with
Dan Rather Daniel Irvin Rather Jr. (; born October 31, 1931) is an American journalist, commentator, and former national evening news anchor. He began his career in Texas, becoming a national name after his reporting saved thousands of lives during Hurrica ...
''. As part of the deal, Fox was also awarded broadcast rights to
Super Bowl XXXI Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...
in 1997. The NFC package had been owned by CBS since 1956—fourteen years before the
AFL–NFL merger The AFL–NFL merger was the merger of the two major professional American football leagues in the United States at the time: the National Football League (NFL) and the American Football League (AFL). It paved the way for the combined league, wh ...
and subsequent restructuring into the NFC and the AFC—and had been considered a "cornerstone" for
CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...
. Fox's deal was regarded as a
loss leader A loss leader (also leader) is a pricing strategy where a product is sold at a price below its market cost to stimulate other sales of more profitable goods or services. With this sales promotion/marketing strategy, a "leader" is any popular artic ...
; network CEO
Chase Carey Chase Carey (born 22 November 1953) is an Irish-born American executive who is a board member of Fox Corporation and Liberty Media. He is the former chief executive officer and executive chairman of the Formula One Group. He has previously work ...
framed it as one that would not directly make money but instead establish momentum for Fox and elevate it to the "Big Three" networks. Fox had pursued the NFC rights from the beginning as the conference had more teams located in the country's largest broadcast markets. CBS lost close to $100 million on their prior NFC deal signed in 1990, a situation shared by the NFL's other broadcast partners due to aftereffects of the
early 1990s recession The early 1990s recession describes the period of economic downturn affecting much of the Western world in the early 1990s. The impacts of the recession contributed in part to the 1992 U.S. presidential election victory of Bill Clinton over incum ...
. Underestimating the value of the NFC broadcast rights, CBS's chairman
Laurence Tisch Laurence Alan Tisch (March 5, 1923 – November 15, 2003) was an American businessman, investor and billionaire. He was the CEO of CBS television network from 1986 to 1995. With his brother Bob Tisch, he was part owner of Loews Corporatio ...
insisted on offering a bid equal to their 1990 contract, resulting in Fox exceeding CBS's bid by as much as $1.29 billion (or more than $100 million per year). NBC, which held the AFC broadcast rights since 1970, retained the rights after a last-minute
bidding war A bid price is the highest price that a buyer (i.e., bidder) is willing to pay for some goods. It is usually referred to simply as the "bid". In bid and ask, the bid price stands in contrast to the ask price or "offer", and the difference bet ...
with CBS, shutting out the network from pro football entirely. Morale at CBS Sports was depicted as "somber and not optimistic", with veteran announcer
Pat Summerall George Allen "Pat" Summerall (May 10, 1930 – April 16, 2013) was an American professional American football, football player and television sportscaster who worked for CBS Sports, CBS, Fox Sports (USA), Fox, and ESPN Sunday Night Football, ESP ...
saying, " 's a shock. It hurts. It's a big part of my life." Murdoch expressed a want to hire Summerall's broadcast partner
John Madden John Earl Madden (April 10, 1936 – December 28, 2021) was an American professional football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL). He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, leading them ...
, which happened the following month. Most of the ''
NFL on CBS ''NFL on CBS'' is an American television sports presentation show broadcast by CBS. It aired from September 30, 1956 to January 23, 1994. The show returned since September 6, 1998. The branding is used for the presentation of the National Foot ...
'' announcing team, including Summerall,
Terry Bradshaw Terry Paxton Bradshaw (born September 2, 1948) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Since 1994, he has been a television sports an ...
and
James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...
, also left to join
Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The name originates from Fox Broadcasting Company in the United States, which in turn derives its name from Fox Fi ...
. Early financial projections for CBS owned-stations and affiliates were grim: network flagship
WCBS-TV WCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS New York, is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–lic ...
alone stood to lose $5 million a year without the NFL, with their general manager calling it "a straight drop to the bottom line". The general manager of affiliate
KDFW KDFW (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division alongside KDFI (channel ...
in
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
, who at the time were in a position to lose the games of the
Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...
, called it "a big financial kick".


Fox upgrades in small markets

Entering 1994, Fox's 141-station affiliate base remained smaller than ABC, CBS or NBC, which each boasted more than 200 affiliates; this resulted in an approximate six-percent differential in terms of national reach. The network supplied
Foxnet Foxnet was a national cable programming service of the Fox Broadcasting Company (known simply as Fox) that was owned by the Fox Entertainment Group division of News Corporation. The service, which operated (in its original form) from June 6, 1991 ...
for cable systems in smaller markets that did not have a dedicated affiliate. Some affiliates still had no local newscasts, with the prior recession resulting in Fox lessening the priority level on affiliates to establish them. One of these affiliates,
WOIO WOIO (channel 19) is a television station licensed to Shaker Heights, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland area as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside The CW, CW affiliate WUAB (channel 43), Telemundo affiliate WTCL-LD ...
in
Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...
, initiated plans to launch a news service after seeing success with co-owned
WXIX-TV WXIX-TV (channel 19) is a television station licensed to Newport, Kentucky, United States, serving the Cincinnati metro as the market's Fox affiliate. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power Telemundo affiliate WBQC-LD (channel 25) a ...
in
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...
. While
WUAB WUAB (channel 43) is a television station licensed to Lorain, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate WOIO (channel 19), Telemundo affiliate WTCL-LD (channel 6) ...
already had an established 10 p.m. newscast in the Cleveland market, an unnamed executive told the ''
Akron Beacon Journal The ''Akron Beacon Journal'' is a morning newspaper in Akron, Ohio, United States. Owned by Gannett, it is the sole daily newspaper in Akron and is distributed throughout Northeast Ohio. The paper's coverage focuses on local news. The Beacon Jo ...
'' in 1992, "they (WOIO) don't have to get ratings, they just have to exist." Scripps-Howard Broadcasting started developing newscasts for two of their three Fox affiliates,
KNXV-TV KNXV-TV (channel 15) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with ABC. It was established in 1979 as the Phoenix area's second independent station with part-time subscription television programming from ON TV. I ...
in Phoenix and
KSHB-TV KSHB-TV (channel 41) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Lawrence, Kansas–licensed independent station KMCI-TV (channel 38). The two stations ...
in
Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...
. KSHB's newscast launched in August 1993 with an irreverent tone and de-emphasis on sports and weather; likewise, KNXV was assembling their news department with an unconventional style in line with Fox's younger demographics. WOIO, WXIX, KNXV and KSHB were all UHF stations, which accounted for 85 percent of Fox's affiliate roster. Fox also lacked coverage in 47 markets where only three or fewer commercial TV stations operated. In these markets, it began discussing secondary affiliations with the local ABC, CBS, and NBC affiliates. Though most of the CBS affiliates turned down Fox's overture, a number of small-market ABC affiliates agreed to Fox's terms, which included the carriage of at least six hours a week of Fox prime time programs. CBS and ABC responded by threatening to withhold ''
60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who distinguished it from other news programs by using a unique style o ...
'' (in the case of CBS) and postseason baseball (in the case of ABC) from affiliates that added Fox programming. CBS president of affiliate relations Tony Malara said that if ''60 Minutes'' did not air nationally at the same time, it would lose value to advertisers. CBS followed through with its threat; KXMB-TV in
Bismarck, North Dakota Bismarck (; from 1872 to 1873: Edwinton) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Dakota and the county seat, seat of Burleigh County, North Dakota, Burleigh County. It is the state's List of cities i ...
, added Fox football and lost ''60 Minutes'' for the duration of the football season.
WSBT-TV WSBT-TV (channel 22) is a television station in South Bend, Indiana, United States, affiliated with CBS and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Heroes & Icons affiliate WSJV (channel 28). The two stations share studios on East ...
in
South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...
, also signed up for Fox football and lost ''60 Minutes'', with CBS offering the show to WHME-TV. Dual NBC/ABC affiliate
KTEN } KTEN (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Ada, Oklahoma, United States, serving the Sherman, Texas–Ada, Oklahoma media market, market as an affiliate of NBC, The CW Plus, and American Broadcasting Company, ABC. The station is own ...
in Ada
Ardmore, Oklahoma Ardmore is the county seat of Carter County, Oklahoma, Carter County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 24,725 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, a 1.8% increase over the 2010 census figure of 24,283. The Ardmo ...
, joined Fox on a tertiary basis to accommodate Dallas Cowboys fans and boasted a "monopoly of football" with Fox, NBC and MNF; as part of the deal, KTEN also aired select Fox prime time shows beginning in July 1994. The network began making overtures to group operators like Freedom Newspapers,
Stauffer Communications Stauffer Communications was a privately held media corporation based in Topeka, Kansas, that owned many publications and broadcast outlets, including the ''Topeka Capital-Journal'' and WIBW (AM), WIBW, WIBW-FM, and WIBW-TV. The company operated fro ...
and Brisette Broadcasting about having their stations switch to Fox, mostly to upgrade in markets with UHF affiliates that reached fewer households than their VHF counterparts. Led by network distribution president Preston Padden, videotaped pitches asserted Fox affiliates could sell more local ads and generate more revenue. Several affiliate defections were announced prior to May 1994. The first was ABC affiliate KARD in
West Monroe, Louisiana West Monroe is the second largest city in Ouachita Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, its population was 13,103. It is situated on the Ouachita River, across from the neighboring city of Monroe. The two c ...
, announced in January 1994 with an April changeover. In April, Robinson Everett's CBS stations— KECY-TV in
El Centro, California El Centro ( Spanish for "The Center") is a city and county seat of Imperial County, California, United States. El Centro is the most populous city in the Imperial Valley, the east anchor of the Southern California Border Region, and the core ...
, and WJKA-TV in
Wilmington, North Carolina Wilmington is a port city in New Hanover County, North Carolina, United States. With a population of 115,451 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, eighth-most populous city in the st ...
—announced they would affiliate with Fox. Several factors motivated the Everett switch, including CBS's insistence that the stations restore previously unsuccessful news operations; a desire for more network compensation in Wilmington; and particularly CBS's refusal to make KECY-TV translator " KDBA" the CBS affiliate of record for
Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla language, Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Rivers ...
, because it felt cable coverage of Los Angeles station
KCBS-TV KCBS-TV (channel 2), branded CBS Los Angeles, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast of the United States, West Coast flagship station of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the n ...
was adequate. WJKA, which also supplanted Foxnet in the
Myrtle Beach Myrtle Beach is a resort city on the East Coast of the United States in Horry County, South Carolina. It is located in the center of a long and continuous stretch of beach known as the " Grand Strand” in the northeastern part of the state. It ...
market, switched to Fox under the new WSFX-TV call sign on September 18, 1994. There had previously been two "Big Three" stations to join Fox:
WSVN WSVN (channel 7) is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Serving as the flagship station of locally based Sunbeam Television, it has studios on the 79th Street Causeway in North Bay Villag ...
in Miami switched from NBC on January 1, 1989, and KLMG (now
KFXK-TV KFXK-TV (channel 51) is a television station licensed to Longview, Texas, United States, serving East Texas as an affiliate of the Fox network. It is owned by White Knight Broadcasting, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Ne ...
) in
Longview, Texas Longview is a city in, and county seat of, Gregg County, Texas, United States. Longview is located in East Texas, where Interstate 20 and U.S. Highway system, U.S. highways U.S. Route 80, 80 and U.S. Route 259, 259 converge just north of the Sabi ...
, switched from CBS on April 1, 1991. WSVN's conversion to Fox came under unique circumstances, as it was part of the two-market, six-station South Florida realignment. Unlike any other Fox affiliate or owned-station, WSVN adopted a news-intensive tabloid format which shattered conventional wisdom and proved a ratings and financial success. WSVN news director
Joel Cheatwood Joel Cheatwood (born ) is an American television executive and founding chief operating officer for Merit Street Media, a joint venture between Phil McGraw and the Trinity Broadcasting Network. He is best known as the news director for WSVN in ...
briefly worked with Fox on developing a network news service in 1990, and by May 1994, Fox network president
Lucie Salhany Lucille "Lucie" Salhany (; born May 25, 1946) is an American media executive of Jordanian and Lebanese Heritage. Salhany was the first woman to head a broadcast television network in 1993 in the position as Chairwoman of Fox Broadcasting Company. ...
called the station "the future of television". In Longview, CBS was available on cable from its affiliates in Dallas and
Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the List of municipalities in Louisiana, third-most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge. The bulk of Shreveport is in Caddo Parish, Lo ...
, which outrated KLMG locally, and there was no Fox affiliate available in the market. Fox had also occasionally changed its affiliate in a given market. Most notably, over the course of 1990, it moved to higher-rated independent stations in
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
;
Little Rock Little Rock is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Arkansas, most populous city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The city's population was 202,591 as of the 2020 census. The six-county Central Arkan ...
; and Memphis and
Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
. Consolidation among independents also led to switches such as the Nashville move, in which new affiliate
WZTV WZTV (channel 17) is a television station in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox and The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WUXP-TV (channel 30) as well as ...
bought the Fox affiliation and the rights to much of the programming aired by WXMT; the 1990 programming merger of WNYB-TV into
WUTV WUTV (channel 29) is a television station in Buffalo, New York, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WNYO-TV (channel 49). The two stations share studios on He ...
in
Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...
; the 1991 purchase of
KOKH-TV KOKH-TV (channel 25) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside KOCB (channel 34), an independent station. The ...
in
Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...
by the owners of Fox affiliate
KAUT-TV KAUT-TV (channel 43) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, alongside NBC affiliate KFOR-TV ( ...
, who moved Fox to KOKH and donated KAUT to OETA; and the 1992 purchase of the assets of bankrupt WXGZ-TV serving
Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the head of Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the F ...
, by that city's
WGBA-TV WGBA-TV (channel 26) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, E.W. Scripps Company alongside Appleton, Wisconsin, Appleton-licensed independent station WACY-T ...
.


