Nexstar will move CW affiliation back to two CBS-owned stations as part of overall affiliate renewal deal

Nexstar Media Group has found a home for CW affiliation in Detroit, Michigan, and Miami, Florida — and one of them is a homecoming of sorts.

WKBD in Detroit and WBFS in Miami, both owned by Paramount Global’s CBS News and Stations, will become CW affiliates Sept. 1, 2024, the two companies announced July 30, 2024.

For WKBD, the change marks the return of The CW to its airwaves after a year as an independent, which CBS Television Stations branded as “Detroit 50.”

WKBD is a sister station to WWJ, the CBS affiliate in the market that brought local news back to its schedule in January 2023 after years without a newsroom.

Scripps‘ WMYD will remain a CW affiliate until the end of August 2024, when its current deal expires. Nexstar had previously announced it would not move forward with keeping CW affiliations with the broadcast group’s stations in multiple markets.

Down in Florida, WBFS is an indy station and little sister of WFOR, which brands as TV33. WBFS has been a MyNetworkTV and UPN affiliate as well as being independent previously and will take the affiliation away from Scripps’ WSFL at the beginning of September 2024.

Nexstar acquired a 75% stake in The CW from Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery in October 2022. 

Shortly after that, CBS announced it would exercise an option that was part of the sale to shed the CW affiliation from its owned stations, which triggered a realignment in multiple major markets in the U.S., including Miami and Detroit.

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CBS never gave an official reason for why it dropped The CW from its owned stations, though it likely could have saved some affiliate-related costs and been able to keep control of its advertising inventory.

Also on July 30, Nexstar and CBS announced they had reached an agreement to renew CBS affiliations with stations in 40 markets.

The deal includes 40 owned outright by Nexstar and two it controls via its frequent partner Mission Broadcasting.

The terms of both agreements were not revealed, though it’s common for local stations to pay affiliate fees to the network as well as agreeing to give up a certain amount of advertising slots during network programming.