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| Formerly | Viacom Television Stations Group (2000–2006) CBS Television Stations (2006–2021) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Division |
| Predecessors | |
| Founded |
|
| Headquarters | , United States |
| Revenue | $1.6 billion (2014) |
| Parent | CBS Entertainment Group |
| Divisions | CBS News |
| Footnotes / references [1] | |
CBS News and Stations is a division of theCBS Entertainment Group unit ofParamount Skydance Corporation that owns and operates a group ofAmerican television stations along withCBS News. As of January 2021[update], the division owned 28 stations: 15 are the core stations of theCBS television network (Including those in locations such asNew York,Los Angeles,Chicago,Dallas,San Francisco,Boston,Miami,Philadelphia,Atlanta, among others), two are affiliates ofThe CW, ten areindependent stations, and one is a primary-channel affiliate of the digital subchannel networkStart TV, located inIndianapolis. As of January 2018[update]. it maintained a half-interest in Start TV, which was co-owned withWeigel Broadcasting.
CBS began its television operations on July 1, 1941, with its initial owned-and-operated station,WCBS-TV (then known as WCBW) inNew York City. Other owned-and-operated stations were acquired through an ownership stake or outright purchase instead of being built by the network. TheWestinghouse Electric Corporation's purchase of CBS in 1995 then merged the network's owned-and-operated stations with those ofWestinghouse Broadcasting (Group W). With the subsequent 2000 merger withViacom, the CBS-owned stations were combined with Viacom'sParamount Stations Group to form theViacom Television Stations Group. The group was then renamedCBS Television Stations in 2006,[2] and later CBS News and Stations in 2021.[3]
CBS's involvement in television dates back to the opening of experimental station W2XAB in New York City on July 21, 1931. On June 24, 1941, W2XAB received a commercialconstruction permit and program authorization as WCBW. Later renamedWCBS-TV, it would ultimately be the only station (as of 2020[update]) originally built and signed on by CBS. The rest of the stations would be acquired by CBS, either in an ownership stake or outright purchase.
In 1950, when rivalNBC was dominant in television and black and white transmission was widespread, CBS began to buy or build their own stations (outside of New York City) inLos Angeles,Chicago, and other major cities. Up to that point, CBS programming was seen on such stations asKTTV in Los Angeles, in which CBS – as a bit of insurance and to guarantee program clearance in that market – quickly purchased a 50% interest, partnering with theLos Angeles Times. CBS then sold its interest in KTTV (now the West Coast flagship of theFox network) and purchased outright Los Angeles pioneer station KTSL in 1950, renaming it KNXT (after CBS's existing Los Angeles radio property, KNX), later to becomeKCBS-TV. In 1953, CBS bought pioneer television station WBKB in Chicago, which had been signed on by former investor Paramount Pictures (and would become a sister company to CBS again decades later) as a commercial station in 1946, and changed that station's call sign toWBBM-TV, moving the CBS affiliation away fromWGN-TV.
The network bought Washington, D.C. affiliate WOIC (nowWUSA) in a joint venture withThe Washington Post in 1950, only to sell its stake to thePost in 1954 due to tighter FCC ownership regulations. CBS would also temporarily rely onUHF technology by owning WXIX in Milwaukee (nowCW affiliateWVTV) and WHCT in Hartford (nowUnivision affiliateWUVN), but as UHF was not viable for broadcasting at the time (due to the fact that most television sets of the time were not equipped with UHF tuners), CBS decided to sell those stations off and affiliate withVHF stationsWITI and WTIC-TV (nowWFSB). More long-term, CBS bought stations in Philadelphia (WCAU, now owned by NBC) and St. Louis (KMOX-TV, nowKMOV), but would eventually sell these stations off as well; before buying KMOX-TV, CBS had attempted to purchase and sign on the channel 11 license in St. Louis, nowKPLR-TV.[4]
CBS did attempt to sign on a station in Pittsburgh, as it was at the time the sixth-largest market but had just one commercial VHF station in DuMont-owned WDTV, while the rest were either on UHF (the modern-dayWPGH-TV andWINP-TV) orpublic television (WQED). Although the FCC turned down CBS's request to buy the channel 9 license in nearby Steubenville, Ohio and move it to Pittsburgh (that station, initially CBS affiliate WSTV-TV, is now NBC affiliateWTOV-TV), CBS did score a major coup when Pittsburgh-basedWestinghouse Electric, a co-founder of NBC with RCA, bought WDTV from struggling DuMont and opted to affiliate the now-recalledKDKA-TV with CBS instead of NBC (likeKDKA radio) due to NBC extorting and coercing Westinghouse to tradeKYW radio and WPTZ (nowKYW-TV) for Cleveland stationsWTAM, WTAM-FM (nowWMJI), and WNBK (nowWKYC); the trade ended up being reversed in 1965 by order of the FCC and the Department of Justice after an eight-year investigation.[5] Had CBS not been able to affiliate with KDKA-TV, it would have affiliated with eventual NBC affiliate WIIC-TV (nowWPXI) once it signed on in 1957 instead.[6] This coup would eventually lead to a much stronger relationship between Westinghouse and CBS.
