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Wikipedia

The CW

February 15, 2024

This article is about the television network. For other uses, see CW (disambiguation).

The CW Television Network (commonly referred to as The CW) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television network controlled by Nexstar Media Group through an 75-percent ownership interest.[3][10] The network's name is derived from the first letters of the names of its two founding co-owners CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. (the latter was owned by Time Warner, later AT&T's WarnerMedia). Nexstar closed its acquisition of a controlling interest in the network on October 3, 2022, with Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery (CBS Corporation and WarnerMedia's respective successors) each retaining a 12.5-percent ownership stake.[3][4][10]

The CW Television Network
TypeBroadcast television network
CountryUnited States
Affiliates
HeadquartersBurbank, California, U.S.
Programming
Language(s)English
Picture format
Ownership
OwnerNexstar Media Group (75%)
Paramount Global (12.5%)
Warner Bros. Discovery (12.5%)
ParentThe CW Network, LLC[1][2]
Key people
  • Dennis Miller (President, The CW)[3][4][5]
  • Brad Schwartz (President, Entertainment)[6][7]
  • Heather Olander (Head, Unscripted Programming)[8][9]
History
FoundedJanuary 24, 2006; 18 years ago (2006-01-24)
LaunchedSeptember 18, 2006; 17 years ago (2006-09-18)
Replaced
Links
Websitewww.cwtv.com

The CW debuted on September 18, 2006, as the successor to UPN and the WB, which had respectively shut down on September 15 and 17 of that year. The CW's first two nights of programming – on September 18 and 19, 2006 – consisted of reruns and launch-related specials. The CW marked its formal launch date on September 20, 2006, with the two-hour premiere of the seventh cycle of America's Next Top Model. The network's programming lineup is intended to appeal mainly to viewers between the ages of 18 and 34, although from 2008 to 2011, the network shifted its programming to appeal to women in that demographic.[11][12] As of August 2017, the network's audience was evenly split between men and women.[13]

The CW runs programming seven days a week: airing nightly in prime time, along with a Saturday morning live-action educational programming block produced by Hearst Media Production Group called One Magnificent Morning.

The CW is also available in southern Canada on pay television providers through stations owned-and-operated by Nexstar and on affiliates owned by others that are located within proximity to the Canada–United States border (whose broadcasts of CW shows are subject to simultaneous substitution laws imposed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, if a Canadian network holds the broadcast rights); it is also available through two Nexstar-controlled stations that are classified in the United States as superstations – New York City-based de facto flagship[a] WPIX and Los Angeles-based secondary flagship KTLA.

Additionally, the network is available in northern Mexico through affiliates located near the Mexico–U.S. border (such as KFMB-DT2—San Diego/Tijuana, KECY-DT3 in El Centro, California, KVIA-DT2 in El Paso, and KCWT-CD with simulcast network KMBH-LD2 in McAllen/Brownsville, Texas) on pay television providers. In both Canada and Mexico, some free-to-air CW affiliate signals originating from the U.S. are receivable over-the-air in border areas depending on the station's signal coverage.

History edit

1993–2006: Predecessors and formation edit

Main articles: The WB and UPN
 
The network's original pre-launch logo

The WB and UPN both launched within one week of each other in January 1995, just as the Fox network had started to secure a foothold with American television audiences.[14] The two networks launched to limited fanfare and generally mediocre to poor results. However, over the subsequent 11+1⁄2 seasons, both were able to air several series that became quite popular (such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: Voyager, The Sentinel, 7th Heaven, Dawson's Creek, Charmed, Smallville, Everwood, Gilmore Girls, Reba, The Steve Harvey Show, and America's Next Top Model). Towards the end of their first decade on the air, the WB and UPN were in decline, unable to reach the audience share or have the effect that Fox had gained within its first decade, much less than that of the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS and NBC). In the eleven years that UPN and the WB were in operation, the two networks lost a combined $2 billion.[15] Chris-Craft Industries, Viacom, and Time Warner officials had discussed a possible merger of UPN and the WB as early as September 1995, only eight months after their respective launches; however, discussions ultimately broke down over issues on how to combine Chris-Craft and Tribune Broadcasting's station interests in the proposal to merge the networks, since the two companies' station portfolios overlapped with one another in several major markets.[16] By 2003, however, Time Warner became mired in several debt problems. The company had already been responsible for shutting down Warner Bros.' in-house animation department and for selling off major portions of the conglomerate, such as the 2004 sale of Warner Bros. Records and the rest of Warner Music Group to an investor group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

Executives from CBS and Time Warner announced on January 24, 2006[17] that they would respectively shut down UPN and the WB, and combine resources to form a new broadcast network, to be known as "The CW Television Network", that would – at the outset – feature programming from both of its predecessors-to-be as well as new content developed specifically for the new network.[18][19] Warners and CBS expected to produce inexpensive shows for the network, which they could sell outside the US.[20] CBS chairman Leslie Moonves explained that the name of the new network was formed from the first letters of CBS and Warner Bros, joking, "We couldn't call it the WC for obvious reasons." Although some executives reportedly disliked the new name, Moonves stated in March 2006[21] that there was "zero chance" the name would change, citing research claiming 48 percent of the target demographic were already aware of the "CW" name.

In May 2006, the CW announced that it would pick up a combined thirteen programs from its two predecessors to air as part of the network's inaugural fall schedule: seven series held over from the WB (7th Heaven, Beauty and the Geek, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Reba, Smallville and Supernatural) and six held over from UPN (America's Next Top Model, Veronica Mars, Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, All of Us and WWE SmackDown!). Upon the network's launch, the CW chose to use the scheduling model utilized by the WB due in part to the fact that it had a more extensive base programming schedule than UPN, allowing for a larger total of weekly programming hours for the new network to fill. (The WB carried 30 hours of programming each week because it had a children's program block and a daytime lineup that UPN did not offer; UPN was primarily a prime time-only network with 10 weekly hours of network programming at the time of the network's shutdown.)[22]

2006–2011: Launch and early struggles edit

 
Logo used from September 18, 2006 to January 13, 2024

Like both UPN and the WB, the CW targets its programming towards younger audiences. CBS and Time Warner hoped that combining their networks' schedules and affiliate lineups would strengthen the CW into a fifth "major" broadcast network. One week before the network's official launch, on September 11, 2006, a new, full version of the network website was launched; the website began to feature more in-depth information about the CW's shows.

The CW launched with a premiere special / launch party from the CBS Paramount-produced Entertainment Tonight at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California on September 18, 2006, after a repeat of the tenth-season finale of 7th Heaven;[23] the same schedule was repeated on September 19, with the sixth-season finale of Gilmore Girls.[24] The network continued to air season finales from the previous season through the remainder of the first week, except for America's Next Top Model and WWE SmackDown!, which respectively began their new seasons on September 20 and 22, with two-hour premieres. When Top Model made its network premiere on September 20, 2006, the CW scored a 3.4 rating/5 share (with hourly ratings of 3.1/5 and 3.6/6; the CW placed fifth overall) in the Nielsen household ratings. It scored a 2.6 rating among adults 18–49, finishing fourth in that age demographic and beating the 2.2 rating earned by Fox on that night. The network's second week consisted of season and series premieres for all of its other series from September 25 to October 1, with the exception of Veronica Mars, which debuted its third season on October 3.[25]

Despite having several of the most popular programs carried over from UPN and the WB as part of its schedule, the CW – even though it experienced some success with newer programs that launched in subsequent seasons which became modest hits – largely struggled to gain an audience foothold throughout its first five years on the air.[26] Because of declining viewership for the network during the 2007–08 season and effects from the Writers Guild of America strike, the network announced on March 4, 2008, that it would eliminate its comedy department (dismissing executive vice president of comedy Kim Fleary and senior vice president of comedy Steve Veisel), while also combining its drama and current programming departments into a single scripted programming unit. The corporate restructuring resulted in the layoffs of approximately 25 to 30 employees.[27][28] It also included the elimination of certain positions, other newly opened positions being left unfilled, layoffs from the Kids' WB unit (as the block was set to be replaced by the CW4Kids on May 24), and the elimination and transfer of marketing positions at the CW Plus to the network's marketing department.

On May 9, 2008, the CW announced that it would lease its Sunday lineup (then running from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time)[29][30] to production company Media Rights Capital (MRC). As Sundays have historically been a low-rated night for the network during its first two seasons on the air (due to stiff competition from CBS, ABC and Fox's strong Sunday lineups, and complicated further by NBC's acquisition of Sunday Night Football in September 2006, shortly before the CW debuted), the move allowed the CW to concentrate on its Monday through Friday prime time schedule, while giving MRC the right to develop and schedule programs of its own choosing and reap advertising revenue generated by the lineup. The Sunday series that were scheduled – two reality series (4Real and In Harm's Way) and two scripted series (romantic dramedy Valentine and drama Easy Money) – performed poorly in the ratings (averaging only 1.04 million viewers[31]), prompting the CW to scrap its agreement with MRC and program Sunday nights on its own starting on November 30, 2008. With no first-run programming available to run on Sundays as a backup, the network added reruns of The Drew Carey Show and Jericho, and movies to replace the MRC-produced programs.[32]

One of the shows carried over to the network from UPN, WWE SmackDown, ended its run on the CW after the September 26, 2008, episode due to negotiations ending between the WWE and the CW on renewing the program. Representatives for the CW later confirmed that it had chosen not to continue carrying SmackDown because the network had redefined its target audience as exclusively females 18 to 34 years old,[15] whereas SmackDown targeted a predominantly male audience. Following SmackDown's move to MyNetworkTV that same season, the Fox-owned network (which launched the same month as the CW's debut, albeit two weeks earlier, on September 5, 2006) began beating the CW in the Friday ratings every week from that program's debut on the network, though the CW continued to beat MyNetworkTV overall.[33]

The CW generally struggled in the Nielsen ratings from its inception, primarily placing fifth in all statistics tabulated by Nielsen (total audience viewership and demographic ratings). On several occasions, the CW was even outrated by the Spanish language network Univision. This led to speculation within the industry (including a May 16, 2008, article in The Wall Street Journal[15]) that CBS, Time Warner or both companies might abandon the venture if ratings did not improve. However, the CW's fortunes were buoyed in the 2008–09 and 2009–10 television seasons thanks to increased ratings among females in the 18–34 demographic and the buzz that some of its newer series (such as Gossip Girl, 90210 and The Vampire Diaries) had generated with audiences. Executives with CBS Corporation and Time Warner also emphasized their commitment to the network.[34]

On May 5, 2009, the CW announced that it would give the five hours of network time on Sundays back to its affiliated stations that fall, effectively becoming a weeknight-only network in prime time, in addition to the CW Daytime and the CW4Kids blocks (the latter block, airing on Saturday mornings, would remain the only weekend programming supplied by the network).[35][36] This change meant the Sunday late afternoon repeat block that the CW inherited from the WB (formerly branded by that network as "EasyView") was discontinued. Subsequently, in mid-May, 65 percent of the CW's affiliates, including those carrying the CW Plus, signed agreements to continue to air the replacement MGM Showcase movie package on Sundays, which was offered as a traditional syndicated film package meant for the CW's former prime time slot on that night.[37]

2011–2016: New leadership and content shift edit

On April 28, 2011, Mark Pedowitz was appointed by the network to succeed original president of entertainment Dawn Ostroff; Pedowitz was made the network's first president and assumed broader responsibilities in the CW's business operations than Ostroff had.[38] As president of entertainment, Ostroff oversaw entertainment operations while John Maatta, the network's chief operating officer, handled business affairs; both reported to a board composed of CBS and Warner Bros. executives. Maatta began reporting to Pedowitz as a result of the latter's appointment as network president.[38] Pedowitz revealed that the core target demographic of the network would not change, though the CW would attempt to lure new viewers. Pedowitz began looking to bring comedies back to the CW after Ostroff had publicly declared that the difficulty of developing comedies for its target demographic was the reason for their removal from the network following the 2008–09 season (with Everybody Hates Chris, and The Game – a spin-off of Girlfriends – becoming the last comedies to be cancelled).[39] The network also ordered more episodes of its original series and ran them consecutively starting on September 12 through the first week of December without repeats.[40] In July 2012, Pedowitz no longer referred to the target demographic of the CW as women 18–34, but rather that it would now be an "18–34 adult network".[12]

Although the network was still not profitable, CBS and Warner Bros. were very successful in selling their CW shows overseas. In 2011, a $1 billion deal with streaming service Netflix became another way to sell CW shows.[20] The introduction of action-superhero series Arrow, based on DC Comics' Green Arrow, received favorable reviews from critics and became a hit with audiences when it premiered. As evidence of the network's refocusing toward a broader audience, Arrow not only premiered to some of the highest viewership totals in the network's history (the third-highest overall as of 2015, behind the series premieres of The Vampire Diaries and The Flash), but it also gave the network its strongest performance in the demographic of males 18–34 since Smallville ended its run in May 2011. The network also found success with its summer programming in 2013 with the revival of the U.S. version of the improv comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, which later became a year-round staple on the network's schedule. Arrow continued to perform strongly, leading to a spin-off with The Flash, which surpassed The Vampire Diaries as the highest-rated premiere in the network's history and became the most-watched show on the network. Jane the Virgin earned some of the highest critical praise of any series during the 2014–15 television season, and became the first CW series ever to be nominated for, and win, a Golden Globe Award, with lead actress Gina Rodriguez winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy. Other CW shows like The Flash, The 100, and Nikita would also go on to be nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards categories, and several shows from 2011 to 2019 being nominated for categories in the Teen Choice Awards, Saturn Awards, and others.

Overall, the network ended the 2014–15 season posting its highest average total viewership in a single television season since 2007–08 with 2.15 million viewers, a 12 percent increase in total viewership year-to-year; the CW also posted its highest seasonal demographic ratings among males ages 18–49 with a 0.8 share.[41]

Expanding on the success of the network's Arrowverse franchise, DC's Legends of Tomorrow premiered to high ratings for the network and became the most-watched show on the network's Thursday night block in two years. The 2015–16 season also saw Crazy Ex-Girlfriend become one of the most critically acclaimed shows of the season and the second show on the network to be nominated for, and win, a Golden Globe Award, with actress Rachel Bloom winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy.

2016–2021: Streaming era deals edit

The network's Arrowverse expanded again with Supergirl being moved to the network from CBS for its second season. The debut of Archie Comics-based Riverdale signaled the network's foray into mining their parent studio's library of IP to create new television series based on recognizable properties. This led to another new DC Comics series, Black Lightning, and a rebooted Dynasty. While it met with poor ratings, Dynasty proved lucrative thanks to the Netflix output deal and international syndication[42] which earned CBS Studios millions of dollars per episode.[20]

Selling CW series like Dynasty to Netflix and overseas markets was so profitable for Warner Bros. and CBS that the network almost stopped cancelling shows, and expanded its broadcast schedule.[20] On February 14, 2018, the CW announced that it would add a 2-hour primetime block on Sunday nights beginning in the fourth quarter of 2018 (it later added a third hour in October 2023), returning the network to Sundays for the first time since the lease to Media Rights Capital ended in 2009, as well as expanding the CW's primetime slate from 10 hours a week to 12. Discussions with CBS and Warner Bros. about the expansion began as early as July 2017; both gave their approval to the move that December, with the network reaching clearance deals with key affiliate partners in early 2018.[43][44]

On June 12, 2018, AT&T received antitrust approval to acquire Warner Bros. parent Time Warner, with the acquisition closing two days later. Time Warner was renamed WarnerMedia and AT&T became a co-owner of the CW with CBS.[45][46]

The CW debuted reboots of Charmed, Roswell, and Originals spin-off Legacies during the 2018–19 season. Despite modest ratings, their renewals – along with the renewal of the entire 2018–19 lineup (absent those series already previously announced as ending) – reflected their value to the network's founding co-owners CBS and Warner Bros., which received the windfall of selling them to Netflix and international buyers.[47] This strategy continued with the 2019–20 season debuts of the new Arrowverse series Batwoman, Riverdale spin-off Katy Keene, and Nancy Drew.

