THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 22, 1995 TAG: 9512220524
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF AND WIRE REPORT
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
A second television station owned by Sinclair Broadcasting will lose its ties to the Fox Network.
Sinclair's station in Raleigh will lose the affiliation with Fox in 1998, the same year that Sinclair's television station WTZV in Hampton Roads ends the Fox connection.
Loss of the Fox affiliation was disclosed recently and was a surprise for the manager of the station in Raleigh owned by Sinclair, a public company based in Baltimore.
In Raleigh, television station WRAZ - just three months after going on the air - struck an agreement to become Fox's affiliate in the Research Triangle area.
Beginning in 1998, WRAZ, Channel 50, will have access to the prime-time programs and sports that have led to Fox's emergence as a major network.
The deal will dislodge the Raleigh area's longtime Fox affiliate, WLFL, whose manager was caught unaware by the announcement Wednesday afternoon.
``This is news to me,'' said Jim Lapiana, station manager for WLFL, which is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting in Baltimore. ``I can't even begin to assess this.'
WRAZ will take over as the local Fox affiliate when WLFL's contract with the network expires in 1998.
The switch in Raleigh parallels a sudden move against the Hampton Roads Fox affiliate earlier this year. WTVZ lost its Fox affiliation to Lin Television and WVBT beginning in 1998.
Lin Television, which owns NBC affiliate WAVY, has a local marketing agreement with WVBT, and the partnership signed a 10-year affiliation agreement with Rupert Murdoch's Fox.
In Raleigh, the agreement was announced by Fred Barber, vice president of television at Capitol Broadcasting Co., which owns CBS affiliate WRAL and runs WRAZ under a lease marketing agreement with the station's owner, Tar Heel Broadcasting Co.
WRAZ is an independent station that shows reruns, syndicated programs, prime-time shows from the Warner Bros. network, as well as 12 hours a week of religious broadcasts.
Barber said WRAZ agreed to pay financial considerations to Fox, but he declined to elaborate.
Fox has established itself as a major player in network television with such popular prime-time shows as ``The Simpsons'' and ``Beverly Hills 90210,'' and its contracts with the National Football League and the National Hockey League. The network also recently joined NBC, ESPN and the cable venture Liberty Media in signing five-year contracts with Major League Baseball. MEMO: Staff Writer Lon Wagner contributed to this report. by CNB