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Trib Station Switches to Fox Tribe

Mar 23, 2008  •  Post A Comment

Tribune Co.’s KSWB-TV in San Diego will shift its network affiliation to Fox at the end of August, dramatizing the willingness of new Tribune owner Sam Zell to depart from the approach of the company’s former management.
KSWB is affiliated with The CW and was a founding affiliate of its now-defunct predecessor, The WB.
The station will start the 2008-09 season carrying Fox’s popular NFL coverage (San Diego is the home of the Chargers), as well as a prime-time lineup fueled by such hits as “House,” “24” and “American Idol.”
The talks were spearheaded by Randy Michaels, who has headed Tribune Co.’s Internet and broadcast operations since December, according to Tribune Broadcasting President Ed Wilson, who was president of the Fox Television Network before joining Tribune in February.
Mr. Wilson said Tribune will add three to four hours of news per day to the lineup of KSWB, which currently simulcasts the local morning program produced by Tribune’s KTLA-TV in Los Angeles and broadcasts a late local newscast produced by NBC-owned KNSD-TV in San Diego.
“This is a very good move for us,” Mr. Wilson told TelevisionWeek.
As for what will happen to The CW affiliation in the market, John Maatta, chief operating officer of The CW issued a statement saying: “Tribune is a valued partner of The CW’s and we’re confident that our interests in San Diego will be fully protected.”
Mr. Wilson noted that Tribune still will have 12 CW affiliates, whose general managers recently were briefed on prime-time plans by The CW President Dawn Ostroff.
“We continue to be very loyal. We’re going to do what’s best for The CW,” Mr. Wilson said. “We are talking on a daily basis.”
Changes
Tribune stations already represented the second-largest group of Fox affiliates. The addition of San Diego will mean seven Tribune-owned stations within the Fox fold.
The station losing Fox affiliation is XETV-TV, which is based just across the Mexican border in Tijuana and was purchased by Grupo Televisa in 1996.
Jon Hookstratten, Fox network distribution exec VP, said the network’s gains in this affiliation switch start with the fact that instead of working with a station situated in another country, the network will be collaborating with a station whose transmitter is located in the middle of the San Diego market, the 27th largest TV market in the country.
“It’s more of a stable situation,” Mr. Hookstratten said. “We are looking forward to it as a great opportunity.”
McKinnon Broadcasting had been in talks with Fox Broadcasting about affiliation when Tribune reached out to Fox about making the switch.
According to sources familiar with the history of the negotiations, the subject first came up when the previous Tribune regime was grappling with a great deal of challenge and change.
Last week brought the news that Tribune Co. had lost $79 million for the fourth quarter of 2007, its last as a publicly traded company, and ended the calendar year barely profitable.
There also was the announcement that Mr. Zell’s new management team was going to combine operations of its Miami TV station, CW affiliated WSFL-TV, and the Tribune-owned South Florida Sun-Sentinel newspaper.

73 Comments

  1. Not on my watch.

  2. Trib Station Switches to Fox Tribe, I Like It!

  3. Just one question, will XETV become a CW station or will it be an independent station once again???

  4. Marty, Joannie and Judy did an incredible job branding FOX6 over the years as it was the first station in the market to drop its calls for the branded handle. There was no mistaking where Fox was on the dial. Too bad the current GM ran the station into the ground.

  5. Who will become the CW now? XETV or KUSI?
    Don’t want to miss the next season of Smallville.

  6. Will XETV revert to analog broadcasting in Spanish? The digital change in 2009 does not affect Mexican stations.

  7. I am Glad, Now FOX will be on an American Station. Keep the ad $$$ at home.
    Maby the shows will start and stop on time so my DVR will get the whole show!

  8. All the news will be in HD. They are openings for news broadcasting. There will be a morning and a 10pm news show. Of course it will be in HD. Thats if you watch the HD channel and have everything hooked up right. The KTLA and KNSD news broadcasts will be dropped for the in house Fox 5 broadcasts. They also hired some top KTLA news manager.

