A lot of billboards and radio commercials and television commercials have been airing lately, proclaiming loud and clear that NBC is moving to channel 3 (on most cable systems around here), KNTV-11 is the station. I'm not sure when was the last time I saw a network move, though Sacramento had CBS and ABC move around while I was attending college. A network affiliate pays a license and has a contract to carry the network, usually weeknights with the big networks also claiming various daytime and late night hours. It's really unusual for a network to move to another station, so I wanted to find out what happened.

The KNTV site doesn't say much, other than how to get the new channel. Unlike KRON, which has a nice tower overlooking San Francisco providing coverage over a lot of the Bay Area, KNTV is in San Jose and doesn't have anywhere the same over-the-air coverage. Hence they recommend you get cable otherwise you'll miss out on NBC programming.

The KRON site is surprisingly subdued. Publicly they're saying that everything will be fine. For NBC programs you have to go to KNTV. But KRON will still be around. They're expanding their news coverage (good thing they have an excellent news department) -- expanding their morning show to cover the Today Show spot, adding news shows to cover NBC news spots, adding another news hour at 21:00 to cover that programming spot. In other places they'll start showing some syndicated shows to fill in the gaps. They're also promoting various Bay Area shows such as Bay Area Backroads and Bay Cafe, as well as their history of the Bay Area specials. Basically, it looks like they'll try to be Bay TV, now that Bay TV is dead. It's going to be tough going.

KRON does have an FAQ page, which I read. It's very polite and detached, explaining the situation without rancor. Very professional considering the situation. Fortunately, I have no such moral qualms, so I will retell the story in my own words, embellishing as I see fit.

A year or two ago, the Chronicle, losing money after buying the other San Francisco newspaper, decided to sell KRON. NBC saw that as an opportunity. Now, most of the NBC affiliates are independent operators, but NBC does own a core of stations itself, mostly in lucrative media markets like New York and Chicago. But not San Francisco. So here was a chance for NBC to buy its own station in the Bay Area. Unfortunately, they didn't bid high enough and Young Broadcasting won the bid for KRON. (In retrospect, without the NBC license I bet KRON is not worth nearly enough to what Young paid for it.)

Well, NBC was not going to be put off. If the honest and upfront approach doesn't work then you have to be sneaky and tricky. So lo and behold, the licensing terms for KRON became quite onerous, enough so that upstart KNTV was able to wrest the license away from KRON. And what do you know, NBC is scheduled to complete its purchase of KNTV at the start of 2002, just in time for the network switch.

Right now the move doesn't affect me. I'm still watching NBC out of the KCRA station in Sacramento. I don't particularly like what NBC did, but I can't see myself boycotting NBC shows or anything. It's something that's high enough up that it's sad, but you can't do anything about. At least NBC shows in the Bay Area won't be constantly interrupted by baseball games, like KRON kept doing. Let's face it, having a network affiliate air local sports is going to make someone unhappy.

I have no idea how it all went down. I'm sure it's an interesting story but it's not going to be an unbiased story. On the surface it looks like a smooth transition, but I'm sure there was some serious backroom maneuvering. But in a year people will have forgotten that KRON used to be an NBC affiliate and nobody will care, not that they seem to care now.