On August 13, 2019, CBS and Viacom officially announced their intention to re-merge, with the combined company to be named ViacomCBS. The merger was completed on December 4, 2019, making them officially with AT&T's WarnerMedia co-owners of the CW.[48][49][50][51]

WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS did not renew CW's Netflix deal in 2019, intending to use their shows on the network for their own streaming services.[20][52] International sales also mostly ended, because both companies wanted to retain rights to their own shows to compete with Netflix outside the United States.[20] WarnerMedia's HBO Max streaming service subsequently acquired exclusive streaming rights to Warner Bros.-produced CW shows.[53] This began with the 2019–20 season, with the Warner Bros.-produced Batwoman and Katy Keene debuting on HBO Max after their current seasons finished airing on the CW. The CBS Studios-produced Nancy Drew was originally announced to be heading to corporate-sibling owned CBS All Access, but appeared on HBO Max instead. The reason for this was amid the rebranding of CBS All Access to Paramount+ and the changes surrounding the ViacomCBS merger, CBS and Warner Bros. made the collective decision to have all CW shows have a singular streaming home on HBO Max.[54]

Beyond being the streaming home of CW programming, HBO Max shares a co-ownership connection with the network which allows for programming partnerships. This began with DC Comics series Stargirl, which the CW shared with DC Universe. DC Universe and the CW co-financed the series,[54] with episodes premiering on DC Universe and airing the next day on the CW. After DC Universe was folded into HBO Max, Stargirl was renewed with a new co-finance deal in which the CW receives first-run airings followed by its launch on HBO Max.[55] Going forward, the CW and HBO Max will continue to collaborate on potentially co-financing new projects, with the model of premiering first on HBO Max and a second run on the CW.[56] "They creatively have to want the show too and believe that the show should go on their platform first for them to work," CW CEO Pedowitz said. "For us its a great model because it's a way to get excellent summer scripted programming and maximize programming across platforms."[54]

On May 13, 2021, the CW announced that it would begin programming Saturday nights on a regular basis beginning in the 2021–22 television season, following approval of the expansion by the network's key affiliate groups.[57] As part of the deal, the CW ceased programming the CW Daytime block and returned the time to its stations. With the addition of Saturday nights, the CW has programming on every night of the week for the first time in the network's history, becoming only the sixth American English-language commercial broadcast network ever and the first since Fox to have offered prime time content on a nightly basis.[58]

2022: Acquisition by Nexstar edit

On January 5, 2022, The Wall Street Journal reported that WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS were exploring a possible sale of either a majority stake or all of the CW, and that Nexstar Media Group, which became the CW's largest affiliate group when it acquired former WB-era network co-owner Tribune Broadcasting in 2019, was considered a leading bidder.[59] Network president and CEO Mark Pedowitz confirmed talks of a potential sale but added that it was "too early to speculate what might happen".[60][61] Nexstar CEO Perry Sook in Spring 2022 did not confirm the rumored buyout but stated that he would not be surprised if Nexstar owned a broadcast network.[62]

In May 2022, three months before Nexstar made their purchase official, the CW cancelled ten shows, three times the average number per year that the CW had canceled over the previous decade, including one-season shows 4400 and Naomi, and longtime fixtures Batwoman, Charmed, Dynasty, In the Dark, Legends of Tomorrow, Roswell, New Mexico, and Legacies.[20] More shows were cancelled or given final season orders in the following months including Nancy Drew, Stargirl, The Flash, and Riverdale.[63][64][65][66][67]

In late June 2022, The Wall Street Journal indicated a purchase of the CW by Nexstar was close,[68] and on August 15 Nexstar confirmed it had "entered into a definitive agreement" to acquire a 75-percent majority share in the network; the remaining 25 percent would be shared equally by Paramount Global (the former ViacomCBS) and Warner Bros. Discovery (the company formed by Discovery, Inc.'s acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T). Additionally, Nexstar stated that Mark Pedowitz would remain the chairman and CEO of the CW.[69] Though no monetary terms were announced, Nexstar reportedly would not pay any cash or stock up front, and would absorb approximately $100 million of network debt.[70][71] The Hollywood Reporter stated that Nexstar retained $54 million based on its cash on hand, accounts receivable, accounts payable and other liabilities.[72] As the sale did not entail the transfer of any FCC broadcast licenses, Nexstar immediately took operational control of the network.[73]

Nexstar, in a conference call that took place the day its purchase was announced, indicated a desire to run the CW cost-consciously. Citing research that indicated the network spends "almost twice" the amount other broadcast networks spend on programming, a partial reason for the May 2022 cancellations,[20] Nexstar stated that it planned to seek shows with smaller production budgets and/or a reasonably-priced acquisition fee, including unscripted fare, syndicated content, and other content that can create profits through broadcast airings.[70] Nexstar also stated that it aimed for the CW to turn a profit by 2025.[74][60]

In the conference call, Nexstar indicated that it wanted to convert the CW into a network with broad appeal. It cited data indicating that the young audience which the CW focused upon preferred watching its shows through streaming platforms instead of during live broadcasts, while the average audience of a broadcast CW affiliate was approximately 58 years old.[70] Nexstar indicated that it would focus on the older audiences as well and not just the younger demographic.[69][74][75] In particular, Nexstar was reported to have been seeking older-skewing dramas, police procedurals, and sitcoms.[76]

Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery would still produce content for the CW as primary content suppliers, though Nexstar noted that the arrangement would be primarily for the 2022–23 broadcast season. It indicated that it "will have the option to extend the partnership" with Paramount and WBD beyond that season.[70][77] Nexstar stated in September 2022 that it would seek to supplement the CW's content by acquiring projects from studios beyond solely Paramount and WBD.[78] while any the CW content not licensed to other streaming services would continue to appear on its own streaming platform CW Seed.[20]

On October 3, Nexstar officially announced that it had closed the deal to acquire the majority ownership of the CW. Longtime chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz resigned from his role, with Dennis Miller taking over as the president of the CW.[79][80] Rick Haskins, the CW's chief branding officer and president of the network's streaming division, as well as chief financial officer Mitch Nedick were let go on the same day.[81] Thirty to forty employees were laid off on November 1, including several executives.[82] Longtime executive Paul Hewitt was replaced with Beth Feldman as the senior vice president of the network's communications unit.[83] On the following day, Brad Schwartz was appointed as the president for the entertainment division, overseeing programming strategy, creative and brand development, and day-to-day operations.[7]

On November 8, Nexstar announced that the carryover programming from the former parent companies of the CW, Paramount and WBD, would be minimal by the 2023–24 season.[84]

2023–present: Focus on linear and sports edit

On February 1, the CW appointed Heather Olander as the head of unscripted programming,[8] a position under which she will report to Schwartz.[85] In a shift away from scripted programming, it also let go of Executive VP for Current Programming Michael Roberts, and Executive VP for Development Gaye Hirsch, among other layoffs on the following day.[86][87] The CW appointed Chris Spadaccini as the chief marketing officer on February 6,[88][89] and Tom Martin as the head of business affairs and general counsel on February 9.[90][91] It later appointed Betzy Slenzak as the vice president of unscripted programming on March 30, and Ashley Hovey as the network's first chief digital officer on April 11.[92][93]

On May 18, the CW unveiled its schedule for the 2023–24 broadcast season, consisting mostly of acquired shows from outside the United States, and unscripted series.[94] Schwartz criticized the previous co-owners of the network, stating that it would no longer exist for benefiting them, and that the shows left over from the previous regimes did not perform well on linear broadcast. He added that in order to achieve profitability, the CW was focusing on acquired shows and co-productions while expanding its audience.[95] He also revealed that the network was in production or negotiations for a total of 72 shows.[96] By June 2023, the CW retained only four of its existing scripted shows for the 2024–25 season.[97]

CW Sports was launched by acquiring the rights to LIV Golf[98] and soon expanded by acquiring ACC college football and basketball games,[99] Inside the NFL,[100] WWE NXT beginning in 2024[101] and the NASCAR Xfinity Series beginning in 2025.[102]

In August 2023, Schwartz stated that the network was involved in many upcoming US-produced scripted shows and will focus on getting monetization rights on any scripted content it broadcasts, while producing shows at a profitable price point. He also stated that they were using sports programming for bringing in new and older audiences.[103] Nexstar CEO Perry Sook later stated that, beyond causing the delay of four scripted shows, the 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes did not have much impact on the CW's fall schedule, adding that they would not affect the network's future progress.[104]

In January 2024 during the 29th Critics' Choice Awards, The CW officially launched a new brand identity by DixonBaxi—which updated the logo with a bolder appearance, changed the network's main color from green to red-orange, and introduced a new "stage" device used in promos (formed by extending the C lettering from the logo), as well as a new sound trademark of a struck match. Spadaccini explained that the rebranding was intended to help make the network's brand more consistent and optimized for digital platforms; the word "The" was removed from the network's logo to streamline its appearance (especially in use cases such as "CW Original" or "CW Sports"), but Spadaccini stated that "The CW" would remain the network's verbal branding due to its wide usage and distinctiveness from the other major networks (whose names do not usually use the definite article).[105]

Programming edit

Network programming and scheduling edit

Main article: List of programs broadcast by The CW

As of October 1, 2023, the CW provides 18 hours of regularly scheduled network programming each week, over the course of seven days. The network offers 15 hours of prime time programming to its owned-and-operated and affiliated stations, airing from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time on Monday through Saturday nights and 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific) on Sunday nights.[106] Outside of prime time, a three-hour educational programming block called "One Magnificent Morning" (which airs as part of the CW schedule through a time-lease agreement with Hearst Media Production Group) airs on Saturday mornings from 8:00 to 11:00 a.m. in all time zones.

Similar to Fox, along with network forerunners the WB and UPN, the CW uses the "common prime" scheduling practice, avoiding the 10:00 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific) hour broadcast by the "Big Three" networks (NBC, CBS, and ABC). The network, unlike the Big Three, does not air any national newscasts, late-night programming, and, since 2021,[57] daytime programming. It also did not run prime-time programming on Saturday nights and during the primetime access hour on Sundays until the 2021–22 and 2023–24 broadcast seasons respectively.[57] Because of these factors, the CW's affiliates handle the responsibility of programming non-network time periods, with the majority of its stations filling those slots mainly with syndicated programming. However, some of the network's affiliates broadcast their own local news and/or sports programs (either produced by the station itself or through outsourcing agreements with an affiliate of another network), preempting network prime time programming to a specific time period (New York City affiliate WPIX, for instance, preempts CW prime time to the afternoon hours).

The Hearst-produced Saturday morning block, One Magnificent Morning (which is subject to scheduling variances similar to the weekday hour in some markets, such as in Atlanta and San Diego), is designed to be tape delayed and therefore recommended to air in the same time slot in all time zones. However, it is broadcast one hour earlier on affiliates of the CW Plus in the Central, Mountain and Alaska Time Zones. In Guam, CW Plus affiliate KTKB-LD in Hagåtña airs the CW lineup on a one-day tape delay from its initial broadcast because of the time difference between Guam and the continental United States as the island is on the west side of the International Date Line.

Supernatural (which initially aired on the WB) was the final CW series carried over from either of the network's respective predecessors that continued to be broadcast, airing its final episode in November 2020.

The CW formerly aired short segments during commercial breaks within certain episodes of its programs known as "Content Wraps" – a play on the network's name – to advertise one company's product during part or the entirety of a commercial break, a concept since classified under the term of native advertising. The entertainment magazine series CW Now was inspired in part by the success of the Content Wraps as it was intended to be a series with product placement;[107] the program was canceled in 2008, after a single 23-episode season. For the 2006–07 season, the CW reached an agreement with American Eagle Outfitters to incorporate tie-ins with the company's aerie clothing line as part of the Content Wrap concept within the network's Tuesday night schedule, which included subjects in the commercials commenting on plot points in each of the shows.[108] The agreement was cut down to regular advertising in February 2007, after a fan backlash by viewers of both shows and general criticism of the campaign.[109]

News programming edit

The CW does not produce national news content, and most of its affiliates do not have autonomous news operations. The network has five affiliates that produce their own local news programming, which were all carry-overs from previous affiliations: WPIX in New York City and KTLA in Los Angeles started their news departments as independent stations and/or during early affiliations with other networks including DuMont; WCCB in Charlotte, North Carolina[110] started its news operation as a Fox affiliate; WISH-TV in Indianapolis[111] has been airing local news since 1956, and KRON-TV in San Francisco, who has produced local news since 1957. KTLA has the largest number of weekly hours devoted to local news programming of any CW affiliate with 94+3⁄4 hours of scheduled news each week.

Other CW-affiliated stations maintained in-house news operations, but have since disaffiliated from the network or discontinued in-house production. One example of this is WGN-TV in Chicago, who maintains a news department since it launched as a CBS affiliate in 1948; the station transitioned into a news-intensive outlet during its tenures with the WB and the CW, and retains a news-heavy format after disaffiliating from the network in September 2016. Another one is KCWI-TV in Des Moines, Iowa; the station broadcasts a morning news and talk program, which transitioned from an in-house production to a brand extension during Good Morning America of ABC affiliate WOI-DT's morning newscast on April 11, 2016, as a result of Nexstar's acquisition of KCWI.[112]

News programming on CW affiliates – if the station carries any – is often outsourced to another major network affiliate in the market, especially if they are operated as part of a duopoly or management agreement, such as Nexstar's respective CW-Fox duopolies of KWGN-TV/KDVR in Denver and KPLR-TV/KTVI in St. Louis;[113] and Evansville, Indiana affiliate WTVW and ABC affiliate WEHT (a de facto duopoly formed through Nexstar's 2011 purchase of WEHT and trade of WTVW to partner group Mission Broadcasting).[114] KASW in Phoenix added a morning newscast extension from sister ABC station KNXV-TV upon its acquisition by Scripps in 2020.

The scheduling of news programming on the CW's affiliates often mirrors that of Fox stations, with morning newscasts (designed to compete with the national morning shows on ABC, CBS and NBC within the 7:00–9:00 a.m. timeslot; in duopolies, these are typically an extension of a sister station's morning newscast) and a prime time newscast within the 10:00–11:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific (9:00–10:00 p.m. Central/Mountain) time slot, though some may only air for 35 minutes to match up with network late night schedules. Rarely (but more common on the few major-market CW affiliates with in-house news departments), they may also include midday and/or early evening newscasts, including the network newscast slot of 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT.

On December 6, 2023, the CW simulcasted sister network NewsNation's coverage of the fourth 2024 Republican Party presidential debate. The debate marked the first national news program aired on the network under Nexstar ownership.[115]

Sports programming edit

Main article: CW Sports

The CW agreed to a three-year broadcast deal in January 2023 with LIV Golf, a professional golf tour financed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, marking the first-ever national sports broadcasting contract for both the network and the tour.[98] On February 14, 2023, the network said their LIV Golf coverage would be available in 100 percent of media markets in the United States, but encountered numerous affiliates that declined carriage of the tour, including all eight owned by Paramount Global. Consequently, LIV coverage in those affected markets aired on Nexstar-owned stations or subchannels, or on other stations via secondary affiliation agreements.[116][117] Both the network and Nexstar were criticized by the National Press Club for participating in alleged sportswashing by the Saudi government following the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.[118]

The CW announced on July 13 that it had acquired the exclusive broadcast rights to 50 Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) college football and basketball games each season through 2026–27, with Raycom Sports producing the broadcasts.[119]

On July 28, the CW announced it had picked up the media rights to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in a seven-year deal starting in 2025 and going through the 2031 season. The CW will broadcast 33 races annually, along with practice and qualifying events. NASCAR Productions will produce the broadcasts.[120]

On November 7, 2023, it was announced that WWE NXT would be moving to the CW from USA Network in a five-year deal that will begin in October 2024.[121] This will mark the first time that WWE programming will air on the CW since 2013, when Saturday Morning Slam aired on the defunct Vortexx children's programming block; the CW aired SmackDown! from the network's launch to 2008.