The New World–Fox affiliation pact

Originally constituted as an independent producer of low-budget feature films, and later as a television studio, New World Pictures was purchased by investor
Ronald Perelman Ronald Owen Perelman (; born January 1, 1943) is an American banker, businessman, investor, and philanthropist. MacAndrews & Forbes Incorporated, his company, has invested in companies with interests in groceries, cigars, licorice, makeup, ca ...
in 1989 while in the middle of a
Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...
restructuring. Under Perelman, New World purchased a majority stake in SCI Television on February 17, 1993, for $100 million and $63 million in newly issued debt. SCI contained most of the assets of the former
Storer Communications Storer Communications, known from 1927 to 1952 as the Fort Industry Company and from 1952 to 1983 as Storer Broadcasting, was an American media company that owned television and radio stations and cable television systems. Founded by George Butle ...
and was itself undergoing a complex
debt restructuring Debt restructuring is a process that allows a private or public company or a sovereign entity facing cash flow problems and financial distress to reduce and renegotiate its delinquent debts to improve or restore liquidity so that it can continu ...
; as part of the deal, SCI and New World merged to form New World Communications. In May 1994, two major purchases were announced by New World in the span of three days: four stations from Argyle Television Holdings for $717 million and four Great American Communications stations for $350 million and $10 million in share warrants. On May 23, 1994, Fox purchased a 20% stake in New World Communications in what was a $500 million investment. This deal contained a groupwide multi-year affiliation agreement that would have the majority of stations owned by—or in the process of being acquired by—New World, switch network affiliations to Fox after existing contracts expired per-station. Calling the agreement "the largest network affiliation realignment in television history", Murdoch said it would "forever change the competitive landscape of network television". Several stations were divested by New World in the process: NBC affiliates
KNSD KNSD (channel 39, cable channel 7), branded on air as NBC 7 San Diego, is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations d ...
in
San Diego, California San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
, and
WVTM-TV WVTM-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Hearst Television, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities atop Red Mountain, between Vulcan Trail and Valley ...
in
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
, were sold to the network for $425 million on May 22, 1996.
WSBK-TV WSBK-TV (channel 38) is an independent television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS outlet WBZ-TV (channel 4). The two stations share studios on Soldiers Field R ...
in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, operating as an
independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
, was excluded due to Fox's repurchase of
WFXT WFXT (channel 25) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network and owned by Cox Media Group. Its studios are located on Fox Drive (near the Boston-Providence Turnpi ...
and was sold to
Paramount Stations Group Paramount Stations Group, Inc. (sometimes abbreviated as PSG) was a company that controlled a group of American broadcast television stations. The company existed from 1991 until 2001. History Paramount Communications, the then-parent company ...
, affiliating with
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...
. WVTM-TV's sale was necessitated as WVTM (included as part of the Argyle Television deal) was in the same market as
WBRC WBRC (channel 6) is a television station in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power, Class A Telemundo affiliate WTBM-CD (channel 24). The two stations studios atop R ...
(which was part of the Great American deal). WBRC and WGHP were placed in a trust and operated by Great American successor Citicasters until April 1995, when operating control for both stations were transferred to Fox Television Stations Group. Fox purchased both WBRC and WGHP on July 22, 1995, in exchange for $130 million in
promissory note A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a legal instrument (more particularly, a financing instrument and a debt instrument), in which one party (the ''maker'' or ''issuer'') promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of ...
s. Two Fox-owned stations displaced by the New World deal were also sold:
WATL WATL (channel 36) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside NBC affiliate WXIA-TV (channel 11). The two stations share studios at One Monroe Place on the nort ...
in Atlanta and
KDAF KDAF (channel 33) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex's outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group (based in nearby Irv ...
in Dallas–Fort Worth, went to Renaissance Communications for $100 million and joined
The WB The WB Television Network (shortened to The WB, stylized as "THE WB", and nicknamed the "Frog Network" and/or "The Frog" for its former mascot Michigan J. Frog) was an American television network that ran from 1995 to 2006. It launched on ter ...
, with Renaissance concurrently selling
KDVR KDVR (channel 31) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is simulcast full-time over satellite station KFCT (channel 22) in Fort Collins. Nexstar Media Group owns KDVR and KFCT alongsi ...
in
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
to Fox for $70 million. In total, twelve New World-owned stations were affected by the Fox affiliation pact, eight of which were long-tenured CBS affiliates in some of the nation's largest cities.
WJBK-TV WJBK (channel 2) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. Owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities ...
had been with CBS for 46 years, KDFW for 45 years,
KTBC-TV KTBC (channel 7) is a television station in Austin, Texas, United States, serving as the market's Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, and maintains studios o ...
and
WAGA-TV WAGA-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, serving as the market's Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network outlet. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains st ...
for 43 years,
WJW-TV WJW (channel 8) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside independent station, independent WBNX-TV (channel 55). The two s ...
and
KSAZ-TV KSAZ-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is owned and operated by the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division alongside KUTP (channel 45), which airs MyNetw ...
for 40 years and
WTVT WTVT (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving as the Fox network outlet for the Tampa Bay area. Owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division, WTVT maintains studios on Ken ...
for 39 years. Additionally,
WDAF-TV WDAF-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios and transmitter facilities on Summit Street in the Signal Hill se ...
had been an NBC affiliate for 45 years. The majority of these stations were also located in markets with established NFC teams, which served as "a significant factor" for New World, along with Fox's programming lineup being largely limited to prime time, enabling the stations to sell more local advertising. News of the agreement caught CBS's Tony Malara off guard when notified over the phone; as Malara later explained, "I said (to New World CEO William C. Bevins), 'In what market?' ... He said, 'All of them.' I said, 'What the hell are you doing?'" Management at the New World stations, including WJW-TV general manager Virgil Dominic, were notified of the pending deal five days in advance and sworn to secrecy. Dominic later said, "My mouth fell to my knees. There was five or six seconds of absolute silence after (New World stations president Bob Selwyn) told me. It really was a shock."


The Scripps–ABC alliance

Immediately following the Fox–New World announcement, CBS courted Scripps-Howard, owners of
WEWS-TV WEWS-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Cleveland, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It has been owned by the E. W. Scripps Company since its inception in 1946, making it one of three stations that have been built and signed on ...
in Cleveland and
WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...
in Detroit, two long-standing ABC affiliates, along with three Fox affiliates impacted by Fox–New World: KNXV-TV, KSHB-TV and
WFTS-TV WFTS-TV (channel 28), branded as ABC Action News, is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by the E.W. Scripps Company alongside Bradenton-licensed Ion Te ...
in
Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
. As part of a possible deal leaked to ''
Broadcasting & Cable ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (''B&C'', or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') was a telecommunications industry monthly trade magazine and, later, news website published by Future US. Founded in 1931 as ''Broadcasting'', subsequent mergers, acquisitions and ...
'', CBS would also affiliate with KNXV and WFTS and acquire a minority stake in Scripps's cable channel
HGTV HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...
. In discussions with ABC, Scripps insisted that KNXV-TV and WFTS-TV, along with NBC affiliate
WMAR-TV WMAR-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios and offices are located on York Road ( Maryland Route 45) in Towson north o ...
in Baltimore, switch to ABC as a condition of any renewal with WEWS and WXYZ and threatened to switch both to CBS if KNXV in particular was not included. KNXV's inclusion came at the expense of
KTVK KTVK (channel 3) is an independent television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. It is owned by Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate KPHO-TV (channel 5) and low-power station KPHE-LD (channel 44), a grouping known as "Arizona's Fam ...
, the market leader for local news and regarded as a model ABC affiliate but was a standalone family-run station and not part of a larger group. The network offered Scripps $25 million as an alternative to KNXV-TV, which was rejected in what ABC executive Bryce Rathbone described as Scripps " avinga gun to their head". When KTVK general manager Bill Miller asked Capital Cities/ABC CEO Tom Murphy if there was anything the station could do, Murphy replied, "you should light some candles". ABC acquiesced to Scripps's demands and announced on June 15, 1994, that KNXV, WFTS and WMAR would join the network, and WEWS and WXYZ would remain affiliates. Scripps's other former Fox affiliate, KSHB, replaced WDAF-TV as Kansas City's NBC affiliate; KSHB was tied to contract renewals for KJRH-TV in
Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...
, and
WPTV-TV WPTV-TV (channel 5) is a television station in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Stuart-licensed news-formatted independent station WHDT (channel 9); Scripps also p ...
in West Palm Beach. The new ABC alliance prompted WFTS-TV to expedite work on establishing a news department, with local newscasts launching the day of the switch from facilities formerly used by the
Home Shopping Network HSN, Inc. an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group), which also owns Catalog merchant, catalog company Cornerstone Brands. It is ...
in a temporary setup. Stripped of the ABC affiliation and failing to land CBS, KTVK spent the next few months rebuilding itself into a news-intensive independent. Scripps's Cincinnati station,
WCPO-TV WCPO-TV (channel 9) is a television station in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based E. W. Scripps Company, which has owned the station since its inception. WCPO-TV's ...
, also signed a 10-year deal with ABC in September 1995 unrelated to the earlier group deal, and switched from CBS on June 3, 1996.


