TV Talk: Pittsburgh's WPCW-TV drops its CW affiliation, will go independent

Pittsburgh’s WPCW-TV will no longer be an affiliate of The CW effective sometime this fall, perhaps as soon as Sept. 1.

CBS announced Friday to the staffs of its owned stations that are current CW affiliates that they will become independent TV stations on that date.

“We look forward to reimagining these stations as independents while leveraging the considerable value of their prime-time real estate in each of the markets,” said Wendy McMahon, president and co-head, CBS News and Stations. “It’s an exciting time to look at new opportunities to add local programming, including live sports, and shows from across the Paramount Global brands. We are also grateful to have been part of The CW for 17 memorable years and wish our partners at Nexstar continued success.”

Nexstar bought a controlling stake in The CW, previously a joint venture between CBS and Warner Bros., last year.

CBS’s CW stations earlier this year declined to carry the LIV Golf Tournament, which aired locally on WPNT-TV.

“Since our acquisition of The CW Network last October, we have known that Paramount Global might transition the network affiliations of eight of its company-owned stations later this year,” said a Nexstar representative in a statement. “We are prepared for this possibility and confident that The CW Network will continue reaching 100% of U.S. television households without interruption. Paramount’s decision affects a limited portion of The CW’s nationwide reach, and we have already received multiple expressions of interest from station groups hoping to deepen their relationship with The CW by aligning more of their stations with the network.”

It seems likely that another Pittsburgh station, perhaps WPNT-TV, will pick up The CW affiliation either on its main channel or as a digital subchannel.

It’s unclear what that will mean for specific programming on WPCW-TV, although it opens up the possibility that it could become a home for Pirates or Penguins games as AT&T SportsNet winds down. WPCW has already picked up Riverhounds games.

WPCW general manager Chris Cotugno confirmed the station’s 10 p.m. newscast and “Nightly Sports Call” program will remain as part of the independent WPCW.

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