How will you find your favorite shows in Miami after the big ABC switch? Here’s a guide
WPLG-Channel 10’s announcement that it’s breaking up with ABC, severing a nearly 70-year affiliation, may have South Florida TV viewers a bit confused.
But this kind of switch has happened before. Some viewers may recall that on Jan. 1, 1989, six television stations in South Florida swapped affiliates. There was plenty of confusion then, too.
“OMG! Will ‘Miami Vice” wind up in ‘Dallas” and will Sonny Crockett bust JR Ewing for illegal use of a smirk on Friday night prime time?”
Later this year, ABC’s content will shift to WSVN-Channel 7, a Fox affiliate, which will use Channel 7.2 as ABC Miami.
Here’s what to know to keep it all straight:
What happens now with the TV stations?
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WPLG-TV, known to South Florida viewers as Local 10, broke up with the ABC television network after a partnership that began in August 1957 when ABC’s “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp” — TV’s first Western series aimed at adults — was ABC’s top-ranked show.
After months of negotiations, Local 10’s E.R. Bert Medina, WPLG CEO and president, said on Thursday that ABC and WPLG, owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, could not agree on an extended affiliation agreement.
“We made a generous offer to ABC, but it became clear the two sides were not going to agree to a new deal,” he said.
ABC is owned by Disney Entertainment. WPLG is owned by Bershire Hathaway. WSVN is owned by Sunbeam Television Corp.
READ MORE: Local 10 ‘breaks up’ with ABC, CEO says. What does it mean for South Florida viewers?
When will WPLG stop broadcasting ABC content?
ABC programming will disappear from WPLG on Aug. 4.
Where will ABC content wind up?
If you tuned in specifically to WPLG Local 10 to watch your favorite ABC network series like “Abbott Elementary” or the eternal “Grey’s Anatomy,” “ABC World News Tonight” or live sports, that content will migrate Aug. 4 to WSVN in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale market.
Under the terms of the new, multi-year agreement, WSVN-Channel 7 will be the new ABC affiliate and will begin broadcasting as ABC Miami on Channel 7.2.
We aren’t sure yet what number 7.2 will correspond to in your cable grid if you subscribe to a service like Xfinity.
For example, if you type in 10 or say “Play Channel 10” into your voice-activated TV remote to watch “Abbott Elementary” at 8:30 p.m. Wednesdays, you’re automatically connected to the high-definition Channel 431 in the Miami area.
If you ask for a program by name, the remote will pull it up for you.
WSVN is found at Channel 7, which is 434 on Xfinity’s grid.
What about all of ABC’s sports content?
You’ll have access to ABC’s myriad sports telecasts, including the Miami Hurricanes-Notre Dame football game on Sunday, Aug. 31.
KNOW MORE: How the ABC affiliate change in South Florida will affect sports fans. What to know
So, how does the viewer tune in to 7 and 7.2?
Paul Magnes, Sunbeam’s co-president and general manager, has some answers about the upcoming new ABC Channel 7.2.
“Viewers who want to watch 7 News and Fox programming will continue to watch the exact same way they do now, he said. “If viewers want to watch ABC programming, including the network newscasts, they will tune into 7.2.”
But where’s 7.2?
“We are still in the process of working with the cable and satellite distributors, but we will be informing our cable viewers where to find ABC once the details are finalized,” Magnes said.
But he has words of assurance for viewers who are worried about where they will see ABC. Everything will be OK.
“Viewers can be assured that they will be able to see all their favorite ABC and Fox shows, along with our current 7 News programming,” he said. “As August 4th approaches, which is the day of the affiliation switch, we will have walked our viewers through the process and answered any questions they might have.”
What if you stream ABC shows on Hulu?
Technically, in some ways for the average viewer, the whole thing shouldn’t be much of a TV drama. We don’t watch TV like we did in 1989, after all. Disney Entertainment, which owns Hulu (this is why you can bundle the streamers Hulu and Disney+) will continue to provide WPLG with uninterrupted access to its ABC network programming until Aug. 4. And you’ll find ABC’s content on Hulu afterward, or on ABC.Com.
“A viewer will still be able to watch archived ABC shows on Hulu. 7 News programming will be aired on Hulu,” Magnes said.
What about each station’s news anchors?
Familiar WPLG anchors like Louis Aguirre, Calvin Hughes and Nicole Perez should likely stay familiar. WPLG’s Medina said in a statement Thursday that WPLG doesn’t plan layoffs despite the loss of network affiliation.
“If we accepted the deal ABC was proposing, we too would have been forced to lay off employees in order to pay the hefty price the network was demanding,” Medina said.
He added that WPLG would concentrate on expanding local news and local programming, the station reported.
READ MORE: Miami’s Local 10 just ‘broke up’ with ABC. So what happens to the news team?
“We’re all really excited about the partnership and expanded opportunities to serve South Florida,” WSVN’s Craig Stevens said in a text to the Miami Herald.
LOCAL TV HISTORY: Remember these Miami TV anchors?
Switches of the past
“The deal between Sunbeam Television Corporation and Disney Entertainment is more than an affiliation swap. Sunbeam will now be home to two major networks,” Magnes said.
Speaking of a “Big Switch,” 1989 was not the first changes on the TV dial in Miami.
A Miami Herald news article dated Oct. 28, 1961, reported how South Florida’s ABC affiliate station WPST-TV had switched operators and gained new call letters to WLBW-TV. The change was in effect from November 1961 until The Washington Post-Newsweek bought the station in 1969.
The call letters then became WPLG, named for Philip L. Graham, late husband of Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham. The station started using the name WPLG in March 1970.
This story was originally published March 21, 2025 at 3:36 PM.