The CBS–Westinghouse deal

Scripps's insistence on WMAR-TV joining ABC came at the expense of
WJZ-TV WJZ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios and offices on Woodberry, B ...
, which had been with ABC since 1948 and was the network's longest-tenured affiliate. WJZ-TV owner
Westinghouse Broadcasting The Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, also known as Group W, was the broadcasting division of Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It owned several radio and television stations across the United States and distributed television shows for syndi ...
(Group W) engaged in off-and-on discussions over the past six months with CBS, NBC and Fox over a possible group-wide affiliation deal, which accelerated when the Scripps-ABC agreement was announced. Industry trade publications also suggested a possibility of Fox purchasing Group W. On July 14, 1994, Group W and CBS agreed to a group-wide 10-year contract, renewing CBS's existing ties with
KDKA-TV KDKA-TV (channel 2), branded CBS Pittsburgh, is a television station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alongside WPKD-TV (channel 19), a ...
in
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
and
KPIX KPIX-TV (channel 5), branded on-air as CBS Bay Area, is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving as the CBS network outlet for the San Francisco Bay Area. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS ...
in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
and adding WJZ-TV,
WBZ-TV WBZ-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside independent WSBK-TV (channel 38). Bo ...
in
Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
and
KYW-TV KYW-TV (channel 3), branded as CBS Philadelphia, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alongside WPSG (channel 57 ...
in
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
to the network, the latter two stations switching from NBC. As part of the deal, Group W and CBS formed a
joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
to acquire other television stations and operate a syndication company. WJZ-TV and WBZ-TV switched to CBS on January 1, 1995, with Baltimore and Boston's existing CBS affiliates,
WBAL-TV WBAL-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Baltimore, Maryland, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship property of Hearst Television, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to the company's sole ra ...
and
WHDH-TV WHDH (channel 7) is an independent television station in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is owned by Sunbeam Television alongside Cambridge-licensed CW affiliate WLVI (channel 56). WHDH and WLVI share studios at Bulfinch Place (n ...
, switching to NBC, the former in a three-way affiliation swap. NBC agreed to pay WHDH-TV owner
Sunbeam Television Sunbeam Television Corporation is a privately held broadcasting company based in Miami, Florida, that owns three television stations in the United States. Since the company's founding in 1953, it has been under the control of the Ansin family. ...
a total of $100 million to $150 million over a ten-year span, coincidentally reuniting Sunbeam with the network that had bypassed their Miami station WSVN five years earlier. The
Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
market, however, posed an immediate logistical issue as KYW-TV would replace CBS-owned
WCAU-TV WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is owned and operated by the NBC television network through its NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jersey–licensed Tel ...
; consequently, both NBC and Fox made offers for WCAU-TV, while CBS expressed interest in conducting an asset swap. In September 1994, Fox agreed to purchase existing Philadelphia affiliate
WTXF-TV WTXF-TV (channel 29) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Owned and operated by the Fox network through its Fox Television Stations division, the station maintains studios on Market Street in Center City an ...
. With NBC remaining as the only bidder for WCAU-TV, talks began in earnest over an swap of stations between the two networks. An early outline leaked to ''
Mediaweek ''Mediaweek'' is an online trade website serving the Australian media industry. It provides news regarding the Australian List of newspapers in Australia, newspaper, Television in Australia, television, List of Australian radio stations, radio, ...
'' had NBC offering
KCNC-TV KCNC-TV (channel 4), branded CBS Colorado, is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, serving as the market's CBS outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studios on Linc ...
in
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
and
KUTV KUTV (channel 2) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside independent station KJZZ-TV (channel 14) and St. George, Utah, St. George–licensed MyNetwor ...
in
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
to CBS, along with the channel 4 signal in Miami. This was largely confirmed on November 21, 1994, with NBC selling KCNC and KUTV to the Group W–CBS joint venture, along with WTVJ's channel 4 license and transmitter site; CBS would sell to NBC both WCAU-TV and WCIX's channel 6 license and transmitter site. The transmitter and license swap in Miami would see WCIX "move" to channel 4, renamed
WFOR-TV WFOR-TV (channel 4), branded CBS Miami, is a television station in Miami, Florida, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate WBFS-TV (channel 33). ...
, and WTVJ "move" to channel 6. In Denver, another three-station affiliation swap took place: NBC-owned KCNC-TV became CBS-owned, outgoing CBS affiliate
KMGH-TV KMGH-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside Sterling-licensed independent station KCDO-TV, channel 3 (and its Denver-based translator ...
joined ABC, and outgoing ABC affiliate KUSA linked with NBC. KMGH was part of a group-wide deal between ABC and owner
McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...
announced on October 21, 1994, with McGraw-Hill's other CBS affiliate,
KERO-TV KERO-TV (channel 23) is a television station in Bakersfield, California, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on 21st Street in Downtown Bakersfield, and its transmitter ...
in
Bakersfield, California Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, which is located in the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population as of th ...
, switching to ABC on March 1, 1996. Prior to finalizing their trade with Renaissance for KDVR, Fox had been rumored to acquire Tribune's
KWGN-TV KWGN-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Denver, Colorado, United States, serving as the local The CW, CW outlet. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox affiliate KDVR ...
via a station trade. In Salt Lake City,
KSL-TV KSL-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Bonneville International, the for-profit broadcasting arm of the Church of Jesus C ...
agreed to switch from CBS to NBC. Because of the complexity of the NBC-CBS asset swap, the FCC granted approval in August 1995 after weeks of delays, with the Philadelphia,
Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...
,
Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, and
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
market affiliation switches all taking place on September 10, 1995.


CBS scrambles for replacement affiliates

Relegated to the UHF dial in Cleveland, CBS signed former Fox affiliate WOIO, which despite having no news department, committed to launching one by taking over WUAB through a
local marketing agreement In North American broadcasting, a local marketing agreement (LMA), or local management agreement, is a contract in which one corporation, company agrees to operate a radio station, radio or television station owned by another party. In essence, it ...
. Tampa was equally straightforward, with outgoing ABC affiliate
WTSP WTSP (channel 10) is a television station licensed to St. Petersburg, Florida, United States, serving the Tampa Bay area as an affiliate of CBS. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., and maintains studios on Gandy Boulevard on St. Petersburg's ...
joining CBS. CBS signed up KBVO-TV to fill the void in Austin left by KTBC-TV; when that switch took place on July 1, 1995, KBVO was renamed KEYE-TV. Dallas–Fort Worth was also resolved on July 1 via
KTVT KTVT (channel 11), branded CBS Texas, is a television station licensed to Fort Worth, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division alon ...
, a VHF independent owned by Gaylord Broadcasting. As a condition set forth by Gaylord,
KSTW KSTW (channel 11), branded on-air as Seattle 11, is an independent television station licensed to Tacoma, Washington, United States, serving the Seattle area. Owned by the CBS News and Stations group, the station maintains its transmitter on ...
in
Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...
Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...
, also joined CBS at the expense of long-standing affiliate
KIRO-TV KIRO-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Seattle, Washington, United States, affiliated with CBS and Telemundo. Owned by Cox Media Group, the station maintains studios on Third Avenue in the Belltown, Seattle, Belltown section of Downtown ...
. Both KTVT and KSTW were slated to join The WB, but after that network's launch was delayed, Gaylord sued to void the pending contracts. In turn, The WB sued Gaylord for
breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...
. The Seattle switches took place on March 16, 1995, with KIRO-TV joining UPN but maintaining its local news schedule. A multi-station deal with CBS and
Meredith Corporation Meredith Corporation was an American media conglomerate based in Des Moines, Iowa, that owned newspapers, magazines, television stations, and websites. Its publications had a readership of more than 120 million and paid circulation of more than ...
saw Phoenix independent
KPHO-TV KPHO-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside independent stations KTVK (channel 3) and KPHE-LD (channel 44), a group known together as "Arizona's Family ...
replace KSAZ-TV, and
WNEM-TV WNEM-TV (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Bay City, Michigan, United States, serving northeastern Michigan as a dual affiliate of CBS and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Gray Media, the station maintains studios on North Franklin Street in ...
in
Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city in Bay County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. The population was 32,661 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is located just upriver from the Saginaw Bay on the Saginaw River. It is the princip ...
, switch from NBC to CBS, as part of a renewal with
KCTV KCTV (channel 5) is a television station in Kansas City, Missouri, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Gray Media alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate KSMO-TV (channel 62). The two stations share studios on Shawnee Mission Parkway in ...
in Kansas City. The Meredith deal resulted in another side deal: after rumors of NBC courting existing ABC affiliate
WJRT-TV WJRT-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Flint, Michigan, United States, serving as the American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate for northeastern Michigan. Owned by Allen Media Group, the station maintains studios on Lapeer R ...
in
Flint, Michigan Flint is the largest city in Genesee County, Michigan, United States, and its county seat. Located along the Flint River (Michigan), Flint River northwest of Detroit, it is a principal city within the Central Michigan, Mid Michigan region. Flin ...
, Capital Cities/ABC purchased it and
WTVG WTVG (channel 13) is a television station in Toledo, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC and The CW. Owned by Gray Media, the station maintains studios on Dorr Street ( SR 246) in Toledo, and its transmitter is located on Stadium Road ...
in
Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...
, from SJL Broadcasting for $155 million in October 1994, converting the latter from NBC to ABC. Capital Cities/ABC's purchase was made largely to prevent NBC from signing, or purchasing, WJRT as a replacement for WNEM. As a result, former CBS affiliate
WEYI-TV WEYI-TV (channel 25) is a television station licensed to Saginaw, Michigan, United States, serving the Great Lakes Bay Region of Central Michigan as an affiliate of NBC. Owned by Howard Stirk Holdings, WEYI-TV is operated by Sinclair Broadcas ...
became Flint–Bay City's NBC affiliate. In Detroit, however, outgoing Fox affiliate
WKBD-TV WKBD-TV (channel 50), branded as CW Detroit 50, is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside WWJ-TV (channel 62), a CBS owned-and-operated station. ...
and independents WXON-TV and WADL rejected affiliation or purchase offers by CBS, effectively forcing the network to purchase WGPR-TV (channel 62) from the International Free and Accepted Modern Masons for $24 million. WGPR-TV was the first Black-owned television station in the mainland United States and, up until October 1992, employed an 11-person news department with daily newscasts focused on the city's Black population. Despite this, an unnamed CBS executive told ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' reporter Bill Carter about WGPR-TV: " is station has no news and no history in the market. It's amazing." Struggling to secure either WATL or WGNX as a replacement affiliate in Atlanta, CBS made a $22 million purchase offer for WVEU (channel 69) out of desperation in September 1994. Even with the pending deal, CBS continued to lobby WATL and WGNX, and reached an affiliation with WGNX on November 16, 1994; the purchase of WVEU and an immediate resale was also made official. Meanwhile, WVEU rebranded as WUPA and joined
UPN The United Paramount Network (UPN) was an American broadcast television network that operated from 1995 to 2006. It was originally a joint venture between Chris-Craft Industries (later sold to News Corporation)'s subsidiary, United Television, ...
. In June 2025, it was announced that WUPA would become an owned-and-operated CBS station on August 16 of that year, making the replacement affiliate, now known as
WANF WANF (channel 46) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of locally based Gray Media and is co-owned with CW affiliate WPCH-TV (channel 17) and low-power, Class A Telemun ...
, an independent station. The Milwaukee market proved to be the most problematic for CBS.
Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...
, owner of outgoing Fox affiliate
WCGV-TV WCGV-TV (channel 24) was a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, which operated from 1980 to 2018. In its latter years, it was owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV; it had common ownership with ...
and operator of
WVTV WVTV (channels 18 and 24) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with The CW and owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. The station's studios are located on Calumet Road in the Park Place office park near the I-41 ...
, turned down all offers made by CBS, the Wisconsin Voice of Christian Youth turned down a longshot purchase offer for their TV station, and
Weigel Broadcasting Weigel Broadcasting Co. is an American television broadcasting company based in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV (Channel 26), at 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown, Chicago, Greektown neighborhood. It cur ...
, owner of
WDJT-TV WDJT-TV (channel 58) is a television station in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is owned by Weigel Broadcasting alongside three other stations in southeastern Wisconsin: independent station WMLW-TV (channel 49), ...
(channel 58) ended talks due to CBS's continued pursuit of another station. CBS's situation in Milwaukee was dire to the point the network agreed to supply their owned-stations in Chicago and Green Bay to cable providers in the event no replacement affiliate could be secured. Five days before WITI's contract was to lapse, on December 6, 1994, Weigel and CBS reached an agreement to affiliate WDJT-TV in a 10-year deal.