CBS was a central player in a multi-year affiliation drama inMiami, Florida, in the 1980s. Long-standing affiliateWTVJ (channel 4) in Miami (along with most of theStorer Communications chain) was to have been sold toLorimar-Telepictures in May 1986,[7] but that deal fell apart when CBS inquired with ownership ofWCIX (channel 6) about a possible purchase.[8] WTVJ was sold to NBC in January 1987,[9] but contractually obligated to be run as a CBS affiliate until January 1, 1989.[10] After CBS failed to secure an affiliation with outgoing NBC affiliateWSVN,[11] the network bought WCIX and moved all network programming there as part ofa larger six-station, two-market affiliation swap.[12][13][14] CBS's ownership of WCIX was generally regarded as a failure due to the station's signal and technical deficiencies, with then-station group presidentHoward Stringer telling local media in July 1989, "we can never be better than third".[15]
CBS then acquired Midwest Communications in 1992, which ownedWCCO-TV in Minneapolis andWFRV-TV in Green Bay.[16]
In 1994, theFox Broadcasting Company agreed to a multi-year, multi-station affiliation deal withNew World Communications, resulting in most of New World's stations switching to Fox.[17] This set off a chain of affiliation changes across the country and other multi-station affiliation deals for the next couple of years. Unable to find a station who would agree to replace New World'sWJBK-TV in Detroit, CBS struck an eleventh-hour deal to purchase UHF station WGPR (nowWWJ-TV) outright.[18] CBS also had trouble finding a station who would agree to replace New World'sWAGA in Atlanta, and therefore bought UHF station WVEU (nowWUPA) out of desperation, even though WVEU had the lowest ratings and the weakest signal out of Atlanta's full-power stations.[18] However, late in November 1994, WGNX (nowWANF) changed their minds and agreed to affiliate with CBS, and so CBS ended up selling WVEU toViacom in May 1995.[19]
TheWestinghouse Electric Corporation, through itsWestinghouse Broadcasting (Group W) division, sought an affiliation deal of its own, and after several months of negotiations with the other networks, Westinghouse agreed to affiliate its entire television unit with CBS.[20] Among the Group W stations,KPIX in San Francisco andKDKA-TV in Pittsburgh were already CBS affiliates, whileWJZ-TV in Baltimore andWBZ-TV in Boston switched from ABC and NBC, respectively.[21] This affiliation pact displaced existing CBS-ownedWCAU-TV; after NBC prevailed in a bidding war for the station,[22] NBC agreed to sell to the CBS–Group W partnershipKCNC-TV inDenver,KUTV inSalt Lake City, and WTVJ's license and transmitter. In turn, CBS sold to NBC both WCAU-TV and WCIX's license and transmitter.[23] CBS retained WCIX's intellectual property, thus, when the asset swap took place on September 10, 1995, WCIX "moved" to channel 4 and was renamed WFOR-TV, operating on WTVJ's former license.[24]
Westinghouse would then buy CBS outright, a transaction which closed in late 1995.[25] CBS had also boughtWPRI-TV in Providence, Rhode Island in early 1995 prior to the deal closing;[26] at the time, the FCC normally did not allow common ownership of multiple stations with overlapping coverage areas, so WPRI was sold off in favor of Westinghouse's WBZ.[27][28] Following the completion of the CBS takeover, the former Westinghouse Broadcasting operations took on the CBS name and identity, though the Group W name survived until the end of the 1990s as a holding company within the merged entity's structure. In 1997, Westinghouse changed its name to CBS Corporation.
