CBS Boston
U.S. center-left
Background
WBZ-TV went on the air on June 9, 1948, as the first commercial television station in Boston and New England, founded by the Westinghouse Electric Corporation. It launched as an NBC affiliate, in line with the long-running NBC affiliation of its radio sibling WBZ (AM). In January 1995, Westinghouse switched the station to CBS, and later that year Westinghouse acquired CBS Inc. outright for $5.4 billion, making WBZ-TV a CBS owned-and-operated station. The radio sibling was eventually separated: when CBS sold CBS Radio to Entercom in November 2017, WBZ (AM) was divested to iHeartMedia under a Justice Department settlement. The broader corporate parent evolved through the 2019 merger of CBS Corporation and Viacom into ViacomCBS (rebranded Paramount Global in 2022). In August 2025, Skydance Media completed a takeover of Paramount Global under David Ellison; as a condition of FCC approval, CBS agreed to create a news ombudsman to oversee editorial independence. Shortly after, journalist Bari Weiss was appointed CBS News editor-in-chief and initiated changes across CBS News programs, though WBZ-TV's local Boston coverage has continued in its established form. Media watchdog groups rate the station left-center, noting a tendency to frame stories in ways that favor liberal causes while drawing on credible sources such as the Associated Press.
Sources
- WBZ-TV — Wikipedia
- CBS Boston – WBZ-TV Bias and Credibility — Media Bias/Fact Check
- Who Owns CBS: Skydance, Paramount, and What Changed — LegalClarity
- FCC Approves Paramount-Skydance Merger — CBS News
- Merger of Skydance Media and Paramount Global — Wikipedia
- WBZ, The Sports Hub Get New Owners as Entercom Moves to Complete Radio Merger — The Boston Globe
Profile compiled 2026-07-09; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.