2, 11 to share helicopter services

January 9, 2021 Off By Eric O'Brien

A few sources close to PBRTV didn’t waste time after our report today giving us the scoop about the news choppers. Sources spoke on condition of anonymity, but in short KDKA-TV (2) and WPXI-TV (11) will share a contract.

As we suspected, Cox Media Group did not renew their contract with Helicopters, Inc. Whether that was just for WPXI or is company-wide remains to be seen. In 2019, Cox Media Group became a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management.

KDKA (owned by CBS Corp.) has a year left on their contract with Falcon Executive Helicopters which the two stations will share. The two stations may sign a multi-year contract with one of the companies come 2022.

Said one source, “It’ll be interesting to see if sharing a helicopter between two highly competitive companies here in Pittsburgh will work.”