Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.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 Black Lightning (Jefferson Pierce) is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character, created by writer Tony Isabella and artist Trevor Von Eeden, first appeared in ''Black Lightning'' #1 (April 1977), during ...

'', and a rebooted ''

Dynasty A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A ...

''. While it met with poor ratings, ''Dynasty'' proved lucrative thanks to the Netflix output deal and international syndication which earned CBS Studios millions of dollars per episode. 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. 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. On June 12, 2018,

AT&T AT&T Inc. is an American multinational telecommunications holding company headquartered at Whitacre Tower in Downtown Dallas, Texas. It is the world's largest telecommunications company by revenue and the third largest provider of mobile tel ...

received antitrust approval to acquire Warner Bros. parent Time Warner, with the acquisition closing two days later. Time Warner was renamed

WarnerMedia Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States. It was originally established in 1972 by ...

and AT&T became a co-owner of The CW with CBS. The CW debuted reboots of ''

Charmed ''Charmed'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by Constance M. Burge and produced by Aaron Spelling and his production company Spelling Television, with Brad Kern serving as showrunner. The series was originally broadcast ...

'', '' 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. This strategy continued with the 2019–20 season debuts of the new Arrowverse series ''

Batwoman Batwoman is a name used by several characters of DC Comics, both in mainstream continuity and Elseworlds. The best known Batwomen are Batwoman (Kathy Kane), Kathy Kane and Kate Kane. History * The first Batwoman (Kathy Kane), Batwoman, Kathy Ka ...

'', ''Riverdale'' spin-off ''

Katy Keene Katy Keene is a character created by Bill Woggon that has appeared in several comic book series published by Archie Comics since 1945. She is a model/actress/singer marketed by the publisher as "America's Queen of Pin-Ups and Fashions". In the bo ...

'', and ''

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a Fictional character, fictional character appearing in several Mystery fiction, mystery book series, movies, and a TV show as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published ...

''. On August 13, 2019, CBS and

Viacom Viacom, an abbreviation of Video and Audio Communications, may refer to: * Viacom (1952–2006), a former American media conglomerate * Viacom (2005–2019), a former company spun off from the original Viacom * Viacom18, a joint venture between Par ...

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. 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. International sales also mostly ended, because both companies wanted to retain rights to their own shows to compete with Netflix outside the United States. WarnerMedia's

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

streaming service subsequently acquired exclusive streaming rights to Warner Bros.-produced CW shows. 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. 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 The DC Universe (DCU) is the fictional shared universe where most stories in American comic book titles published by DC Comics take place. Superheroes such as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Robin, Martian Manhunter, The Flash, Green Lant ...

. DC Universe and The CW co-financed the series, 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. 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. "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." 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. 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.

2022: Acquisition by Nexstar

On January 5, 2022, ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'' 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 Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 te ...

, which became The CW's largest affiliate group when it acquired former The WB co-owner Tribune Broadcasting in 2019, was considered a leading bidder. Network president and CEO

Mark Pedowitz Mark Pedowitz is the former chairman and CEO of The CW. He replaced Dawn Ostroff in 2011, who had been the Head of Entertainment since the network's inception in 2006. Pedowitz oversaw all aspects of The CW, including programming, sales, marketing ...

confirmed talks of a potential sale but added that it was "too early to speculate what might happen". Nexstar CEO

Perry Sook Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is an American publicly traded media company with headquarter offices in Irving, Texas; Midtown Manhattan; and Chicago, Illinois. The company is the largest television station owner in the United States, owning 197 tele ...

in Spring 2022 did not confirm the rumored buyout but stated that he would not be surprised if Nexstar owned a broadcast network. 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 ''

'', ''

'', '' In the Dark'', '' Legends of Tomorrow'', ''

Roswell, New Mexico Roswell () is a city in, and the County seat, seat of, Chaves County, New Mexico, Chaves County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Chaves County forms the entirety of the List of micropolitan areas in New Mexico, Roswell micropolitan area. As of ...

'', and '' Legacies''. More shows were cancelled or given final season orders in the following months including ''Nancy Drew'', ''Stargirl'', ''

The Flash The Flash (or simply Flash) is the name of several superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Gardner Fox and artist Harry Lampert, the original Flash first appeared in ''Flash Comics'' #1 (cover date ...

