BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Channel 42 has a new network home, a new name, and a new place on Birmingham’s dial — the end of a CBS affiliation that lasted more than half a century.
WIAT, long known as CBS 42, ended its CBS affiliation Aug. 1, 2026, and rebranded as “Alabama’s 42.” The station operated as an independent through August, then became Birmingham’s CW affiliate Sept. 1, picking up CW programming that had aired on WTTO, channel 21.
CBS programming did not leave Birmingham. It moved Aug. 1 to WVTM 13.4, a subchannel of the Hearst-owned NBC station. WVTM still carries NBC on its main channel, 13.1.
The shuffle was part of a larger realignment between Paramount, which owns CBS, and Nexstar Media Group, which owns WIAT. Paramount renewed CBS on 36 Nexstar stations but ended it on six, including Birmingham. Nexstar owns a controlling stake in The CW, making WIAT effectively a CW-owned station after the switch.
WTTO, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, is now an independent station branded “The 205,” after Birmingham’s area code, with an expanded focus on local news and sports.
Channel 42 signed on Oct. 17, 1965, as WBMG, airing CBS and NBC programs not carried by channel 13. It became the market’s sole CBS affiliate May 31, 1970, and took the WIAT call letters in 1998. It was never an ABC affiliate, though ABC came close to a deal with the station in the 1994 realignment before it renewed with CBS.
The current Birmingham lineup: ABC on WBMA-LD 58.1, branded ABC 33/40; NBC on WVTM 13.1; CBS on WVTM 13.4; Fox on WBRC 6; The CW on WIAT 42.1, “Alabama’s 42”; and independent WTTO 21, “The 205.”