The CW likely to land on WPNT
August 23, 2023What we know: On Friday, September 1, WPCW (19; DT 11 Jeannette) will become WPKD as The CW Network will cease their relationship with any CBS O&O stations.
What we suspect: The CW will likely head to Sinclair’s WPNT (22; DT 21 Pittsburgh) where it will feel “at home”.
Channel 22 once held the UPN (United Paramount Network) which eventually went to channel 19 and channel 22 became WCWB with the Warner Brothers Network affiliation. When the WB and UPN merged into the CW a few years later, channel 19 won the affilation. This would mean WPNT would likely drop its very loose affiliation with My Network TV which still appears to claim about 2 hours of the station’s airtime per day.
If this is all true, will Channel 22 pick up the WPCW callsign? It’s possible… I see the point … especially as I think they’d have to drop calling the station “The Point”.
Meanwhile, neither network or station owner has made any formal announcement.
What we also suspect: With call letters WPKD (which we would imagine is for “Pittsburgh KDKA”) it makes one think it’ll be another outlet for KDKA programming. Or a place to put CBS programming when preempted on KDKA (2; DT 25) as they did during the Steeler’s pre-season home game the other day.
“KDKA 2.0?” Probably not. KDKA-TV’s analog allocation was Channel 2. The station along with most of its sisters in other markets recently dropped any reference to channel allocation given the analogs are no more (except virtually) and the digital allocations can obviously be changed on a moment’s notice. Even though “2.0 (two-point-OH)” would be a trendy name, it would be confusing to the average viewer…
I open this part of the discussion to the armchair experts out there who have a lot more time than I do right now… or we could wait for the official announcements…
No more confusing than a radio group rebranding itself “Audacy” which over the air sounds like it’s spelled “Odyssey”.
Interesting to note that in Las Vegas and Phoenix the programming from the market’s RSNs are winding up in places like WPCW. The end of RSNs like AT&T Sportsnet have sent teams scrambling for other outlets and secondary channels like WPCW and WPNT seem to be an interesting landing spot. I suspect that we’re about to see a handful of different models in different markets that will handle all of this suddenly homeless sports programming (which makes money but has been badly managed for years).
Here’s hoping the Penguins end up on WPKD
WPNT probably makes the most sense. Hearst recently renewed its CW affiliations which included picking it up in Sacramento so a subchannel for WTAE is out. WINP COULD pick it up if Scripps wanted to expand its non-diginet lineup. WPXI will likely get sold by Cox in the coming years as Apollo gradually breaks Cox apart–prime for CW parent Nexstar to take over–but in any event I don\’t see them dropping NBC, though I wouldn\’t rule out a subchannel.
Longshot option: Paramount Global and Nexstar reach an agreement where WTRF picks up the CW on its primary signal, then simulcasts on a KDKA subchannel mapped at 7.1, while WTRF picks up KDKA\’s main CBS feed in its own simulcast and maps it at 7.5 or something. I doubt that happens, but Nexstar has made WTRF a lot more competitive against WTOV in the Ohio Valley. I could see Sinclair supporting collapsing the two markets together and pairing up WTOV with WPNT and selling off WPGH to Cox.
Joseph, my favorite “longshot prognosticator” when it comes to television. I don’t see any of this happening… but it certainly is quite the convoluted scenario!
Well I posted that before the Trib reported about WPNT getting the CW.
That being said I still think Nexstar ends up in the local market somehow, probably through sidecar Mission Broadcasting and operating a station via LMA. Pittsburgh is the only market in the state without a Nexstar station–including out-of-state markets that spill into PA such as Youngstown, Buffalo, Washington DC, & New York City–and is completely surrounded by markets with at least one Nexstar station.
My money is still on WPXI being that station, since Apollo took over Cox they’ve been slowly dismantling the company with sales of legacy Cox stations in Memphis and (though since aborted) Boston. I don’t see Hearst or Sinclair going anywhere. So I wouldn’t be surprised if we see that distincitve Nexstar copyright at the end of a Channel 11 newscast in the near future like we already see on WKBN/WYTV, WTRF, WBOY, WTAJ, & WJET/WFXP. Or in my case since I left the area five years ago, WCMH.
Sinclair won’t change the WPNT callsign. MyNetworkTV will no longer be in primetime no matter where it goes, and I suspect it will be after the late news regardless of which station picks it up. WPKD will be for CBS News Pittsburgh what WPXI-11.4 is now for PCNC, but figure on CBS going for play-by-play for its reborn TV 19, along with more local news/public affairs programs.
They won’t? The calls have changed with the last couple of affiliation changes. So it frankly isn’t out of question. Most CW affiliates, and certainly on a limited supply, have had the letters “CW” within callsigns where and when possible which is what gave me that hypothesis.
They should call the station KD-19. And The CW 22
“KD-19” obviously not happening… “CW22” is possible, but 1. No formal announcement has been made and WPCW has, under this affiliation, only been known as “The CW”.
Maybe I’m wrong, Eric, but my gut says otherwise. Of course, given that I haven’t done much writing on broadcasting lately, never mind much broadcasting, my gut and $1.50 would get you an Indiana Gazette … or with $2.50 a Tribune-Review.