The CW and Range Sports announced an agreement under which Range Sports would develop content in conjunction with Nexstar and CW Sports, in addition to assisting the CW with talent representation, brand consulting, data and analytics and provide production capabilities for scripted and unscripted programs by utilizing the resources of its parent company Range Media Partners.[122]

Outside of network programming, several CW affiliates have carried telecasts of basketball, football and in some cases, other collegiate sporting events (such as baseball or hockey) that are produced by syndicators, while a few carry games from local teams of major professional sports leagues such as Major League Baseball (the New York Mets on WPIX) and the NBA (the Los Angeles Clippers on KTLA).

Children's programming edit

Main articles: Kids' WB, Toonzai, Vortexx, and One Magnificent Morning

On September 23, 2006, the Kids' WB children's programming block – which originated on the WB in September 1995 and continued to be produced by Warner Bros. Television – was carried over to the CW as part of its inaugural programming lineup; although the network on which it originated ceased operations the week before, the "Kids' WB" branding was retained for the block. On October 2, 2007, through a joint decision between corporate parents Warner Bros. Television and CBS Corporation, the CW announced that it would discontinue the Kids' WB block due to competition from cable channels aimed at the demographic such as Cartoon Network (which carried many series shared with the block and vice versa), Nickelodeon and Disney Channel, and would sell the programming rights to the network's Saturday morning block to 4Kids Entertainment (which at the time of the announcement, had produced a competing children's programming block, 4Kids TV, for Fox).[123] Kids' WB ended its run on May 17, 2008 (though some CW affiliates that delayed the block to Sundays, such as Atlanta affiliate WUPA, aired the block for the last time on May 18).

The following week on May 24, 4Kids took over responsibility for the CW's Saturday morning children's lineup, with the debut of a new block called The CW4Kids. The block's lineup initially consisted mostly of programs carried over from Kids' WB and 4KidsTV, before eventually adding first-run 4Kids-produced shows such as Chaotic as well as new seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.[124] The block was rebranded to Toonzai on August 14, 2010 (though the CW4Kids name was retained as a sub-brand to fulfill branding obligations that the network had to comply with per 4Kids Entertainment's contract to lease the CW's Saturday morning timeslots); Toonzai ended its run on August 18, 2012, after 4Kids auctioned off their assets in bankruptcy court.[125]

On July 3, 2012, Saban Brands and Kidsco Media Ventures, affiliates of Saban Capital Group, entered into an agreement to program the five-hour Saturday morning time slot with a new action-adventure and comedy programming block for the CW.[126][127] Saban had acquired the agreement to program the CW's Saturday morning timeslots from 4Kids Entertainment in bankruptcy proceedings.[125] The CW4Kids/Toonzai was replaced by Vortexx on August 25, featuring programs produced by Saban such as Power Rangers Lost Galaxy and Digimon Fusion. The block also carried notable third-party programming such as WWE Saturday Morning Slam, which marked the return of WWE programming to the network since WWE Smackdown departed in 2008.[128]

On June 5, 2014, the CW announced an agreement with Litton Entertainment to program a block of live-action series designed to comply with the FCC's educational programming guidelines. Vortexx (which was the last remaining non-educational children's block on the major U.S. broadcast networks) was replaced by One Magnificent Morning on October 4.[129][130] The block features a mix of wildlife and lifestyle-themed programs, similar in vein to those featured on the Litton-produced blocks aired by ABC and CBS.[131][132] On January 7, 2016, the CW and Litton announced a five-year renewal for the block, extending it through the 2020–21 broadcast season.[133] Starting with the 2017–18 broadcast season, the block's running time was reduced to three hours.[134] On July 1, 2021, the CW and Litton announced another multi-year extension for the block.[135]

Stations edit

Main articles: List of The CW affiliates (table), List of The CW affiliates (by U.S. state), The CW Plus, and Nexstar Media Group

The CW has 45 stations owned and/or operated by its majority owner Nexstar Media Group,[136] and current and pending affiliation agreements with 221 additional television stations encompassing 50 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. possessions.[137][138][139][140] Counting only conventional CW affiliates and over-the-air affiliates of the CW Plus, the network has an estimated combined national reach of 100-percent of all households in the United States (or 330,866,316 Americans with at least one television set); this makes the CW the largest U.S. broadcast network by population reach percentage. As of January 2023, three U.S. states (Delaware, New Hampshire, and New Jersey) and three U.S. territories (American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands) do not have their own locally licensed CW affiliates, largely because those areas are either located within the broadcast ranges of stations in nearby states or served by out-of-market stations via cable or satellite. Delaware is served by Philadelphia's WPHL-TV and Salisbury, Maryland affiliate WMDT-DT2, while New Hampshire is served by four CW stations based in three neighboring states (including Boston affiliate WLVI). New Jersey is served by WPHL and New York City affiliate WPIX.

As a newer broadcast network, the CW maintains affiliations with low-power stations (broadcasting either in analog or digital) in a few markets, such as Reno, Nevada (KRNS-CD) and Boise, Idaho (KYUU-LD). In some markets, including both of those mentioned, these stations also maintain digital simulcasts on a subchannel of a co-owned/co-managed full-power television station. The CW also maintains a sizeable number of subchannel-only affiliations, the majority of which are with stations in cities located outside of the 50 largest Nielsen-designated markets and receive the network's programming via the CW Plus; the largest subchannel-only CW affiliate by market size, as of February 1, 2024, is KFMB-DT2 in San Diego, California, which maintains a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV.

Nexstar Media Group is the largest operator of CW stations by numerical total, owning or providing services to 41 CW-affiliated stations, and also is the largest in terms of overall market reach, owning or providing services to CW stations (including its largest affiliates in New York and Los Angeles), covering 32 percent of the U.S.[141]

Digital multicasting and cable television edit

Unlike the other major networks, the CW distributes its programming in small and certain mid-sized markets throughout the United States (generally those ranked among the bottom 110 Nielsen media markets) through the CW Plus, a separate national feed and programming service that is carried on a mixture of full-power and low-power stations in some markets, and cable-only outlets and digital subchannel affiliations on major network stations in markets that do not have enough commercial stations to support a standalone CW affiliate (several of the CW Plus's digital subchannel outlets originally operated as cable-only affiliates at the network's launch). The programming service offers its own master schedule of syndicated and brokered programming acquired by the network (including some feature films and infomercials) during non-network programming hours, although some CW Plus affiliates may also run local newscasts produced by a major network affiliate.

CW predecessor the WB previously had two cable-only affiliate outlets: WGN America, the national superstation feed of WGN-TV at the time, from January 1995 to October 1999[142][143] and network-operated the WB 100+ Station Group (the direct predecessor to the CW Plus), which was formed in September 1998 and had several of its cable-only outlets join the CW Plus at the CW network's launch. Not all of the network's cable-only affiliates were CW Plus outlets; WT05 in Toledo, Ohio offered its own schedule of syndicated programs during non-network hours that was programmed by its then-owner Block Communications, which also operates that market's major cable provider Buckeye CableSystem (WT05 now exists as "CW13", having been converted into a digital subchannel of Gray Television-owned ABC affiliate WTVG in October 2014). Though the CW is the only network with a station group that includes cable-only outlets, it is actually one of only three networks that have had cable-only stations within its affiliate body (ABC formerly had a cable-only affiliate in Winchester, Virginia-based TV3 Winchester until Gray shut the channel down in December 2013).

Affiliate issues edit

Problems with Time Warner Cable edit

Some Time Warner Cable subscribers around the country were unable to watch CW programming when the network debuted, as stations in several markets were not able to reach carriage deals with the provider to distribute the local affiliates. In markets like Charleston, South Carolina; El Paso, Texas; Honolulu, Hawaii; Palm Springs, California; Beaumont; Waco and Corpus Christi, Texas, where the CW is broadcast on a digital subchannel of one of the market's major network affiliates, there were unsuccessful attempts in getting Time Warner Cable to carry the subchannel affiliates[144] (CW then-co-parent Time Warner had owned Time Warner Cable until it spun off the provider into a separate company in 2009; TWC was later acquired by Charter Communications in 2016).

Some affiliates eventually signed carriage deals with Time Warner Cable, but not all of the CW affiliates received carriage on the provider's basic cable tiers (for example, Syracuse, New York affiliate WSTQ-LP could only be viewed on digital cable channel 266 in the Ithaca market). The largest market without a known affiliate is the Johnstown–Altoona market, whose closest CW station was CBS-owned WPCW (now known as independent station WPKD-TV) in Pittsburgh, which is carried on Charter's Johnstown and Altoona area systems; WPKD-TV was originally targeted to serve that area before it refocused its programming toward the Pittsburgh market in the late 1990s.

On February 2, 2007, Beaumont, Texas CBS station KFDM made its CW-affiliated subchannel available to Time Warner Cable customers in the market on channel 10. On April 20, 2007, ABC affiliate KVIA-TV in El Paso, Texas began broadcasting its CW-affiliated subchannel on Time Warner Cable channel 13.[145] On April 21, 2007, KCWQ-LP made its broadcast debut on channel 5 on Time Warner Cable in the Palm Springs area.[146]

Pappas Telecasting bankruptcy edit

One of the network's major affiliate groups, Pappas Telecasting Companies, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for thirteen of its television stations on May 10, 2008. Within the petition, Pappas specifically cited the network's low ratings and lackluster performance as one of many complications that had forced it to make the filing.[147] Several of the stations have since been sold either in business transactions with representatives involved in Pappas's bankruptcy proceedings or via station auction processes as the company winds down operations.

Although Pappas had originally stated that none of its stations would be affected at all by the closing, two stations owned by the company that were formerly affiliated with the CW have ceased operations. On May 29, 2008, Yakima, Washington affiliate KCWK (which served the south-central portion of that state) shut down and the station's offices were closed, leaving that area without locally based CW programming and forcing pay television providers to carry Los Angeles affiliate KTLA in order to provide the network's programming to their subscribers. The situation was resolved in April 2009, when Fisher Communications announced that its CBS affiliates in the area, KIMA-TV and satellite station KEPR-TV, would carry the network through DTT subchannel affiliations.

Subsequently, WLGA in Columbus, Georgia lost its CW affiliation in April 2009 to a subchannel of NBC affiliate WLTZ because of the network's concerns about Pappas' financial state;[148] WLGA ultimately ceased operations in June 2010 as it was unable to compete in the market as an independent station; it later resumed operations in August 2012, as an affiliate of WeatherNation TV (it is now a Cozi TV affiliate).

Marianas Media bankruptcy edit

Marianas Media signed on KTKB-LD in Hagåtña, Guam as a CW affiliate on April 20, 2009, becoming the U.S. territory's fifth commercial television outlet. However, competition from other stations in the island combined with financial problems at the Marianas, which was running the station under a local marketing agreement with the troubled KM Communications,[149] forced the station off the air on March 31, 2011. The station resumed operations the following year.

Tribune's relations with the CW edit

While Tribune Media had solid affiliation deals with the CW on several of its stations, it also maintained a strong affiliation alliance with Fox. But with new management and ownership taking over Tribune in 2008, it was apparent that the company would switch one of its CW-affiliated stations to Fox (at least those in markets without a Fox owned-and-operated station or a former O&O that was acquired by Local TV, which Tribune later acquired in 2013[150]), adding to more questions surrounding the CW's future. In a March 2008 seminar by Tribune's then-chairman and CEO Sam Zell, it was revealed that the company's San Diego outlet KSWB-TV would switch its affiliation from the CW to Fox that August, with KSWB assuming the Fox affiliation from XETV-TV, which had been a Fox charter affiliate since that network's October 1986 inception. XETV (which is licensed to Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico under the ownership of Grupo Televisa but whose U.S. operations are programmed by Bay City Television) was not informed of Zell's deal until it was made public.[151]

After the news broke, XETV planned on suing to prevent the switch because it would violate an affiliation contract that XETV had with Fox that was not set to expire until 2010. However, on July 2, 2008, XETV announced that it would join the CW on August 1 (the same day that KSWB became a Fox affiliate) and rebrand as "San Diego 6".[152] Though twelve of Tribune's thirteen other CW-affiliated stations have remained with the network, all of them began to de-emphasize the network from their branding (e.g., "CW 11") in favor of one with a stronger local identity. On-air branding that excised the CW name began being implemented by the stations in July 2008, either on-air (in the case of KWGN-TV) or through their websites (as part of a redesign for all of the Tribune stations' websites).[153] Some of these stations eventually began reincorporating the CW branding starting in 2011, such as KDAF/Dallas, KIAH/Houston and KRCW-TV/Portland, Oregon.

Tribune Company president and CEO Peter Liguori said in a May 2014 discussion at the MoffettNathanson Media & Communications Summit that he was "not pleased with where the CW is [in regards to its ratings performance]", stating that the network "should not program to [young] people who don't watch [conventional] television". Liguori also stated that he would consider collaborating with the network in regards to improving its programming slate, possibly by incorporating programs from the company's Tribune Studios unit (a production division which launched shortly after Liguori was appointed president of Tribune in November 2013) onto the network, as well as having Tribune play a larger role in the CW's management.[154]

Speaking at Goldman Sachs' 23rd Annual Communacopia Conference in September 2014, Les Moonves acknowledged that Tribune had been looking for more input in how the network is programmed and noted that Liguori is a former programmer (having previously served in executive roles at Fox, FX and Discovery Communications), saying that "[Liguori] would like to participate. He has some good ideas. He's part of our team. Will there be some change in how the CW is structured going forward? I don't know." Moonves went on to reiterate that Tribune is "a very important part of [CBS'] future" (considering that Tribune had recently acquired the CBS affiliation for its Indianapolis station and then-CW affiliate WTTV, following disagreements between CBS and longtime affiliate WISH-TV, which would eventually take over the CW affiliation in January 2015, over reverse compensation demands by the network).[155]

In an October 2014 interview with Broadcasting & Cable, Liguori appeared to reverse course on his previous statements and spoke of Tribune's support of the network. Liguori said in a statement, "We are very encouraged by the recent uptick in the CW['s] ratings and the positive critical response to the new primetime lineup. In particular, [CW CEO Mark Pedowitz] has put in place a programming strategy that will help the network appeal to a wider, more inclusive audience, which is important for our stations across the country. We were glad to support the launch of the new shows through editorial and promotional initiatives, and we look forward to more continued collaboration to build upon this momentum."[156]

In January 2016, the CW and Tribune began negotiations on a new affiliation deal, as the original 10-year agreement signed at the network's inception was approaching its end. Complicating matters was the desire by the CW's then-parent companies, CBS and Warner Bros., to stream the network's programming as a standalone pay OTT service. The impasse in negotiations resulted in a months-long standoff between the two groups.[157]

On May 23, 2016, the CW and Tribune announced they had come to a new affiliation agreement. As part of the deal, Tribune's Chicago flagship WGN-TV would leave the network and revert to being an independent station after nearly 21 years of being affiliated with the CW and its predecessor network, the WB. A major factor in this decision was WGN-TV's large use of local sports programming at the time, which led to many pre-emptions of the CW while WGN-TV had to move as many as 30 games a year to another local station in Chicago.[158] The CW affiliation moved to WPWR-TV, a Fox Television Stations-owned MyNetworkTV station.[159] On September 19, 2019, Tribune Media was acquired by Nexstar Media Group.[160][161][162]

Roberts Broadcasting bankruptcy edit

Roberts Broadcasting filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 7, 2011; the company cited the loss of the UPN affiliations on its stations in St. Louis (WRBU), Columbia, South Carolina (WZRB) and Jackson, Mississippi (WRBJ-TV) when that network shut down in favor of the CW in 2006, as much of UPN's programming consisted of minority-targeted programs that Roberts felt were compatible with their stations' target audiences (though the stations have since recovered from this setback; additionally, its station in Evansville, Indiana, WAZE-TV, had instead affiliated with the WB prior to 2006, as it was owned by South Central Communications until February 2007). The company had also been hit with lawsuits from Warner Bros. Television, Twentieth Television and CBS Television Distribution over its failure to pay fees for syndicated programming; Roberts eventually settled with Twentieth but lost the Warner Bros. and CBS cases.[163][164]

On March 24, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) canceled WAZE's license for Roberts' failure to construct its digital transmitter facilities.[165] However, the station continued to broadcast via its three-station analog translator network.

