Sinclair Renews CBS, CW Affiliation Deals

Sinclair Broadcast Group today announced affiliation renewals for its CBS and CW affiliates.

The deal with CBS covers 16 markets serving approximately seven million households.

The agreement includes renewals for 15 Sinclair-owned CBS affiliates: WRGB Albany-Schenectady, N.Y.; KBAK Bakersfield, Calif.; KFDM Beaumont,  Texas; KBOI Boise, Idaho; WKRC Cincinnati, Ohio; KRCG Columbia-Jefferson City, Mo.; KDBC El Paso, Texas; KVAL Eugene, Ore. (plus KCBY Coos Bay, Ore. and KPIC Roseburg, Ore.) ; WWMT Grand Rapids-Kalamazoo, Mich.; WHP Harrisburg, Pa.; KTVL Medford, Ore.; KTVO Ottumwa, Iowa-Kirksville, Mo.; KHQA Quincy, Ill.-Hannibal, Mo.; WPEC West Palm Beach, Fla.; and KIMA  Yakima, Wash. (plus KEPR Pasco, Wash. and KLEW Lewiston, Idaho).

CBS has also renewed its affiliation with KMEG Sioux City, Iowa, a station to which Sinclair provides sales and other services.

The CW agreement covers 23 Sinclair owned and/or operated markets. At the same time, The CW is renewing nine affiliation agreements with stations for which Sinclair provides sales and other services.

The stations are: WUCW Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.; WLFL Raleigh/Durham, N.C.; WNUV Baltimore, Md.; WNAB Nashville, Tenn.; WWHO Columbus, Ohio; KMYS San Antonio, Texas; WVTV Milwaukee, Wis.; WKRC-D2 Cincinnati, Ohio; WTVX West Palm Beach, Fla.; WWMT-D2 Grand Rapids, Mich.; KVCW Las Vegas, Nev.; WTTO/WDBB Birmingham, Ala.; KOCB Oklahoma City, Okla.; WLYH Harrisburg, Pa.; KFRE Fresno-Visalia, Calif.; WSWB/WOLF-D2 Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; WCWN i Albany-Schenectady-Troy, N.Y.; WCWF Green Bay-Appleton, Wis.; WBSF/WEYI-D2 Flint-Saginaw-Bay City, Mich.; KXVO Omaha, Neb.; WHAM-D2 Rochester, N.Y.; WSTQ-LP/WSTM-D2 Syracuse, N.Y.; WBUI Champaign, Ill.; WWMB/WWMB-D2 Myrtle Beach/Florence, S.C.; WTLF Tallahassee-Thomasville, Fla.; KYUU/KBOI-D2 Boise, Idaho; WHOI-D2 Peoria-Bloomington, Ill.; KTCW-D2/KMCB-D2/KMTR-D2 Eugene, Ore.; KIMA-D2/KEPR-D2 Yakima, Wash.; KVIH-D2/KVII-D2 Amarillo, Texas; KTVL-D2 Medford-Klamath Falls, Ore.; and KFDM-D2 Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas.

“Sinclair is an important and valued local broadcasting partner,” said Ray Hopkins, president, television networks distribution, CBS Corp. “We are pleased to enter another affiliation agreement with them, and in so doing, realize the full value for the programing we will provide to their stations.”

“Following our most-watched season in seven years, and the debuts of the hit series The Flash and Jane the Virgin, The CW Network is incredibly well-positioned for the future. By extending our long-standing partnership with Sinclair, we look forward to continuing to build on our mutual success into the 2015-16 season and beyond,” said Chris Brooks, SVP, network distribution, The CW.

Sinclair’s EVP-general counsel, Barry Faber, who oversees both Sinclair’s relationships with its networks as well as with the multichannel video program distributors (MVPDs) that retransmit Sinclair’s television stations, said: “As one of the largest CBS station groups in the country, we are pleased to continue our relationship with the CBS Television Network, a provider of some of the most popular entertainment and sports programming. The long-term renewed agreements include all of our CBS affiliations expiring in 2015, as well as an early renewal of all agreements expiring in 2016, with terms that reflect the symbiotic relationship between us and our network partner, ensuring our interests are fully aligned. In addition, the new deal provides us visibility on our network programming costs, and therefore positions us to appropriately price our retransmission consent rights in our negotiations with MVPDs as we move towards fully realizing the value of the programming offered by our stations.”

Farber also said: “The CW Network has been successful in broadening their audience and in creating programs with a loyal and passionate fan base.  As the group with the most CW stations, we are pleased to continue our relationship with the network.”