When CBS/Westinghouse began purchasing several broadcasting assets fromGaylord Entertainment during the late 1990s, these transactions included the acquisition ofKTVT in Dallas.
On May 24, 2000, with the merger ofViacom andCBS Corporation, Viacom'sParamount Stations Group were combined with CBS'sowned-and-operated stations division to form theViacom Television Stations Group. At the time, Viacom owned theUPN network and the Paramount Stations Group controlled UPN's owned-and-operated stations.[29][30] The merger created duopolies between CBS and UPN stations in Philadelphia (KYW-TV andWPSG), Boston (WBZ-TV andWSBK-TV), Miami (WFOR andWBFS-TV), Dallas–Fort Worth (KTVT andKTXA), Detroit (WWJ-TV andWKBD-TV) and Pittsburgh (KDKA-TV andWNPA).
Viacom had also exercised a contractual clause that forcedChris-Craft Industries to either buy Viacom out of UPN, or have the former sell its ownership stake in the network to Viacom. On March 20, 2000, Chris-Craft allowed Viacom to buy out its 50% stake, giving Viacom full control of the network.[31] However on August 12 of that year,Fox Television Stations outbid Viacom for Chris-Craft's UPN stations.[32]
Viacom then took full control of UPN affiliatesWTVX in Fort Pierce, Florida, andWLWC inNew Bedford, Massachusetts, from Straightline Communications in 2001, after the Paramount Stations Group had operated the two stations through local marketing agreements since 1997.
In 2002, Viacom traded UPN stationsKTXH in Houston andWDCA in Washington, D.C. to Fox in exchange for KBHK-TV (nowKPYX) in San Francisco, one of the former Chris-Craft stations, resulting in the creation of a duopoly with CBS-owned KPIX. Viacom also bought independent Los Angeles stationKCAL-TV in 2002,[33] creating a duopoly with CBS-owned KCBS, which broadcasting industry observers also speculated was done to use as possible future leverage against UPN affiliateKCOP-TV, another former Chris-Craft station owned by Fox.
In 2005, Viacom bought CBS-affiliateKOVR in Sacramento, resulting in another duopoly with UPN-owned-and-operatedKMAX-TV. Viacom also purchased the low-powered stationsWTCN-CA andWWHB-CA,[34] integrating their local operations with WTVX.[35]
Viacom also sold some of their stations, creating duopolies for their new owners instead. The UPN-owned-and-operatedWUPL was sold toBelo Corporation, owners of CBS affiliateWWL-TV in New Orleans, after Belo turned down Viacom's offer to purchase WWL. On February 10, 2005, UPN-owned stationsWNDY-TV in Indianapolis andWWHO in Columbus, Ohio, were sold to theLIN TV Corporation, owners of then-CBS Indianapolis affiliateWISH-TV.[36] Later on November 4, 2005,The New York Times Company bought UPN-owned-and-operated stationKAUT-TV to create a duopoly with NBC affiliateKFOR-TV in Oklahoma City.
Viacom Television Stations Group was then rebranded to CBS Television Stations on January 3, 2006, three days after Viacom split itself into two publicly traded companies, the second incarnations ofCBS Corporation andViacom, both of which remained controlled byNational Amusements.[2]
On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation andTime Warner announced that it would shut down UPN and competitorThe WB to launchThe CW later that September.[37][38] The formation of The CW to replace both UPN and The WB triggered the2006 United States broadcast TV realignment, a chain of affiliation changes across the country and the establishment of competitorMyNetworkTV. On the day of the network launch announcement, The CW immediately announced it had reached affiliation agreements withTribune Broadcasting (who had owned a stake in The WB) and CBS Television Stations. Tribune originally committed 16 stations that were previously affiliated with The WB, while CBS committed 11 of its UPN stations. Both companies also owned several UPN and WB-affiliated stations that did not join The CW in overlapping markets; these stations either later affiliated with MyNetworkTV or another network, or became completely independent. As part of its affiliation agreement with the network,Tribune Media agreed to divest its ownership interest in The WB (a move it made partly to avoid shouldering shutdown costs for The WB).[39] and did not acquire an equity stake in The CW.