On February 20, 2012, Roberts Broadcasting announced that it was exploring the possibility of selling one or all four of its television stations in order to raise enough cash to pay off its creditors.[166] On October 22, 2012, Roberts announced that it had sold WRBJ to the Trinity Broadcasting Network;[167] the deal was approved by a bankruptcy court on January 17, 2013,[168] with TBN officially taking over operational control of WRBJ five months later on May 24[169] (The CW would return to the Jackson market on the second digital subchannel of CBS affiliate WJTV in September 2013). On January 3, 2013, the repeater network of WAZE ceased operations; later that month on January 28, independent station WTVW hurriedly joined the CW, in order to maintain the network in the Evansville area.[170]

On December 2, 2013, Roberts filed to sell WZRB to Radiant Light Ministries, a subsidiary of Tri-State Christian Television, for $2 million.[171] On December 4, Roberts also filed to sell WRBU to TCT for $5.5 million.[172] However, on December 11, the United States bankruptcy court gave initial approval for a plan by Roberts's creditors to instead transfer WRBU, WZRB and the WAZE repeaters to a trust with Ion Media Networks (a creditor in Roberts's chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings) as its beneficiary, with Roberts' attorney subsequently stating that Ion would purchase the stations for $7.75 million.[173][174] Roberts had earlier proposed an alternate plan that would have had only the WAZE repeaters be transferred to the trust, which would have allowed the sale of WRBU and WZRB to TCT.[173] The CW affiliation in Columbia moved to WKTC (with MyNetworkTV, which the station had already been affiliated with, being relegated to a secondary affiliation) in March 2014,[175] after temporarily remaining on WZRB after its conversion into an Ion Television O&O the previous month. Ion Media later chose to wind down the ex-WAZE-TV translator network entirely and instead affiliate with Nexstar's WTVW-DT4 (itself a CW affiliate on its main channel) by 2017.

Carriage dispute with DirecTV edit

In July 2023, Nexstar implemented a blackout of the CW, along with its affiliates for other major broadcast networks, on DirecTV, DirecTV Stream, and U-verse TV, causing DirecTV to complain to the FCC. In return, Nexstar stated that their streaming agreement with DirecTV had expired in November 2022 and it was illegally streaming content on DirecTV Stream from the CW.[176][177][178] In August 2023, Nexstar reached a renewal agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group for 35 markets, including restoring broadcasting of the CW on DirecTV Stream in 21 markets.[179][180] Nexstar and DirecTV signed a new multi-year agreement on September 17, 2023, allowing the latter to resume broadcasting and streaming the CW.[181]

Paramount's withdrawal and affiliation realignment edit

As part of the sale to Nexstar, Paramount Global's CBS News and Stations subsidiary was granted the right to withdraw its eight affiliates from the network—in Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, San Francisco, Seattle and the Tampa Bay area—which was exercised on May 5, 2023, effective September 1.[182] In some of the affected markets, Nexstar-owned stations were announced as replacements.[183][184] The remainder of the affected markets were addressed through new affiliation agreements with group owners Hearst Television,[185][186] Gray Television,[187][188] The E.W. Scripps Company[189] and Sinclair Broadcast Group,[190] each of which already owned multiple CW affiliates. Nexstar also began reclaiming the network affiliation in other markets where it operated, including Oklahoma City;[191] Billings, Montana;[192] Grand Rapids, Michigan; Panama City, Florida; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.[193]

The situation of The CW in the Detroit market after the CBS withdrawal was tenuous for several months. Mission Broadcasting, a company that contracts with Nexstar for the operational services of its stations, agreed to purchase WADL from Adell Broadcasting Corporation in a deal that provided for Nexstar to supply many of its operating functions. In addition, WADL became the new CW affiliate in Detroit while the deal was pending.[194][195] The acquisition stalled at the FCC over objections concerning the relationship between Mission and Nexstar. As a result, Adell Broadcasting removed CW programming from the station on October 30; the network's programs reappeared on Scripps-owned WMYD on November 13. The acquisition of WADL by Mission remained pending as of January 2024.[196][197]

Related services edit

Video-on-demand services edit

The CW provides video on demand access for delayed viewing of full episodes of the network's programming through various means, including via its website at CWTV.com and its mobile apps for iOS and Android devices (with programs streamable over Wi-Fi and cellular networks), a traditional VOD service – the CW on Demand – that is available on most traditional cable and IPTV providers, and through content deals with Hulu, iTunes and Netflix.[198][199]

In January 2007, the CW began streaming full-length episodes of several of its programs on the CWTV.com website. The most recent episodes of the network's shows are usually made available on the CW app and the CW on Demand the day after their original broadcast. Due to restrictions imposed through its deal with the streaming service, streaming of the most recent episode of any CW program on Hulu is restricted until eight days after their initial broadcast, in order to encourage live or same-week (via both DVR and cable on-demand) viewing, with day-after-air streaming on either service limited to subscribers of Hulu's subscription service. The CW previously imposed a three-day delay after an episode's original airdate before making its programs available on its website and through the Hulu subscription service (then known as Hulu Plus). However, changes implemented by the network on March 15, 2012, to reduce copyright infringement of its programming content through illegal streaming and downloading internet platforms resulted in that delay being reduced to eight hours after a program's original airing through both services.[198][199][200] Like the video-on-demand television services provided by the other U.S. broadcast networks, the CW on Demand disables fast forwarding for content provided through the service.

In October 2011, the network entered into digital distribution deals with streaming services Netflix and Hulu. The four-year Netflix agreement allowed its customers to instantly watch more than 700 hours of previous seasons of the CW's then-current scripted series, while Hulu inked a five-year deal, giving the streaming site access to next-day content from four of the five major networks (except for CW sister network CBS).[198][199] The Netflix deal was estimated to be worth $1 billion, providing a much needed lifeline to the money-losing CW network and solidified its future as a valuable asset for then-co-owners CBS and Warner Bros.[201] The Netflix deal was renewed in 2016, updated to allow the streaming service to provide entire seasons of CW shows a week after their airing. The Hulu deal was discontinued at this time.[202] In 2019, the CW and Netflix opted not to renew the deal. The respective studios of CW shows would instead sell to streaming services individually.[52] Beginning in 2020, WarnerMedia streaming service HBO Max (later rebranded to Max under Warner Bros. Discovery) would be the exclusive streaming home for Warners-produced CW shows.[203]

On October 24, 2012, the CW entered into its first video-on-demand distribution deal with a pay television provider through an agreement with Comcast that allows customers to watch the four most-recent episodes of the network's primetime shows on the cable provider's Xfinity On Demand service, along with next-day episode content. The CW On Demand, which is accessible to subscribers at no additional charge, debuted on Comcast Xfinity systems nationwide on October 25.[204]

High-definition feed edit

The CW's master feed is transmitted in 1080i high definition with 5.1 surround sound. All transmission of the network's programming moved to the format in June 2012, with the network's prime time lineup being presented in HD since March 2012 (when America's Next Top Model became the final CW program to convert to the format), with the exception of certain specials produced prior to that point (such as Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer, a holiday special carried over to the network from the WB) and select movie presentations. The network's Saturday morning E/I block, One Magnificent Morning, is also broadcast in HD, with the final SD program, the two-season daytime talk show The Robert Irvine Show converting to the format for its second and final season in September 2017 (and in turn ending U.S. broadcast television's standard definition age).

The network is available in HD on most of its full-power affiliates, while availability of high definition content on subchannel-only or cable-exclusive affiliates varies by market; in some of these cases, the over-the-air signal is available only in standard definition (a 16:9 widescreen feed transmitted in 480i SD is presented on some over-the-air affiliates to meet minimum requirements for presentation), with the station offering an exclusive high definition feed to pay television providers. Some affiliates transmit CW programming in 720p HD due to technical considerations if the network is carried on a digital terrestrial subchannel of a station affiliated with another major network or if a primary feed CW affiliate carries more than one subchannel. Since June 2012, the CW Plus feed is also transmitted in HD, and the network has asked those affiliates to carry it in high definition wherever possible. With CBS beginning to use 16:9 framing for all of their graphics on September 24, 2018, the CW was the last major network that continued to use 4:3 framing for all graphics, before switching to the 16:9 framing for all of their graphics in August 2020.

CW Seed edit

CW Seed (originally called CWD or the CW Digital Studio) is a production arm that provided original content created exclusively for digital platforms focused in the areas of animation, game shows, comedy, and digital personalities.[205] Previously existing as a section on the CW's main website, CW Seed was spun-off to a separate domain in 2013 as a streaming platform.[206][207][208] The free media app became available on several devices, including Roku and Amazon Fire TV.[209][210]

CW Seed produced various web series, including Vixen, Freedom Fighters: The Ray, and Constantine: City of Demons.[211][212][213] On January 8, 2020, CW Seed acquired U.S. streaming rights to 14 series from BBC Studios.[214] In September 2020, the platform added over 300 hours of programming with additional seasons for existing shows, and new series such as 90210, Lost Girl, Nikita, and XIII: The Conspiracy.[215] The CW Seed app and website were reabsorbed into the CW's in April 2022.[216]

Footnotes edit

  1. ^ Nexstar operates this station on behalf of Mission Broadcasting

References edit

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Further reading edit

  • Lausch, Kayti Adaire (2013), The niche network: gender, genre, and the CW brand, retrieved January 27, 2017

External links edit

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to The CW Television Network.

