CBS won’t air Thanksgiving day parade this year

CBS will not carry its unofficial coverage of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade this year as part of an overall scaling back of holiday specials.

In 2024, however, the parade is not on CBS’s official schedules as of this writing.

The network had carried coverage of the parade, with its hosts set up on a riser near CBS headquarters at what was then known as the CBS Building (or, colloquially, “Black Rock”) on West 52nd Street in Manhattan. 

CBS sold the building in 2021 with plans to move operations into 1515 Broadway, also known as One Astor Plaza, the headquarters of the former Viacom and its successor Paramount. Most of the network’s staffers had moved out of Black Rock by this month after a leaseback period the network signed when it sold the structure. 

It’s not clear why CBS has axed its coverage of the parade, including if losing its ready access to the broadcast location along the parade route had a part in the decision.

NBC holds the official broadcast rights to the Macy’s parade and carries coverage of the parade every Thanksgiving morning, including the musical and Broadway performances in front of the flagship 34th Street store.

CBS isn’t permitted to air coverage of these performances but has been able to capture images of the parade floats and other elements passing by since the event takes place on public streets.

The network had supplemented its broadcast with pre-recorded Broadway performances. The shows featured were typically different from NBC, however.

CBS’s move to not broadcast the parade comes after it lost the rights to the iconic “Frosty the Snowman,” which is moving to NBC for 2024. Meanwhile, no network is  airing “Frosty Returns,” a separate special, in 2024, despite the fact its rights are controlled by “SNL” creator Lorne Michaels’s Broadway Video. It is not clear why NBC wasn’t able to snap up the rights to “Returns” too or if it might return to broadcast TV in the future.

The official broadcast of “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade” will air on NBC at 8:30 a.m. Nov. 28, 2024 with a repeat airing at 2 p.m. It airs live for most stations on the east coast and time delay in other time zones.

Planned performances include “Death Becomes Her,” Hell’s Kitchen” and “The Outsiders” and a performance from the Radio City Rockettes.