Savoy, Petracom and Blackstar link with Fox

In March 1994, Fox and
Savoy Pictures Savoy Pictures Entertainment, Inc. was an American independent motion picture company that operated from 1992 to 1997. Among Savoy Pictures' noteworthy feature films were '' No Escape'', and '' Last of the Dogmen''. History Former Columbia Pic ...
established a venture called SF Broadcasting to acquire and operate additional television stations. Fox held no voting stock in the company—which instead was held entirely by Savoy Pictures chairmen Victor Kaufman and Lewis Korman—but supplied 58% of the original $100 million in capital. SF acquired four stations owned by Burnham Broadcasting in two separate deals:
WLUK-TV WLUK-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside Suring-licensed CW affiliate WCWF (channel 14). The two stations share s ...
in
Green Bay, Wisconsin Green Bay is a city in Brown County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the head of Green Bay (Lake Michigan), Green Bay (known locally as "the bay of Green Bay"), a sub-basin of Lake Michigan at the mouth of the F ...
, on July 29, 1994, for $38 million, and
WALA-TV WALA-TV (channel 10) is a television station licensed to Mobile, Alabama, United States, serving as the Fox affiliate for southwest Alabama and northwest Florida. Owned by Gray Media alongside Telemundo affiliate WMBP-LD (channel 31), the st ...
in
Mobile, Alabama Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population was 187,041 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. After a successful vote to annex areas west of the city limits in July 2023, Mobil ...
,
KHON-TV KHON-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of Fox and an owned-and-operated station of The CW. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate ...
in
Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu ( ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, located in the Pacific Ocean. It is the county seat of the Consolidated city-county, consolidated City and County of Honol ...
, and WVUE in
New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
, one month later on August 25 for $229 million. The deal further upgraded Fox's affiliation base in two additional NFC markets. NBC protested the sale of WLUK before the FCC, alleging SF was a
shell Shell may refer to: Architecture and design * Shell (structure), a thin structure ** Concrete shell, a thin shell of concrete, usually with no interior columns or exterior buttresses Science Biology * Seashell, a hard outer layer of a marine ani ...
created by News Corporation to circumvent FCC limits on the amount of capital that a foreign company can invest in an American television station. This petition was soon followed with another protesting Fox's KDVR purchase and concurrent station sales in Dallas and Atlanta to Renaissance. NBC withdrew these and all other petitions against Fox on February 17, 1995. Fox also made two other equity investments in broadcasters that converted at least one station to Fox. In October 1994, it agreed to purchase an equity stake in Blackstar Communications, a Black-owned company owned by John Oxendine. Blackstar's three existing stations aired the
Home Shopping Network HSN, Inc. an initialism of its former name Home Shopping Network, is an American free-to-air television network owned by the QVC Group (formerly Qurate Retail Group), which also owns Catalog merchant, catalog company Cornerstone Brands. It is ...
; the company intended to buy as many as 11 VHF stations in mid-sized to smaller markets for conversion. The company made its first station acquisition after the deal in July 1995, when it announced a $20 million deal to purchase the Nebraska Television Network (NTV), a group of ABC affiliates in central and western Nebraska that were already secondary affiliates of Fox, to convert them to Fox. However, the transaction was delayed, ultimately to the point of being called off, by an FCC petition over a matter unrelated to the possible switch. Blackstar then spent $14 million to purchase KEVN in
Rapid City, South Dakota Rapid City is the county seat of Pennington County, South Dakota, United States. It is located on the eastern slope of the Black Hills in western South Dakota and was named after Rapid Creek (South Dakota), Rapid Creek, where the settlement deve ...
, in September 1995. After the purchase, Blackstar announced it would switch KEVN to Fox, which took place on July 15, 1996. In May 1995, Fox invested $15 million in exchange for 20% of Petracom, which was in the middle of buying four television stations from Banam Broadcasting. Among the four stations were two small-market Fox affiliates and ABC affiliate
WTVW WTVW (channel 7) is a television station in Evansville, Indiana, United States, serving as a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station of The CW. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Nexst ...
in
Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 118,414 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is Indiana's List of cities in Indiana, third-most populous city after India ...
, which converted to Fox as part of the deal; rumors of the deal occurring had prompted ABC to sign an affiliation agreement with existing CBS affiliate
WEHT WEHT (channel 25) is a television station in Evansville, Indiana, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to The CW, CW outlet WTVW (channel 7) under ...
. The affiliation switch with those stations and
WEVV-TV WEVV-TV (channel 44) is a television station in Evansville, Indiana, United States, affiliated with CBS, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox, and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Allen Media Group, the station maintains studios on Carpenter and Bond Streets in d ...
, which changed from Fox to CBS, took place on December 3, 1995. Fox also continued to pursue station purchases on their own. On August 18, 1994, the network purchased ABC affiliate
WHBQ-TV WHBQ-TV (channel 13) is a television station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with the Fox network and owned by Imagicomm Communications. The station's studios are located on South Highland Street (near the campus of the Univers ...
in
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...
, from
Communications Corporation of America Communications Corporation of America (also known as ComCorp) was a broadcasting company in the United States that owned television stations in smaller markets. The company was headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana. It owned and/or operated 20 st ...
(ComCorp). ComCorp originally bought WHBQ-TV for an estimated $43 million in April, but when two investors backed out, Fox provided the needed financing; following consummation, Fox offered to buy it from ComCorp outright for $80 million, concurrent with their offers for WBRC and WGHP; former Fox affiliate
WPTY-TV WATN-TV (channel 24) is a television station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside dual CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate WLMT (channel 30). The two stations share studios at the Shelby Oaks C ...
assumed the ABC affiliation on December 1, 1995. More "Big Three" affiliate defections to Fox took place:
Quincy Newspapers Quincy Media, Inc., formerly known as Quincy Newspapers, Inc., was a family-owned media company that originated in the newspapers of Quincy, Illinois. The company's history can be traced back to 1835, when the ''Bounty Land Register'' was one of ...
's
WSJV WSJV (channel 28) is a television station licensed to Elkhart, Indiana, United States, serving the South Bend area as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Heroes & Icons. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside dual CBS/ Fox ...
in Elkhart
South Bend, Indiana South Bend is a city in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, and its county seat. It lies along the St. Joseph River (Lake Michigan), St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. It is the List of cities in ...
, agreed to switch from ABC to Fox in April 1995, with ABC pulling their programming off of Quincy's
WREX WREX (channel 13) is a television station in Rockford, Illinois, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Allen Media Group, it is the market's only full-power VHF station and is Rockford's second oldest television station. WREX's studios a ...
in
Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, Winnebago and Ogle County, Illinois, Ogle counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in far northern Illinois on the banks of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock River, Rockfor ...
, in retaliation. The switch took place on October 18, with Weigel Broadcasting signing on W58BT (channel 58) as South Bend's new ABC affiliate, having constructed it from the ground up over a seven-week span. Even the smallest of media markets were affected:
KYUS-TV KYUS-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Miles City, Montana, United States, broadcasting to eastern Montana from a transmitter northwest of the city. It operates as a full-time satellite of KULR-TV in Billings. The station is separately ...
in
Miles City, Montana Miles City is a city in and the county seat of Custer County, Montana, United States. The population was 8,354 at the 2020 census. History After the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, the U.S. Army created forts in eastern Montana, inclu ...
, then operating as a satellite of Billings ABC affiliate KSVI, switched to Fox in 1995 after being purchased by The Marks Group, owner of dual NBC/CBS affiliate KXGN-TV in Glendive; KXGN had previously taken Fox football in 1994 via a tertiary affiliation.


Station group influence

Additional affiliation deals between the traditional "Big Three" networks and station group operators took place between 1994 and 1997: *
The Outlet Company The Outlet Company was a corporation based in Providence, Rhode Island, which owned holdings in both retail and broadcasting. The centerpieces of the group was its flagship Providence store (''The Outlet'') and WJAR radio and television, also in ...
reached a long-term deal with NBC renewing the network's ties with
WJAR-TV WJAR (channel 10) is a television station in Providence, Rhode Island, United States, affiliated with NBC. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station has studios on Kenney Drive in Cranston, Rhode Island (shared with Telemundo owned-and-op ...
and
WCMH-TV WCMH-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located on Olentangy River Road near the Ohio State University campus, and its trans ...
, while also switching
WNCN WNCN (channel 17) is a television station licensed to Goldsboro, North Carolina, United States, serving the Research Triangle area as an affiliate of CBS. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, the station maintains studios on Front Street in north R ...
in the
Raleigh Raleigh ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most populous city in the state (after Charlotte, North Carolina, Charlotte) ...
Durham market to NBC. WNCN's inclusion was centered around NBC's long-standing ties with Outlet. Prior to WNCN switching, on August 3, 1995, NBC offered to purchase Outlet for $396 million. *
River City Broadcasting River City Broadcasting L.P. was a major television and radio station operator in mid-sized markets in the United States, based in St. Louis, Missouri. Overview The firm was formed in 1989 as a partnership between Barry Baker and Larry Marcus, b ...
signed a multi-station deal with ABC that renewed contracts with WSYX and
WLOS WLOS (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Asheville, North Carolina, United States, broadcasting ABC and MyNetworkTV programming to Western North Carolina and Upstate South Carolina. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group in an e ...
, while also making former Fox affiliate
KDNL-TV KDNL-TV (channel 30) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, the station maintains studios at the University Tower in the suburb of Richmond Heights and a transmi ...
St. Louis's new ABC affiliate, replacing KTVI. * The
Belo Corporation Belo Corporation (; formerly A. H. Belo Corporation) was a Dallas, Texas-based media company that owned 20 commercial broadcasting television stations and three regional 24-hour news cycle, 24-hour United States cable news, cable news televisio ...
included CBS affiliate
KXTV KXTV (channel 10) is a television station in Sacramento, California, United States, affiliated with ABC. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Broadway, just south of US 50 at the south edge of downtown Sacramento, and its tr ...
in
Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...
, as part of their deal with ABC that renewed affiliations with
WFAA WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Texas, United States, serving as the American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate for the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur, Texas, Decatur-li ...
in Dallas and
WVEC WVEC (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Hampton, Virginia, United States, serving the Hampton Roads area as an affiliate of ABC. The station is owned by Tegna Inc., and maintains studios on Woodis Avenue in Norfolk; its transmitte ...
in Hampton
Norfolk, Virginia Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...
. As a result, River City's
KOVR KOVR (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Stockton, California, United States, serving as the CBS outlet for the Sacramento area. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside KMAX-TV (channel ...
switched from ABC to CBS on March 6, 1995. *
Young Broadcasting Young Broadcasting, LLC was an American media company that owned or operated 12 television stations in 10 markets with a total U.S. television household coverage of 5.9%. The company was formerly known as Young Broadcasting Inc. and was the out ...
signed a deal with ABC in September 1994 renewing all six of their affiliates (including Green Bay's
WBAY-TV WBAY-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Green Bay, Wisconsin, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and owned by Gray Media. The station's studios are located on South Jefferson Street in downtown Green Bay (a ...
) and later involved the switching of NBC affiliate
WTVO WTVO (channel 17) is a television station in Rockford, Illinois, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC and MyNetworkTV. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains local marketing agreement, joint sales and s ...
in Rockford, Illinois, to ABC; in turn, Capital Cities/ABC made a $25 million investment into Young. * Pulitzer Publishing agreed to extend affiliations with their six NBC affiliates across-the-board despite overtures made by Capital Cities/ABC to convert
WDSU WDSU (channel 6) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, affiliated with NBC and owned by Hearst Television. The station's studios are located on Howard Avenue in the city's Central Business District, and its transmitte ...
and
WXII-TV WXII-TV (channel 12) is a television station licensed to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, United States, serving the Piedmont Triad region as an affiliate of NBC. It is owned by Hearst Television alongside Lexington-licensed CW affiliate WCWG ...
to ABC as replacements for WVUE and WGHP, respectively. WDSU general manager Wayne Barrett said, "My opinion was we should stay home (with NBC). The stations that don't change are the ones that stand to benefit the most." *
Allbritton Communications Allbritton Communications Company was an American media company based in Arlington, Virginia. It was the leading subsidiary of Perpetual Corporation, a private holding company owned by the family of company founder and former Riggs Bank presiden ...
, owner of ABC affiliate
WJLA-TV WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also sister ...
in
Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...
, inked a 10-year affiliation contract that would either renew or convert their entire station group to ABC, including NBC affiliate WCIV in
Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...
.


