A huge shake-up in Atlanta local television is set to take place this summer as the CBS network shifts to Channel 69 after 31 years with Channel 46.
Atlanta News First (WANF), once known as CBS46, is ending its affiliation with CBS and will soon become an independent station, according to a news release from owner Gray Media.
Channel 69 (WUPA) will become the new CBS outlet in Atlanta, according to a separate news release from CBS.
WANF, which operated as an independent station in the city for years before switching to CBS affiliation in 1994. will become independent again Aug. 15.
It’s now considered the flagship property for Atlanta-based Gray, which took over the station in 2021 after purchasing Meredith Corp.’s local media group. The transaction also included Peachtree TV (WPCH), which is affiliated with the CW and was owned for 47 years by Turner Broadcasting until 2017.
Gray has since pumped millions of dollars into both properties and bolstered the ramshackle, often last place CBS46 news operation, which suffered from frequent management and on-air turnover under Meredith.
Management hired 40-plus additional journalists and now has more than 120 employees in its newsroom, rebranded its name to Atlanta News First and added more local newscasts and original non-news programs.
In an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Gray chief executive officer and board chairman Hilton Howell said the decision to separate from CBS was ultimately Gray’s call.
“I’m happy about it,” Howell said. “It worked out well on all fronts.”
Gray, the second largest owner of broadcast TV stations in the country behind only Nexstar, renewed 52 additional CBS affiliations on “better terms,” though Howell didn’t elaborate on the sticking point between the two companies.
“It removes an issue between CBS and Gray,” he said.
Gray owns nearly one quarter of all CBS-affiliated stations in the United States. CBS owns 27 of its own stations in 17 markets.
Erik Schrader, general manager for WANF, told the AJC that the transition will allow the station to add more local news and live sports programming once WANF is no longer airing CBS programs like “The Price is Right,” “Beyond the Gates,” “60 Minutes” and “NCIS.” Currently, the station airs about eight hours of local news a day.
“I’m excited,” Schrader said. “I cannot wait to do this. This is exactly where the industry is headed. We are about news. Our agenda is the viewer and giving them what they want when they want it.”
Schrader said the plan is to hire more people as they add more programming.
Most of Gray’s 180 stations are affiliated with a broadcast network but a handful are independent, including Phoenix’s KTVK.
Operating without an affiliate gives WANF greater freedom over its programming and allows Gray to retain a greater share of the ad revenue.
The downside is WANF will lose access to CBS programming, which could degrade viewership numbers with the loss of brand association and resources.
For CBS, moving its affiliation to WUPA makes sense because it already owns the station, which CBS purchased in 1994. For 12 years, it was a UPN affiliate, then became a CW affiliate when UPN merged with the WB in 2006. In 2023,the CW, ended its contract with WUPA.
CBS in its press release said it will relaunch WUPA as CBS Atlanta with a CBS News Atlanta streaming channel, which it says will offer the latest regional weather, traffic, local and breaking news. The network did not say if it will open a separate news operation in Atlanta but the release noted that “CBS is committed to local journalism and serving the Atlanta community.”
Currently, WUPA has no local news coverage. Instead, it runs a game shows (“Family Feud,” “Flip Side”), judge shows (“Divorce Court,” “Judge Mathis,” true crime (“48 Hours,” “Motive to Murder”), “The Drew Barrymore Show” and sitcoms like “The Neighborhood” and “Two and a Half Men.”
CBS draws the biggest ratings among the broadcast networks amid shrinking audiences for traditional TV viewing, but its Atlanta affiliate has largely underperformed over the years in ratings compared to ABC affiliate WSB-TV and Fox-owned affiliate WAGA-TV.
Historically, WUPA is CBS’s third broadcast affiliate in Atlanta. At the dawn of television in 1949, CBS affiliated with Channel 5/WAGA-TV where it stayed for 45 years. But WAGA-TV’s owner at the time, New World, decided to affiliate with relatively new Fox network in 1994 so Tribune Broadcasting’s WGNX-TV/46 picked up CBS. In 1999, Tribune sold CBS46 to Meredith, which changed the call letters to WGCL-TV.
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