After over a decade of battling each other for fifth place, CBS Corporation's UPN and Time Warner's The WB have decided to put down their dukes and join forces. It was announced on Tuesday that the two networks would merge and form The CW with "C" standing for CBS and "W" standing for Warner Bros.
The new network will follow the programming model of The WB with primetime programming airing Sunday-Friday, afternoon programming airing on Sundays and weekdays, and a 5-hour block of kids' programming on Saturday mornings.
The CW will be a true joint venture between the two corporations. CBS and The WB will each own a 50% stake in the new network. The board of directors of the new network will be made up equally of CBS-appointed and Time Warner-appointed members. Dawn Ostroff, the current head of UPN, will become president of entertainment at the new network while The WB's COO John Maata will take the same position at The CW. Tribune Co., a minority owner of The WB, gave up its stake in exchange for a 10-year deal to air The CW on 16 of its stations.
While it seems shocking that these two networks would merge, it just may be the best move to ensure the networks' continued survival in some form. Affiliation agreements between UPN and News Corp.-owned stations are set to end in August and fortunes have been declining for The WB as of late.
The 2006-2007 schedule for the new network won't be announced until May, but it's expected that many of The WB and UPN's hit shows such as Smallville, Gilmore Girls, Veronica Mars, and Everybody Hates Chris will make the jump to The CW. However, this merger will leave the futures of a lot of shows in doubt. Many of UPN's African-American-driven comedies probably will not make the transition to the new network. The same may also be true of The WB's Everwood, Living With Fran, and Twins.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Niraj
I live in Boston, and we have both UPN and WB. It will intteresting to see which station will get CW.
2 - -E
Yeah we have both as well where I live. I hope they keep Veronica Mars. Though I am quite addicted to One Tree Hill as well. It will be interesting to see which programming from each station now gets picked up on the CW.
What made them think The "CBS WB" sounded like a fun name?
3 - DJRadiohead
This is a good thing. Instead of two networks I don't watch there will be only one. =P
4 - Brent
The Tribune station in Boston gets The CW which means WSBK goes independent again. Wikipedia has a listing of which cities get Tribune as The CW and which get CBS. There are also a number of Fox owned stations (the ones they bought from Chris-Craft) which are also orphaned in this merger, mostly in big cities - New York, Los Angeles and Chicago among them.
5 - Ty
One bad network (WB) merging with one really bad network (UPN)??
I don't think this is the next FOX.
But at least most of the UPN black comedies will be gone. They don't appeal to a wide audience like Everybody Hates Chris or Chapelle's Show (Comedy Central, now gone because Chapelle had a breakdown).
6 - Baronius
Both networks have had problems finding affiliates. This has kept their ratings down, not (just) because of the quality of their shows, but because you can't see a UPN or WB show in many markets. But the wierd thing is that they compete in many of the same markets. So the CW won't have twice the stations; they'll have something like 25% more stations. That's not going to turn things around.
As for the new schedule, UPN has been the network of black urban sitcoms and wrestling - not a lot of overlap in those demographics. WB has targeted white teenage girls and sci-fi fans - again, not much overlap. So, the CW will likely have an impossibly fractured target market. Just try to picture the schedule: America's Next Top Model followed by Smallville?
7 - Ty
Most likely the new network will keep the same idea in mind: each mini-demographic gets their own night.
One night is for rasslin fans, one night is for "white teen girls", another is for Sci-fi/comic book fans, and yet another is for fans of sub-par sitcoms.
There IS a bright spot here:
CBS could use this channel to experiment with shows that they are too scared to put on the main CBS network right now. Think of it as the minor leagues of network TV: this would give CBS the chance to greenlight more shows, put them in the minors, and if they do well, they get the call-up...similiarly strugging shows with a fanbase (one of these days Survivor WILL fade, trust me!), they can send it to the minors for a gradual death.