,'' and '' Riverdale''. In late June 2022, ''The Wall Street Journal'' indicated a purchase of The CW by Nexstar was close, 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 Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (WBD) is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at 230 Park Avenue South in New York City. It was formed after the spin-off of WarnerMedia by AT&T, and its merger with D ...

(the company formed by

Discovery, Inc. Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate (company), conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual television, factual and lifestyle television bra ...

's acquisition of WarnerMedia from AT&T). Additionally, Nexstar stated that Mark Pedowitz would remain the chairman and CEO of The CW. 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. ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' stated that Nexstar retained $54 million based on its cash on hand, accounts receivable, accounts payable and other liabilities. As the sale did not entail the transfer of any FCC broadcast licenses, Nexstar immediately took operational control of the network. 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, 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. Nexstar also stated that it aimed for The CW to turn a profit by 2025. 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. Nexstar indicated that it would focus on the older audiences as well and not just the younger demographic. In particular, Nexstar was reported to have been seeking older-skewing dramas,

police procedural The police show, or police crime drama, is a subgenre of procedural drama and detective fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of a police officer or department as the protagonist(s), as contrasted with other genres that focus on eith ...

s, and sitcoms. 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. 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. while any The CW content not licensed to other streaming services would continue to appear on its own streaming platform CW Seed. 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. 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. Thirty to forty employees were laid off on November 1, including several executives. Longtime executive Paul Hewitt was replaced with Beth Feldman as the senior vice president of the network's communications unit. 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. 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.

2023–present: Focus on linear and sports

On February 1, The CW appointed Heather Olander as the head of unscripted programming, a position under which she will report to Schwartz. 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. The CW appointed Chris Spadaccini as the chief marketing officer on February 6, and Tom Martin as the head of business affairs and

general counsel A general counsel, also known as chief counsel or chief legal officer (CLO), is the chief in-house lawyer for a company or a governmental department. In a company, the person holding the position typically reports directly to the CEO, and their ...

on February 9. 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. As part of the sale, Paramount Global's

CBS News and Stations CBS News and Stations (formerly CBS Television Stations) is a division of the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global that owns and operates a group of American television stations. , Paramount owns 28 stations, broken down as follows: ...

subsidiary was granted the right to withdraw their eight affiliates from the network—in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and the Tampa Bay area—which was exercised on May 5, 2023, effective September 1. In some of the affected markets, Nexstar-owned stations were announced as replacements. The remainder of the affected markets were addressed through new affiliation agreements with group owners Hearst Television,,

Gray Television Gray Television, Inc. is an American publicly traded television broadcasting company based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1946 by James Harrison Gray as Gray Communications Systems, the company owns or operates 180 stations across the United St ...

The E.W. Scripps Company The E. W. Scripps Company is an American broadcasting company founded in 1878 as a chain of daily newspapers by Edward Willis "E. W." Scripps and his sister, Ellen Browning Scripps. It was also formerly a media conglomerate. The company is he ...

and

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair Broadcast Group, Inc. (SBG) is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb of Cockeysville, Maryland, t ...

, each of which already owned multiple CW affiliates. 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. Schwartz criticized the previous 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. He also revealed that the network was in production or negotiations for a total of 72 shows. By June 2023, The CW retained only four of its existing scripted shows for the 2023–24 season.

The CW Sports CW Sports is the sports programming division of The CW that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried on the network. The division was formed in 2023 with The CW's acquisition of broadcast rights to LIV Golf. The CW also airs college football ...

lineup launched by acquiring the rights to LIV Golf and soon expanded by acquiring

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

college football and basketball games, '' Inside the NFL'',

NASCAR Xfinity Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

beginning in 2025, and '' WWE NXT'' beginning in fall 2024. 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. 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.

Programming

Network programming and scheduling

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 The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00). ...

on Monday through Saturday nights and 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. (Eastern and Pacific) on Sunday nights. Outside of prime time, a three-hour educational programming block called "

One Magnificent Morning One Magnificent Morning (OMM) is an American programming block that is programmed by Hearst Media Production Group (formerly Litton Entertainment) and distributed by CBS Media Ventures, and debuted on October 4, 2014, as a replacement for the ani ...

