The CW

This article is about the American television network. For the University of Alabama newspaper, see The Crimson White. For other uses, see CW (disambiguation).
The CW Television Network
Type Broadcast television network
Country United States
Canada (via cable)
Availability National
Founded January 24, 2006
Slogan TV Now[1]
Headquarters Burbank, California, United States
Owner The CW Network, LLC[2]
Parent CBS Corporation
Warner Bros. (Time Warner)
(both companies own 50%)[3]
Key people
 Mark Pedowitz (President),
Kevin Tsujihara (Chairman/CEO, Warner Bros.),
Leslie Moonves (President/CEO, CBS Corporation)
Launch date
 September 18, 2006
Picture format
 480i (SDTV)
1080i or 720p (HDTV)
Affiliates See list
Official website
 www.cwtv.com
Replaced The WB
UPN

The CW Television Network (most commonly referred to as The CW) is an American broadcast television network that is operated by The CW Network, LLC, a limited liability joint venture[2] between CBS Corporation, the former owners of the United Paramount Network (UPN), and the Warner Bros. Entertainment subsidiary of Time Warner, former majority owner of The WB Television Network. The "CW" name is derived from the first letters of the names of these corporations (CBS and Warner Bros.). The CW is sometimes referred to as the "Green Network", in reference to the company's green logo.

The network made its debut on September 18, 2006, after its two predecessors, UPN and The WB, respectively ceased independent operations on September 15 and September 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 a two-hour season premiere of America's Next Top Model. The network's programming lineup is intended to appeal to people ranging in age from 18 to 34-years-old.[4] The network currently runs programming six days a week: airing Monday through Fridays in the afternoon and in primetime, along with a Saturday morning live-action educational programming block produced by Litton Entertainment called One Magnificent Morning.

The CW is also available in Canada on cable, satellite and IPTV providers through stations owned-and-operated by CBS Corporation and affiliates 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), and through three affiliates owned by Tribune Media that are classified in that country as superstations – New York City affiliate WPIX, Los Angeles affiliate KTLA and Chicago affiliate WGN-TV.

The CW is also available in Mexico through affiliates located near the Mexico–United States border (such as XETV-TDT/Tijuana-San Diego) on pay television providers. In both countries, some CW affiliates are receivable over-the-air in border areas depending on the station's signal coverage.

History

Origins

Main articles: The WB and UPN
The CW's original pre-launch logo. At the network's first upfront presentation on May 18, 2006, the provisional blue-and-white rectangle logo that was used during the network's formation announcement in January was replaced by a green-and-white, curved-letter insignia that drew comparisons to the logo used by CNN, another company with Time Warner ownership interest.

The CW Television Network is a successor to The WB and the United Paramount Network (UPN), both of which launched within one week of each other in January 1995. However, both networks can be seen as descendants of the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN), which launched in September 1993 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. Entertainment and Chris-Craft Industries. The two companies later became partners in The WB and UPN (UPN in conjunction with Viacom, The WB in a joint venture with the Tribune Company), with PTEN continuing in operation as a separate syndication service until it folded in 1997.

Both UPN and The WB networks began just as the Fox network had started to secure a foothold with American television audiences. Both launched to limited fanfare and generally mediocre to poor results. However, over the subsequent 11½ seasons, both networks were able to air several series that became quite popular (such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek: Voyager, 7th Heaven, Dawson's Creek and Charmed). Towards the end of their first decade on the air, The WB and UPN were in decline, unable to reach the audience 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 on the air, the two networks lost a combined $2 billion.[5] Incidentally, Chris-Craft Indisturies, Viacom and Time Warner officials had discussed a possible merger of UPN and The WB as early as September 1995, only nine 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 proposed merged network, since the two companies' station portfolios overlapped with one another in several major markets.[6]

Rather than facing questionable futures as separate networks, executives from CBS and Time Warner announced on January 24, 2006, that they would respectively shut down both networks 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.[7] CBS chairman Les 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[8] that there was "zero chance" the name would change, citing research claiming 48% of the target demographic were already aware of the CW name.

In May 2006, The CW announced that it would pick up 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 larger total of weekly programming hours than UPN (The WB carried 30 hours of programming each week due to it having a children's program block and a daytime lineup that UPN did not offer; UPN was primarily a primetime-only network with 12 weekly hours of network programming at the time of the network's shutdown).

