KQCA Gets WB Walking Papers

Though it couldn’t have come as much of a surprise, Hearst-Argyle’s KQCA, the WB outlet in Sacramento, Calif., will be cut loose when The WB and UPN combine into one network, called The CW, in September.

CBS owns KOVR there, as well as KMAX, the UPN station in Sacramento.

Jed Petrick, the former president and COO, once lauded KQCA as a model WB affiliate. But that was then. Now, says station General Manager Elliott Troshinsky in a statement, “the strength of KQCA-TV is not solely dependent upon The WB Network programming for success.”

Hearst-Argyle also owns an ABC affiliate, KMBC Kansas City, Mo., and runs KCWE, a UPN station,  under a local-management agreement.

Hearst-Argyle hasn’t been informed about its fate there. But in that market, Meredith Broadcasting owns KCTV, affiliated with CBS, and The WB outlet, KSMO.

As a group, Meredith owns six CBS affiliates. Hearst-Arygle owns just one.