In 2007, CBS-owned-and-operatedWFRV-TV in Green Bay and its satelliteWJMN-TV in Escanaba, Michigan, were sold toLiberty Media.[40][41] That same year,Cerberus Capital Management formed the holding companyFour Points Media Group to serve as a buyer for seven smaller-market stations, including CBS-owned-and-operated stationsKUTV in Salt Lake City andKEYE-TV in Austin, Texas; and The CW affiliatesWTVX in Fort Pierce, Florida, andWLWC inNew Bedford, Massachusetts. Also including were KUSG (nowKMYU) in St. George, Utah, which served as satellite station of KUTV; andWTCN-CA andWWHB-CA, the sister stations to WTVX. The sale with Four Points closed on January 10, 2008.[42]
In 2009 and 2010, three managers at its New York City station, WCBS-TV, were named CBS Television Stations executives while continuing to manage at the station. Station manager Peter Dunn was named CBS Television Stations President in November 2009.[2] Station creative services director Bruce Erik Brauer was named in June 2010 senior vice president of creative services for the group. WCBS news director David Friend became the group's senior vice president of news in August 2010.[43]
On June 14, 2010,Local TV, owner of CBS affiliateWTKR, acquired The CW affiliateWGNT from CBS Television Stations to create its own duopoly in theHampton Roads area.[44]
On December 12, 2011, CBS Television Stations announced its intent to purchaseRiverhead, New York-licensedWLNY-TV (channel 55), later announced for a purchase price of $55 million, creating a duopoly with WCBS-TV.[45] The company announced that it would add additional on-air staff and expand WLNY's local news programming (at the time, that station had only an 11 p.m. newscast). The FCC approved the sale on January 31, 2012, and CBS took control of the station on March 30. WLNY suspended its own news operations the previous day[46] and began airing WCBS-TV produced newscasts on July 2, 2012.
On October 21, 2014, CBS andWeigel Broadcasting announced the launch of a newdigital subchannel service calledDecades, scheduled to launch on all CBS owned and operated stations in May 2015.[47][1] The channel is co-owned by CBS and Weigel, with Weigel being responsible for distribution to stations outside CBS Television Stations. It airs programs from the extensive library ofCBS Television Distribution, including archival footage fromCBS News.[47] On July 18, 2018, CBS and Weigel announced that another new subchannel service,Start TV, would launch on September 4; the new service replaced Decades on the CBS-owned stations.[48] An additional CBS-owned subchannel service,Dabl, launched on September 9, 2019; this service, although carried on the CBS Television Stations, is run by CBS Television Distribution.[49]
The station group made a couple of content agreements in 2014 and 2015. The stations agreed in December 2014 for its content to be shown on Curb's Taxi TV.[1] In November 2015, the station group agreed to allow Health Media Network to air local news reports on its network in doctors' waiting rooms.[50]
In May 2016, Adam Wiener was named as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of CBS Local Digital Media, responsible for all digital and streaming initiatives of the CBS Television Stations.[51]
On August 1, 2018, CBS Television Stations andCBS Interactive announced plans to launchCBSN Local, a group of streaming local news channels, led by Wiener, to be distributed through the existing nationalCBSN service.[52] The first of these services, CBSN New York, launched on December 13, 2018, with Los Angeles following in June 2019.[53] Eleven other markets launched, most recently CBS News Miami in January 2022.[54]
CBS and Viacom thenmerged for the second time, formingViacomCBS (nowParamount Skydance Corporation), on December 4, 2019.[55]
In January 2021, it was reported that Dunn and Friend had been placed on administrative leave, following allegations of racist and sexist conduct.[56][needs update]
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On April 15, 2021, CBS Television Stations andCBS News announced that their respective divisions would merge into a single entity. It was also announced thatNeeraj Khemlani (former Executive Vice President ofHearst Newspapers) andWendy McMahon (former President of theABC Owned Television Stations Group) were named presidents and co-heads. This transition was completed on May 3.[3]
On July 16, 2021, CBS named Adrienne Roark as a president for the CBS Stations, effective August 2; she primarily oversees the group's stations in the eastern United States.[57] Two additional presidents were announced on August 13, 2021: Jennifer Mitchell, who would oversee CBS's stations in the western half of the country starting on September 7, and Tom Canedo, who immediately began overseeing the eight CBS-owned CW affiliates.[58]
In the fall of 2022, WSBK-TV and WBFS-TV returned to independence, ending the only affiliations of MyNetworkTV carried by any Paramount station.