2006–2011: Beginnings

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, www.cwtv.com, 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-produced Entertainment Tonight at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California on September 18, 2006, after a repeat of the 10th season finale of 7th Heaven;[9] the same schedule was repeated on September 19, 2006 with the sixth season finale of Gilmore Girls airing in the second hour of primetime.[10] 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 September 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 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.[11]

On May 9, 2008, The CW announced it would lease its Sunday lineup (5:00–10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time)[12] to production company Media Rights Capital (MRC). As Sundays had historically been a low-rated night for the network during its first two seasons on the air, the move allowed The CW to concentrate on its Monday through Friday primetime 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 (Valentine and Easy Money) – performed poorly in the ratings (averaging only 1.04 million viewers[13]), prompting The CW to scrap its agreement with MRC and program Sunday nights on its own starting on November 30, 2008 – with no backup first-run programming available to run on Sundays, the network added reruns of The Drew Carey Show and Jericho, and movies to replace the MRC-produced programs.[14]

One of the shows carried over to the network from UPN, WWE Friday Night 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,[5] whereas Smackdown targeted a predominately male audience – although it continued to air some shows that targeted male viewers such as Smallville and Supernatural. 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.[15] SmackDown would eventually leave broadcast television altogether in October 2010, when the program moved to the Syfy cable channel.

The CW has generally struggled in the Nielsen ratings since its inception, primarily placing fifth in all statistics tabulated by Nielsen (total audience viewership and demographic ratings). On several occasions, The CW has even been outrated by Spanish language network Univision. This had led to speculation within the industry (including a May 16, 2008 article in The Wall Street Journal[16]) that CBS, Time Warner or both companies could 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.[17]

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 primetime, 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).[18][19] This, in turn, discontinued the Sunday late afternoon repeat block that The CW inherited from The WB (formerly branded by that network as "EasyView") through its use of the predecessor network's scheduling model. Subsequently in mid-May, 65% 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 Sunday primetime slot.[20]

2011: New leadership

In 2011, Mark Pedowitz succeeded original president of entertainment Dawn Ostroff; Pedowitz assumed broader responsibilities in The CW's business operations than Ostroff had, as the network's first president.[21] 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.[21] 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 former president, Dawn Ostroff, publicly declared that the difficulty of developing comedies for its target demographic as 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).[22] The network also ordered more episodes of its original series and ran them consecutively through the first week of December, starting on September 12, without repeats.[23]

In October 2011, the network entered into digital distribution deals with streaming services Netflix and Hulu. The Netflix deal is a four-year agreement that allows its customers to instantly watch more than 700 hours of previous seasons of The CW's 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 (with the exception of CW sister network CBS).[24][25] In 2012, Pedowitz no longer referred to the target demographic of The CW as women 18-34, but rather as an "18-34 adult network".[26]

2012–present: Breakthrough

After struggling since its inception, The CW began to experience success with the introduction of action-superhero series Arrow (based on DC Comics' Green Arrow franchise), which received favorable reviews from critics and became a hit with audiences when it premiered in September 2012. As evidence of the network's refocusing toward a more inclusive audience, Arrow not only premiered to the highest overall viewership in the network's history (being watched by four million viewers), it also gave the network its strongest performance in the demographic of males 18-34 since Smallville ended its run in May 2011. Around this time, the network introduced an image campaign under the "TV Now" slogan, in part to emphasize the availability of CW content across television, computer and mobile platforms.[27]

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.[28] On November 21, 2013, The CW beat NBC for the first time in the key demographic of Adults 18-49 for a single calendar night.[29]

On April 28, 2014, CBS and The CW announced that they would begin coordinating advertising sales together.[30] The two networks will continue to set pricing for commercials independently of one another, but the sales teams will coordinate and share resources in research and other areas to develop strategies that bring value to advertising. Rob Tuck, executive vice president of sales for The CW, will continue to report to Mark Pedowitz, but with added direction from CBS' president of sales, Jo Ann Ross.

On October 14, 2014, The CW announced that John Maatta would step down as its executive vice president.[31] Maatta is the longest serving executive of The CW, having transitioned from his post as Chief Operating Officer at The WB; Maatta also holds the distinction of being the first employee hired by The WB, after that network's founder Jamie Kellner. Company-wide cutbacks at Time Warner resulted in the Warner Bros. Entertainment division instituting several layoffs and the elimination of executive positions at The CW in November 2014. One of these positions belonged to senior vice president of alternative programming Kristin Connolly Vadas,[32] one of two alternative programming executives at The CW, who was in charge of the network's unscripted projects since 2008. Vadas had been working alongside Justin Rosenblatt, who will remain The CW’s sole alternative programming executive.

