Big Changes Arrive At 3 Pittsburgh TV Stations

PITTSBURGH, PA — September will mark a seismic shift in the Pittsburgh television market. Beginning Friday, WPCW-TV will become WPKD-TV and drop programming from The CW. WPNT-TV will end its loose affiliation with MyTV and pick up The CW programs.

Meanwhile, AT&T SportsNet, which is being purchased by Penguins owners Fenway Sports Group, is being rebranded.

Beginning Oct. 2, the channel that's the TV home of the Penguins and Pirates, will be known as SportsNet Pittsburgh. It will be the home of Penguins hockey for all regionally televised games.

SportsNet Pittsburgh will continue to operate out of its North Shore studios. Further details, including full broadcast coverage information, will be revealed at a later date.

Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns WPNT and WPGH-TV locally, made the long-rumored WPNT pickup of The CW official in a release Thursday.

Paramount-owned WPKD will brand itself as KDKA Plus. According to NextTV.com, the station will begin broadcasting an 8 p.m. newscast in November. It already carries a KDKA-produced newscast at 10 p.m. as well as the Nightly Sports Call hosted by KDKA sportscasters.

KDKA Plus and six other Paramount stations booting The CW also will begin airing "48 Hours" in prime time beginning Sept. 11.

“We are excited to be in this unique position that allows us to re-imagine our local brands and programming lineups at these stations,” Tom Canedo, president of CBS Stations, said in a release.

“We are beginning by opportunistically establishing local news beachheads in prime time in several markets...We will continue to seek out opportunities to add even more local programming, including live sports and shows from across the Paramount Global brands in the months ahead.”

KDKA Plus programming also includes "Steel City High School Football Showcase," a 10-week series of games on Fridays at 7 p.m. The station also has college football on Saturdays featuring the Presidents' Athletic Conference, which is comprised of Western Pennsylvania that include Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon and Chatham universities.