February 15, 2024
this, article, about, television, network, other, uses, disambiguation, been, suggested, that, 2023, affiliation, realignment, merged, into, this, article, discuss, proposed, since, january, 2024, television, network, commonly, referred, american, english, lan. This article is about the television network For other uses see CW disambiguation It has been suggested that 2023 24 CW affiliation realignment be merged into this article Discuss Proposed since January 2024 The CW Television Network commonly referred to as The CW is an American English language commercial broadcast television network controlled by Nexstar Media Group through an 75 percent ownership interest 3 10 The network s name is derived from the first letters of the names of its two founding co owners CBS Corporation and Warner Bros the latter was owned by Time Warner later AT amp T s WarnerMedia Nexstar closed its acquisition of a controlling interest in the network on October 3 2022 with Paramount Global and Warner Bros Discovery CBS Corporation and WarnerMedia s respective successors each retaining a 12 5 percent ownership stake 3 4 10 The CW Television NetworkTypeBroadcast television networkCountryUnited StatesAffiliatesStateMarketHeadquartersBurbank California U S ProgrammingLanguage s EnglishPicture format1080i HDTV Downscaled to 720p or 480i or upscaled to 1080p via ATSC 3 0 in some marketsOwnershipOwnerNexstar Media Group 75 Paramount Global 12 5 Warner Bros Discovery 12 5 ParentThe CW Network LLC 1 2 Key peopleDennis Miller President The CW 3 4 5 Brad Schwartz President Entertainment 6 7 Heather Olander Head Unscripted Programming 8 9 HistoryFoundedJanuary 24 2006 18 years ago 2006 01 24 LaunchedSeptember 18 2006 17 years ago 2006 09 18 ReplacedThe WBUPNLinksWebsitewww wbr cwtv wbr comThe CW debuted on September 18 2006 as the successor to UPN and the WB which had respectively shut down on September 15 and 17 of that year The CW s first two nights of programming on September 18 and 19 2006 consisted of reruns and launch related specials The CW marked its formal launch date on September 20 2006 with the two hour premiere of the seventh cycle of America s Next Top Model The network s programming lineup is intended to appeal mainly to viewers between the ages of 18 and 34 although from 2008 to 2011 the network shifted its programming to appeal to women in that demographic 11 12 As of August 2017 the network s audience was evenly split between men and women 13 The CW runs programming seven days a week airing nightly in prime time along with a Saturday morning live action educational programming block produced by Hearst Media Production Group called One Magnificent Morning The CW is also available in southern Canada on pay television providers through stations owned and operated by Nexstar and on affiliates owned by others that are located within proximity to the Canada United States border whose broadcasts of CW shows are subject to simultaneous substitution laws imposed by the Canadian Radio television and Telecommunications Commission if a Canadian network holds the broadcast rights it is also available through two Nexstar controlled stations that are classified in the United States as superstations New York City based de facto flagship a WPIX and Los Angeles based secondary flagship KTLA Additionally the network is available in northern Mexico through affiliates located near the Mexico U S border such as KFMB DT2 San Diego Tijuana KECY DT3 in El Centro California KVIA DT2 in El Paso and KCWT CD with simulcast network KMBH LD2 in McAllen Brownsville Texas on pay television providers In both Canada and Mexico some free to air CW affiliate signals originating from the U S are receivable over the air in border areas depending on the station s signal coverage Contents 1 History 1 1 1993 2006 Predecessors and formation 1 2 2006 2011 Launch and early struggles 1 3 2011 2016 New leadership and content shift 1 4 2016 2021 Streaming era deals 1 5 2022 Acquisition by Nexstar 1 6 2023 present Focus on linear and sports 2 Programming 2 1 Network programming and scheduling 2 2 News programming 2 3 Sports programming 2 4 Children s programming 3 Stations 3 1 Digital multicasting and cable television 3 2 Affiliate issues 3 2 1 Problems with Time Warner Cable 3 2 2 Pappas Telecasting bankruptcy 3 2 3 Marianas Media bankruptcy 3 2 4 Tribune s relations with the CW 3 2 5 Roberts Broadcasting bankruptcy 3 2 6 Carriage dispute with DirecTV 3 2 7 Paramount s withdrawal and affiliation realignment 4 Related services 4 1 Video on demand services 4 2 High definition feed 4 3 CW Seed 5 Footnotes 6 References 7 Further reading 8 External linksHistory edit1993 2006 Predecessors and formation edit Main articles The WB and UPN nbsp The network s original pre launch logoThe WB and UPN both launched within one week of each other in January 1995 just as the Fox network had started to secure a foothold with American television audiences 14 The two networks launched to limited fanfare and generally mediocre to poor results However over the subsequent 11 1 2 seasons both were able to air several series that became quite popular such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer Star Trek Voyager The Sentinel 7th Heaven Dawson s Creek Charmed Smallville Everwood Gilmore Girls Reba The Steve Harvey Show and America s Next Top Model Towards the end of their first decade on the air the WB and UPN were in decline unable to reach the audience share or have the effect that Fox had gained within its first decade much less than that of the Big Three networks ABC CBS and NBC In the eleven years that UPN and the WB were in operation the two networks lost a combined 2 billion 15 Chris Craft Industries Viacom and Time Warner officials had discussed a possible merger of UPN and the WB as early as September 1995 only eight months after their respective launches however discussions ultimately broke down over issues on how to combine Chris Craft and Tribune Broadcasting s station interests in the proposal to merge the networks since the two companies station portfolios overlapped with one another in several major markets 16 By 2003 however Time Warner became mired in several debt problems The company had already been responsible for shutting down Warner Bros in house animation department and for selling off major portions of the conglomerate such as the 2004 sale of Warner Bros Records and the rest of Warner Music Group to an investor group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr and Thomas H Lee Partners Executives from CBS and Time Warner announced on January 24 2006 17 that they would respectively shut down UPN and the WB and combine resources to form a new broadcast network to be known as The CW Television Network that would at the outset feature programming from both of its predecessors to be as well as new content developed specifically for the new network 18 19 Warners and CBS expected to produce inexpensive shows for the network which they could sell outside the US 20 CBS chairman Leslie Moonves explained that the name of the new network was formed from the first letters of CBS and Warner Bros joking We couldn t call it the WC for obvious reasons Although some executives reportedly disliked the new name Moonves stated in March 2006 21 that there was zero chance the name would change citing research claiming 48 percent of the target demographic were already aware of the CW name In May 2006 the CW announced that it would pick up a combined thirteen programs from its two predecessors to air as part of the network s inaugural fall schedule seven series held over from the WB 7th Heaven Beauty and the Geek Gilmore Girls One Tree Hill Reba Smallville and Supernatural and six held over from UPN America s Next Top Model Veronica Mars Everybody Hates Chris Girlfriends All of Us and WWE SmackDown Upon the network s launch the CW chose to use the scheduling model utilized by the WB due in part to the fact that it had a more extensive base programming schedule than UPN allowing for a larger total of weekly programming hours for the new network to fill The WB carried 30 hours of programming each week because it had a children s program block and a daytime lineup that UPN did not offer UPN was primarily a prime time only network with 10 weekly hours of network programming at the time of the network s shutdown 22 2006 2011 Launch and early struggles edit nbsp Logo used from September 18 2006 to January 13 2024Like both UPN and the WB the CW targets its programming towards younger audiences CBS and Time Warner hoped that combining their networks schedules and affiliate lineups would strengthen the CW into a fifth major broadcast network One week before the network s official launch on September 11 2006 a new full version of the network website was launched the website began to feature more in depth information about the CW s shows The CW launched with a premiere special launch party from the CBS Paramount produced Entertainment Tonight at Warner Bros Studios in Burbank California on September 18 2006 after a repeat of the tenth season finale of 7th Heaven 23 the same schedule was repeated on September 19 with the sixth season finale of Gilmore Girls 24 The network continued to air season finales from the previous season through the remainder of the first week except for America s Next Top Model and WWE SmackDown which respectively began their new seasons on September 20 and 22 with two hour premieres When Top Model made its network premiere on September 20 2006 the CW scored a 3 4 rating 5 share with hourly ratings of 3 1 5 and 3 6 6 the CW placed fifth overall in the Nielsen household ratings It scored a 2 6 rating among adults 18 49 finishing fourth in that age demographic and beating the 2 2 rating earned by Fox on that night The network s second week consisted of season and series premieres for all of its other series from September 25 to October 1 with the exception of Veronica Mars which debuted its third season on October 3 25 Despite having several of the most popular programs carried over from UPN and the WB as part of its schedule the CW even though it experienced some success with newer programs that launched in subsequent seasons which became modest hits largely struggled to gain an audience foothold throughout its first five years on the air 26 Because of declining viewership for the network during the 2007 08 season and effects from the Writers Guild of America strike the network announced on March 4 2008 that it would eliminate its comedy department dismissing executive vice president of comedy Kim Fleary and senior vice president of comedy Steve Veisel while also combining its drama and current programming departments into a single scripted programming unit The corporate restructuring resulted in the layoffs of approximately 25 to 30 employees 27 28 It also included the elimination of certain positions other newly opened positions being left unfilled layoffs from the Kids WB unit as the block was set to be replaced by the CW4Kids on May 24 and the elimination and transfer of marketing positions at the CW Plus to the network s marketing department On May 9 2008 the CW announced that it would lease its Sunday lineup then running from 5 00 to 10 00 p m Eastern and Pacific Time 29 30 to production company Media Rights Capital MRC As Sundays have historically been a low rated night for the network during its first two seasons on the air due to stiff competition from CBS ABC and Fox s strong Sunday lineups and complicated further by NBC s acquisition of Sunday Night Football in September 2006 shortly before the CW debuted the move allowed the CW to concentrate on its Monday through Friday prime time schedule while giving MRC the right to develop and schedule programs of its own choosing and reap advertising revenue generated by the lineup The Sunday series that were scheduled two reality series 4Real and In Harm s Way and two scripted series romantic dramedy Valentine and drama Easy Money performed poorly in the ratings averaging only 1 04 million viewers 31 prompting the CW to scrap its agreement with MRC and program Sunday nights on its own starting on November 30 2008 With no first run programming available to run on Sundays as a backup the network added reruns of The Drew Carey Show and Jericho and movies to replace the MRC produced programs 32 One of the shows carried over to the network from UPN WWE SmackDown ended its run on the CW after the September 26 2008 episode due to negotiations ending between the WWE and the CW on renewing the program Representatives for the CW later confirmed that it had chosen not to continue carrying SmackDown because the network had redefined its target audience as exclusively females 18 to 34 years old 15 whereas SmackDown targeted a predominantly male audience Following SmackDown s move to MyNetworkTV that same season the Fox owned network which launched the same month as the CW s debut albeit two weeks earlier on September 5 2006 began beating the CW in the Friday ratings every week from that program s debut on the network though the CW continued to beat MyNetworkTV overall 33 The CW generally struggled in the Nielsen ratings from its inception primarily placing fifth in all statistics tabulated by Nielsen total audience viewership and demographic ratings On several occasions the CW was even outrated by the Spanish language network Univision This led to speculation within the industry including a May 16 2008 article in The Wall Street Journal 15 that CBS Time Warner or both companies might abandon the venture if ratings did not improve However the CW s fortunes were buoyed in the 2008 09 and 2009 10 television seasons thanks to increased ratings among females in the 18 34 demographic and the buzz that some of its newer series such as Gossip Girl 90210 and The Vampire Diaries had generated with audiences Executives with CBS Corporation and Time Warner also emphasized their commitment to the network 34 On May 5 2009 the CW announced that it would give the five hours of network time on Sundays back to its affiliated stations that fall effectively becoming a weeknight only network in prime time in addition to the CW Daytime and the CW4Kids blocks the latter block airing on Saturday mornings would remain the only weekend programming supplied by the network 35 36 This change meant the Sunday late afternoon repeat block that the CW inherited from the WB formerly branded by that network as EasyView was discontinued Subsequently in mid May 65 percent of the CW s affiliates including those carrying the CW Plus signed agreements to continue to air the replacement MGM Showcase movie package on Sundays which was offered as a traditional syndicated film package meant for the CW s former prime time slot on that night 37 2011 2016 New leadership and content shift edit On April 28 2011 Mark Pedowitz was appointed by the network to succeed original president of entertainment Dawn Ostroff Pedowitz was made the network s first president and assumed broader responsibilities in the CW s business operations than Ostroff had 38 As president of entertainment Ostroff oversaw entertainment operations while John Maatta the network s chief operating officer handled business affairs both reported to a board composed of CBS and Warner Bros executives Maatta began reporting to Pedowitz as a result of the latter s appointment as network president 38 Pedowitz revealed that the core target demographic of the network would not change though the CW would attempt to lure new viewers Pedowitz began looking to bring comedies back to the CW after Ostroff had publicly declared that the difficulty of developing comedies for its target demographic was the reason for their removal from the network following the 2008 09 season with Everybody Hates Chris and The Game a spin off of Girlfriends becoming the last comedies to be cancelled 39 The network also ordered more episodes of its original series and ran them consecutively starting on September 12 through the first week of December without repeats 40 In July 2012 Pedowitz no longer referred to the target demographic of the CW as women 18 34 but rather that it would now be an 18 34 adult network 12 Although the network was still not profitable CBS and Warner Bros were very successful in selling their CW shows overseas In 2011 a 1 billion deal with streaming service Netflix became another way to sell CW shows 20 The introduction of action superhero series Arrow based on DC Comics Green Arrow received favorable reviews from critics and became a hit with audiences when it premiered As evidence of the network s refocusing toward a broader audience Arrow not only premiered to some of the highest viewership totals in the network s history the third highest overall as of 2015 update behind the series premieres of The Vampire Diaries and The Flash but it also gave the network its strongest performance in the demographic of males 18 34 since Smallville ended its run in May 2011 The network also found success with its summer programming in 2013 with the revival of the U S version of the improv comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway which later became a year round staple on the network s schedule Arrow continued to perform strongly leading to a spin off with The Flash which surpassed The Vampire Diaries as the highest rated premiere in the network s history and became the most watched show on the network Jane the Virgin earned some of the highest critical praise of any series during the 2014 15 television season and became the first CW series ever to be nominated for and win a Golden Globe Award with lead actress Gina Rodriguez winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress Television Series Musical or Comedy Other CW shows like The Flash The 100 and Nikita would also go on to be nominated for Primetime Emmy Awards categories and several shows from 2011 to 2019 being nominated for categories in the Teen Choice Awards Saturn Awards and others Overall the network ended the 2014 15 season posting its highest average total viewership in a single television season since 2007 08 with 2 15 million viewers a 12 percent increase in total viewership year to year the CW also posted its highest seasonal demographic ratings among males ages 18 49 with a 0 8 share 41 Expanding on the success of the network s Arrowverse franchise DC s Legends of Tomorrow premiered to high ratings for the network and became the most watched show on the network s Thursday night block in two years The 2015 16 season also saw Crazy Ex Girlfriend become one of the most critically acclaimed shows of the season and the second show on the network to be nominated for and win a Golden Globe Award with actress Rachel Bloom winning a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress Television Series Musical or Comedy 2016 2021 Streaming era deals edit The network s Arrowverse expanded again with Supergirl being moved to the network from CBS for its second season The debut of Archie Comics based Riverdale signaled the network s foray into mining their parent studio s library of IP to create new television series based on recognizable properties This led to another new DC Comics series Black Lightning and a rebooted Dynasty While it met with poor ratings Dynasty proved lucrative thanks to the Netflix output deal and international syndication 42 which earned CBS Studios millions of dollars per episode 20 Selling CW series like Dynasty to Netflix and overseas markets was so profitable for Warner Bros and CBS that the network almost stopped cancelling shows and expanded its broadcast schedule 20 On February 14 2018 the CW announced that it would add a 2 hour primetime block on Sunday nights beginning in the fourth quarter of 2018 it later added a third hour in October 2023 returning the network to Sundays for the first time since the lease to Media Rights Capital ended in 2009 as well as expanding the CW s primetime slate from 10 hours a week to 12 Discussions with CBS and Warner Bros about the expansion began as early as July 2017 both gave their approval to the move that December with the network reaching clearance deals with key affiliate partners in early 2018 43 44 On June 12 2018 AT amp T received antitrust approval to acquire Warner Bros parent Time Warner with the acquisition closing two days later Time Warner was renamed WarnerMedia and AT amp T became a co owner of the CW with CBS 45 46 The CW debuted reboots of Charmed Roswell and Originals spin off Legacies during the 2018 19 season Despite modest ratings their renewals along with the renewal of the entire 2018 19 lineup absent those series already previously announced as ending reflected their value to the network s founding co owners CBS and Warner Bros which received the windfall of selling them to Netflix and international buyers 47 This strategy continued with the 2019 20 season debuts of the new Arrowverse series Batwoman Riverdale spin off Katy Keene and Nancy Drew On August 13 2019 CBS and Viacom officially announced their intention to re merge with the combined company to be named ViacomCBS The merger was completed on December 4 2019 making them officially with AT amp T s WarnerMedia co owners of the CW 48 49 50 51 WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS did not renew CW s Netflix deal in 2019 intending to use their shows on the network for their own streaming services 20 52 International sales also mostly ended because both companies wanted to retain rights to their own shows to compete with Netflix outside the United