Buoyed by Arrow‍ '​s success, The CW continued to build momentum in subsequent seasons. The network finally 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 part of the network's fall-to-spring schedule; this was subsequently followed in 2014 by the strong performance of midseason sci-fi drama The 100. The 2014–15 season saw the premieres of two critically acclaimed shows that also earned strong ratings: Arrow spin-off The Flash and freshman comedy-drama Jane the Virgin (loosely adapted from the Venezuelan telenovela Juana la Virgen). The Flash surpassed Arrow as the highest-rated program in the network's history; while Jane the Virgin earned some of the highest critical praise of any 2014–15 series, and during its first season, became the first CW series ever to have been nominated for and win a Golden Globe Award (with lead actress Gina Rodriguez winning the Golden Globe for "Best Actress in a Comedy or Variety Series").

Programming

As of December 2014, The CW currently provides 20 hours of regularly scheduled network programming each week, over the course of six days. The network provides fifteen hours of prime time programming to its owned-and-operated and affiliated stations on Monday through Fridays from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific Time. Outside of prime time, an hour of daytime programming is also offered Monday through Fridays from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. in all time zones, in the form of talk show The Bill Cunningham Show (though a few affiliates – such as WPIX/New York City, WGN-TV/Chicago, KDAF/Dallas-Fort Worth and WCCB/Charlotte – carry the show earlier in the afternoon); while weekend programming consists solely of a five-hour educational programming block called "One Magnificent Morning" (which is syndicated to The CW's owned-and-operated stations and affiliates, although internal promotions refer to it as a network-televised block) on Saturday mornings from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. in all time zones.

The weekday daytime hour provided by the network and the syndicated Saturday morning block (the latter of which is subject to scheduling variances similar to the weekday hour in some markets, such as in Atlanta and San Diego) are designed to be tape delayed and are therefore recommended to air in the same timeslot in all time zones, though both are 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 schedule day and date on a one-day tape delay from its initial broadcast due to the time difference between Guam and the continental United States as the island is on the west side of the International Date Line. As of the 2014–15 television season, America's Next Top Model (which originally aired on UPN) and Supernatural (which originally aired on The WB) are the only CW series carried over from the network's respective predecessors that continue to be broadcast on the network.

The CW airs short segments during commercial breaks within certain episodes of its programs known as "Content Wraps" – a play on the network's name – in order to advertise one company's product during part or the entirety of a commercial break. 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;[33] the program was cancelled in 2008, after 23 episodes. For the network's Tuesday schedule during the 2006–07 season, The CW reached an agreement with American Eagle Outfitters to have its aerie clothing line tie in with that night's CW programming as part of the Content Wrap concept, which included subjects in the commercials commenting on plot points in each of the shows.[34] 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.[35]

Children's programming

On September 23, 2006, following The CW's launch, The WB's children's programming block – which retained its "Kids' WB" branding and continued to be produced by Warner Bros. Television – was carried over to the new network. On October 2, 2007, through a joint decision between corporate parents Time Warner 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 the 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 program block, 4Kids TV, for Fox).[36] Kids' WB ended its run on May 17, 2008 (though some CW affiliates that delayed the block to Sundays, such as Atlanta O&O WUPA, aired the block for the last time on May 18).

The following week on May 24, 2008, 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, before eventually adding 4Kids-produced shows such as Chaotic as well as new seasons of Yu-Gi-Oh! and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.[37] The block was rebranded as "Toonzai" on August 14, 2010 (though The CW4Kids name was retained as a sub-brand to fulfill branding obligations for The CW per 4Kids Entertainment's contract to lease the network's Saturday morning timeslots); Toonzai ended its run on August 18, 2012.

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 timeslot with a new action-adventure and comedy block for The CW.[38] TheCW4Kids/Toonzai was replaced by "Vortexx" on August 25, 2012, featuring programs such as Power Rangers Lost Galaxy and WWE Saturday Morning Slam, the latter of which marked the return of WWE programming to the network since WWE Smackdown moved to MyNetworkTV in 2008.[39]

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, 2014.[40][41] 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 CW sister network CBS (one of its initial programs, Expedition Wild, was moved over to "One Magnificent Morning" from the ABC block).[42]

