 Gadsden Fox affiliate WNAL-TV (channel 44, now WPXH-TV) replaced WJSU-TV as the CBS affiliate for northeast Alabama – the second in the area, alongside Birmingham's WIAT (WNAL would later become the Pax TV (now Ion Television) O&O for the entire Birmingham market in August 1999, three years after it was acquired by Paxson Communications (now Ion Media Networks), the network's parent company).WTTO (channel 21) and its semi-satellite WDBB (channel 17), the Fox affiliates for Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, became independent stations before affiliating with The WB in February 1997, several months after WDBB became a full-time repeater of WTTO.Among the many deals that resulted, ABC reached a group agreement with Scripps-Howard Broadcasting on June 16, 1994, after CBS approached WEWS (channel 5) in Cleveland and WXYZ-TV (channel 7) in Detroit about replacing WJW and WJBK as its affiliates for those markets.