States 20 WarnerMedia s HBO Max streaming service subsequently acquired exclusive streaming rights to Warner Bros produced CW shows 53 This began with the 2019 20 season with the Warner Bros produced Batwoman and Katy Keene debuting on HBO Max after their current seasons finished airing on the CW The CBS Studios produced Nancy Drew was originally announced to be heading to corporate sibling owned CBS All Access but appeared on HBO Max instead The reason for this was amid the rebranding of CBS All Access to Paramount and the changes surrounding the ViacomCBS merger CBS and Warner Bros made the collective decision to have all CW shows have a singular streaming home on HBO Max 54 Beyond being the streaming home of CW programming HBO Max shares a co ownership connection with the network which allows for programming partnerships This began with DC Comics series Stargirl which the CW shared with DC Universe DC Universe and the CW co financed the series 54 with episodes premiering on DC Universe and airing the next day on the CW After DC Universe was folded into HBO Max Stargirl was renewed with a new co finance deal in which the CW receives first run airings followed by its launch on HBO Max 55 Going forward the CW and HBO Max will continue to collaborate on potentially co financing new projects with the model of premiering first on HBO Max and a second run on the CW 56 They creatively have to want the show too and believe that the show should go on their platform first for them to work CW CEO Pedowitz said For us its a great model because it s a way to get excellent summer scripted programming and maximize programming across platforms 54 On May 13 2021 the CW announced that it would begin programming Saturday nights on a regular basis beginning in the 2021 22 television season following approval of the expansion by the network s key affiliate groups 57 As part of the deal the CW ceased programming the CW Daytime block and returned the time to its stations With the addition of Saturday nights the CW has programming on every night of the week for the first time in the network s history becoming only the sixth American English language commercial broadcast network ever and the first since Fox to have offered prime time content on a nightly basis 58 2022 Acquisition by Nexstar edit On January 5 2022 The Wall Street Journal reported that WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS were exploring a possible sale of either a majority stake or all of the CW and that Nexstar Media Group which became the CW s largest affiliate group when it acquired former WB era network co owner Tribune Broadcasting in 2019 was considered a leading bidder 59 Network president and CEO Mark Pedowitz confirmed talks of a potential sale but added that it was too early to speculate what might happen 60 61 Nexstar CEO Perry Sook in Spring 2022 did not confirm the rumored buyout but stated that he would not be surprised if Nexstar owned a broadcast network 62 In May 2022 three months before Nexstar made their purchase official the CW cancelled ten shows three times the average number per year that the CW had canceled over the previous decade including one season shows 4400 and Naomi and longtime fixtures Batwoman Charmed Dynasty In the Dark Legends of Tomorrow Roswell New Mexico and Legacies 20 More shows were cancelled or given final season orders in the following months including Nancy Drew Stargirl The Flash and Riverdale 63 64 65 66 67 In late June 2022 The Wall Street Journal indicated a purchase of the CW by Nexstar was close 68 and on August 15 Nexstar confirmed it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a 75 percent majority share in the network the remaining 25 percent would be shared equally by Paramount Global the former ViacomCBS and Warner Bros Discovery the company formed by Discovery Inc s acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT amp T Additionally Nexstar stated that Mark Pedowitz would remain the chairman and CEO of the CW 69 Though no monetary terms were announced Nexstar reportedly would not pay any cash or stock up front and would absorb approximately 100 million of network debt 70 71 The Hollywood Reporter stated that Nexstar retained 54 million based on its cash on hand accounts receivable accounts payable and other liabilities 72 As the sale did not entail the transfer of any FCC broadcast licenses Nexstar immediately took operational control of the network 73 Nexstar in a conference call that took place the day its purchase was announced indicated a desire to run the CW cost consciously Citing research that indicated the network spends almost twice the amount other broadcast networks spend on programming a partial reason for the May 2022 cancellations 20 Nexstar stated that it planned to seek shows with smaller production budgets and or a reasonably priced acquisition fee including unscripted fare syndicated content and other content that can create profits through broadcast airings 70 Nexstar also stated that it aimed for the CW to turn a profit by 2025 74 60 In the conference call Nexstar indicated that it wanted to convert the CW into a network with broad appeal It cited data indicating that the young audience which the CW focused upon preferred watching its shows through streaming platforms instead of during live broadcasts while the average audience of a broadcast CW affiliate was approximately 58 years old 70 Nexstar indicated that it would focus on the older audiences as well and not just the younger demographic 69 74 75 In particular Nexstar was reported to have been seeking older skewing dramas police procedurals and sitcoms 76 Paramount Global and Warner Bros Discovery would still produce content for the CW as primary content suppliers though Nexstar noted that the arrangement would be primarily for the 2022 23 broadcast season It indicated that it will have the option to extend the partnership with Paramount and WBD beyond that season 70 77 Nexstar stated in September 2022 that it would seek to supplement the CW s content by acquiring projects from studios beyond solely Paramount and WBD 78 while any the CW content not licensed to other streaming services would continue to appear on its own streaming platform CW Seed 20 On October 3 Nexstar officially announced that it had closed the deal to acquire the majority ownership of the CW Longtime chairman and CEO Mark Pedowitz resigned from his role with Dennis Miller taking over as the president of the CW 79 80 Rick Haskins the CW s chief branding officer and president of the network s streaming division as well as chief financial officer Mitch Nedick were let go on the same day 81 Thirty to forty employees were laid off on November 1 including several executives 82 Longtime executive Paul Hewitt was replaced with Beth Feldman as the senior vice president of the network s communications unit 83 On the following day Brad Schwartz was appointed as the president for the entertainment division overseeing programming strategy creative and brand development and day to day operations 7 On November 8 Nexstar announced that the carryover programming from the former parent companies of the CW Paramount and WBD would be minimal by the 2023 24 season 84 2023 present Focus on linear and sports edit On February 1 the CW appointed Heather Olander as the head of unscripted programming 8 a position under which she will report to Schwartz 85 In a shift away from scripted programming it also let go of Executive VP for Current Programming Michael Roberts and Executive VP for Development Gaye Hirsch among other layoffs on the following day 86 87 The CW appointed Chris Spadaccini as the chief marketing officer on February 6 88 89 and Tom Martin as the head of business affairs and general counsel on February 9 90 91 It later appointed Betzy Slenzak as the vice president of unscripted programming on March 30 and Ashley Hovey as the network s first chief digital officer on April 11 92 93 On May 18 the CW unveiled its schedule for the 2023 24 broadcast season consisting mostly of acquired shows from outside the United States and unscripted series 94 Schwartz criticized the previous co owners of the network stating that it would no longer exist for benefiting them and that the shows left over from the previous regimes did not perform well on linear broadcast He added that in order to achieve profitability the CW was focusing on acquired shows and co productions while expanding its audience 95 He also revealed that the network was in production or negotiations for a total of 72 shows 96 By June 2023 the CW retained only four of its existing scripted shows for the 2024 25 season 97 CW Sports was launched by acquiring the rights to LIV Golf 98 and soon expanded by acquiring ACC college football and basketball games 99 Inside the NFL 100 WWE NXT beginning in 2024 101 and the NASCAR Xfinity Series beginning in 2025 102 In August 2023 Schwartz stated that the network was involved in many upcoming US produced scripted shows and will focus on getting monetization rights on any scripted content it broadcasts while producing shows at a profitable price point He also stated that they were using sports programming for bringing in new and older audiences 103 Nexstar CEO Perry Sook later stated that beyond causing the delay of four scripted shows the 2023 Writers Guild of America and SAG AFTRA strikes did not have much impact on the CW s fall schedule adding that they would not affect the network s future progress 104 In January 2024 during the 29th Critics Choice Awards The CW officially launched a new brand identity by DixonBaxi which updated the logo with a bolder appearance changed the network s main color from green to red orange and introduced a new stage device used in promos formed by extending the C lettering from the logo as well as a new sound trademark of a struck match Spadaccini explained that the rebranding was intended to help make the network s brand more consistent and optimized for digital platforms the word The was removed from the network s logo to streamline its appearance especially in use cases such as CW Original or CW Sports but Spadaccini stated that The CW would remain the network s verbal branding due to its wide usage and distinctiveness from the other major networks whose names do not usually use the definite article 105 Programming editNetwork programming and scheduling edit Main article List of programs broadcast by The CW As of October 1 2023 the CW provides 18 hours of regularly scheduled network programming each week over the course of seven days The network offers 15 hours of prime time programming to its owned and operated and affiliated stations airing from 8 00 to 10 00 p m Eastern and Pacific Time on Monday through Saturday nights and 7 00 to 10 00 p m Eastern and Pacific on Sunday nights 106 Outside of prime time a three hour educational programming block called One Magnificent Morning which airs as part of the CW schedule through a time lease agreement with Hearst Media Production Group airs on Saturday mornings from 8 00 to 11 00 a m in all time zones Similar to Fox along with network forerunners the WB and UPN the CW uses the common prime scheduling practice avoiding the 10 00 p m Eastern and Pacific hour broadcast by the Big Three networks NBC CBS and ABC The network unlike the Big Three does not air any national newscasts late night programming and since 2021 57 daytime programming It also did not run prime time programming on Saturday nights and during the primetime access hour on Sundays until the 2021 22 and 2023 24 broadcast seasons respectively 57 Because of these factors the CW s affiliates handle the responsibility of programming non network time periods with the majority of its stations filling those slots mainly with syndicated programming However some of the network s affiliates broadcast their own local news and or sports programs either produced by the station itself or through outsourcing agreements with an affiliate of another network preempting network prime time programming to a specific time period New York City affiliate WPIX for instance preempts CW prime time to the afternoon hours The Hearst produced Saturday morning block One Magnificent Morning which is subject to scheduling variances similar to the weekday hour in some markets such as in Atlanta and San Diego is designed to be tape delayed and therefore recommended to air in the same time slot in all time zones However it is broadcast one hour earlier on affiliates of the CW Plus in the Central Mountain and Alaska Time Zones In Guam CW Plus affiliate KTKB LD in Hagatna airs the CW lineup on a one day tape delay from its initial broadcast because of the time difference between Guam and the continental United States as the island is on the west side of the International Date Line Supernatural which initially aired on the WB was the final CW series carried over from either of the network s respective predecessors that continued to be broadcast airing its final episode in November 2020 The CW formerly aired short segments during commercial breaks within certain episodes of its programs known as Content Wraps a play on the network s name to advertise one company s product during part or the entirety of a commercial break a concept since classified under the term of native advertising The entertainment magazine series CW Now was inspired in part by the success of the Content Wraps as it was intended to be a series with product placement 107 the program was canceled in 2008 after a single 23 episode season For the 2006 07 season the CW reached an agreement with American Eagle Outfitters to incorporate tie ins with the company s aerie clothing line as part of the Content Wrap concept within the network s Tuesday night schedule which included subjects in the commercials commenting on plot points in each of the shows 108 The agreement was cut down to regular advertising in February 2007 after a fan backlash by viewers of both shows and general criticism of the campaign 109 News programming edit The CW does not produce national news content and most of its affiliates do not have autonomous news operations The network has five affiliates that produce their own local news programming which were all carry overs from previous affiliations WPIX in New York City and KTLA in Los Angeles started their news departments as independent stations and or during early affiliations with other networks including DuMont WCCB in Charlotte North Carolina 110 started its news operation as a Fox affiliate WISH TV in Indianapolis 111 has been airing local news since 1956 and KRON TV in San Francisco who has produced local news since 1957 KTLA has the largest number of weekly hours devoted to local news programming of any CW affiliate with 94 3 4 hours of scheduled news each week Other CW affiliated stations maintained in house news operations but have since disaffiliated from the network or discontinued in house production One example of this is WGN TV in Chicago who maintains a news department since it launched as a CBS affiliate in 1948 the station transitioned into a news intensive outlet during its tenures with the WB and the CW and retains a news heavy format after disaffiliating from the network in September 2016 Another one is KCWI TV in Des Moines Iowa the station broadcasts a morning news and talk program which transitioned from an in house production to a brand extension during Good Morning America of ABC affiliate WOI DT s morning newscast on April 11 2016 as a result of Nexstar s acquisition of KCWI 112 News programming on CW affiliates if the station carries any is often outsourced to another major network affiliate in the market especially if they are operated as part of a duopoly or management agreement such as Nexstar s respective CW Fox duopolies of KWGN TV KDVR in Denver and KPLR TV KTVI in St Louis 113 and Evansville Indiana affiliate WTVW and ABC affiliate WEHT a de facto duopoly formed through Nexstar s 2011 purchase of WEHT and trade of WTVW to partner group Mission Broadcasting 114 KASW in Phoenix added a morning newscast extension from sister ABC station KNXV TV upon its acquisition by Scripps in 2020 The scheduling of news programming on the CW s affiliates often mirrors that of Fox stations with morning newscasts designed to compete with the national morning shows on ABC CBS and NBC within the 7 00 9 00 a m timeslot in duopolies these are typically an extension of a sister station s morning newscast and a prime time newscast within the 10 00 11 00 p m Eastern Pacific 9 00 10 00 p m Central Mountain time slot though some may only air for 35 minutes to match up with network late night schedules Rarely but more common on the few major market CW affiliates with in house news departments they may also include midday and or early evening newscasts including the network newscast slot of 6 30 p m ET 5 30 p m CT On December 6 2023 the CW simulcasted sister network NewsNation s coverage of the fourth 2024 Republican Party presidential debate The debate marked the first national news program aired on the network under Nexstar ownership 115 Sports programming edit Main article CW Sports The CW agreed to a three year broadcast deal in January 2023 with LIV Golf a professional golf tour financed by Saudi Arabia s Public Investment Fund marking the first ever national sports broadcasting contract for both the network and the tour 98 On February 14 2023 the network said their LIV Golf coverage would be available in 100 percent of media markets in the United States but encountered numerous affiliates that declined carriage of the tour including all eight owned by Paramount Global Consequently LIV coverage in those affected markets aired on Nexstar owned stations or subchannels or on other stations via secondary affiliation agreements 116 117 Both the network and Nexstar were criticized by the National Press Club for participating in alleged sportswashing by the Saudi government following the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi 118 The CW announced on July 13 that it had acquired the exclusive broadcast rights to 50 Atlantic Coast Conference ACC college football and basketball games each season through 2026 27 with Raycom Sports producing the broadcasts 119 On July 28 the CW announced it had picked up the media rights to the NASCAR Xfinity Series in a seven year deal starting in 2025 and going through the 2031 season The CW will broadcast 33 races annually along with practice and qualifying events NASCAR Productions will produce the broadcasts 120 On November 7 2023 it was announced that WWE NXT would be moving to the CW from USA Network in a five year deal that will begin in October 2024 121 This will mark the first time that WWE programming will air on the CW since 2013 when Saturday Morning Slam aired on the defunct Vortexx children s programming block the CW aired SmackDown from the network s launch to 2008 The CW and Range Sports announced an agreement under which Range Sports would develop content in conjunction with Nexstar and CW Sports in addition to assisting the CW with talent representation brand consulting data and analytics and provide production capabilities for scripted and unscripted programs by utilizing the resources of its parent company Range Media Partners 122 Outside of network programming several CW affiliates have carried telecasts of basketball football and in some cases other collegiate sporting events such as baseball or hockey that are produced by syndicators while a few carry games from local teams of major professional sports leagues such as Major League Baseball the New York Mets on WPIX and the NBA the Los Angeles Clippers on KTLA Children s programming edit Main articles Kids WB Toonzai Vortexx and One Magnificent Morning On September 23 2006 the Kids WB children s programming block which originated on the WB in September 1995 and continued to be produced by Warner Bros Television was carried over to the CW as part of its inaugural programming lineup although the network on which it originated ceased operations the week before the Kids WB branding was retained for the block On October 2 2007 through a joint decision between corporate parents Warner Bros Television and CBS Corporation the CW announced that it would discontinue the Kids WB block due to competition from cable channels aimed at the demographic such as Cartoon Network which carried many series shared with the block and vice versa Nickelodeon and Disney Channel and would sell the programming rights to the network s Saturday morning block to 4Kids Entertainment which at the time of the announcement had produced a competing children s programming block 4Kids TV for Fox 123 Kids WB ended its run on May 17 2008 though some CW affiliates that delayed the block to Sundays such as Atlanta affiliate WUPA aired the block for the last time on May 18 The following week on May 24 4Kids took over responsibility for the CW s Saturday morning children s lineup with the debut of a new block called The CW4Kids The block s lineup initially consisted mostly of programs carried over from Kids WB and 4KidsTV before eventually adding first run 4Kids produced shows such as Chaotic as well as new seasons of Yu Gi Oh and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 124 The block was rebranded to Toonzai on August 14 2010 though the CW4Kids name was retained as a sub brand to fulfill branding obligations that the network had to comply with per 4Kids Entertainment s contract to lease the CW s Saturday morning timeslots Toonzai ended its run on August 18 2012 