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Friday, Oct. 30, 2009

Changes ahead for Macon ABC affiliate

“FlashForward” two months, and the viewers of “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Desperate Housewives” may be “Lost” after the ABC television network shifts its affiliation to a new station in Macon.

WPGA will become independent, while FOX 24 will add ABC programming on a new channel beginning Jan. 1. Keith True, who manages the WGXA FOX 24 station, said the new ABC channel would be sent over the air and also on cable and satellite.

“The opportunity to be associated with ABC’s strong entertainment, news and sports programming provides a great service to our community along with the addition of local news on the new station,” True said in a statement.

It was unclear Thursday whether the additional local news would be similar to the news on the FOX affiliate or whether it would be a separate broadcast.

Lowell Register, the president of WPGA, said his family-owned station had been discouraged by risque soap operas, as well as sex and violence across its shows. He declined to give specifics, but he said he didn’t want to turn his station over to ABC’s liberal agenda that doesn’t mesh with a family-friendly station.

“I had somebody tell me they’re running a good bit of gay and lesbian stuff on it. That’s really just in-your-face, so to speak, and I’m not sure that’s appropriate. That’s happening in prime time,” he said. “I’m not really happy with it.”

Register said he would build his programming from syndicated material and other networks such as Retro TV. The Retro Television Network includes shows such as “Alfred Hitchcock Presents,” “Quincy, M.E.” and “Dragnet.”

Register said he’d be keeping “ ‘Ellen,’ Martha Stewart,’ ‘Judge Mathis,’ ‘People’s Court’ — all the programming that people already see during the day, other than the soaps and this pretty rough prime-time programming we won’t be running.”

Those shows he’s holding onto are syndicated and do not come through ABC.

Lynn Murphey, a vice president at the Cox Communications cable company, said Thursday the company was just learning of the changes. She said Cox will determine how to carry the channels in the two months before the switch.

In other words, there has been no decision about what will happen with WPGA’s prized Channel 6 location on local cable boxes. Register said he didn’t think his location would change.

Register said he’s been arguing for years with ABC’s president over the nature of its programming. Register said this year, instead of ABC offering WPGA a small amount of money to carry ABC’s show, ABC demanded that it be paid instead.

ABC requires most of its shows to be broadcast and restricts how shows can be aired or interrupted. Register said that was a tough complication: He won’t be able to break into one of his shows with results from next Tuesday’s local elections. Losing the ABC affiliation adds flexibility.

“We feel there’s a lot of good syndicated and other network programming out there, and we just don’t have to put ABC on it,” Register said. “We may be making a big mistake, but we don’t think so.”

WPGA has a heavy reliance on ABC programming. Today’s broadcast, for example, includes 13 1/2 hours of ABC programming, including “Good Morning America,” “General Hospital” and “Ugly Betty.”

Register said he plans to televise the three hours of “Your Morning Mix with Charles E and Kenny B.” Currently, it airs on radio for three hours, but only one hour is televised.

Register said his station is still researching its options for the primetime lineup and other spots.

“There’s just too many positive things for us to continue with ABC,” he said. “Hopefully we can do better things than they do, especially with the Macon market.”

Telegraph staff writer Phillip Ramati contributed to this report. To contact writer Mike Stucka, call 744-4251.