Differences between The CW and the "Big Four" networks

Network programming and scheduling

The CW airs its primetime programming for only two hours on Monday through Friday evenings, compared to the three hours on Monday through Saturdays and four hours on Sunday nights programmed by the three longest-established networks, ABC, CBS and NBC. This "common prime" scheduling (which was originated by Fox when it launched its primetime schedule in April 1987, and later adopted by CW predecessors The WB and UPN when they launched in January 1995) allows the option for affiliates to air either a local newscast, syndicated programming or both during the 10:00–11:00 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific Time) time period. As with The WB and UPN, The CW does not run network programming on Saturday nights – despite the fact that it maintains a syndicated children's program block on Saturday mornings – allowing affiliates to run syndicated programs, sports, movies or network programs that were preempted from earlier in the week due to special programming, in the 8:00–10:00 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific) time period (MyNetworkTV also does not carry any weekend primetime programming, having turned network time on Saturday evenings over to its affiliates in September 2009[43]).

The CW is also tied with NBC (if its morning news program Today is not counted) for the fewest daytime hours programmed by any of the major broadcast networks, running only one hour of programming each weekday afternoon (compared to 4½ daytime hours on CBS and three hours on ABC). The CW, unlike the "Big Four" broadcast networks, also does not air any national newscasts, network-supplied sports or late-night programming.

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). Many affiliates also carry telecasts of basketball, football and in some cases, other collegiate sporting events (such as baseball or softball) that are produced by either ESPN Regional Television, the ACC Network or the American Sports Network, while a few (mainly those owned by Tribune Broadcasting, such as Chicago affiliate WGN-TV) carry games from local teams of major professional sports leagues such as Major League Baseball and the NBA.

Affiliate distribution

Like its predecessors UPN and by technicality, The WB (as none of Tribune Broadcasting's WB stations were considered to be O&Os since Time Warner held majority ownership of that network), The CW does not have owned-and-operated stations in any of the three largest U.S. television markets – New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago. The network's largest owned-and-operated station is CBS-owned WPSG in Philadelphia, which also became UPN's largest O&O after Chris-Craft Industries (which sold most of its UPN stations, including its affiliates in New York City and Los Angeles, to Fox Television Stations in 2001[44]) had its ownership stake in that network acquired by Viacom in 2000[45][46] (neither UPN nor the DuMont Television Network had an O&O in Chicago at all; a similar situation arose with DuMont's O&O in Los Angeles, present-day CW affiliate KTLA – which had disaffiliated from the network in 1948 shortly after the FCC ruled that it and WDTV in Pittsburgh (now KDKA-TV, a CW corporate cousin through CBS Corporation), to be O&Os through their then-owner Paramount Pictures' voting stock interest in DuMont).

Because Tribune Broadcasting does not maintain an ownership stake in The CW, its stations in the three respective markets (WPIX, KTLA and WGN-TV) are actually affiliates of the network; CBS Corporation owns secondary stations – both independents – in two of the three markets, KCAL-TV in Los Angeles and WLNY-TV in the New York City market (however, while KCAL was owned by CBS at the network's launch, WLNY was not acquired by CBS until 2011; neither station carries CW programming though, due to the network's affiliation deals with Tribune-owned stations in those markets, and in the latter case, WLNY's over-the-air signal does not serve the entire New York City market – resulting in most residents in the metropolitan area receiving the station mainly through cable or satellite – due to being licensed to the Long Island community of Riverhead). Unlike with The WB and UPN (the latter network's founding owners, Chris-Craft and Viacom, both had their own station groups that formed UPN's core stations at its launch), only one of The CW's co-owners – CBS Corporation – maintains ownership of the network's owned-and-operated stations (Time Warner does not have a station group of its own, although its Turner Broadcasting System division does own Atlanta independent station WPCH-TV, which does not carry CW programming due to the network's affiliation with CBS-owned WUPA).

Unlike the other major networks, The CW distributes its programming in certain small to mid-sized markets around the United States (generally those ranked among the bottom 110 Nielsen media markets) through The CW Plus, a separate national feed 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 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, from January 1995 to October 1999[47][48] 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 (MyNetworkTV currently has WNFM-TV in Fort Myers, Florida, while ABC formerly had a cable-only affiliate in Winchester, Virginia-based TV3 Winchester until Gray shut the channel down in December 2013).

