ViacomCBS, Sinclair In Multi-Year Affiliation Deal

ViacomCBS and Sinclair Broadcast Group today announced a multiyear agreement to renew eight CBS network affiliations for Sinclair stations, including two top-50 market affiliates, KUTV in Salt Lake City and KEYE Austin, Texas.

ViacomCBS also reached agreement to renew the affiliation of WTVH Syracuse, N.Y. to which Sinclair provides services. The nine markets combined reach 3% of the U.S. audience, serving over 3 million television households.

Sinclair is one of the largest operators of CBS affiliates, reaching 8% of the U.S. and serving over 8 million households across 23 markets.

Sinclair’s CBS affiliates will remain locally available to subscribers of CBS All Access, CBS’ digital subscription video on-demand and live streaming service, and will continue to be widely distributed across virtual and traditional multichannel video programming distributor platforms.

“We’re happy to have reached an agreement with Sinclair that includes several early renewals and enables us to continue serving millions of households with leading news, sports and entertainment programming,” said Ray Hopkins, President, U.S. networks distribution, ViacomCBS.

“Sinclair is a great partner, and we look forward to our continued collaboration.” Barry Faber, Sinclair’s president of distribution and network relations, said: “We are pleased to extend our affiliations for these stations with ViacomCBS. The CBS Network’s extremely popular sports, entertainment and news programming, together with the high-quality local news and other programming provided by Sinclair, positions these stations to continue to serve as an important marketing platform for advertisers, as well as to generate a growing distribution revenue stream.”

The agreement consists of renewals for CBS affiliates KUTV Salt Lake City; KEYE Austin, Texas; WGME Portland, Maine; WTVH Syracuse, New York; KGAN Cedar Rapids, Iowa; WSBT South Bend, Ind.; KRCG Columbia, Mo.; KHQA Quincy, Ill.; and KTVO Ottumwa, Iowa.