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Outlet profile

CBS News Pittsburgh

U.S. center-left

Owned byParamount Skydance Corporation, through its CBS News and Stations division; David Ellison serves as chairman and CEO of the parent company
FundingCommercial advertising revenue, as a network-owned-and-operated local broadcast television station
On the administrationmixed

Background

The station signed on January 11, 1949, as WDTV, making it the first commercial television station in Pittsburgh and one of the earliest in Pennsylvania. It launched as a DuMont Network owned-and-operated outlet while also carrying programming from CBS, NBC, and ABC. In 1955, Westinghouse Electric Corporation purchased the station for a then-record $9.75 million and renamed it KDKA-TV, borrowing the historic call letters from KDKA radio—one of the world's first licensed commercial radio stations, which had been broadcasting since 1920. KDKA-TV became a full-time CBS affiliate under Westinghouse in 1957. In 1995, Westinghouse acquired CBS Inc. for $5.4 billion, turning KDKA-TV from a longtime affiliate into a full CBS owned-and-operated (O&O) station. The station passed through successive corporate restructurings—CBS Corp. (2006), ViacomCBS (2019), and Paramount Global (2021)—before Skydance Media completed its $8 billion acquisition of Paramount Global in August 2025, forming Paramount Skydance Corporation. In October 2025, Bari Weiss, founder of The Free Press, was named editor-in-chief of the national CBS News operation, a move that generated controversy and prompted talk of a shift toward more politically balanced programming at the network level; the degree to which that has filtered into local Pittsburgh coverage is limited. Media Bias/Fact Check rates KDKA–CBS Pittsburgh as left-center biased with high factual credibility, consistent with the broader CBS News brand, which AllSides rates as Lean Left.

Sources

  1. KDKA-TV – Wikipedia
  2. KDKA – CBS Pittsburgh – Bias and Credibility – Media Bias/Fact Check
  3. KDKA Media Bias – AllSides
  4. CBS News Media Bias – AllSides
  5. Has CBS News' Bias Moved Right Under Bari Weiss' Leadership? – AllSides
  6. Skydance Media and Paramount Global Complete Merger – Paramount Press
  7. FCC Approves Skydance's Acquisition of Paramount CBS – FCC
  8. CBS News and Stations Names Julie Eisenman President and GM of CBS Pittsburgh – Paramount Press Express
  9. After rocky start, Bari Weiss plans cuts, adds commentators at CBS News – NPR
  10. KDKA At 70: A Look Back At Pittsburgh's Oldest TV Station – Patch

Profile compiled 2026-07-11; refreshed when ownership, funding, or the administration changes.

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