News programming

The CW does not produce any national news content, while the majority of its affiliates do not have their own news operations. The network currently has only nine affiliates that produce their own local news programming, most of which were carry-overs from previous affiliations: WGN-TV in Chicago, 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; XETV-TDT in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico (serving the San Diego market) and WCCB in Charlotte, North Carolina[49] started their news operations as Fox affiliates; WISH-TV in Indianapolis[50] (which became a CW affiliate on January 1, 2015) started its news operation as an ABC affiliate before affiliating with CBS in 1956; KDAF in Dallas and KIAH in Houston use non-traditional formats (in the form of a newsreel-style program known as NewsFix); and KCWI-TV in Des Moines, Iowa only broadcasts a morning news and talk program. KTLA has the largest number of weekly hours devoted to local news programming of any CW affiliate with 59½ hours each week, followed by WGN-TV and WISH-TV with 56 hours. Under Tribune Broadcasting ownership, WLVI in Boston produced an in-house 10:00 p.m. newscast, which was replaced in December 2006 with one produced by NBC affiliate WHDH, after Tribune sold WLVI to that station's longtime owner Sunbeam Television.

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 part of a duopoly or management agreement, such as Tribune's respective CW-Fox duopolies of KWGN-TV/KDVR in Denver and KPLR-TV/KTVI in St. Louis (the Fox stations in both duopolies – KDVR and KTVI – were formerly owned by Local TV, with Tribune-owned KWGN and KPLR respectively consolidating with those stations through local marketing agreements formed as part of a wider partnership involving Local TV, which Tribune bought outright in 2013);[51] Evansville, Indiana affiliate WTVW (which joined The CW in January 2013) and ABC affiliate WEHT (a virtual duopoly formed through Nexstar Broadcasting Group's 2011 purchase of WEHT and trade of WTVW to partner group Mission Broadcasting);[52] and the CW-CBS O&O duopoly of KMAX-TV/KOVR in Sacramento (the former of which has produced a morning newscast since it was a UPN station, and – despite the two becoming a duopoly in 2005 – has remained separate from a competing program on KOVR, which produces a late-evening newscast for KMAX).

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 primetime newscast within the 10:00–11:00 p.m. Eastern/Pacific (9:00–10:00 p.m. Central/Mountain) timeslot. 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.

Stations

As of March 2015, The CW has eight owned-and-operated stations, and current and pending affiliation agreements with 201 additional television stations encompassing 48 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. possessions;[53][54][55] Counting only conventional CW affiliates and over-the-air affiliates of The CW Plus, the network has a combined national reach of 98.83% of all households in the United States (or 308,824,309 Americans with at least one television set); this makes The CW the largest U.S. broadcast network by population reach percentage. Currently, New Jersey and Delaware are the only U.S. states where The CW does not have a locally licensed affiliate (the former is served by New York City affiliate WPIX and Philadelphia affiliate WPHL-TV, while the latter is served by WPHL and Salisbury, Maryland affiliate WMDT-DT2).

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 is WKRC-DT2 in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Currently, the Sinclair Broadcast Group is the largest operator of CW stations by numerical total, owning or providing services to 24 CW-affiliated stations, nine subchannel-only affiliates and one cable-only affiliate; Tribune Broadcasting is the largest operator of CW stations in terms of overall market reach, owning or providing services to thirteen CW stations (including its three largest affiliates in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago).

Overview

Following the network launch announcement, The CW immediately announced ten-year affiliation agreements with Tribune Broadcasting and CBS Television Stations. Tribune originally committed 16 stations that were previously affiliated with The WB (including its flagship broadcast stations WGN-TV/Chicago, KTLA/Los Angeles and WPIX/New York City; another committed station, KSWB-TV/San Diego, joined Fox in August 2008, and two others, WLVI-TV/Boston and WCWN/Albany, New York were respectively sold by Tribune to Sunbeam Television and Freedom Communications shortly after the network launched), while CBS committed 11 of its UPN stations (including WKBD/Detroit, WPSG/Philadelphia, KBHK-TV (now KBCW)/San Francisco and WUPA/Atlanta). These stations combined to reach 48% of all television households in the United States. Both companies also own several UPN and WB-affiliated stations that did not join The CW in overlapping markets (such as Seattle, Philadelphia and Dallas). As part of its affiliation agreement with the network, the Tribune Company agreed to divest its ownership interest in The WB (a move it made partly to avoid shouldering shutdown costs for The WB[56]) and did not acquire an stake in The CW.