Initiating the switches

The Cleveland market was the first in the Fox–New World agreement to initiate an affiliation swap on September 3, 1994, between CBS affiliate WJW-TV and Fox affiliate WOIO. As the New World stations had the right to decline carriage of
Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized in all caps) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a j ...
,
WBNX-TV WBNX-TV (channel 55) is an independent television station licensed to Akron, Ohio, United States, serving the Cleveland market. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox affiliate WJW (channel 8). The two stations share studios on Dic ...
in
Akron, Ohio Akron () is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Ohio, fifth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 190,469 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Akron metr ...
, an independent owned by
televangelist Televangelism (from ''televangelist'', a blend of ''television'' and ''evangelist'') and occasionally termed radio evangelism or teleministry, denotes the utilization of media platforms, notably radio and television, for the marketing of relig ...
Ernest Angley Ernest Winston Angley (August 9, 1921 – May 7, 2021) was an American Christian evangelist, author, and television station owner who was based in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio from the 1950s until his death in 2021. Ernest Angley was born in Mooresvi ...
, agreed to pick up the children's programming block, finalizing a contract two days beforehand. CBS expressed confidence with WOIO, with Anthony Malara saying, " got a terrific television station here ... If we have the same kind of experience in every one of our switch markets, it's going to be a lot easier." With the switch, WJW-TV hired multiple personnel and added a local morning show, giving it the largest news staff and news output of any Ohio television station, but notably eschewed directly marketing their incoming Fox affiliation. Days after the Fox–New World agreement was announced, WJW general manager Virgil Dominic told ''
The Plain Dealer ''The Plain Dealer'' is the major newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio; it is a major national newspaper. In the fall of 2019, it ranked 23rd in U.S. newspaper circulation, a significant drop since March 2013, when its circulation ranked 17th daily an ...
'', "I guarantee you one thing. We are not going to be 'Fox 8.' There is no way in the world we are going to become 'Fox 8'. We are 'Cleveland's Own' and 'Newscenter 8,' and we intend to stay that way." Conversely, WOIO was tasked with reconciling its youthful, irreverent image with CBS's older-skewing lineup. The rest of the New World chain switched in a staggered manner. WDAF-TV and KSHB-TV traded affiliations on September 12, 1994, the same day KSAZ-TV's CBS contract ran out and was picked up by KPHO-TV. Due to contractual obligations with KNXV-TV, KSAZ operated as an independent for a three-month interregnum until December 12, when KNXV dropped Fox and picked up all
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...
programming, including '' World News Tonight'' and ''
Nightline ''Nightline'' (or ''ABC News Nightline'') is ABC News (United States), ABC News' Late night television in the United States, late-night television news program broadcast on American Broadcasting Company, ABC in the United States with a franchis ...
'', while KTVK continued to run ABC's daytime and prime time lineups until January 9, 1995. Tampa also switched on December 12, while Detroit, Milwaukee and Atlanta all had their affiliation switches the day before. Detroit's changes were the most dramatic largely because of WGPR-TV's prior obscurity: WGPR's ratings for its first night with CBS rose by 11,000 percent compared to its former programming, while CBS's ratings dropped by 25 percent. Following the switch, WJBK-TV fielded 10,000 phone calls from viewers over a two-day span. Changes in Dallas and Austin occurred on July 1, 1995. St. Louis followed on August 7; Fox Kids in that market went to KNLC after WB affiliate
KPLR-TV KPLR-TV (channel 11) is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox affiliate KTVI (channel 2). The t ...
turned it down, only to move to KTVI in September 1996 after multiple incidents involving KNLC's religious ownership that embarrassed Fox, including a campaign to encourage children to protest a planned execution, and complaints over its poor signal.
Greensboro Greensboro (; ) is a city in Guilford County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 census, its population was 299,035; it was estimated to be 307,381 in 2024. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina, af ...
Winston-Salem, North Carolina Winston-Salem is a city in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 249,545, making it the List of municipalities in North Carolina, fifth-most populous ...
, switched on September 3, 1995, with Fox affiliate WNRW and satellite WGGT picking up the ABC affiliation vacated by WGHP, with WNRW renamed WXLV-TV. Three days before the Greensboro market switches, WLUK-TV and WGBA-TV exchanged NBC and Fox in Green Bay. WGBA's NBC pickup was seen as a "triumph" for the station, which had previously fought off bankruptcy twice, and with ownership planning local newscasts. The three other SF Broadcasting stations switched to Fox on January 1, 1996. In Honolulu and Mobile, former Fox affiliates
KHNL KHNL (channel 13) is a television station in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States, serving the Hawaiian Islands as an affiliate of NBC and Telemundo. It is owned by Gray Media alongside CBS affiliate KGMB (channel 5), a combination known as Hawaii ...
and
WPMI-TV WPMI-TV (channel 15) is a television station licensed to Mobile, Alabama, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for southwest Alabama and northwest Florida. It is owned by Deerfield Media alongside Pensacola, Florida–licensed independe ...
assumed the dropped NBC affiliations, but New Orleans saw a three-way swap where ABC affiliate WVUE joined Fox, WB affiliate WGNO take ABC, and Fox affiliate
WNOL-TV WNOL-TV (channel 38) is a television station in New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, serving as the local outlet for The CW. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside American Broadcasting Company, ABC a ...
link with the WB. Birmingham was the last New World market to switch on September 1, 1996, but initiated the most complicated realignment. Despite having completed their purchase of WBRC in July 1995, Fox honored the balance of WBRC's ABC contract, allowing ABC nearly 15 months to find a replacement. Allbritton acted to buy two CBS affiliates outside of the market:
Tuscaloosa Tuscaloosa ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, Tuscaloosa County in west-central Alabama, United States, on the Black Warrior River where the Gulf Coastal Plain, Gulf Coastal and Piedmont (United States), Piedm ...
's
WCFT-TV WSES (channel 33) is a television station licensed to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States, serving the western portion of the Birmingham, Alabama, Birmingham market as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Heroes & Icons. The station is o ...
in November 1995 and Anniston's
WJSU-TV WGWW (channel 40) is a television station licensed to Anniston, Alabama, United States, serving the eastern portion of the Birmingham market as an affiliate of the digital multicast network Heroes & Icons. The station is owned by Howard Stirk Ho ...
in January 1996, the latter after a deal for Gadsden Fox affiliate WNAL-TV fell through. Allbritton announced both stations would be converted to ABC for the Birmingham market, this would later become part of Allbritton's 10-year, group-wide contract with ABC. WCFT and WJSU's operations were consolidated into one identity, "ABC 33/40", purchasing W58CK (channel 58) as a low-power simulcast in Birmingham proper. WNAL-TV switched to CBS at the same time, but plans to establish a news department with multiple former WJSU staffers were abruptly suspended with no reason; two weeks after the switch, Paxson Communications purchased WNAL. Outgoing Fox affiliates
WTTO WTTO (channel 21) is a television station licensed to Homewood, Alabama, United States, serving the Birmingham area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside MyNetworkTV affiliate WABM (channel 68) and ABC ...
and semi-satellite
WDBB WDBB (channel 17) is a television station licensed to Bessemer, Alabama, United States, serving Tuscaloosa and west Alabama as a satellite of Birmingham-based CW affiliate WTTO (channel 21, licensed to Homewood). It is owned by Cunningham Br ...
became independents before affiliating with The WB in February 1997 as part a larger group deal with owner Sinclair Broadcast Group. The Allbritton–ABC agreement would wind up affecting another market, as Allbritton was in the process of purchasing WBSG-TV in
Brunswick, Georgia Brunswick ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Glynn County, Georgia, Glynn County in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. As the primary urban and economic center of the lower southeast portion of Georgia, it is the second-larges ...
, the WB affiliate for
Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...
. Allbritton announced that WBSG would become Jacksonville's ABC affiliate, usurping WJKS; as WBSG's signal did not cover the entire market, an unbuilt station on channel 25 licensed to Orange Park was acquired. WJKS contested the loss of their ABC contract until giving up in August 1996, but it began aggressively preempting the majority of the network lineup starting in January 1997; this forced WBSG's switch to be moved up from April to February. The Orange Park station—taking the
WJXX WJXX (channel 25) is a television station licensed to Orange Park, Florida, United States, serving the Jacksonville area as an affiliate of American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside NBC affiliate WTLV (channel 12) ...
call sign—took to the air as the new Jacksonville ABC affiliate on February 9, 1997, with WBSG acting as a semi-satellite. As the Birmingham switches were imminent, News Corporation offered to purchase the remainder of New World for $2.48 billion in stock; once the deal closed on January 22, 1997, Fox's 22 owned-stations (ten of which were from New World) surpassed CBS and Tribune Broadcasting as the largest television station owner in the United States with an estimated 40 percent total market reach. Silver King Communications (then the owned-station group for HSN) acquired Savoy Pictures and SF Broadcasting on November 28, 1995. Headed by former TCF chairman Barry Diller, Silver King's purchase set off industry speculation that Diller could potentially launch another broadcast network backed by the 31-station group. The four Fox affiliates were ultimately sold to
Emmis Communications Emmis Corporation is an American media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Emmis, based on the Hebrew word for "Truth" (''Emet'') was founded by Jeff Smulyan in 1980. Emmis has owned many radio stations, including KPWR ...
on April 1, 1998.


