CBS To Transition 8 Company-Owned Stations From Affiliates of The CW To Independents On 9/1

San Francisco and Pittsburgh Stations Introduce New Call Letters and Branding

Fall Primetime Schedules Include Seven Hours of Local News

and Syndicated Episodes of CBS News’ “48 Hours”

Aug. 30, 2023 – All eight CBS-owned stations that at the moment are associates of The CW community will transition to impartial stations, starting Friday, Sept. 1. The announcement was made by CBS Stations president Tom Canedo, who oversees the eight stations that may develop into independents.

As half of the transition, KBCW-TV in San Francisco will change its name letters to KPYX and be branded as KPIX+, and WPCW in Pittsburgh will change its name letters to WPKD-TV and be branded as KDKA+. The stations’ new manufacturers align with the decision letters for his or her CBS sister stations, KPIX in San Francisco and KDKA in Pittsburgh. The different six stations will hold their present name letters and shall be branded with the town the place they’re primarily based and channel quantity (e.g. KSTW-TV, Seattle11).

The newly minted impartial stations’ fall schedules will characteristic a complete of seven native, one-hour newscasts. The 8:00 P.M. newscasts on WPSG-TV Philadelphia, KMAX-TV Sacramento and KDKA+ Pittsburgh would be the solely native newscasts airing of their respective markets throughout that hour. And the 8:00 P.M. and 9:00 P.M. newscasts on KPIX+ would be the solely native newscasts airing within the Bay Area throughout these hours. KPIX+ can be airing a brand new native 7:00-9:00 A.M. newscast, “The Morning Edition from CBS News Bay Area.”

In addition, seven of the brand new independents will air CBS News’ 48 HOURS in primetime, starting Monday, Sept. 11, when the award-winning crime and justice collection launches in weekday syndication.

“We are excited to be in this unique position that allows us to reimagine our local brands and programming lineups at these eight stations,” Canedo mentioned. “We are beginning by opportunistically establishing local news beachheads in primetime in several markets. And the timing couldn’t be better for us as we look forward to the upcoming launch of 48 HOURS in weekday syndication. These are the first brush strokes on a fresh canvas. We will continue to seek out opportunities to add even more local programming, including live sports and shows from across the Paramount Global brands in the months ahead.”

KDKA+ already has the soar on including native sports activities in primetime. Last week, the station started airing the Steel City High School Football Showcase – a 10-week collection of video games below the Friday evening lights (kicking off at 7:00 P.M.) that includes a number of of the Pittsburgh space’s high native groups. In addition, KDKA+ has secured the rights to school soccer on Saturdays that includes the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, which is comprised of 9 native colleges.