CBS Television Stations said today that it has inked a deal to acquire independent New York station WLNY-TV, giving CBS two stations in the nation’s largest media market. When the deal is approved, it will mark the 10th duopoly in 10 U.S. cities for CBS, joining Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Dallas, San Francisco, Boston, Detroit, Miami, Sacramento and Pittsburgh. “The combined strengths of CBS 2 and WLNY-TV will give us a terrific platform for serving the entire New York area,” CBS TV Stations president Peter Dunn said in the release announcing the deal. “Our plans for the station include adding people and resources to fuel a significant expansion of local news programming well beyond the nightly half-hour that currently airs.” WLNY is distributed in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut tri-state area and on Long Island, where an expanded news bureau is expected. The station generated $3.8M in revenue last year, a tiny amount in the huge market, according to research firm BIA/Kelsey. But Wells Fargo analyst Marci Ryvicker calls the agreement “a smart, tuck-in acquisition that should provide some significant upside opportunities” for CBS. Duopolies typically generate more profit than stand-alone stations, she says, and WLNY has a lot of room to grow — especially if CBS makes it a player in local news.


Unfortunately for CBS, most of the local TV sports rights in New York are held by regional cable networks, and that as a result, no games of the Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Knicks, Nets, or New York area college sports are available for over-the-air TV.
Otherwise, CBS should have made a run for these rights for WLNY.
However, the two New York baseball teams (Yankees and Mets) each have 20-25 games a year on over-the-air TV, and a handful of pre-season Giants and Jets football games are also available for local TV, along with local over-the-air simulcasts of NFL games produced by ESPN and the league’s own NFL Network.
I would strongly advise CBS try to get the Yankees, Mets, local pre-season NFL games and whatever other local sports they can get for WLNY.
Given that they’re an independent, and will remain so, WLNY’s prime-time should either be a movie at 8 P.M. followed by a WCBS-produced local newscast at 10 P.M., or perhaps do with sister station KCAL Los Angeles does: Broadcast a WCBS-produced three-hour prime-time news block from 8 to 11 P.M.
This term duopoly is misused. A duopoly is when only two producers exist in one market. However, there are local stations like, ABC, NBC, and Fox. There has another different company to be a true duopoly.
I second Eric Gordon’s comment. This is an incorrect use of the word duopoly.