The network stated that it would eventually reach 95% of all television households in the United States. In markets where affiliates of both UPN and The WB operated, only one station became a CW affiliate. Executives were on record as preferring the "strongest" stations among The WB and UPN's existing affiliates. As one example, the new network's first affiliate outside the core group of Tribune and CBS-owned stations, WJZY/Charlotte (which was later acquired by Fox Television Stations and converted into a Fox O&O in July 2013), was tied with Atlanta O&O WUPA as UPN's fifth-strongest station. In most cases, it was obvious where the new network would affiliate; there were only a few markets (such as Philadelphia, Miami-Fort Lauderdale, Boston, Charlotte and Atlanta) where the WB and UPN affiliates were both relatively strong. For example, another of the first affiliates to be announced was WKCF in Orlando, Florida, which had not only been the top-rated WB affiliate for virtually all of that network's run, but had also been the fourth highest-rated television station in Central Florida.

Nearly all of The CW's affiliates were formerly affiliated with UPN or The WB, with very few having been independent stations or affiliates of other networks prior to joining the network; a notable exception was Las Vegas affiliate KVCW, which had been a fairly successful independent before joining The CW. Although it was generally understood that The CW was a merger of UPN and The WB, the new network's creation was not structured as a merger in the legal sense. Rather, it was one new network launching at the same time that two others shut down. As such, The CW was not obligated by existing affiliations with The WB and UPN; it had to negotiate from scratch with individual stations. As a result, in several markets, the CW affiliate is a different station from either the former WB and UPN stations (for example, the CW affiliation in Las Vegas ended up on KVCW, instead of former WB affiliate KVMY or now-defunct former UPN affiliate KTUD-CA). The network has also affiliated with some digital subchannels, usually those launched by a local Big Four affiliate as a new service, in several other markets.

Due to the availability of "instant duopoly" digital subchannels that will likely be easily available on cable and satellite, and the overall lack of a need to settle for a secondary affiliation with shows aired in problematic timeslots, both The CW and MyNetworkTV launched with far greater national coverage than that enjoyed by UPN and The WB when they both launched in January 1995. UPN, for several years, had affiliation gaps in the top 30 markets, and by 2005 managed to cover only 86% of the country. This resulted in secondary affiliations with other networks and the resulting diluted ratings when programs were shown out of their intended timeslots, or the lack of the program airing at all (a problem experienced by many fans of the Star Trek franchise with Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise).

Launch repercussions

The announcement of The CW caused the largest single shakeup in U.S. broadcast television since the affiliation alliance between Fox and New World Communications in 1994 and the subsequent launches of UPN and The WB the following year. While The CW's debut affected more markets, it likely did not cause the same degree of viewer confusion, as no affiliates of the four major networks dropped those affiliations to join The CW (some "Big Four" affiliations did change at this time, but for unrelated reasons). The WB and UPN were the first major television networks to shut down since the collapse of the DuMont Television Network in 1955, although other small broadcast television networks have also ceased operations over the years.

It became clear that Fox Television Stations, which purchased several UPN-affiliated stations from that network's former co-owner Chris-Craft Industries in 2002, would be affected. Its UPN affiliates in five major markets (New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Houston) did not receive affiliations with The CW, due to the agreement with Tribune, and Fox made it clear it would not even seek carriage of the network for its UPN stations in four other markets. All network logos and references were quickly removed from Fox's UPN stations. Shortly thereafter, Fox parent News Corporation (which spun off its American broadcasting properties into 21st Century Fox as part of the company's July 2013 corporate separation) announced that it would launch MyNetworkTV, a programming service meant to fill the two nightly prime time hours that UPN would vacate on the network's Fox-owned affiliates after The CW launched. Fox also offered the service to stations owned by other broadcasting groups.[57][58][59]

In markets where The WB and UPN were carried on separate stations, one of the two local outlets was left out in the merger; most of the stations that did not join The CW had signed affiliation agreements with MyNetworkTV instead, while others elected to become independent stations. Some stations (mainly digital subchannels, some cable channels formerly with The WB 100+ Station Group, and struggling low-power stations) which did not affiliate with either network opted instead to shut down permanently.

Affiliate issues

Problems with Time Warner Cable

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 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 those CW affiliates[60] (CW co-parent Time Warner had owned Time Warner Cable until it spun off the provider into a separate company in 2009).

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 can only be viewed on digital cable channel 266 in the Ithaca market).[61] Currently, the largest market without a known affiliate is the Johnstown-Altoona market, whose closest CW station is CBS-owned WPCW-TV/Pittsburgh, which is carried on TWC's Johnstown and Altoona's cable systems; WPCW 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.[62] On April 21, 2007, KCWQ-LP made its broadcast debut on channel 5 on Time Warner Cable in the Palm Springs area.[63]

Pappas Telecasting bankruptcy

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.[64] 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 cable and satellite 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 KEPR-TV, would carry the network through digital subchannel affiliations.