Ramifications


Distress at CBS, then recovery

CBS's position entering the 1994–95 television season was particularly dire. The loss of the NFC and multiple tenured affiliates, combined with a long-held strategy of pursuing older, less-desirable audiences in prime time, resulted in the network crashing to last place among the "Big Three". Upon moving to CBS from NBC in August 1993,
David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer, producer, and auto racing team owner. He hosted late-night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982, debut of ''Late N ...
's '' Late Show'' enjoyed a lead over ''
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fourth and sixth installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Jay Leno, it aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009, replacing ''The Ton ...
'' in the late-night ratings. With CBS having to move from established affiliates to lesser-known UHF outlets, that lead began to shrink. "You can do a great show, but if it's on Channel 93 in West Tipton, Indiana, it's not going to be easy to find it," Letterman commented on the switches. Finally, a
Jay Leno James Douglas Muir Leno ( ; born April 28, 1950) is an American television host, comedian, and writer. After doing stand-up comedy for years, he became the host of NBC's ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Tonight Show'' from 1992 until 200 ...
interview with actor
Hugh Grant Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as a charming and vulnerable romantic leading man, and has since transitioned into a character actor. He has received List of awards ...
in July 1995 following the actor's infamous arrest for lewd conduct resulted in ''Tonight'' taking the top spot and remaining there until Leno stepped down in 2009. Laurence Tisch began exploring a sale of CBS amid the turmoil, with Westinghouse announcing a $5.4 billion purchase of the network on August 1, 1995. Westinghouse CEO Michael H. Jordan credited a growing relationship with Tisch thanks to their joint venture that made the deal possible. On October 2, 1996, network flagship WCBS-TV fired much of its on-air talent including longtime anchor Michele Marsh, a move meant to address the station's low ratings. CBS attempted to fill the void left by the NFL on Sunday afternoons in 1994 with
made-for-TV movie A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie, telefilm, telemovie or TV film/movie, is a film with a running time similar to a feature film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a terrestr ...
reruns aimed at a female audience. By December 1994, the network announced a contract renewal with the
NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...
, particularly for the Division I men's basketball tournament, a franchise CBS had held since 1982. CBS Sports also presented a higher emphasis on NASCAR programming including the
Winston Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, ...
,
Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...
and Craftsman Truck series, along with the
PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...
and US Open. In late 1995, CBS was approached by the
CFL The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division and five in the West Division. The CFL is the highest pr ...
about a television contract for the league's American teams. Sean McManus was appointed as president of CBS Sports in November 1996, which was interpreted as the network intending to bid aggressively for the NFL for the next rights deal, as McManus had a reputation for being the "kingpin of big TV negotiations". CBS successfully outbid NBC for the AFC contract on January 13, 1998, signing an eight-year contract worth $4 billion; NBC Sports president
Dick Ebersol Duncan Richard Ebersol (; born July 28, 1947) is an American television executive and a senior adviser for NBC Universal Sports & Olympics. He had previously been the chairman of NBC Sports, producing large-scale television events such as the ...
was told by
General Electric General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston. Over the year ...
officials not to do anything "reckless" and saw the package as third-tier behind the NFC and MNF. The return of football was especially seen as a comeback vehicle for
Jim Nantz James William Nantz III (born May 17, 1959) is an American sportscaster who has worked on telecasts of the National Football League (NFL), NCAA Division I men's basketball, the NBA, and the PGA Tour for CBS Sports since the 1980s. He has ancho ...
, one of the few high-profile sports announcers that remained with CBS throughout.


New World stations struggle to adapt

The New World Fox stations struggled to reconcile their new network programming, which targeted a younger audience, with their older-skewing newscasts. In Phoenix, KSAZ-TV's existing 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts lost half their ratings in the first year of the switch. In dumping the popular syndicated shows ''
Jeopardy! ''Jeopardy!'' is an American television game show created by Merv Griffin. The show is a quiz competition that reverses the traditional question-and-answer format of many quiz shows. Rather than being given questions, contestants are instead g ...
'' and '' Wheel of Fortune'' because they attracted older viewers, the station lost a valuable lead-in and lead-out around its newscasts. The two shows were then picked up by KTVK, which showed unexpected aggression in buying syndicated programs. KTVK also launched the market's first longform morning newscast, which emerged a winner as KSAZ-TV's effort struggled. It was not until 1997 that the station began to turn around its news ratings by dropping its sputtering 9 p.m. ''Arizona Prime'' in favor of ''Fox 10 News at 9'', which featured an emphasis on breaking news and entertainment stories designed to be more compatible with Fox prime time shows. In Cleveland, WJW-TV's issues were fairly pronounced. WJW's switch came with three months notice and altered more than 20 hours of programming per day, or 87 percent of the schedule. Ratings declined in all time slots but especially fell by half for the late-evening news after moving from 11 p.m.—a time slot WJW had won in since 1981—to 10 p.m., but still topped WUAB's newscast. WJW's morning show also failed to retain the audience of its lead-in 6 a.m. news. Virgil Dominic retired in May 1995 and was replaced by KNXV general manager Bob Rowe; under Rowe, the station rebranded to "Fox is Ei8ht" / "Ei8ht is News" in November 1995, a slogan derided among viewers for its continuous on-air repetition. The morning newscasts were retooled into a three-hour program and had its audience double year-over-year during the first month, while WJW saw ratings increases in several dayparts. Fox's purchase of New World resulted in WJW rebranding as "Fox 8" in August 1996. By 1998, WJW was beating WUAB at 10 p.m. by a 2–1 margin and in 2000 was ranked first sign-on to sign-off in multiple key demographics, besting WEWS. In Milwaukee, WITI had been the market's second-rated outlet generally in May 1994. However, its ratings sank after the affiliation switch, with the 10 p.m. news, which was retained, dropping by roughly half. Initially resisting changes to their CBS-era presentation, WITI rebranded as "Fox is Six" / "Six is News" in November 1995, parallel to WJW's "Ei8ht" rebranding, but kept its long-running "Friend You Can Count On" slogan. By 1997, WITI was rebounding in local ratings, but it still fell short of their pre-switch levels and remained in third place by 2000. Atlanta's WAGA was the number two station leading into the affiliation switches. Its new 10 p.m. newscast held most of the viewers of its prior 11 p.m. broadcast, which ''
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...
'' TV critic Phil Kloer attributed to the station's strength and news anchors. The station remained in second place by 2000, though it was a distant second to longtime Atlanta ratings powerhouse
WSB-TV WSB-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Cox Media Group, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to rad ...
, an unchanged ABC affiliate. WBRC in Birmingham weathered the switches well and by 2000 was the highest-rated Fox-owned station in morning, evening, and late news, as well as prime time. Uniquely, the station initially produced separate half-hour newscasts at 9 and 10 p.m. because it lacked the resources to produce 90 minutes of late news. However, its 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts placed a close second to the new WBMA. WBMA also benefitted from the immediate acquisition of meteorologist James Spann, who sued to be released from his WBRC contract objecting to Fox programs on moral and religious grounds. WBRC anchor Brenda Ladun also filed suit against the station seeking a contract release and followed Spann to WBMA. WGHP remained the number-two station in the North Carolina Piedmont in its early evening and morning newscasts, though its 10 p.m. news initially fared poorly in comparison to the 11 p.m. news it aired as an ABC affiliate. By 2000, the WGHP 10 p.m. newscast had doubled its audience share from 9 percent in November 1995 to 17 percent, with a higher rating than the 11 p.m. newscasts on market leader WFMY-TV and WXII-TV. In Tampa, WTVT lost its first-place position among the market's local television newscasts to NBC affiliate
WFLA-TV WFLA-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Tampa Bay area. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside St. Petersburg, Florida, St. Petersburg–licensed The CW, C ...
, the only station in the market not affected by the switches, whose newscasts had placed second. It was the first time since 1989 that WFLA-TV had swept the ratings. WFLA also became the market's number-one station in total viewing in every sweeps period until November 1998, when WTVT surpassed it. WJBK in Detroit was a third-rated station before the switch, attracting just over half of the audience as primary competitors
WDIV-TV WDIV-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with NBC. It serves as the flagship broadcast property of the Graham Media Group subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company. WDIV-TV maintains studio facili ...
and
WXYZ-TV WXYZ-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside independent station WMYD (channel 20). The two stations shar ...
. While its 10 p.m. news surpassed incumbent
WKBD-TV WKBD-TV (channel 50), branded as CW Detroit 50, is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside WWJ-TV (channel 62), a CBS owned-and-operated station. ...
, the 6 p.m. newscast was beaten by entertainment programming on that station. WJBK returned to the 11 p.m. news race in May 1995 with ''Bonds Tonight'', hosted by former WXYZ anchor Bill Bonds, but was moved to 6:30 p.m. in September and canceled by mid-November due to low ratings. WJBK's overall poor ratings performance following the switch also saw its 4 p.m. news eliminated and multiple staffers laid off. In Austin, KTBC's news ratings slumped significantly in the years after the Fox affiliation switch, while third-place
KXAN-TV KXAN-TV (channel 36) is a television station in Austin, Texas, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Llano, Texas, Llano-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate KBVO (channel 14); Nexstar also provides certain s ...
there began a climb to the top; KEYE-TV even outdrew KTBC in assorted dayparts. KDFW was the third-rated news outlet in Dallas–Fort Worth prior to the switches. It saw immediate year-over-year declines in the viewership for its 6 and 10 p.m. newscasts; KDFW, which retained its 10 p.m. news in addition to a 9 p.m. news hour, saw notable late news declines because the prior newscast was a poorer lead-in than CBS entertainment programming. By 2000, KTVT had pulled into a dead heat with KDFW for third place. WDAF-TV, a third-rated station in local news in its last years as an NBC affiliate, remained in third but saw significant declines in news viewing in the aftermath of its switch and doubling of weekday news output. Its 10 p.m. news went from attracting 23 percent of TV viewers at that hour to 13 percent, and the station's new morning news attracted just over half the audience share of ''
The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'') is an American morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was the first of its genre on American television ...
'', which it replaced. In prime time, however, WDAF largely outperformed the national average for Fox affiliates. WDAF maintained their NBC-era "Newschannel 4" branding until being renamed "Fox 4" in 1997 after Fox assumed ownership. It was still in third place at the end of the decade. KTVI also remained a third-rated news outlet in St. Louis. It did not introduce a 9 p.m. newscast until August 1997 and remained third in its market by 2000. Though not owned by New World, WHBQ-TV in Memphis was in a similar position. Prior to the switch, it was only producing half-hour newscasts at 6 and 10 p.m. Coinciding with the switch, its weekday news output quadrupled with the introduction of a two-hour morning newscast, ''Mornings on Fox'', and the reinstatement of a noon newscast after nearly three years; the early evening news was moved to 5 p.m. and the late news to 9 p.m., both an hour in length. However, WHBQ-TV continued to rank third in Memphis behind
WMC-TV WMC-TV (channel 5) is a television station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Gray Media alongside low-power broadcasting#Television, low-power Telemundo affiliate WTME-LD (channel 14). The two stations s ...
and
WREG-TV WREG-TV (channel 3) is a television station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with CBS and owned by Nexstar Media Group. The station's studios are located on Channel 3 Drive near the Mississippi River on the west side of Memphis ...
, the traditional first- and second-place news outlets in Memphis. A
cultural conflict Cultural conflict is a type of conflict (process), conflict that occurs when different culture, cultural Value (personal and cultural), values and beliefs clash. Broad and narrow definitions exist for the concept, both of which have been used to ...
largely existed between the New World stations and Fox. Stations like KSAZ, WJW, WDAF and WITI continued news presentations similar to their "Big Three" affiliations, which analysts saw as unsustainable with younger-skewing Fox shows like ''
Party of Five ''Party of Five'' is an American teen and family drama television series created by Christopher Keyser and Amy Lippman that originally aired on Fox from September 12, 1994, to May 3, 2000, with a total of six seasons consisting of 142 epis ...
'' as lead-ins. Fox Entertainment president
John Matoian John Matoian (born 1948) is a former teacher and television industry executive. He was a vice-president of the CBS Entertainment division. He later became the president of Entertainment at Fox Broadcasting in September 1995. He was president at HBO ...
told ''The Plain Dealer'' in July 1995 that the network was planning to expand beyond their original target 18–34 demographic, which was partly based on stations like WJW refusing to identify with the network. By the time Fox purchased New World, the stations were seen as underperformers, largely attributed to station managers unwilling to embrace their new affiliations. WITI news director Jill Geisler was known for stressing a "fair, concerned, balanced position" at the station, while Virgil Dominic was seen as "avuncular" in his stewardship of WJW. One financial analyst suggested incoming Fox management would drastically overhaul the stations and "obviously make 'em full-blown Fox monsters". Fox chairman Chase Carey said, "Without question, the ew Worldstations could be performing better than they are today."


