by Preston Jessee

CBS Television Stations

As part of the CBS Corporation umbrella, CBS Television Stations is a top competitor in the network television industry. CBS Television Stations consists of twenty-eight owned and operated stations in seventeen markets across the United States (4). Of these twenty-eight stations, sixteen are part of CBS Television Network, eight are affiliates of The CW Network, two are affiliates of MyNetworkTV, and two are independent stations (4)(8). These stations rely on news and broadcast public affair production, as well as sports and other programming (8).

CBS Television Stations is still a fairly young company, as it will enjoy twelve years of existence in May 2012. When the company was formed on May 24, 2000 in a merger with Viacom, it was originally called Viacom Televisions Stations Group (2). However, it reverted back to the CBS brand name in January 2006, becoming the name it is known as today, when Viacom split into two publicly traded companies (5). The CBS Corporation is controlled by the larger media conglomerate National Amusements; therefore, National Amusements has a stake in CBS Television Stations (5).

Contact

The CBS Headquarters are found at 51 W. 52nd Street, New York, NY 10019-6188 (9). It can be reached at 1-212-975-4321, and the corporate website is http://www.cbscorporation.com/index.php (9). Information about CBS Television Stations can be found at https://sjobs.brassring.com/1033/ASP/TG/cim_home.asp?partnerid=25084&siteid=5128.

Key People

CBS Television Stations (7)

CBS Corporation Executives (1)

Holdings (3)

CBS Stations

The CW Stations

Independent Stations

CBS Television Stations between December 2011 and May 2012

CBS Television Stations has had an extremely quiet quarter with virtually no activity so far this year. The biggest piece of news coming from CBS Television Stations dates back to December 12, 2011 when CBS Corporation announced that CBS Television Stations will acquire the independent New York station WLNY-TV (which stands for We Love New York). Between WLNY and WCBS (CBS 2), CBS Television Stations will have a duopoly in America’s largest media market once the acquisition is complete (7). The company has a duopoly in nine other markets currently (Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Miami, Sacramento, and Pittsburgh), and the acquisition will make the total number of CBS Television Station duopolies across the country ten (7).

As CBS Television Stations President Peter Dunn states, “‘The combined strengths of CBS 2 and WLNY-TV will give us a terrific platform for serving the entire New York area’” (7). Dunn continues to say that CBS Television Stations plans on using the new station for expanding in the local news market, looking to extend the current thirty minute news time that airs on the station. WLNY-TV is primarily distributed through cable and satellite as Channel 10 or 55, servicing the tri-state area of New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut (7).

On April 2, CBS Corporation announced the plans for operating WLNY-TV. Fulfilling their promise of expanding in the local news market, initial plans call for three hours of live news programming every weekday (6). The station will operate the “tri-state area’s first one-hour 9:00 PM news program,” which will be anchored by CBS 2’s Chris Wragge and Dana Taylor. Weather forecasts will be delivered by Lonnie Quinn, while the sports anchors will be Otis Livingston and WLNY’s Richard Rose. On Sunday mornings, Rose will also host a public affairs show (6). Additionally, there is a 7:00-9:00 AM weekday news program, which will have a different on-air team than the nightly news show (the team will be announced in the near future). Both news shows are slated to begin programming in early summer 2012 (6). The former Senior Vice President and Director of Sales for CBS Television Stations, Betty Ellen Berlamino, has been appointed Vice President and Station Manager of WLNY, according to Peter Dunn. The station is also immediately being converted to high definition (6).

CBS Television Stations must be trying to compete in the local news market in the tri-state area with a goal for the number one spot. This is shown in CBS Television Stations’ strategy for the newly acquired station, since WLNY-TV will have the tri-state’s first news program at 9:00 PM on weeknights. CBS Television Stations must feel that there is void in the local news market that they can fill to outdo competitors. The duopoly in the New York market will put CBS Television Stations in a position to have a leading local news program.

Another announcement from CBS Corporation was on February 16, proclaiming that CBS expects a “rosy outlook for its fiscal year,” due to an increase in political advertising dollars on its local television and radio stations (10). Of the estimated $2 billion spent on political commercials this year, it is likely that CBS will reap in 10% of the national total, as it typically has in recent election years (10). The shear size of CBS Television Stations and the fact that it is in seventeen major markets nationally, attracts political advertisers who are looking to reach out to a wide range of viewers.

As of December 31, 2011, CBS Television Stations (in addition to local CBS Radio stations) brought in $721 million in revenue (10). The political advertisements will only generate more capital for CBS, as Leslie Moonves states that CBS is “poised to break records in financial metrics across the board” (10).

It will be interesting to see what happens with the money CBS Television Stations brought in for its parent company. Perhaps CBS Television Stations will look to establish duopolies in some of its other markets, like Atlanta or Chicago. This move is fairly unlikely, though, considering the other markets are not as big as the New York market, where the most recent acquisition was made. The money will probably go towards maintaining and improving the many stations CBS Television Stations currently operates, maybe even by purchasing new syndicated programs, to keep CBS Television Stations at the top of the pack of the network television industry.

References

(1) “About CBS.” CBS Corporation. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <http://www.cbscorporation.com/ourcompany-executives.php?id=67&exec=156>.

(2) “CBS at 75.” CBS. N.p., 2003. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <http://www.cbs.com/specials/cbs_75/timeline/2000.shtml>.

(3) CBS Television Stations. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <https://sjobs.brassring.com/img/page2/page2new.html>.

(4) “CBS Television Stations.” CBS Corporation. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <http://www.cbscorporation.com/portfolio.php?division=96>.

(5) “CBS Television Stations.” Wikipedia. N.p., 10 Mar. 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_Television_Stations>.

(6) “CBS Television Stations Announce Initial Plan for Operating WLNY-TV.” CBS Corporation. N.p., 2 Apr. 2012. Web. 24 Apr. 2012. <http://www.cbscorporation.com/news-article.php?id=870>.

(7) “CBS Television Stations Group to Acquire New York Station WLNY-TV, Giving CBS a Duopoly in Nation’s Largest Media Market.” CBS Corporation. N.p., 12 Dec. 2011. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <http://www.cbscorporation.com/news-article.php?id=841>.

(8) “CBS Television Stations – Home.” CBS Television Stations. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <https://sjobs.brassring.com/1033/ASP/TG/cim_home.asp?partnerid=25084&siteid=5128>.

(9) “Contact.” CBS Corporation. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <http://www.cbscorporation.com/contact.php>.

(10) James, Meg. “COMPANY TOWN; CBS Offers a Rosy 2012 Forecast; CEO Cites Bounty of Political Advertising Dollars, Lucrative Streaming Services.” Los Angeles Times: B.3. ProQuest Central; ProQuest Health Management. Feb 16 2012. Web. 26 Mar. 2012. <http://search.proquest.com/pqcentral/docview/921553921/fulltext/13655D787627FC69C9D/1?accountid=14214>.