after 4Kids auctioned off their assets in bankruptcy court 125 On July 3 2012 Saban Brands and Kidsco Media Ventures affiliates of Saban Capital Group entered into an agreement to program the five hour Saturday morning time slot with a new action adventure and comedy programming block for the CW 126 127 Saban had acquired the agreement to program the CW s Saturday morning timeslots from 4Kids Entertainment in bankruptcy proceedings 125 The CW4Kids Toonzai was replaced by Vortexx on August 25 featuring programs produced by Saban such as Power Rangers Lost Galaxy and Digimon Fusion The block also carried notable third party programming such as WWE Saturday Morning Slam which marked the return of WWE programming to the network since WWE Smackdown departed in 2008 128 On June 5 2014 the CW announced an agreement with Litton Entertainment to program a block of live action series designed to comply with the FCC s educational programming guidelines Vortexx which was the last remaining non educational children s block on the major U S broadcast networks was replaced by One Magnificent Morning on October 4 129 130 The block features a mix of wildlife and lifestyle themed programs similar in vein to those featured on the Litton produced blocks aired by ABC and CBS 131 132 On January 7 2016 the CW and Litton announced a five year renewal for the block extending it through the 2020 21 broadcast season 133 Starting with the 2017 18 broadcast season the block s running time was reduced to three hours 134 On July 1 2021 the CW and Litton announced another multi year extension for the block 135 Stations editThis article possibly contains original research Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations Statements consisting only of original research should be removed May 2022 Learn how and when to remove this template message Main articles List of The CW affiliates table List of The CW affiliates by U S state The CW Plus and Nexstar Media Group The CW has 45 stations owned and or operated by its majority owner Nexstar Media Group 136 and current and pending affiliation agreements with 221 additional television stations encompassing 50 states the District of Columbia and three U S possessions 137 138 139 140 Counting only conventional CW affiliates and over the air affiliates of the CW Plus the network has an estimated combined national reach of 100 percent of all households in the United States or 330 866 316 Americans with at least one television set this makes the CW the largest U S broadcast network by population reach percentage As of January 2023 three U S states Delaware New Hampshire and New Jersey and three U S territories American Samoa Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands do not have their own locally licensed CW affiliates largely because those areas are either located within the broadcast ranges of stations in nearby states or served by out of market stations via cable or satellite Delaware is served by Philadelphia s WPHL TV and Salisbury Maryland affiliate WMDT DT2 while New Hampshire is served by four CW stations based in three neighboring states including Boston affiliate WLVI New Jersey is served by WPHL and New York City affiliate WPIX As a newer broadcast network the CW maintains affiliations with low power stations broadcasting either in analog or digital in a few markets such as Reno Nevada KRNS CD and Boise Idaho KYUU LD In some markets including both of those mentioned these stations also maintain digital simulcasts on a subchannel of a co owned co managed full power television station The CW also maintains a sizeable number of subchannel only affiliations the majority of which are with stations in cities located outside of the 50 largest Nielsen designated markets and receive the network s programming via the CW Plus the largest subchannel only CW affiliate by market size as of February 1 2024 is KFMB DT2 in San Diego California which maintains a secondary affiliation with MyNetworkTV Nexstar Media Group is the largest operator of CW stations by numerical total owning or providing services to 41 CW affiliated stations and also is the largest in terms of overall market reach owning or providing services to CW stations including its largest affiliates in New York and Los Angeles covering 32 percent of the U S 141 Digital multicasting and cable television edit Unlike the other major networks the CW distributes its programming in small and certain mid sized markets throughout the United States generally those ranked among the bottom 110 Nielsen media markets through the CW Plus a separate national feed and programming service that is carried on a mixture of full power and low power stations in some markets and cable only outlets and digital subchannel affiliations on major network stations in markets that do not have enough commercial stations to support a standalone CW affiliate several of the CW Plus s digital subchannel outlets originally operated as cable only affiliates at the network s launch The programming service offers its own master schedule of syndicated and brokered programming acquired by the network including some feature films and infomercials during non network programming hours although some CW Plus affiliates may also run local newscasts produced by a major network affiliate CW predecessor the WB previously had two cable only affiliate outlets WGN America the national superstation feed of WGN TV at the time from January 1995 to October 1999 142 143 and network operated the WB 100 Station Group the direct predecessor to the CW Plus which was formed in September 1998 and had several of its cable only outlets join the CW Plus at the CW network s launch Not all of the network s cable only affiliates were CW Plus outlets WT05 in Toledo Ohio offered its own schedule of syndicated programs during non network hours that was programmed by its then owner Block Communications which also operates that market s major cable provider Buckeye CableSystem WT05 now exists as CW13 having been converted into a digital subchannel of Gray Television owned ABC affiliate WTVG in October 2014 Though the CW is the only network with a station group that includes cable only outlets it is actually one of only three networks that have had cable only stations within its affiliate body ABC formerly had a cable only affiliate in Winchester Virginia based TV3 Winchester until Gray shut the channel down in December 2013 Affiliate issues edit Problems with Time Warner Cable edit Some Time Warner Cable subscribers around the country were unable to watch CW programming when the network debuted as stations in several markets were not able to reach carriage deals with the provider to distribute the local affiliates In markets like Charleston South Carolina El Paso Texas Honolulu Hawaii Palm Springs California Beaumont Waco and Corpus Christi Texas where the CW is broadcast on a digital subchannel of one of the market s major network affiliates there were unsuccessful attempts in getting Time Warner Cable to carry the subchannel affiliates 144 CW then co parent Time Warner had owned Time Warner Cable until it spun off the provider into a separate company in 2009 TWC was later acquired by Charter Communications in 2016 Some affiliates eventually signed carriage deals with Time Warner Cable but not all of the CW affiliates received carriage on the provider s basic cable tiers for example Syracuse New York affiliate WSTQ LP could only be viewed on digital cable channel 266 in the Ithaca market The largest market without a known affiliate is the Johnstown Altoona market whose closest CW station was CBS owned WPCW now known as independent station WPKD TV in Pittsburgh which is carried on Charter s Johnstown and Altoona area systems WPKD TV was originally targeted to serve that area before it refocused its programming toward the Pittsburgh market in the late 1990s On February 2 2007 Beaumont Texas CBS station KFDM made its CW affiliated subchannel available to Time Warner Cable customers in the market on channel 10 On April 20 2007 ABC affiliate KVIA TV in El Paso Texas began broadcasting its CW affiliated subchannel on Time Warner Cable channel 13 145 On April 21 2007 KCWQ LP made its broadcast debut on channel 5 on Time Warner Cable in the Palm Springs area 146 Pappas Telecasting bankruptcy edit One of the network s major affiliate groups Pappas Telecasting Companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for thirteen of its television stations on May 10 2008 Within the petition Pappas specifically cited the network s low ratings and lackluster performance as one of many complications that had forced it to make the filing 147 Several of the stations have since been sold either in business transactions with representatives involved in Pappas s bankruptcy proceedings or via station auction processes as the company winds down operations Although Pappas had originally stated that none of its stations would be affected at all by the closing two stations owned by the company that were formerly affiliated with the CW have ceased operations On May 29 2008 Yakima Washington affiliate KCWK which served the south central portion of that state shut down and the station s offices were closed leaving that area without locally based CW programming and forcing pay television providers to carry Los Angeles affiliate KTLA in order to provide the network s programming to their subscribers The situation was resolved in April 2009 when Fisher Communications announced that its CBS affiliates in the area KIMA TV and satellite station KEPR TV would carry the network through DTT subchannel affiliations Subsequently WLGA in Columbus Georgia lost its CW affiliation in April 2009 to a subchannel of NBC affiliate WLTZ because of the network s concerns about Pappas financial state 148 WLGA ultimately ceased operations in June 2010 as it was unable to compete in the market as an independent station it later resumed operations in August 2012 as an affiliate of WeatherNation TV it is now a Cozi TV affiliate Marianas Media bankruptcy edit Marianas Media signed on KTKB LD in Hagatna Guam as a CW affiliate on April 20 2009 becoming the U S territory s fifth commercial television outlet However competition from other stations in the island combined with financial problems at the Marianas which was running the station under a local marketing agreement with the troubled KM Communications 149 forced the station off the air on March 31 2011 The station resumed operations the following year Tribune s relations with the CW edit While Tribune Media had solid affiliation deals with the CW on several of its stations it also maintained a strong affiliation alliance with Fox But with new management and ownership taking over Tribune in 2008 it was apparent that the company would switch one of its CW affiliated stations to Fox at least those in markets without a Fox owned and operated station or a former O amp O that was acquired by Local TV which Tribune later acquired in 2013 150 adding to more questions surrounding the CW s future In a March 2008 seminar by Tribune s then chairman and CEO Sam Zell it was revealed that the company s San Diego outlet KSWB TV would switch its affiliation from the CW to Fox that August with KSWB assuming the Fox affiliation from XETV TV which had been a Fox charter affiliate since that network s October 1986 inception XETV which is licensed to Tijuana Baja California Mexico under the ownership of Grupo Televisa but whose U S operations are programmed by Bay City Television was not informed of Zell s deal until it was made public 151 After the news broke XETV planned on suing to prevent the switch because it would violate an affiliation contract that XETV had with Fox that was not set to expire until 2010 However on July 2 2008 XETV announced that it would join the CW on August 1 the same day that KSWB became a Fox affiliate and rebrand as San Diego 6 152 Though twelve of Tribune s thirteen other CW affiliated stations have remained with the network all of them began to de emphasize the network from their branding e g CW 11 in favor of one with a stronger local identity On air branding that excised the CW name began being implemented by the stations in July 2008 either on air in the case of KWGN TV or through their websites as part of a redesign for all of the Tribune stations websites 153 Some of these stations eventually began reincorporating the CW branding starting in 2011 such as KDAF Dallas KIAH Houston and KRCW TV Portland Oregon Tribune Company president and CEO Peter Liguori said in a May 2014 discussion at the MoffettNathanson Media amp Communications Summit that he was not pleased with where the CW is in regards to its ratings performance stating that the network should not program to young people who don t watch conventional television Liguori also stated that he would consider collaborating with the network in regards to improving its programming slate possibly by incorporating programs from the company s Tribune Studios unit a production division which launched shortly after Liguori was appointed president of Tribune in November 2013 onto the network as well as having Tribune play a larger role in the CW s management 154 Speaking at Goldman Sachs 23rd Annual Communacopia Conference in September 2014 Les Moonves acknowledged that Tribune had been looking for more input in how the network is programmed and noted that Liguori is a former programmer having previously served in executive roles at Fox FX and Discovery Communications saying that Liguori would like to participate He has some good ideas He s part of our team Will there be some change in how the CW is structured going forward I don t know Moonves went on to reiterate that Tribune is a very important part of CBS future considering that Tribune had recently acquired the CBS affiliation for its Indianapolis station and then CW affiliate WTTV following disagreements between CBS and longtime affiliate WISH TV which would eventually take over the CW affiliation in January 2015 over reverse compensation demands by the network 155 In an October 2014 interview with Broadcasting amp Cable Liguori appeared to reverse course on his previous statements and spoke of Tribune s support of the network Liguori said in a statement We are very encouraged by the recent uptick in the CW s ratings and the positive critical response to the new primetime lineup In particular CW CEO Mark Pedowitz has put in place a programming strategy that will help the network appeal to a wider more inclusive audience which is important for our stations across the country We were glad to support the launch of the new shows through editorial and promotional initiatives and we look forward to more continued collaboration to build upon this momentum 156 In January 2016 the CW and Tribune began negotiations on a new affiliation deal as the original 10 year agreement signed at the network s inception was approaching its end Complicating matters was the desire by the CW s then parent companies CBS and Warner Bros to stream the network s programming as a standalone pay OTT service The impasse in negotiations resulted in a months long standoff between the two groups 157 On May 23 2016 the CW and Tribune announced they had come to a new affiliation agreement As part of the deal Tribune s Chicago flagship WGN TV would leave the network and revert to being an independent station after nearly 21 years of being affiliated with the CW and its predecessor network the WB A major factor in this decision was WGN TV s large use of local sports programming at the time which led to many pre emptions of the CW while WGN TV had to move as many as 30 games a year to another local station in Chicago 158 The CW affiliation moved to WPWR TV a Fox Television Stations owned MyNetworkTV station 159 On September 19 2019 Tribune Media was acquired by Nexstar Media Group 160 161 162 Roberts Broadcasting bankruptcy edit Roberts Broadcasting filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 7 2011 the company cited the loss of the UPN affiliations on its stations in St Louis WRBU Columbia South Carolina WZRB and Jackson Mississippi WRBJ TV when that network shut down in favor of the CW in 2006 as much of UPN s programming consisted of minority targeted programs that Roberts felt were compatible with their stations target audiences though the stations have since recovered from this setback additionally its station in Evansville Indiana WAZE TV had instead affiliated with the WB prior to 2006 as it was owned by South Central Communications until February 2007 The company had also been hit with lawsuits from Warner Bros Television Twentieth Television and CBS Television Distribution over its failure to pay fees for syndicated programming Roberts eventually settled with Twentieth but lost the Warner Bros and CBS cases 163 164 On March 24 2011 the Federal Communications Commission FCC canceled WAZE s license for Roberts failure to construct its digital transmitter facilities 165 However the station continued to broadcast via its three station analog translator network On February 20 2012 Roberts Broadcasting announced that it was exploring the possibility of selling one or all four of its television stations in order to raise enough cash to pay off its creditors 166 On October 22 2012 Roberts announced that it had sold WRBJ to the Trinity Broadcasting Network 167 the deal was approved by a bankruptcy court on January 17 2013 168 with TBN officially taking over operational control of WRBJ five months later on May 24 169 The CW would return to the Jackson market on the second digital subchannel of CBS affiliate WJTV in September 2013 On January 3 2013 the repeater network of WAZE ceased operations later that month on January 28 independent station WTVW hurriedly joined the CW in order to maintain the network in the Evansville area 170 On December 2 2013 Roberts filed to sell WZRB to Radiant Light Ministries a subsidiary of Tri State Christian Television for 2 million 171 On December 4 Roberts also filed to sell WRBU to TCT for 5 5 million 172 However on December 11 the United States bankruptcy court gave initial approval for a plan by Roberts s creditors to instead transfer WRBU WZRB and the WAZE repeaters to a trust with Ion Media Networks a creditor in Roberts s chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings as its beneficiary with Roberts attorney subsequently stating that Ion would purchase the stations for 7 75 million 173 174 Roberts had earlier proposed an alternate plan that would have had only the WAZE repeaters be transferred to the trust which would have allowed the sale of WRBU and WZRB to TCT 173 The CW affiliation in Columbia moved to WKTC with MyNetworkTV which the station had already been affiliated with being relegated to a secondary affiliation in March 2014 175 after temporarily remaining on WZRB after its conversion into an Ion Television O amp O the previous month Ion Media later chose to wind down the ex WAZE TV translator network entirely and instead affiliate with Nexstar s WTVW DT4 itself a CW affiliate on its main channel by 2017 Carriage dispute with DirecTV edit In July 2023 Nexstar implemented a blackout of the CW along with its affiliates for other major broadcast networks on DirecTV DirecTV Stream and U verse TV causing DirecTV to complain to the FCC In return Nexstar stated that their streaming agreement with DirecTV had expired in November 2022 and it was illegally streaming content on DirecTV Stream from the CW 176 177 178 In August 2023 Nexstar reached a renewal agreement with Sinclair Broadcast Group for 35 markets including restoring broadcasting of the CW on DirecTV Stream in 21 markets 179 180 Nexstar and DirecTV signed a new multi year agreement on September 17 2023 allowing the latter to resume broadcasting and streaming the CW 181 Paramount s withdrawal and affiliation realignment edit As part of the sale to Nexstar Paramount Global s CBS News and Stations subsidiary was granted the right to withdraw its eight affiliates from the network in Atlanta Detroit Philadelphia Pittsburgh Sacramento San Francisco Seattle and the Tampa Bay area which was exercised on May 5 2023 effective September 1 182 In some of the affected markets Nexstar owned stations were announced as replacements 183 184 The remainder of the affected markets were addressed through new affiliation agreements with group owners Hearst Television 185 186 Gray Television 187 188 The E W Scripps Company 189 and Sinclair Broadcast Group 190 each of which already owned multiple CW affiliates Nexstar also began reclaiming the network affiliation in other markets where it operated including Oklahoma City 191 Billings Montana 192 Grand Rapids Michigan Panama City Florida and Sioux Falls South Dakota 193 The situation of The CW in the Detroit market after the CBS withdrawal was tenuous for several months Mission Broadcasting a company that contracts with Nexstar for the operational services of its stations agreed to purchase WADL from Adell Broadcasting Corporation in a deal that provided for Nexstar to supply many of its operating functions In addition WADL became the new CW affiliate in Detroit while the deal was pending 194 195 The acquisition stalled at the FCC over objections concerning the relationship between Mission and Nexstar As a result Adell Broadcasting removed CW programming from the station on October 30 the network s programs reappeared on Scripps owned WMYD on November 13 The acquisition of WADL by Mission remained pending as of January 2024 update 196 197 Related