Paramount Stations Group

Paramount Stations Group, Inc.

Company type	Division
Industry	Television
Predecessor	TVX Broadcast Group
Founded	1991;34 years ago (1991)
Defunct	2001;24 years ago (2001)
Fate	Folded into the Viacom Television Stations Group in 2001 (later renamed CBS Television Stations in 2006)
Successor	CBS News and Stations
Headquarters	Hollywood, California , US
Owner	Paramount Pictures (1991-2001)
Parent	Paramount Communications (1991–1995) Viacom (1995–2001)

Paramount Stations Group, Inc. (sometimes abbreviated as PSG) was a company that controlled a group of American broadcast television stations. The company existed from 1991 until 2001.

History

Paramount Communications, the then-parent company of Paramount Pictures, formed the Paramount Stations Group in 1991 after buying out the remaining stake in TVX Broadcast Group that it did not already own. ^{[1] [2]} At the time of the transition in 1991, the group consisted of six outlets: Fox affiliates KRRT (now KMYS) in the San Antonio area, WLFL-TV in Raleigh, and WTXF-TV in Philadelphia; and independent stations KTXA in Fort Worth, KTXH in Houston, and WDCA in Washington, D.C. Shortly thereafter, the group began its expansion with its purchase of then-Fox affiliate WKBD-TV in Detroit from Cox Enterprises in 1993. ^{[3] [4]}

The original incarnation of Viacom purchased Paramount in 1993, with the deal closing in March 1994; Viacom's existing group of CBS- and NBC-affiliated stations continued to be run separately from the Paramount stations until December 1995, when they were folded into PSG. ^[5] Viacom also included its part-time LMA with WVIT, that of WTXX. ^[6] Shortly afterward, Viacom entered into a joint venture with Chris-Craft Industries, which owned several television stations as part of its United Television subsidiary, to launch the United Paramount Network (UPN). Four of PSG's original six stations, along with several acquisitions such as WSBK-TV in Boston, ^[7] and WTXX in Waterbury, which Viacom operated through a LMA with WVIT, ^[6] became charter affiliates of the network when UPN launched in January 1995.

PSG sold off three of its original six stations as well; WLFL, KRRT, and WTXF were sold to other companies, with the latter becoming a Fox-owned station. To make up for the loss of its Philadelphia-owned station, PSG acquired Philadelphia independent station WGBS-TV and its call letters were changed to WPSG-TV, and the UPN affiliation was moved there. The company eventually divested itself of the CBS and NBC stations it held and purchased more UPN affiliates as the 1990s continued.

Airing since 1992 in Sweden and other European countries, 4 of the group's independent stations began in late December 1993 testing Video Games Challenge, interactive via the phone game show produced by Invisible Cities of Los Angeles and Big Band Productions of Sweden. ^[8] In February 2000, Paramount Stations Group and ACME Communications reached an agreement. ^[9]

In 2000, PSG acquired Chris-Craft's stake in UPN, shortly thereafter, Chris-Craft exited broadcasting and sold most of its stations to News Corporation's Fox Television Stations unit.

PSG was folded the next year after Viacom completed its merger with CBS. The remaining PSG stations were merged with the CBS owned-and-operated stations to form the Viacom Television Stations Group. Today, that group is called CBS News and Stations .

Former stations

• Stations are arranged in alphabetical order by state and city of license.

Stations owned by Paramount Stations Group

Media market	State/District	Station	Purchased	Sold	Notes
Sacramento	California	KMAX-TV	1998	2001
Hartford–New Haven	Connecticut	WVIT	1994	1997	[a]
		WTXX	1994	1997	[b]
Washington, D.C.	District of Columbia	WDCA	1991	2001
Miami–Fort Lauderdale	Florida	WBFS-TV	1995	2001
Tampa		WTOG	1996	2001
West Palm Beach		WTVX	1997	2001	[b]
Atlanta	Georgia	WUPA	1995	2001
Indianapolis	Indiana	WNDY-TV	1998	2001
Hutchinson–Wichita	Kansas	KSCC	2001	2001	[c]
New Orleans	Louisiana	WUPL	1997	2001
Boston	Massachusetts	WSBK-TV	1995	2001
Detroit	Michigan	WKBD-TV	1993	2001
St. Louis	Missouri	KMOV	1994	1997	[a]
Albany–Schenectady	New York	WNYT	1994	1996	[a]
Rochester		WHEC-TV	1994	1996	[a]
Raleigh–Durham	North Carolina	WLFL-TV	1991	1994
Columbus	Ohio	WWHO	1997	2001
Oklahoma City	Oklahoma	KAUT-TV	1998	2001
Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania	WNPA-TV	1998	2001
Philadelphia		WTXF-TV	1991	1995
		WPSG	1995	2001
Providence	Rhode Island	WLWC	1997	2001	[b]
Fort Worth–Dallas	Texas	KTXA	1991	2001
Houston		KTXH	1991	2001
San Antonio		KRRT	1991	1995
Norfolk–Newport News	Virginia	WGNT	1997	2001
Tacoma–Seattle, WA	Washington	KSTW	1997	2001
		KIRO-TV	1997	1997

1. Owned by Viacom prior to its purchase of Paramount.
2. Owned by a third party and operated by Viacom.
3. Built by Viacom and signed on by a third party.

References

1. "Paramount acquires TVX group" (PDF). Broadcasting. March 4, 1991. p. 57. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
2. "Paramount acquires TVX group" (PDF). Broadcasting. March 4, 1991. p. 61. Retrieved January 12, 2019.
3. Foisie, Geoffrey (June 21, 1993). "Paramount buys WKBD-TV" (PDF). Broadcasting and Cable. p. 12. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
4. "THE MEDIA BUSINESS; Detroit Station To Paramount". The New York Times . June 17, 1993. Retrieved February 3, 2013.
5. Flint, Joe (December 18, 1995). "Viacom Group Merged Under Par's Cassara". Variety . Retrieved March 5, 2023.
6. Lender, Jon (June 11, 1993). "WVIT Leases Time on WTXX as WTIC Protests". Hartford Courant . Archived from the original on August 9, 2020. Retrieved October 27, 2021.
7. "Changing hands" (PDF). Broadcasting and Cable. January 2, 1995. p. 46. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
8. Freeman, Mike (January 3, 1994). "Games afoot at Paramount". Broadcasting & Cable. Archived from the original on May 3, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
9. "Sharing the wealth". February 23, 2000.