We haven't seen this much yet in TV, but we should. If this happened, perhaps a show that CBS would normally pass on gets picked up for CW and turns out to be the greatest TV of all time. CBS should take advantage of the fact that it has a main broadcast network (CBS) and a secondary one (CW). Others only have one main network and then secondary CABLE networks (FX, MSNBC, CNBC, ABC Family).
8 - Baronius
Ty, if you're combining UPN's and WB's schedule, you're going to have 8-9 nights of sub-par sitcoms. :)
My thinking is that networks rely on fanbases. NBC used to have interchangable sitcoms that they would interchange - how many nights was Wings on? CBS is the Crimescene Broadcasting System. You watch Tuesday, you see an ad for something interesting on Friday. Another example would be the way NBC's dynasties of primetime, late night, and morning used to support each other.
The dream is to have a balanced schedule of popular dramas, comedies, news magazines, et cetera. But that never happens. You target a demographic and try to bring them in every night. CBS's old people, WB's giggly girls, whatever. UPN never really had success with reality shows until it played to its black sitcom market with Tyra Banks.
I think UPN and WB both suffered because they didn't have a single, solid demographic. This problem will only become bigger with the CW.
9 - reggie von woic
phew! Gilmore Girls and Smallville are still on!!
That's all i need.
10 - Joanie
Sterfish, I've made this one of my Ed. Picks for the week.
11 - Lisa
I dont like the UPN, WB is okay b/c it has One Tree Hill and some other shows....so if One Tree Hill doesnt make the cut, CW will just be bad.
12 - michael
my family and i watched charmed one of the cut shows.it was considered our family time.its kinda a shame the take family shows like charmed and keep everybody hates chris.i really like smallville but with famliy time taken from my family i might not watch cw.
13 - Allure
They have to include One Tree Hill in the final show listing. They need a teen oriented show in the network like FOX's the O.C.. The shows that are sure to make the final cut are Smallville (sci-fi), Gilmore Girls (family), Veronica Mars-well this show is teen oriented but its not like One Tree Hill which focuses on teenage reality nowadays.
14 - jojo
The CW need to make sure that one tree hill makes the schedule. one tree hill is one of the best shows out there along with supernatural
15 - brenda
The biggest mistake they are making is taking "Charmed" off.
16 - Brianna
As long as Supernatural and Smallville are still on I could care less.
17 - Missy
Hi i will like the merge because there wont be any comp. bewtween my faverate shows of each it sounds like. I really hope one tree hill makes the cut, it's one of my favorite shows. any idea if madison, wisconsin wb 57 is in on the merge? Upn 14 looks like it will be "my tv network" I need my wb
18 - jess
I hope one tree hill and everwood still are in the line up or else i won't watch the cw... i love those show and reruns of that 70's show
19 - reggie von woic
Has this taken effect yet?
I think i still see both networks separately.
20 - kimi
I LOVE ONE TREE HILL! if they cut one tree hill i will be so mad and never watch tv ever again!!!
21 - Sonal
I HATE this idea! I LOVE the WB and rarely watch UPN. Where will my shows go? That sounds kinda conceided, but I'm more than willing to bet that there are others that agree with me, and others who love UPN and don't watch the WB. I think CW will lose alot of fans because of this. There's a reason because ratings are so competetive between teh two networks--people like what they watch. Who want to loose what they love? I really really really really really hope it doesn't happen. If it does, I really don't see myself watching it.
22 - Response to TY!!!!!!
"But at least most of the UPN black comedies will be gone..." -- Is that a selling point to you. I've never read such a narrow minded comment before.
Regardless of what you happen to watch, those black shows on UPN had their own fanbase, the EXACT same way as the white shows on the WB had their's!!
23 - Darqyou
I Love UPN it is the only network that has shows geared for African Americans. So why would you cut that? There are enough shows for white people. There are four other networks that consist mainly of white sitcoms and dramas. I applaud UPN all these years for bringing black comedy into so many households. I really hope that they do not cut a lot of the black shows. There are enough white shows on as it is.
24 - Audrey
SAVE EVERWOOD!!
25 - Bear
Shoot your television.
Read comics.