services editVideo on demand services edit The CW provides video on demand access for delayed viewing of full episodes of the network s programming through various means including via its website at CWTV com and its mobile apps for iOS and Android devices with programs streamable over Wi Fi and cellular networks a traditional VOD service the CW on Demand that is available on most traditional cable and IPTV providers and through content deals with Hulu iTunes and Netflix 198 199 In January 2007 the CW began streaming full length episodes of several of its programs on the CWTV com website The most recent episodes of the network s shows are usually made available on the CW app and the CW on Demand the day after their original broadcast Due to restrictions imposed through its deal with the streaming service streaming of the most recent episode of any CW program on Hulu is restricted until eight days after their initial broadcast in order to encourage live or same week via both DVR and cable on demand viewing with day after air streaming on either service limited to subscribers of Hulu s subscription service The CW previously imposed a three day delay after an episode s original airdate before making its programs available on its website and through the Hulu subscription service then known as Hulu Plus However changes implemented by the network on March 15 2012 to reduce copyright infringement of its programming content through illegal streaming and downloading internet platforms resulted in that delay being reduced to eight hours after a program s original airing through both services 198 199 200 Like the video on demand television services provided by the other U S broadcast networks the CW on Demand disables fast forwarding for content provided through the service In October 2011 the network entered into digital distribution deals with streaming services Netflix and Hulu The four year Netflix agreement allowed its customers to instantly watch more than 700 hours of previous seasons of the CW s then current scripted series while Hulu inked a five year deal giving the streaming site access to next day content from four of the five major networks except for CW sister network CBS 198 199 The Netflix deal was estimated to be worth 1 billion providing a much needed lifeline to the money losing CW network and solidified its future as a valuable asset for then co owners CBS and Warner Bros 201 The Netflix deal was renewed in 2016 updated to allow the streaming service to provide entire seasons of CW shows a week after their airing The Hulu deal was discontinued at this time 202 In 2019 the CW and Netflix opted not to renew the deal The respective studios of CW shows would instead sell to streaming services individually 52 Beginning in 2020 WarnerMedia streaming service HBO Max later rebranded to Max under Warner Bros Discovery would be the exclusive streaming home for Warners produced CW shows 203 On October 24 2012 the CW entered into its first video on demand distribution deal with a pay television provider through an agreement with Comcast that allows customers to watch the four most recent episodes of the network s primetime shows on the cable provider s Xfinity On Demand service along with next day episode content The CW On Demand which is accessible to subscribers at no additional charge debuted on Comcast Xfinity systems nationwide on October 25 204 High definition feed edit The CW s master feed is transmitted in 1080i high definition with 5 1 surround sound All transmission of the network s programming moved to the format in June 2012 with the network s prime time lineup being presented in HD since March 2012 when America s Next Top Model became the final CW program to convert to the format with the exception of certain specials produced prior to that point such as Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer a holiday special carried over to the network from the WB and select movie presentations The network s Saturday morning E I block One Magnificent Morning is also broadcast in HD with the final SD program the two season daytime talk show The Robert Irvine Show converting to the format for its second and final season in September 2017 and in turn ending U S broadcast television s standard definition age The network is available in HD on most of its full power affiliates while availability of high definition content on subchannel only or cable exclusive affiliates varies by market in some of these cases the over the air signal is available only in standard definition a 16 9 widescreen feed transmitted in 480i SD is presented on some over the air affiliates to meet minimum requirements for presentation with the station offering an exclusive high definition feed to pay television providers Some affiliates transmit CW programming in 720p HD due to technical considerations if the network is carried on a digital terrestrial subchannel of a station affiliated with another major network or if a primary feed CW affiliate carries more than one subchannel Since June 2012 the CW Plus feed is also transmitted in HD and the network has asked those affiliates to carry it in high definition wherever possible With CBS beginning to use 16 9 framing for all of their graphics on September 24 2018 the CW was the last major network that continued to use 4 3 framing for all graphics before switching to the 16 9 framing for all of their graphics in August 2020 CW Seed edit CW Seed originally called CWD or the CW Digital Studio is a production arm that provided original content created exclusively for digital platforms focused in the areas of animation game shows comedy and digital personalities 205 Previously existing as a section on the CW s main website CW Seed was spun off to a separate domain in 2013 as a streaming platform 206 207 208 The free media app became available on several devices including Roku and Amazon Fire TV 209 210 CW Seed produced various web series including Vixen Freedom Fighters The Ray and Constantine City of Demons 211 212 213 On January 8 2020 CW Seed acquired U S streaming rights to 14 series from BBC Studios 214 In September 2020 the platform added over 300 hours of programming with additional seasons for existing shows and new series such as 90210 Lost Girl Nikita and XIII The Conspiracy 215 The CW Seed app and website were reabsorbed into the CW s in April 2022 216 Footnotes edit Nexstar operates this station on behalf of Mission BroadcastingReferences edit CW Network LLC profile Businessweek Bloomberg L P Archived from the original on October 15 2012 Retrieved September 27 2012 CBS Corporation and Warner Bros Entertainment Form New 5th Broadcast Network Press release The CW Press January 24 2006 Archived from the original on October 9 2014 Retrieved October 6 2014 a b c Hayes Dade October 3 2022 New Day Dawns For Broadcast TV As Nexstar Closes Deal For Control Of The CW Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on October 14 2022 Retrieved October 3 2022 a b Andreeva Nellie October 3 2022 Mark Pedowitz Exits As Chairman amp CEO Of The CW As Nexstar Acquisition Closes Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on October 15 2022 Retrieved October 3 2022 Lafayette Jon October 3 2022 Nexstar Names Dennis Miller Head of The CW Replacing Mark Pedowitz Next TV Broadcasting amp Cable Archived from the original on October 3 2022 Retrieved October 3 2022 White Peter November 2 2022 The CW Names Brad Schwartz As President Entertainment Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on November 2 2022 Retrieved November 3 2022 a b The CW Network names Brad Schwartz as president entertainment CBS News November 2 2022 Archived from the original on November 2 2022 Retrieved November 2 2022 a b White Peter February 1 2023 The CW To Develop Innovative Non Scripted Series That Catalyze Conversations As Network Confirms Heather Olander As Unscripted Chief Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on February 1 2023 Retrieved February 2 2023 Oganesyan Natalie February 1 2023 The CW Names Heather Olander as Head of Unscripted TheWrap Archived from the original on February 1 2023 Retrieved February 2 2023 a b Nexstar Media Closes Acquisition of The CW Network Business Wire October 3 2022 Archived from the original on October 5 2022 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2 2015 Michael Malone May 5 2009 Tribune Psyched to Take back Sundays on The CW Broadcasting amp Cable Reed Business Information Archived from the original on September 24 2015 Retrieved May 6 2009 Andreeva Nellie May 6 2009 CW Drops Sundays In Another Blow to Broadcast Model Reuters Archived from the original on May 8 2009 Retrieved May 6 2009 Andreeva Nellie May 13 2009 CW Affiliates Booking MGM Movie Pack The Hollywood Reporter Prometheus Global Media Associated Press Archived from the original on July 31 2020 Retrieved April 17 2020 a b Lacey Rose April 28 2011 Mark Pedowitz Named President of The CW The Hollywood Reporter Prometheus Global Media Archived from the original on July 31 2020 Retrieved April 17 2020 Lacey Rose August 4 2011 CW Chief Network Is in Search of Close Ended Series Comedies and a Superhero Show The Hollywood Reporter Prometheus Global Media Archived from the original on August 5 2011 Retrieved September 4 2011 Christina Radish August 5 2011 The CW President Mark Pedowitz Talks RINGER SUPERNATURAL NIKITA GOSSIP GIRL Developing More DC Superheroes and More Collider Archived from the original on September 25 2011 Retrieved September 4 2011 Bibel Sara May 13 2015 The CW Delivers its Most Watched Season in 7 Years TV by the Numbers Archived from the original on May 16 2015 Retrieved September 2 2015 Q2 2017 CBS Corp Earnings Call Yahoo Finance August 13 2017 Archived from the original on May 13 2018 Retrieved May 13 2018 CW Plans Sunday Primetime Block for 2018 19 Season Archived February 18 2018 at the Wayback Machine from Variety February 14 2018 Andreeva Nellie February 14 2018 The CW Reclaims Sunday Will Expand Its Schedule To 6 Nights In Fall 2018 Deadline Archived from the original on February 14 2018 Retrieved February 14 2018 AT amp T Completes Acquisition of Time Warner Inc AT amp T June 15 2018 Archived from the original on September 19 2018 Retrieved June 15 2018 Gold Hadas Judge approves 85 billion AT amp T Time Warner deal CNNMoney Archived from the original on July 11 2018 Retrieved June 12 2018 TCA Les Moonves Latest Exec To Try To Explain CW To TV Critics Deadline Hollywood July 29 2013 Archived from the original on July 29 2020 Retrieved May 16 2019 Gasparino Charles Moynihan Lydia August 13 2019 CBS Viacom agree to merge forming a 28B entertainment firm Fox Business Archived from the original on March 11 2021 Retrieved August 13 2019 Szalai George Bond Paul Vlessing Etan August 13 2019 CBS Viacom Strike Deal to Recombine The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on August 14 2019 Retrieved August 15 2019 CBS and Viacom To Combine PDF CBS August 12 2019 Archived PDF from the original on August 13 2019 Retrieved December 1 2019 Viacom and CBS Corp are officially back together again CBS News December 4 2019 Archived from the original on December 6 2019 Retrieved December 18 2019 a b The CW Netflix Deal Not Being Renewed With Network s New Shows To Be Shopped Individually Deadline Hollywood May 15 2019 Archived from the original on May 15 2019 Retrieved May 15 2019 Scope Of HBO Max s Deal For The CW Series Revealed Deadline Hollywood October 29 2019 Archived from the original on January 22 2021 Retrieved January 16 2021 a b c With All New CW Series Currently HBO Max Bound Steamer amp Net Forge Ties That Go Beyond Library Content Deadline Hollywood January 14 2021 Archived from the original on January 15 2021 Retrieved January 16 2021 Kung Fu amp Stargirl Renewed At The CW Deadline Hollywood May 3 2021 Archived from the original on May 3 2021 Retrieved August 15 2021 How The CW Is Plotting a Return to Business as Usual During a Pandemic The Hollywood Reporter January 14 2021 Archived from the original on January 15 2021 Retrieved January 16 2021 a b c Andreeva Nellie May 13 2021 The CW Expands Primetime Schedule To Saturday Returns Weekday Afternoon Block To Affiliates Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on May 13 2021 Retrieved May 13 2021 The CW Expands to Saturdays This Fall Making It a Seven Night Network for the First Time Variety May 13 2021 Archived from the original on May 13 2021 Retrieved May 13 2021 Flint Joe January 5 2022 WarnerMedia and ViacomCBS Are Exploring Possible Sale of CW Network The Wall Street Journal Archived from the original on January 6 2022 Retrieved January 6 2022 a b Goldberg Lesley Weprin Alex January 6 2022 ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia Exploring Sale of The CW The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on January 6 2022 Retrieved January 9 2022 Andreeva Nellie January 6 2022 The CW CEO Mark Pedowitz Confirms WarnerMedia amp ViacomCBS Exploring Strategic Opportunities As Majority Stake In Network Is Shopped With Nexstar Among Suitors As Majority Stake In Network Is Shopped With Nexstar Among Suitors Update Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on January 6 2022 Retrieved January 6 2022 Lafayette Jon June 10 2022 Perry Sook Sees Nexstar Owning a Broadcast Network in the Future Broadcasting amp Cable Archived from the original on June 30 2022 Retrieved June 30 2022 Matt Webb Mitovich November 8 2022 The CW A Couple of Shows May Survive Into Fall 2023 Says New Owner TVLine Archived from the original on November 12 2022 Retrieved November 12 2022 Andreeva Denise Petski Nellie Petski Denise Andreeva Nellie October 27 2022 Nancy Drew To End With Season 4 On The CW Deadline Retrieved August 24 2023 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Campione Katie October 31 2022 DC s Stargirl Will End After Season 3 At The CW Deadline Retrieved August 24 2023 Andreeva Nellie August 1 2022 The Flash To End With Season 9 On the CW Final Episode Count Revealed Deadline com Retrieved May 4 2023 Otterson Joe May 19 2022 Riverdale to End With Season 7 at CW Variety Retrieved May 5 2023 Flint Joe June 29 2022 Nexstar Nears Deal to Acquire Majority Control of CW Network The Wall Street Journal Archived from the original on June 29 2022 Retrieved June 29 2022 a b Nexstar Media Group to Acquire The CW Network Nexstar Media Group Inc August 15 2022 Archived from the original on August 15 2022 Retrieved August 15 2022 a b c d Hayes Dade August 15 2022 The CW Will Be A Profitable Network By 2025 With Broader And Cheaper Programming New Owners At Nexstar Signal Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on August 15 2022 Retrieved August 15 2022 Nieto Phillip August 15 2022 Nexstar Media purchases 75 of CW Network from Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Fox Business Archived from the original on August 15 2022 Retrieved August 15 2022 Weprin Alex November 20 2022 Nexstar s Next Battle Making The CW Numbers Work The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on December 5 2022 Retrieved December 5 2022 Messmer Jack August 15 2022 Nexstar Management Of CW Is Immediate TVNewsCheck Archived from the original on August 15 2022 Retrieved August 15 2022 a b Lafayette Jon August 15 2022 Nexstar Expects The CW To Be Profitable by 2025 Broadcasting amp Cable Archived from the original on August 16 2022 Retrieved August 15 2022 Lindsay Benjamin August 15 2022 Nexstar to Acquire 75 Controlling Stake in The CW Network The Wrap Archived from the original on August 15 2022 Retrieved August 15 2022 Andreeva Nellie August 29 2022 The CW Widens Programming Scope To Include Sitcoms amp Procedurals Begins Testing Outside Studio Deals With The Hatpin Society From EP Rachel Bloom Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on August 30 2022 Retrieved August 30 2022 Katz Brandon June 29 2022 Nexstar Close to Deal to Buy Majority Stake in The CW Report The Wrap Archived from the original on June 30 2022 Retrieved June 30 2022 Shields Todd September 7 2022 Nexstar Is Looking for New Shows as It Acquires the CW Network Bloomberg Archived from the original on September 26 2022 Retrieved September 7 2022 Steinberg Brian October 3 2022 Mark Pedowitz Will Leave CW Amid Nexstar Acquisition Variety Archived from the 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Network And Hearst Television Expand And Extend Affiliation Partnership Nexstar Media Group August 1 2023 Retrieved September 1 2023 Bishop Chad August 30 2023 CW Network announces new Atlanta affiliate The Atlanta Journal Constitution Retrieved August 31 2023 The CW Network and Gray Television Expand and Extend Affiliation Partnership Nexstar Media Group August 30 2023 Retrieved September 1 2023 TV20 Detroit to air CW Network primetime programming live sports starting Nov 13 WXYZ Detroit November 3 2023 Retrieved November 7 2023 Hayes Dade August 31 2023 The CW To Launch On New Affiliate Stations In Seattle And Pittsburgh As Part Of Broader Deal With Sinclair Timed To Start Of College Football Deadline Hollywood Retrieved August 31 2023 Nexstar s KAUT TV in Oklahoma City To Become CW Network Affiliate on September 1 Press release Nexstar Media Group August 31 2023 Retrieved September 1 2023 McCollum Cheryl August 29 2023 Programming Changes in Billings Montana TDS Telecommunications Retrieved September 25 2023 Malone Michael December 18 2023 Nexstar Stations Take Over CW Affiliations in 3 Markets Broadcasting amp Cable Retrieved December 24 2023 Mission Broadcasting To Acquire WADL TV Detroit From Adell Broadcasting Mission Broadcasting Inc broadcastone May 18 2023 Retrieved September 1 2023 Assignments Licensing and Management System Federal Communications Commission May 17 2023 Retrieved September 1 2023 Graham Adam October 30 2023 CW Network yanked from Detroit airwaves over business spat The Detroit News Retrieved October 30 2023 TV20 Detroit to air CW Network primetime programming live sports starting Nov 13 WXYZ Detroit November 6 2023 Retrieved November 6 2023 a b c Todd Wasserman October 28 2011 Hulu to Get Current Season of Gossip Girl and Other CW Content Mashable Mashable Inc Archived from the original on October 30 2011 Retrieved November 2 2011 a b c Netflix CW Sign 4 Year Deal to Stream Shows Reuters October 13 2011 Archived from the original on January 6 2016 Retrieved October 13 2011 Andrew Wallenstein March 13 2012 CW shortens Web streaming delay to battle piracy Variety Penske Media Corporation Archived from the original on July 12 2015 Retrieved July 18 2015 UPDATE CW Could See 1B From 4 Year Licensing Deal With Netflix Deadline Hollywood October 13 2011 Archived from the original on July 29 2020 Retrieved May 15 2019 The CW To Extend Netflix Streaming Deal After Hulu Ends In Season Pact Deadline Hollywood June 20 2016 Archived from the original on September 15 2019 Retrieved May 15 2019 What s Coming to HBO Max Shows Movies Announced for WarnerMedia Streaming Service So Far Variety July 9 2019 Archived from the original on July 9 2019 Retrieved July 9 2019 Michael O Connell October 24 2012 The CW Inks First On Demand Deal With Comcast The Hollywood Reporter Prometheus Global Media Archived from the original on July 31 2020 Retrieved April 17 2020 Ng Philiana May 17 2012 CW Launches Digital Studio Unveils Online Projects The Hollywood Reporter Archived from the original on August 6 2019 Retrieved May 4 2013 Miller Liz Shannon August 28 2013 Meet CW Seed The CW s new platform for experimentation GigaOm Archived from the original on June 17 2021 Retrieved March 21 2021 Armstrong Olivia November 9 2015 What The Heck Is CW Seed Get To Know The Coolest FREE Streaming Service You ve Never Heard Of Decider Archived from the original on June 17 2021 Retrieved March 21 2021 Gidlow Steve October 22 2018 The CW s Rick Haskins on How CW Seed Has Bloomed MediaVillage Archived from the original on March 22 2021 Retrieved March 21 2021 Lee Ed November 17 2015 CW Seed now available for FREE on the Roku platform Roku Archived from the original on March 22 2021 Retrieved March 21 2021 Locklear M September 6 2017 The CW s free Seed app is now streaming on Amazon Fire TV devices Engadget Archived from the original on November 28 2020 Retrieved March 21 2021 Moser Cassidee July 5 2015 CW Seed s Vixen Animated Series Voice Cast Revealed IGN Retrieved October 17 2023 CW Press The CW Freedom Fighters The Ray About www cwtvpr com Retrieved October 17 2023 Prudom Laura March 23 2018 Constantine City of Demons Watch a First Look from CW Seed s Animated Series IGN Retrieved October 17 2023 Dade Hayes January 8 2020 CW Seed Acquires 14 BBC Studios Shows In Non Exclusive Streaming Pact Deadline Hollywood Archived from the original on March 20 2020 Retrieved March 20 2020 CW Seed Bulks Up More Than 300 Additional Hours of Programming to Be Rolled Out Through the Remainder of The Year The Futon Critic September 1 2020 Archived from the original on March 21 2021 Retrieved March 21 2021 Keys Matthew April 5 2022 CW moves CW Seed content into single CW app The Desk Archived from the original on January 16 2023 Retrieved January 16 2023 Further reading editLausch Kayti Adaire 2013 The niche network gender genre and the CW brand retrieved January 27 2017External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to The CW Television Network Official website nbsp Site only accessible from within the United States Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The CW amp oldid 1207519536, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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