Subsequently, WLGA in Columbus, Georgia lost its CW affiliation in April 2009 to a subchannel of NBC affiliate WLTZ due to the network's concerns about Pappas' financial state;[65] 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 an Antenna TV affiiate).

Marianas Media bankruptcy

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 Marianas, which was running the station under a local marketing agreement with the troubled KM Communications Inc.,[66] forced the station off the air on March 31, 2011. The station resumed operations the following year.

Tribune's relations with The CW and their de-emphasis of the network's brand

While Tribune Media has solid affiliation deals with The CW, it also has affiliation deals 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[67]), 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 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.[68]

After the news broke, XETV planned on suing to prevent the switch on the grounds that 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".[69] Though 12 of Tribune's 13 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).[70] Some of these stations eventually began reincorporating the CW branding starting in 2011, such as KDAF/Dallas, KRCW-TV/Portland, Oregon and KIAH/Houston.

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 2013) onto the network, as well as having Tribune play a larger role in The CW's management.[71]

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).[72]

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 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."[73]

Roberts Broadcasting bankruptcy

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, WAZE 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.[74][75]

On March 24, 2011, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) canceled WAZE's license for Roberts' failure to construct its digital transmitter facilities.[76] However, the station continued to broadcast via its three-station analog translator network.

On February 20, 2012, Roberts Broadcasting announced 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.[77] On October 22, 2012, Roberts announced that it had sold WRBJ to the Trinity Broadcasting Network;[78] the deal was approved by a bankruptcy court on January 17, 2013,[79] with TBN officially taking over operational control of WRBJ five months later on May 24[80] (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.[81]

On December 2, 2013, Roberts filed to sell WZRB to Radiant Light Ministries, a subsidiary of Tri-State Christian Television, for $2 million.[82] On December 4, Roberts also filed to sell WRBU to TCT for $5.5 million.[83] However, on December 11, the United States bankruptcy court gave initial approval for a plan by Roberts' creditors to instead transfer WRBU, WZRB and the WAZE repeaters to a trust with Ion Media Networks (a creditor in Roberts' chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings) as its beneficiary, with Roberts' attorney subsequently stating that Ion would purchase the stations for $7.75 million.[84][85] 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.[84] 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,[86] after temporarily remaining on WZRB after its conversion into an Ion Television O&O the previous month.

Station standardization

When The CW launched in 2006, the network began branding most of its affiliates using a combination of "CW" or "The CW", and at the affiliate's choice, either the station's channel number (for example, Nashville affiliate WNAB is branded as "CW58" and Seattle O&O KSTW brands as "CW11") or the name of the city or region it serves. Examples of the latter include Philadelphia O&O WPSG (known as "The CW Philly", although secondarily known as "CW Philly 57"), WLVI (known at launch as "Boston's CW", though it rebranded to "CW56" after being sold to Sunbeam Television), WUPA (known as "CW Atlanta" at launch, but is now known as "CW69"), Waco, Texas subchannel affiliate KWTX-DT2 (known as "CW Texas") and KVCW (branded as "CW Las Vegas"). Some stations also use the call sign/either within the station logo, on-air identification or both; examples include WNLO/Buffalo, New York, WWHO/Columbus, Ohio and WBNX/Cleveland.

In Omaha, Nebraska, KXVO uses the dual brandings of "CW15" and "Omaha's CW". In Honolulu, Hawaii, KHON-DT2 is branded as "Hawaii's CW 93" (the "93" refers to the subchannel's cable channel position on Oceanic Time Warner Cable). The branding once used by WKRC-DT2/Cincinnati, Ohio was "CinCW", a portmanteau with the common nickname for the city, "Cincy" (it now brands as "The CW Cincinnati"). With the exceptions of XETV/San Diego and WXCW/Fort Myers, all CW affiliates not owned by Tribune usually brand themselves using a version of the network logo. Mobile, Alabama CW affiliate WBPG, then known as "The Gulf Coast's CW" changed its call letters to WFNA in December 2009 and used a similar approach around their new call letters, before becoming known as "CW 55" in September 2012 and adopting a style reflective of The CW's branding techniques once again. WISH-TV in Indianapolis, as it had during its CBS affiliation, continues to brand solely with their channel number and calls as "WISH-TV 8", though (in the same manner as Chicago affiliate WGN-TV) it places the CW logo next to its existing logomark for promotional purposes.