  9. It’s me again. Well Kathleen Bade will be the news anchor for the 10pm HD news broadcast. Hope this helps.

  10. I’ve watched Fox6 forever. I don’t like the changes being made, especially without the input of the public. The FCC reason given doesn’t fly with me since the programming hasent changed much in years. It’s a stupid, stupid move!

  11. What about the simpsons?

  12. The Comedy lineup on XETV pretty much stays the same. Frasier gets dumped for South Park on August 4th. From 5 to 6 PM you can now watch an edited version of South Park. KSWB will probably keep their programming the same except for Fox 5 stuff. A new 15 minute Saturday-Sunday Sports show will be added. Troy Hirsch will host it and will also be the 10 PM sports reporter. Some new reporters have also been added. Chrissy Russo will be doing the morning weather and traffic. They are really advertising the fox 5 switch. It’s just 1 channel down for Fox and 1 channel up for CW. For antenna and Satellite it’s 69. Hope this helps.

  13. Congrats Rick sanchez for being terminated by CNN, thanx for cutting down on us enjoying your haughty demeanor as well as the glasses fall.

  14. Have you peeps heard about a basket ball crew named Barcelona? Well… They overcome the LA Lakers…these are European winners.

  15. Lindsay Lohan Moves to Rehab Today,. this is only a ploy to lower the incarceration so that the judge will probably be lax with her. Soft rehabilitation is sooo much better than gaol, perhaps the judge wouldn’t give her any incarceration on account that he will probably be so impressed!

  16. would likely have the braveness to inform Sanchez not to ever apply mayo to the corned beef on rye? He’s from Miami. You might hope he’d figure out.

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  48. Hands down, Apple’s app store wins by a mile. It’s a huge selection of all sorts of apps vs a rather sad selection of a handful for Zune. Microsoft has plans, especially in the realm of games, but I’m not sure I’d want to bet on the future if this aspect is important to you. The iPod is a much better choice in that case.

  49. Sorry for the huge review, but I’m really loving the new Zune, and hope this, as well as the excellent reviews some other people have written, will help you decide if it’s the right choice for you.

  50. Zune and iPod: Most people compare the Zune to the Touch, but after seeing how slim and surprisingly small and light it is, I consider it to be a rather unique hybrid that combines qualities of both the Touch and the Nano. It’s very colorful and lovely OLED screen is slightly smaller than the touch screen, but the player itself feels quite a bit smaller and lighter. It weighs about 2/3 as much, and is noticeably smaller in width and height, while being just a hair thicker.

  51. Zune and iPod: Most people compare the Zune to the Touch, but after seeing how slim and surprisingly small and light it is, I consider it to be a rather unique hybrid that combines qualities of both the Touch and the Nano. It’s very colorful and lovely OLED screen is slightly smaller than the touch screen, but the player itself feels quite a bit smaller and lighter. It weighs about 2/3 as much, and is noticeably smaller in width and height, while being just a hair thicker.

  52. Zune and iPod: Most people compare the Zune to the Touch, but after seeing how slim and surprisingly small and light it is, I consider it to be a rather unique hybrid that combines qualities of both the Touch and the Nano. It’s very colorful and lovely OLED screen is slightly smaller than the touch screen, but the player itself feels quite a bit smaller and lighter. It weighs about 2/3 as much, and is noticeably smaller in width and height, while being just a hair thicker.

  53. This is getting a bit more subjective, but I much prefer the Zune Marketplace. The interface is colorful, has more flair, and some cool features like ‘Mixview’ that let you quickly see related albums, songs, or other users related to what you’re listening to. Clicking on one of those will center on that item, and another set of “neighbors” will come into view, allowing you to navigate around exploring by similar artists, songs, or users. Speaking of users, the Zune “Social” is also great fun, letting you find others with shared tastes and becoming friends with them. You then can listen to a playlist created based on an amalgamation of what all your friends are listening to, which is also enjoyable. Those concerned with privacy will be relieved to know you can prevent the public from seeing your personal listening habits if you so choose.

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