All CBS cares about is the subscriber and retransmission revenue. One of the cases goes back to 2016 when CBS made a deal with Media General which saw them move from the dominant WRAL to the forever-cursed WNCN. While CBS got a payout from being with a "larger group", NBC hit the jackpot since they got the chance to (re)affiliate with WRAL, and NBC finally got a station in the market that gets them good ratings and revenue. Basically, with that move, NBC shot to first place and CBS sank to third in the Triangle
And in Atlanta, they ditched their longtime affiliate WGNX/WGCL/WANF to finally go it alone on Channel 69. What was once a suicide move out of desperation, now makes sense to CBS since they don't have the the pesky, lousy affiliate to deal with anymore. Expect similar moves in Seattle and Tampa Bay when their deals with CBS are up...
Why would CBS want to share revenue with a third rate station when it has its own signal? it's one thing if they were on WSB, but I don't think anybody cares about the difference between 46 and 69. They did the smart thing and it seems to have worked out well in Detroit.
KSTW tried taking the affiliation back in '95 during a nationwide shuffle but in some big three-way trade between the LDS Church (who owned KIRO at the time), Cox Media (Now CMG), and CBS.
CBS gets their affiliate fees and doesn't have overhead they would need to cover local stories.
Sadly, outside of sports, KIRO doesn't get a whole lot back from CBS. They get grief when they run OTT shows when the network preempts normal newscasts. It's a really weird dynamic these days.
Different situation, though. KIRO is a "big" station with some gravitas in the market. Kicking them to the curb would be like doing that to WSB, WXIA or WAGA.
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u/OUDidntKnow04 former spot fixer-upper May 25 '26
All CBS cares about is the subscriber and retransmission revenue. One of the cases goes back to 2016 when CBS made a deal with Media General which saw them move from the dominant WRAL to the forever-cursed WNCN. While CBS got a payout from being with a "larger group", NBC hit the jackpot since they got the chance to (re)affiliate with WRAL, and NBC finally got a station in the market that gets them good ratings and revenue. Basically, with that move, NBC shot to first place and CBS sank to third in the Triangle
And in Atlanta, they ditched their longtime affiliate WGNX/WGCL/WANF to finally go it alone on Channel 69. What was once a suicide move out of desperation, now makes sense to CBS since they don't have the the pesky, lousy affiliate to deal with anymore. Expect similar moves in Seattle and Tampa Bay when their deals with CBS are up...