The local news production boom

The New World stations all committed to increased local news production when they switched to Fox. This was partly out of necessity, as Fox only programmed a two-hour prime time program block, but also because the stations stood to generate more revenue selling local advertising. While with CBS, WJW could only sell two minutes of local ads during the 10 p.m. hour, which increased to 16 minutes after their late news moved to that hour. Industry analysts cited WSVN's success with a news-intensive format: having more control over programming and advertising, WSVN generated more revenue than it ever had with NBC. Precedent also existed: when a dispute over revenue compensation emerged between CBS and the affiliate body in 1992, WAGA and WJBK dropped ''
CBS This Morning ''CBS This Morning'' (''CTM'') is an American morning television program that aired on CBS from November 30, 1987 to October 29, 1999, and again from January 9, 2012 to September 6, 2021. On November 1, 1999, the original incarnation was repla ...
'' in favor of local morning shows. When CBS debuted the ''Late Show'' in 1993, WJW delayed it to midnight in favor of ''
Murphy Brown ''Murphy Brown'' is an American television sitcom created by Diane English that premiered on November 14, 1988, on CBS. The series stars Candice Bergen as the eponymous Murphy Brown, a famous investigative journalist and news presenter, news anch ...
'' reruns and later the New World-produced '' Valley of the Dolls''—shows during which they could sell additional local advertising—to the network's chagrin; CBS president of affiliate relations Tony Malara later said, "The fact of the matter is, it ain't exactly chopped liver we're offering." By June 1994, Fox was still in the planning stages for a network news service, but Rupert Murdoch dismissed the idea of a nightly evening newscast similar to the "Big Three" networks airing over Fox, saying, "I don't think people watch them very much. People prefer watching a newscast edited and customized for them in their communities." The New World stations gained access to a news sharing service among Fox owned-stations and affiliates while also retaining existing CNN Newsource affiliations, simulcasting CNN in the event of
breaking news Breaking news, also called late-breaking news, a special report, special coverage, or a news flash, is a current issue that warrants the interruption of a scheduled broadcast in order to report its details. News broadcasters also use the term ...
. WDAF, WJBK, KTBC and KHON launched nightly half-hour newscasts with emphasis on national and international coverage, but produced locally. Most of the New World stations moved their late-evening newscasts by an hour and extended them to 60 minutes in length (due to Fox only programming for two hours), or in the cases of WDAF and WITI, created a 90-minute long newscast. WBRC initially had separate half-hour newscasts at 9 and 10. KTVI and KTBC were exceptions: KTVI moved their late-evening news from 10 to 9 p.m. in 1997, while KTBC did the same in 2002; for the latter, the newscasts replaced sitcom reruns in the 9 p.m. hour. KHON maintained a late-evening newscast at 10 p.m. until September 2014, when a 9 p.m. newscast was launched. An unprecedented level of hiring took place among both the New World stations and the replacement "Big Three" affiliates to account for the overall increase in local news, with as many as 1,500 to 2,000 jobs being created during this period. In Cleveland, WJW boasted a news staff of over 120 people, while WOIO used WUAB's news department as the foundation for their own, moving both stations to new facilities at
Reserve Square Reserve Square is a two-building skyscraper mixed use apartment complex in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. Both buildings have 23 floors and are 266 feet (81 m) high. Reserve Square is directly west of the senior residential Cuyahoga ...
. Kansas City saw KSHB add 54 people to create a workforce of 72, while WDAF doubled their news staff for a total of 110. WNCN hired 68 full-time staffers in 1995 as they prepared to take the NBC affiliation, WGNX increased their headcount to 50 after linking with CBS, and WHBQ bolstered their staffing from 28 to 55 under Fox ownership. Technical advancements were also made with the increased manpower. WBMA boasted all-digital equipment when their news room launched, with Allbritton executive John Hillis saying, "We had the luxury of a clean sheet on paper." Spurned by ABC, KTVK invested heavily into syndicated programming and newsroom staffing and broke ground on new studios to house their expanded operations. Among unchanged Fox affiliates, Sacramento's
KTXL KTXL (channel 40) is a television station in Sacramento, California, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. The station is owned by Nexstar Media Group, and maintains studios on Fruitridge Road near the Oak Park district on the so ...
began hiring staff and extended their late-evening news to an hour, and KOKH-TV in Oklahoma City began assembling a news staff for a 1996 launch. KOKH's entry was a complete reversal from June 1994, when general manager Harlan Reams publicly expressed no desire to do local news, saying, "From a business standpoint, if you want to watch news, hey, watch 4, 5 and 9, watch CNN, read the newspaper. But I'm here to entertain." "Big Three" affiliates in unchanged markets like KVBC in
Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...
and
KIVI-TV KIVI-TV (channel 6) is a television station licensed to Nampa, Idaho, United States, serving the Boise area as an affiliate of ABC. Owned by the E. W. Scripps Company, the station maintains studios on East Chisholm Drive in Nampa (along I-84/ ...
in
Boise, Idaho Boise ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Idaho, most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, there were 235,685 people residing in the city. Loca ...
, also saw their news output increased with additional staffing.
Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State or BSU) is a public research university in Muncie, Indiana, United States. The university has three off-campus centers in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, and Fishers, Indiana. The university is composed of seven aca ...
professor Bob Papper estimated in 1996 that several thousand more jobs could be created if other older Fox affiliates started local news, or expanded their output to match up with the New World stations.


Ratings headwinds for new news operations

Many of the new "Big Three" affiliates, which had been either former Fox affiliates or independents on the UHF dial with no news presence, found difficulty garnering ratings traction against their traditional VHF competitors. While most of these replacement affiliates have maintained local news production, with some even experiencing gradual ratings growth, some stations eventually cancelled or outsourced operations outright. Among CBS's replacement affiliates, WGPR-TV (renamed
WWJ-TV WWJ-TV (channel 62) is a television station in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is owned and operated by the CBS television network through its CBS News and Stations division, alongside WKBD-TV (channel 50), an affiliate of The CW. The two ...
) proved to be the network's biggest challenge. A $1 million promotional blitz saw the network's star talent make fun of the station's embarrassingly high channel number, but ratings for network programming in Detroit fell 46 percent year-over-year following the switch. CBS announced plans to establish a news department in Detroit in late 1995, only to withdraw them entirely after several months. Two attempts at local news in 2001 and 2009 failed before the station launched its third and ongoing news operation in January 2023. Unlike WWJ-TV, WOIO, WGNX and WDJT-TV were all successful in debuting local news after linking with CBS, but still struggled against established competition. Until relaunching with a tabloid format in 2002, WOIO was beset by continued talent instability and dismal ratings. This distinction was shared by WGNX despite a 1998 sale to Meredith, a renaming to WGCL-TV in 2000, multiple rebrands, and continual executive upheaval. When succeeding owner
Gray Television Gray Media, Inc., doing business as Gray Television, is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 statio ...
relaunched WGCL as
WANF WANF (channel 46) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the flagship property of locally based Gray Media and is co-owned with CW affiliate WPCH-TV (channel 17) and low-power, Class A Telemun ...
in 2022, for ''Atlanta News First'', management conceded the station had no brand at all, despite its status as one of Gray's primary television stations (although WALB-TV in Albany serves as Gray's flagship). WDJT-TV's fortunes have been mixed: the station has thrived in prime time since picking up ''Jeopardy!'' and ''Wheel of Fortune'' as a lead-in, but its news operation continues to trail the competition. Replacement ABC affiliates KDNL-TV and WXLV-TV experienced severe difficulty establishing a news presence and had their efforts shut down by owner Sinclair Broadcast Group. KDNL's newscasts, which debuted prior to the switch, struggled to gain viewership amid repeated changes in management, on-air talent and news sets, with ABC network programming equally underperforming. Barry Baker, chief executive of former owner River City Broadcasting, held an option to sell their St. Louis holdings and sold it to Emmis Communications in June 1999, sparking a year-long lawsuit between Sinclair and Emmis. The lawsuit forced KDNL onto an
austerity In economic policy, austerity is a set of Political economy, political-economic policies that aim to reduce government budget deficits through Government spending, spending cuts, tax increases, or a combination of both. There are three prim ...
budget cancelling the 5 p.m. news, while a failing transmitter repeatedly forced the station off-air. The 5 p.m. news was restored in October 2000 but failed to register any measurable audience, while the 10 p.m. news drew half the ratings as ''
Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...
'' reruns on KPLR, resulting in the news department's disbanding on October 12, 2001. WXLV-TV, which frequently failed to make progress in area ratings against the more established
WFMY-TV WFMY-TV (channel 2) is a television station licensed to Greensboro, North Carolina, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for the Piedmont Triad region. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Phillips Avenue in Greensboro a ...
, WGHP and WXII-TV, had its morning and weekend newscasts cancelled in late 2000 and ultimately shuttered outright on January 11, 2002. Utilizing Sinclair's hybrid '' News Central'' format, an 11 p.m. newscast ran from 2004 to 2005, when it was again scrapped due to poor ratings. In February 2012, Spectrum News 1 North Carolina (then known as News 14 Carolina) began producing daily newscasts for WXLV as part of a
retransmission consent Retransmission consent is a provision of the 1992 United States Cable Television Consumer Protection and Competition Act that requires cable operators and other multichannel video programming distributors (MVPDs) to obtain permission from commerc ...
dispute settlement between
Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, o ...
and Sinclair. Spectrum News newscasts continued to air on WXLV until 2019. Then in January 2021, the station resumed airing local newscasts produced by Fox-affiliated
San Antonio San Antonio ( ; Spanish for " Saint Anthony") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in Greater San Antonio. San Antonio is the third-largest metropolitan area in Texas and the 24th-largest metropolitan area in the ...
sister station
KABB KABB (channel 29) is a television stationin San Antonio, Texas, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside dual NBC and CW affiliate WOAI-TV (channel 4); Sinclair also provides certain ...
. This was not limited to new CBS, NBC, or ABC affiliates in New World markets. KHNL in Honolulu began airing newscasts on April 12, 1995, more than eight months before switching to NBC. The station's newscasts, however, failed to find ratings success in spite of NBC's strength in entertainment programming in the late 1990s, as well as the hiring of several notable personalities in the market. WPTY-TV's news department was hastily assembled to make the deadline for their Fox-ABC switch, with multiple technical gaffes and on-air talent misidentifying area landmarks plaguing their debut. The weeknight anchor lineup changed within two weeks, and the news director was fired after a year. Low ratings continued to plague the station through a 2013 relaunch as
WATN-TV WATN-TV (channel 24) is a television station in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, affiliated with American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside dual The CW, CW/MyNetworkTV affiliate WLMT (channel 30). The two statio ...
under Nexstar ownership; the station was later sold to
Tegna Inc. Tegna Inc. (stylized in all caps as TEGNA) is an American publicly traded broadcast, digital media and marketing services company headquartered in Tysons, Virginia. It was created on June 29, 2015, when the Gannett Company split into two publ ...
in 2019. New NBC affiliate WGBA-TV in Green Bay, Wisconsin, did not begin producing newscasts until July 1, 1996; it had doubled its payroll and expanded its studios in order to accommodate its news operation. Its newscasts lagged the other three local stations in the ratings, and turnover of on-air talent was high. WNWO-TV had a single daily newscast at 6 p.m. when it switched to NBC in September 1995; the following year, Malrite Communications purchased the station and began investing in the news department, but it failed to reap any windfall from NBC's highly-rated prime time lineup. WNWO continued to experience ownership changes, poor ratings and staff turnover before newscast production was outsourced to WSBT-TV in 2017 and eliminated altogether in 2023. WEVV-TV in Evansville, Indiana, which switched from Fox to CBS, shut down their news department in July 2001 amid poor ratings; after the station was sold to Bayou City Broadcasting, WEVV (which reclaimed the Fox affiliation on a
digital subchannel In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...
in 2011) relaunched local newscasts. In South Bend, Indiana, replacement ABC affiliate WBND-LP did not offer local news until 2008, albeit produced by WDJT, and established a staffed newsroom in April 2011. Because of its competitive and technical weakness, Weigel tried to sell WBND-LP, WCWW-LP and WMYS-LP to WSBT-TV owner
Schurz Communications Schurz Communications, Inc. is an American broadband media group and cloud services provider based in South Bend, Indiana. It previously owned newspapers and television stations. History The company was founded in 1872 by Alfred B. Miller and ...
in 2008, but the deal was abandoned in August 2009.


