WPXI off Dish; station also cancels parade

WPXI-TV (11) and its Cox Media Group sisters have been off the Dish Network feed since July 24. It’s the typical tussle that these companies have over carriage rights and the expense involved. CMG had similar issues with Verizon FiOS at the beginning of 2020 with re-transmission of WPXI removed from Verizon systems for about 6 days.

We also understand that an issue with Comcast to carry WPXI’s Pittsburgh Cable News Channel (PCNC) has never been resolved. It too began at the beginning of 2020 with little warning to the TV station. PCNC remains on Verizon FiOS and others. The channel was started in 1994 as a project between WPXI and TCI Cable – a system later purchased by Comcast.

And WPXI has also canceled the Celebrate the Season parade typically held the Saturday after Thanksgiving – the COVID-19 pandemic is to blame. This would have been the 40th anniversary of the parade which used to be put on by Kaufmann’s Department Store and televised by Channel 11. Macy’s continued to sponsor the parade until a few years ago when they closed the downtown Pittsburgh store. WPXI has maintained it since and the station will air a 40th anniversary retrospective later in the year (Beaver County Times)