The CW HD

The CW's master feed is transmitted in 1080i high definition, with all transmission of the network's programming moving to the format in June 2012. All of the network's primetime programming has been 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, however it carries the daytime talk show The Bill Cunningham Show in enhanced definition widescreen due to producer preference.

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 cable and satellite providers. Some affiliates transmit CW programming in 720p HD due to technical considerations if the network is carried on a digital 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.

Marketing and multimedia

The CW Television Network is involved in both linear broadcast and digital media, in various forms:

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Nellie Andreeva (July 25, 2012). "The CW unveils New 'TV Now' Slogan". Deadline.com. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "CW Network LLC profile". Businessweek. Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  3. ↑ "CBS CORPORATION AND WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT FORM NEW 5TH BROADCAST NETWORK" (Press release). The CW Press. January 24, 2006.
  4. ↑ Paul J. Gough; James Hibberd (May 13, 2008). ""90210" Upfront and Center for CW". The Hollywood Reporter.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "It's No Gossip, Ratings Slip Threatens CW Network". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones and Company. May 16, 2008.
  6. ↑ Thomas Tyrer (September 18, 1995). "Fledgling Networks UPN, WB Already Pondering Merger". AdAge. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  7. ↑ "UPN and WB to Combine, Forming New TV Network". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. January 24, 2006.
  8. ↑ "CW Staying CW, Says Moonves". Broadcasting & Cable. March 15, 2006. Archived from the original on September 15, 2007.
  9. ↑ "CW Staggers Its Debut – New net will roll out schedule over two weeks". Zap2It (Tribune Media Services). August 18, 2006. Archived from the original on August 18, 2006.
  10. ↑ TV Guide, September 11, 2006, p. 8
  11. ↑ "the futon critic". The Futon Critic.
  12. ↑ "The CW "Outsources" Its Sunday-Night Block; Two Dramas, Two Comedies Coming". TV Guide (Macrovision). May 9, 2008. Archived from the original on May 11, 2008.
  13. ↑ "CW ends time-buy deal with MRC". Variety. November 20, 2008.
  14. ↑ "CW Takes Back Its Sunday Nights, Sets ‘Jericho’ Reruns". TVWeek. November 20, 2008. Retrieved November 20, 2008.
  15. ↑ "Fox Still Likely to Pass CBS in Adults 25–54 to Top All Key Age Demos". TV by the Numbers. March 25, 2009.
  16. ↑ "It's No Gossip: Ratings Slip Threatens CW Network". The Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones and Company. May 16, 2008.
  17. ↑ "CW Parents Emphasize Support of Network". Advertising Age. August 21, 2008.
  18. ↑ "Tribune Psyched to Take back Sundays on The CW". Broadcasting & Cable. May 5, 2009. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
  19. ↑ "CW Drops Sundays In Another Blow to Broadcast Model". Reuters. May 6, 2009. Retrieved May 6, 2009.
  20. ↑ "CW Affiliates Booking MGM Movie Pack". The Hollywood Reporter. May 13, 2009.
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  64. ↑ PAPPAS TELECASTING ANNOUNCED TODAY THAT CERTAIN AFFILIATES HAVE FILED FOR CHAPTER 11 PROTECTION at the Wayback Machine (archived September 21, 2008)
  65. ↑ Andrea V. Hernandez (April 3, 2009). "WLTZ’s parent firm to carry CW Network in Columbus". Ledger-Enquirer (The McClatchy Company). Retrieved December 14, 2010.
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  74. ↑ Michael Malone (October 10, 2011). "Roberts Broadcasting Files For Bankruptcy". Broadcasting & Cable. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  75. ↑ Jacob Newkirk (October 10, 2011). "WAZE Owner Roberts Broadcasting files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy". Evansville Courier & Press (E. W. Scripps Company). Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  76. ↑ Kevin Harding (March 24, 2011). "Re: WAZE-TV, Madisonville, Missouri". CDBS Public Access. Federal Communications Commission. Retrieved March 30, 2011.
  77. ↑ "Roberts Broadcasting Mulls Sale of TV Stations". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Lee Enterprises. February 20, 2012.
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  80. ↑ "NEW TBN FULL-POWER STATION SIGN-ON". Trinity Broadcasting Network.
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  89. ↑ Philiana Ng (May 17, 2012). "CW Launches Digital Studio, Unveils Online Projects". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 4, 2013.

External links

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