On May 5, 2023, CBS announced that its eight CW affiliates would drop the network and become independent in September, with the intention of expanding local programming, including live sports, as well as programming from other Paramount properties.[59] Paramount andWarner Bros. Discovery (the latter being Time Warner's successor) sold a majority stake in The CW toNexstar Media Group on October 3, 2022;[60] as part of the deal, CBS was given the right to end its CW affiliations.[59] However, WKBD-TV in Detroit would subsequently sign a deal to re-affiliate with The CW on September 1, 2024, alongside first-time affiliate WBFS-TV in Miami; both stations are in markets where the previous CW affiliate had been owned by theE. W. Scripps Company, which announced plans to drop The CW from its stations in that timeframe.[61][62]
In May 2025, McMahon resigned as president of CBS News and Stations.[63]
Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state andcity of license.
This list also contains stations that were owned and operated by CBS prior to the 2000 merger with Viacom and the subsequent establishment of the CBS Television Stations division.
| City of license / Market | Station | Channel | Years owned | Current status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles, CA | KTTV | 11 | 1949–1951[l] | Fox owned-and-operated (O&O) |
| Hartford–New Haven, CT |
| 18 | 1955–1958 | Univision affiliateWUVN, owned byEntravision Communications |
| Washington, DC | WTOP-TV | 9 | 1950–1954[m] | CBS affiliateWUSA, owned byTegna Inc. |
| WDCA | 20 | 2000–2001[a] | MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated (O&O) | |
| West Palm Beach, FL | WTVX | 34 | 2001–2008[n] | The CW affiliate owned bySinclair Broadcast Group |
| WTCN-CD | 43 | 2005–2008 | MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| WWHB-CD | 48 | 2005–2008 | Roar affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| Indianapolis, IN | WNDY-TV | 23 | 2000–2005[a] | MyNetworkTV affiliate owned byCircle City Broadcasting |
| Slidell–New Orleans, LA | WUPL | 54 | 2000–2007[a] | MyNetworkTV affiliate owned by Tegna Inc. |
| Detroit, MI–Windsor, ON | WBXD-LP/CA | 5 | 2001–2004[g] | Daystar owned-and-operated (O&O)WUDT-LD on channel 23 |
| Escanaba–Marquette, MI | WJMN-TV[o] | 3 | 1992–2007[h] | ABC affiliate owned by Sullivan's Landing,LLC[p] |
| Alexandria, MN | KCCO-TV[i] | 7 | 1992–2017[h] | defunct, went dark in 2017 |
| St. Louis, MO | KMOX-TV | 4 | 1958–1986 | CBS affiliateKMOV, owned byGray Media |
| Chillicothe–Columbus, OH | WWHO | 53 | 2000–2005[a] | The CW affiliate owned by Manhan Media[q] |
| Oklahoma City, OK | KAUT-TV | 43 | 2000–2005[a] | The CW owned-and-operated (O&O) station owned byNexstar Media Group |
| Philadelphia, PA | WCAU-TV | 10 | 1958–1995[c] | NBC owned-and-operated (O&O) |
| Providence, RI–New Bedford, MA | WPRI-TV | 12 | 1995–1996 | CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
| WLWC | 28 | 2001–2008[n] | Court TV affiliate owned by Inyo Broadcast Holdings | |
| Austin, TX | KEYE-TV | 42 | 2000–2008 | CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| Houston, TX | KTXH | 20 | 2000–2001[a] | MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated (O&O) |
| Salt Lake City, UT | KUTV | 2 | 1995–2008[c] | CBS affiliate owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group |
| KUSG | 12 | 1999–2008 | MyNetworkTV affiliateKMYU, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group | |
| Portsmouth–Norfolk–Newport News, VA | WGNT | 27 | 2000–2010[a] | Independent station owned by theE. W. Scripps Company |
| Green Bay, WI | WFRV-TV | 5 | 1992–2007[h] | CBS affiliate owned by Nexstar Media Group |
| Milwaukee, WI | WXIX-TV | 18 | 1955–1959 | The CW affiliateWVTV, owned byRincon Broadcasting Group |
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