Effects in Mexico and Canada

Fox's acquisition of football rights brought the number of Fox affiliates broadcasting from Mexico from one to three. It also resulted in changes in Canadian cable regulations. In San Diego, UPN affiliate
KUSI-TV KUSI-TV (channel 51) is an independent television station in San Diego, California, United States. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox affiliate KSWB-TV (channel 69). The two stations share studios on Viewridge Avenue (near I- ...
tried unsuccessfully to take the Fox affiliation away from
Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...
,
Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...
,
Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
-licensed
XETV XETV-TDT (channels 6 and 16) is a television station located in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, broadcasting programs from Canal 5 (Mexico), Canal 5 and NU9VE. Its terrestrial television, terrestrial signal also covers the San Diego area acros ...
, citing FCC regulations preventing any foreign station from airing live programming from the United States to U.S. audiences without an FCC-approved permit. Fox was eventually granted the permit allowing XETV to carry the games. XETV lost its affiliation to CW affiliate
KSWB-TV KSWB-TV (channel 69) is a television station in San Diego, California, United States, affiliated with the Fox network. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside independent station KUSI-TV (channel 51). The two stations share studios on Vie ...
in 2008 through a deal with
Tribune Broadcasting Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television station, television and radio stations thro ...
; in turn, XETV assumed the CW affiliation. The permit to carry live programming also benefited two stations set up by
Televisa Grupo Televisa, S.A.B., simply known as Televisa, is a Mexican telecommunications and broadcasting company. A major Latin American mass media corporation, it often presents itself as the largest producer of Spanish-language content. In April ...
with Fox programming: XHFOX-TV in Matamoros/
Reynosa Reynosa () is a border city in the northern part of the state of Tamaulipas, in Mexico which also holds the municipal seat of Reynosa Municipality. The city is located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande in the international Reynosa–McAlle ...
(serving the HarlingenBrownsvilleMcAllen market) and XHFTX-TV in
Nuevo Laredo Nuevo Laredo () is a city in the Municipality of Nuevo Laredo in the Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Tamaulipas. The city lies on the banks of the Rio Grande, across from Laredo, Texas, Laredo, United States. The 2010 census popula ...
(serving the Laredo market). However, these stations continued to have to "bicycle" tapes of programming across the border. These stations dropped their Fox affiliations on February 28, 2002, due to increased reverse compensation fees with Fox and high costs of local news production. Both stations became affiliates of Televisa's
Canal de las Estrellas Las Estrellas () is a Mexican television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. Its first official broadcast took place on 21 March 1951. It airs free-to-air through affiliate stations throughout Mexico, based on XEW-TDT in Mexico City. It is co ...
. While the NFL signed Canadian rights agreements for both the NFC and AFC packages on television in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
with the CanWest Global System and
Western International Communications WIC Western International Communications Ltd. (or WIC) was a Canadian media company that operated from 1982 to 2000, with operations including broadcast and specialty television, radio, and satellite distribution via a majority interest in Ca ...
, the switches led to increased interest by Canadian cable companies in adding a U.S. Fox station to their lineups. However, since 1978, the availability of U.S. network affiliates on Canadian cable had been governed by the
Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC; ) is a public organization in Canada tasked with the mandate as a regulatory agency tribunal for various electronic communications, covering broadcasting and telecommunic ...
(CRTC)'s "3 plus 1" rule, allowing the carriage of three American network affiliates plus a
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
station, with frequent exemptions for border towns where additional stations were receivable over-the-air. In June 1994, the CRTC stated it was unwilling to modify the rule; the next month, a group of 48 Canadian cable systems, many belonging to major operators, petitioned the CRTC to allow them to add Fox programming. Canadian broadcasters lobbied against any change, fearing that the addition of Fox would "Americanize the system further" and occupy channel capacity needed to provide new Canadian services. External pressure led the CRTC to reverse course by September, allowing Canadian cable providers to pick up a Fox affiliate without having to drop a "Big Three" affiliate.


The ascendance of Fox Sports

Fox Sports has been cited as one of the fastest start-ups in modern television history, and the most successful. Aided by a number of off- and on-air personnel that defected from CBS Sports, David Hill—who was transferred as Sky Sports president to like duties for Fox—assembled the division in less than eight months. John Madden jokingly mused upon joining Fox Sports that the "s" should be removed from the name, "... because the only sport ... we had at Fox was football, NFL football". Adopting the slogan of "same game, new attitude", the
NFL on Fox The ''NFL on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox NFL'') is the branding used for broadcasts of National Football League (NFL) games produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports and televised on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox broadcast network. ...
's centerpiece program was an hour-long pregame show, ''
Fox NFL Sunday ''Fox NFL Sunday'' is an American sports television program broadcast on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television network. The show debuted on September 4, 1994, and serves as the pre-game show for the network's National Football League (NFL ...
'', incorporating comedy and entertainment with co-host Terry Bradshaw quickly becoming a breakout star. ''NFL Sunday''s success demonstrated viewers held an appetite for football that extended beyond the game itself. Along with a theme song composed by Scott Schreer that has since become symbolic of the entire network, technical innovations included the " Fox Box" displaying the clock and score continuously (Hill perfected a similar on-screen bug for Sky's soccer coverage) and the use of
parabolic microphone A parabolic microphone is a microphone that uses a parabolic reflector to collect and focus sound waves onto a transducer, in much the same way that a parabolic antenna (e.g. satellite dish) does with radio waves. Though they lack high fideli ...
s for in-game sound. NFL on Fox also provided a launching pad for other established announcers including Kenny Albert,
Kevin Harlan Kevin Robert Harlan (born June 21, 1960) is an American television and radio sports announcer, and a 3 time National Sportscaster of Year as voted by his peers. The son of former Green Bay Packers President and CEO Bob Harlan, he broadcasts NF ...
and
Joe Buck Joseph Francis Buck (born April 25, 1969) is an American sportscaster for ESPN. The son of sportscaster Jack Buck, he worked for Fox Sports from its 1994 inception through 2022, including roles as lead play-by-play announcer for Fox's Nati ...
. The affiliation switches helped elevate Fox to major network status, on par with its older, established competitors. The growth of Fox Sports was as quick as its founding: on September 9, 1994, Fox secured rights to the
National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...
from
1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...
to
1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
, again outbidding CBS.
Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...
followed on November 7, 1995, initially via a shared arrangement with NBC. Fox Sports extended into
regional sports network A regional sports network (RSN) in the United States and Canada is a television channel that presents sports programming to a local media market or geographical region. Such channels often focus on one or a few teams who currently play in Major L ...
s beginning in 1996 through a joint venture with TCI's
Liberty Media Liberty Media Corporation (commonly referred to as Liberty Media or just Liberty) is an American mass media company founded by John C. Malone in 1991. The company has three divisions, reflecting its ownership stakes in the Formula One Group, S ...
, creating
Fox Sports Net Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by the Walt Disney Company on Mar ...
from the former
Prime Sports Prime Sports (originally known as the Prime Sports Network (PSN), and also known as Prime Network or simply Prime) is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that were owned by Liberty Media, oper ...
and
SportsChannel SportsChannel is the collective name for a former group of regional sports networks in the United States that was owned by Cablevision, which from 1988 until the group's demise, operated it as a joint venture with NBC. Operating from March 1, ...
networks. NASCAR coverage was added in 2000, including the
Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...
, plus the Winston Cup and Busch Series. Along with the NFL,
NASCAR on Fox ''NASCAR on Fox'', also known as ''Fox NASCAR'', is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports and have aired on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox television network in the United States si ...
and the
MLB on Fox The ''MLB on Fox'' (also known as ''Fox MLB'') is an American presentation of Major League Baseball (MLB) games produced by Fox Sports (United States), Fox Sports, the sports division of the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox), since June 1, 1996. Fo ...
remain cornerstones of Fox Sports into the present day.


See also

*
1989 South Florida television affiliation switch On January 1, 1989, six television stations in the Miami–Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, Florida, Media market#Television, markets, exchanged network affiliate, network affiliations. The event, referred to in contemporary media coverage ...
*
1994 in American television In American television in 1994, notable events included television series debuts, finales, cancellations, and channel initiations, closures and re-brandings, as well as information about controversies and disputes. Notable events January ...
* 2006 United States broadcast television realignment * 2001 Vancouver TV realignment *
2007 Canada broadcast TV realignment In 2007, significant ownership changes occurred in Canada's terrestrial television, broadcast television industry, involving nearly every private English-language television network, network and television system. In addition to the shuffling of ne ...


Notes


References


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:U.S. Television Network Affiliate Switches Of 1994 1994 in American television 1995 in American television 1996 in American television 1997 in American television 1994 in economic history CBS E. W. Scripps Company Fox Broadcasting Company History of NFL broadcasting History of television in the United States NFL on television News Corporation Westinghouse Broadcasting