The CW Plus

The CW Plus
Launched	September 18, 2006
Network	The CW
Owned by	Time Warner (50%)/ CBS Corporation (50%)
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Slogan	TV Now
Country	United States
Language	English
Broadcast area	National (available only in smaller media markets)
Headquarters	Los Angeles, California
Replaced	The WB 100+ Station Group (1998–2006)
Website	www.cwtv.com
Availability
Terrestrial
Available on digital subchannels and LPTV stations in some markets	Check local listings for channel
Satellite
OTA affiliates available on DirecTV and Dish Network in some markets	Check local listings for channel
Cable
Available on some cable systems	Check local listings for CW Plus cable-only affiliate

The CW Plus is a national feed of The CW Television Network that is primarily carried on digital subchannels, analog-only broadcast television stations and non-broadcast cable television outlets; the service is intended for areas ranked below the top 99 television media markets in the United States. In addition to CW network programming, The CW Plus runs syndicated programs outside of network programming time periods. As of 2012, The CW Plus currently has 103 affiliates across the United States.

Background

Logo for KDLH-DT2 in Duluth, Minnesota. Similar logos are used by most CW Plus stations.

A predecessor of The CW, The WB Television Network had a similar group of cable-only stations in small- and medium-sized markets called The WB 100+ Station Group, which began operations on September 21, 1998 and continued until The WB Television Network ended operations in September 2006. While there was no guarantee that existing affiliates of The WB 100+ would automatically join The CW Plus, most of them (particularly cable-only affiliates) ultimately did join the new service, and programming transitioned seamlessly from The WB 100+ to The CW Plus. Since The WB 100+ was created before digital television was easily available in the United States. Most WB 100+ stations were only available on cable, with a few main channel affiliations on over-the-air broadcast stations.

CW Plus stations are generally managed and promoted by a local affiliate of a larger over-the-air television station, which may produce some local programming, such as a primetime newscast or telecasts of local sports events or national broadcasts from either ESPN Plus or the ACC Network; some affiliates, however, are operated by a local cable provider. In several markets served by a CW Plus station, the current affiliate and the prior WB 100+ affiliate may not be the same, some CW Plus affiliates are carried on a digital subchannel of a local broadcast station, whereas the prior affiliate of The WB 100+ was cable-exclusive; certain cable-only affiliates of The WB 100+ have been replaced completely by either a subchannel or main channel over-the-air affiliation when The CW launched, or joined The CW Plus only for a broadcast station that managed or acquired it to begin carrying it over-the-air at some point after its launch.

CW Plus affiliates air local commercial inserts, and each have their own local branding, which is usually a combination of the "The CW" name with either the parent station/cable franchise's city of license or a regional descriptor of the area (such as "Northland" for Duluth and Northeastern Minnesota, seen to the above left). Unlike its predecessor, The WB 100+ Station Group, The CW Plus does not use false call signs in a widespread fashion; while many cable-only WB 100+-turned-CW Plus affiliates have stopped using fictional call signs, a few have continued to use the ones they had used while part of The WB 100+ Station Group.

Programming

Dayparts on CW Plus affiliates with no CW network programming are programmed by the network, primarily featuring programs currently airing in syndication, with paid programming filling overnight and some early afternoon timeslots; this relieves the local affiliate's operator from the duty of having to acquire syndicated programming to fill timeslots outside of The CW's network schedule. However, some over-the-air CW Plus affiliates may fill paid programming time with content from another subchannel network such as Me-TV, This TV or Antenna TV. Many subchannel affiliates also carry morning and/or primetime newscasts produced by a co-managed station or through a news share agreement with another station in the same market.

Syndicated programming currently broadcast on The CW Plus during non-network programming hours includes Seinfeld, The Steve Wilkos Show, That '70s Show, Are We There Yet?, The King of Queens, Rules of Engagement, 'Til Death, The Cleveland Show, Cops Reloaded, The Wendy Williams Show, Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns and Tyler Perry's House of Payne.

Though The CW Television Network does not carry any national news programming of its own, The CW Plus does carry the nationally syndicated morning show The Daily Buzz (which is produced, owned and distributed by Mojo Brands Media) from 6-7:30 a.m. ET weekdays. The CW Plus operates two separate feeds for the Eastern and Pacific time zones, whose master schedules are designed to align the start time of The CW's primetime programming with the network's broadcast affiliate feed; as such, The CW Daytime and Vortexx blocks (which are designed to be tape-delayed) are aired an hour early on affiliates in other time zones.

List of The CW Plus affiliates

• ¹These stations carry The CW Television Network on a digital subchannel viewable to anyone with a digital television. In these cases, the channel listed is the actual digital channel (e.g. "13", not a virtual channel such as "27.2", for WKYT).
• ²Cable channel already operational, but not yet broadcasting via a digital subchannel. See also note 1.
• ³Local affiliate formerly operated as a cable-only channel.
• ⁴KCWE is available over-the-air in the St. Joseph market, as are the other Kansas City locals; KNPN-LD3 formerly operated as cable-only "WBJO" from its 1998 sign-on as part of The WB 100+ Station Group until News-Press & Gazette Company took over operational and advertising control of the channel and added it to KNPN's third digital subchannel in June 2012.

Former affiliates

See also

• CW-W - a standard definition-only feed of XETV/Tijuana for markets without a CW affiliate carried on DirecTV
• CW-E - a standard definition-only feed of WDCW/Washington, D.C. for markets without a CW affiliate carried on DirecTV
• WGN America - Chicago-based national superstation feed of WGN-TV that is available throughout the United States on cable and satellite television, it served as a de facto affiliate of CW predecessor The WB for U.S. markets without an over-the-air affiliate from 1995 to 1999
• The WB 100+ Station Group - predecessor of The CW Plus; most of the remaining cable-only channels and some over-the-air stations that are outlets of The CW Plus formerly served as affiliates of The WB 100+ Station Group
• Foxnet - a similar cable-only network for markets without a Fox affiliate, that operated from 1991 to 2006
• CTV Two Alberta - a similar cable-only affiliate of CTV Two in the Canadian province of Alberta; formerly Access
• CTV Two Atlantic - a similar cable-only affiliate of CTV Two in Atlantic Canada; formerly the Atlantic Satellite Network (ASN) and A Atlantic
• City Saskatchewan - a similar cable-only affiliate of Citytv in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan

External links

• CWTV.com - Official CW Network website
• TheCWPlus.com - Corporate CW Plus website (requires log-in information)

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