20 Years Ago Today…

…the CBS and NBC affiliations in Philadelphia, Miami, Denver, and Salt Lake City were swapped as a result of a deal between the two networks and Group W/Westinghouse Broadcasting.

As discussed before, Group W had struck a deal with CBS to affiliate all five of its stations with the network. WJZ-TV in Baltimore and WBZ-TV in Boston had switched on January 2, 1995. However, in Philadelphia, CBS already owned WCAU-TV on channel 10 for many years. In order for the deal to go through, CBS would have to sell channel 10 and relocate its affiliation to KYW-TV on channel 3 (which was NBC’s oldest affiliate, dating back to 1941, and where CBS would receive a 49% ownership stake from the Westinghouse stations).

New World and NBC emerged as the leading buyers for channel 10. New World planned on switching WCAU to Fox if it got hold of the station. NBC had long wanted an owned-and-operated (O&O) station in Philadelphia, so much so that it had coerced Westinghouse into swapping the KYW radio stations and WPTZ (the future KYW-TV) for the WTAM radio stations and WNBK (now WKYC-TV and owned by Tegna, the former broadcasting arm of the Gannett Company) in Cleveland in 1956. NBC threatened to pull its programming off WPTZ and WBZ-TV, as well as withhold an affiliation with Group W’s newly-acquired KDKA-TV (formerly DuMont O&O WDTV) in Pittsburgh (which would ultimately go with CBS). Immediately after the swap was completed, Westinghouse complained to the FCC, who would order a reversal of the swap in 1965.

Meanwhile, back in 1993, Fox affiliate WTXF (channel 29), then owned by Viacom through the Paramount Stations Group, had plans to become a charter station for the new UPN network with which it would be co-owned. Fox, too, wanted an O&O in Philly, so it had announced it would purchase WGBS-TV, channel 57 (now CW O&O WPSG), earlier that year. Fox was unable to get WGBS, so it turned its attention to WCAU in case New World lost its bid for the station. Viacom later had a change in plans and decided to sell WTXF directly to Fox, while at the same time purchasing WGBS to become its O&O.

With New World and Fox out of the picture, WCAU went to NBC by default. However, the network couldn’t complete the one-off purchase of channel 10 without running into heavy capital gains taxes. To avoid this, NBC and Group W/CBS arranged an “equal” deal where in exchange for WCAU, NBC would give up its O&Os KCNC-TV in Denver and KUTV in Salt Lake City to CBS, as well as WTVJ’s stronger channel 4 transmitter facility (and associated broadcast license) in Miami, to the Group W/CBS joint venture. CBS would give its existing channel 6 transmitter facility (and license) for Miami’s WCIX (which became WFOR after the switch, and returning CBS to channel 4 after a 6-year absence).

After the local airings of Saturday Night Live on September 10, the changes written into the deal took effect. In Denver, NBC moved to KUSA (channel 9, owned by Gannett and now transferred to Tegna) in a three-way swap that saw its former ABC affiliation moving to KMGH-TV (channel 7) as a result of that station’s owner, McGraw-Hill (yes, that McGraw-Hill that is well known for publishing school textbooks), signing an agreement with ABC to switch all of its stations to the network. In Salt Lake City, KUTV (channel 2) simply switched affiliations with Mormon-owned KSL-TV (channel 5). And in Philadelphia, WCAU went straight from being a CBS O&O to one of NBC. Westinghouse would acquire CBS later that year, making the Group W stations CBS O&Os, and the company would sell off all its non-broadcasting assets to become the first CBS Corporation.

Read more about the deals that led to the switches and their effects on Wikipedia.

Video relating to the switch will come soon.

Also, you may be wondering: where the hell have I been? Well, in short, I haven’t been reading and catching up on the TV news forums lately, so I haven’t had anything to write about for the past several months.

KTVU Debuts Fox O&O Look and New Branding

Exactly one week ago, the Fox affiliate-turned-owned-and-operated-station in San Francisco adopted the standardized Fox O&O branding, graphics, and music. The station is now referred to as "KTVU Fox 2" and newscasts outside the late one are KTVU Fox 2 News.

KTVU was sold to Fox last June after 50 years of ownership by the Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises in exchange for WFXT in Boston and WHBQ in Memphis. The network had long pursued after KTVU, but Cox turned them down each time. The first visible change in branding at channel 2 came in a promo that debut last month, where the new station logo and spelling for The 10:00 News were introduced. However, the longtime "laser 2" logo was retained.

I don't like the new graphics or the choice of music. While the main theme from OSI Music's "Fox Affiliate News Theme" fits most of Fox's markets, it doesn't in the Bay Area. The loud theme contrasts greatly with the orchestral "Icon News" by 615 Music that was in use a week before (the cut used by sister-station WTVT in Tampa would've fit better). The graphics look flashier compared to the last package (Honestly, the current package is still better than the previous two O&O packages. The first one from 2006 was waaaay too flashy (and still being used at former O&O WJW in Cleveland!), and while the second one was more subdued, there was still a lot of zooming). It's as if KTVU underwent a presentation whiplash. The bug looks to large, especially on the "laser 2" (I think they should narrow the "laser" part of the logo, like it was originally). However, the changes aren't enough to deter me from watching KTVU, but I'll have to get used to them. I'll miss the custom graphics and music, though.

The change to the O&O brandings also meant that the weather segments, which never had a specific branding before, are now titled as "Weather Authority" *moans*. The "Live Drive Time Traffic" reports on Mornings on 2 (the name now encompassing the entire 4:30–9:00 A.M. newscast) are now "Traffic Authority" *groans*.

There have been a few changes in the delivery and presentation of the news since the Fox purchase. Reporters no longer sign off, and crime is being de-emphasized (which some people have noted as being a staple on Cox stations). Mornings on 2 is moving to a more feature-based program like Good Day on other Fox O&Os, and morning anchors Dave Clark and Tori Campbell are now trying to show off their personalities on social media.

There have been numerous comments on Facebook where people say that they'll stop watching, just because the word "Fox" is in the news branding. In response, I posted my reason why I'll still watch KTVU:

"I want to make one thing clear: KTVU and the Fox Television Stations division are NOT Fox News or the Fox News Channel. The two are separate within the corporate structure of 21st Century Fox. While stations do air reports produced by Fox News, almost all of it is straightforward, and this comes from a guy who avoids FNC. What matters is that channel 2's personalities and the content they produce have changed little in the past several months. I dislike the new look, but graphics, music, and other cosmetic things are the least of a newscast's problems, and I'll probably keep watching channel 2 for news. If the content started taking on a Fox News-y slant, I'll stop watching at that point. However, I do kinda fear of what Fox may end up doing to all of their stations, but at the present, it is still very much watchable."

Here are the new opens, courtesy of KTVU's graphics department. And here are some videos of the evening ones in action:

Read discussion on TVNewsTalk.net, or talk about this in the comments.

EDIT - 2/20/15: KTVU is currently still using its old logo bug during syndicated programming and the lower third from its 2006 Hothaus graphics package for its in-program teasers for (as written before the Fox standardization) The Ten O'Clock News.