Two part-time broadcast networks moved to become a combined larger one today, January 24, as CBS and the Warner Brothers studio announced they were joining forces to form a new network, called the CW, out of the pieces of the UPN and WB networks. The new venture will cherry-pick the best programs off the two decade-old mini-networks, each of which has struggled to turn a profit. The owners, each of which will take a 50 percent stake in the new venture, expressed the hope that an expanded fifth network - which will program 30 hours a week, including prime-time and some daytime shows - will succeed where a fifth and sixth in competition with each other could not. Both the WB and UPN will continue operate independently until September, when they will be formally shut down. The new network - whose name, CW, is meant to be a combination of CBS and Warner - will commence operations on a new lineup of stations made up of the UPN group owned by CBS and those owned by the WB's station partner, Tribune Broadcasting. Those stations will reach about 48 percent of the United States, and the new network has agreements with other affiliates to extend its distribution to 95 percent of the country. For many of the biggest cities, the move will leave a station without network programming. In New York, the new network will be broadcast on Channel 11, which has been the WB station, with Channel 9, which has been the UPN station, dropped from the network. Leslie Moonves, the chairman of the CBS Corporation, and Barry Meyer, the chairman of Warner Brothers Entertainment, a unit of Time Warner, made the announcement jointly at a news conference. Each executive said that the agreement to dissolve the two networks and start up the new one had been driven by the timing of affiliation agreements. Both CBS's deal with UPN stations owned by the News Corporation and Warner Brothers deal with the Tribune stations were due to expire in September. "If we didn't come together now, we were going to be locked out for a long time," Mr. Moonves said. The most significant advantage of bringing the two networks together will be the opportunity to build a prime-time schedule made up of the best shows from each of the two networks. "It's a scheduler's dream," Mr. Moonves said. The shows highlighted in the presentation today included "America's Top Model," "Veronica Mars," and "Everybody Hates Chris" from UPN and "Gilmore Girls," "Smallville," and "Beauty and the Geek" from the WB. The move is a further consolidation of broadcast power under Mr. Moonves, who earlier this month gained full executive control over the CBS Corporation, under the agreement that divided Viacom's media assets in half. The CW will likely perform far better than UPN, Mr. Moonves's previous secondary network, ever did. In probably the most significant executive announcement tied to the new network, Mr. Moonves's lieutenant at UPN, Dawn Ostroff, was named the president of entertainment for the new network. Both top executives at the WB, Garth Ancier and David Janollari, were not given positions at the new network, though Mr. Meyer thanked them for their efforts at the WB. The new network will aim to reach an audience of younger adults, those aged 18 to 34, who are especially sought by many advertisers. Mr. Meyer noted that Warner Brothers film division is a heavy advertiser, trying to reach that group.
Well, that's debatable. They're keeping it anyway, I wish they wouldn't as that could end the roster split. Oh sorry, I thought I was in the Wrestling thread for a moment there.
UPN + WB = Under Payed Brothas ?!!! ah, not like i care.. those stations never had anything worth watching anyway
Well this means shit for me since i'm in Australia but the fact that Smackdown's fate lies with this merger, has garnered my interest. All signs are good though.