Three Nexstar-owned stations are now scheduled to change over to The CW affiliates on September 1, 2023. This follows the previous confirmation that CBS was cutting ties with The CW in a number of locations in September.
While cutting ties might make it sound like some kind of dispute had happened, that wasn’t the case. Instead, Nexstar purchased a majority stake in The CW in October of last year, and the CBS relationship with The CW was always set to eventually come to an end. In those affected areas, the current The CW affiliates are due to be replaced with independent stations.
Now, Nexstar has made its move in response, confirming that stations it owns in three of those locations will make the switch to The CW on September 1st. According to the announcement, the stations are WPHL-TV in Philadelphia, KRON-TV in San Francisco, and WTTA-TV in Tampa.
Once these stations change to affiliates of The CW Network, they will begin carrying the network’s primetime entertainment, as well as live sports, and special event programming.
In total, eight The CW affiliates owned by CBS are due to close in September. This announcement confirms that Nexstar will make its versions available on the same day. The stations that these will replace, and previously confirmed to be switching to independent, are WPSG in Philadelphia, KBCW in San Francisco, and WTOT in Tampa.
According to Andrew Alford, president of Nexstar’s broadcasting division, the changeover in Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Tampa will increase the number of “Nexstar and partner-owned CW stations to 40, covering 38% of U.S. TV Households.”
While not confirmed yet, it seems likely that Nexstar will look to make similar moves in the other locations that are due to be affected by the CBS switchover
The other CBS-owned stations that are due to go independent on September 1 are WUPA in Atlanta, WKBD in Detroit, WPCW in Pittsburgh, KMAX in Sacramento, and KSTW in Seattle.