" (which airs as part of the CW schedule through a time-lease agreement with

Hearst Media Production Group The Hearst Media Production Group (formerly Litton Syndications and Litton Entertainment) is an American media and production company based in New York City, New York as a division of the Hearst Television subsidiary of Hearst Communications, wit ...

) 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

news News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different Media (communication), media: word of mouth, printing, Mail, postal systems, broadcasting, Telecommunications, electronic communication, or through the tes ...

casts, late-night programming, and, since 2021, 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. 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 WPIX (channel 11) is a television station in New York City. Owned by Mission Broadcasting, it is operated under a local marketing agreement (LMA) by Nexstar Media Group, making it a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station and flagship (broadcas ...

, 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

and

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

), is designed to be

tape delayed In radio and television, broadcast delay is an intentional delay when broadcasting live material, technically referred to as a deferred live. Such a delay may be to prevent mistakes or unacceptable content from being broadcast. Longer delays las ...

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 Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

Mountain A mountain is an elevated portion of the Earth's crust, generally with steep sides that show significant exposed bedrock. Although definitions vary, a mountain may differ from a plateau in having a limited Summit (topography), summit area, and ...

and Alaska Time Zones. In

Guam Guam (; ch, Guåhan ) is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the Micronesia subregion of the western Pacific Ocean. It is the westernmost point and territory of the United States (reckoned from the geographic cent ...

, 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 The International Date Line (IDL) is an internationally accepted demarcation on the surface of Earth, running between the South and North Poles and serving as the boundary between one calendar day and the next. It passes through the Pacific O ...

. ''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 ''CW Now'' is a news program/news magazine series which premiered on The CW on September 23, 2007. It was a brand extension of the syndicated Telepictures news magazine ''Extra'', and featured anchors and correspondents from that show, including ...

'' was inspired in part by the success of the Content Wraps as it was intended to be a series with

product placement Product placement, also known as embedded marketing, is a marketing technique where references to specific brands or products are incorporated into another work, such as a film or television program, with specific promotional intent. Much of th ...

; 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. 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.

News programming

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 KTLA (channel 5) is a television station in Los Angeles, California, United States, serving as the West Coast flagship of The CW. It is the largest directly owned property of the network's majority owner, Nexstar Media Group, and is the seco ...

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 Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

started its news operation as a Fox affiliate;

WISH-TV WISH-TV (channel 8) is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is locally owned by Circle City Broadcasting alongside Marion-licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WNDY-TV (channel 23) and low-power, C ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

has been airing local news since 1956, and

KRON-TV KRON-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to San Francisco, California, United States, serving the San Francisco Bay Area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, KRON-TV maintains studios on Front Street in the c ...

, 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 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 KCWI-TV (channel 23) is a television station licensed to Ames, Iowa, United States, serving as the CW affiliate for the Des Moines area. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside ABC affiliate WOI-DT (channel 5), also licensed to Ames. Both stations s ...

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

; the station broadcasts a morning news and talk program, which transitioned from an in-house production to a brand extension during ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'' of ABC affiliate

WOI-DT WOI-DT (channel 5) is a television station licensed to Ames, Iowa, United States, serving the Des Moines area as an affiliate of ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside CW affiliate KCWI-TV (channel 23), also licensed to Ames. Both stations sh ...

's morning newscast on April 11, 2016, as a result of Nexstar's acquisition of KCWI. 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 A duopoly (from Greek δύο, ''duo'' "two" and πωλεῖν, ''polein'' "to sell") is a type of oligopoly where two firms have dominant or exclusive control over a market. It is the most commonly studied form of oligopoly due to its simplicit ...

or management agreement, such as Nexstar's respective CW-Fox duopolies of

KWGN-TV KWGN-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Denver, Denver, Colorado, United States, airing programming from The CW. It is owned-and-operated station, owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside Fox Broadcasting ...

/ KDVR in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

and KPLR-TV/ KTVI in St. Louis; and

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

affiliate WTVW and ABC affiliate

WEHT WEHT (channel 25) is a television station in Evansville, Indiana, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which provides certain services to WTVW (channel 7), a ''de facto'' owned-and-operated station of The CW, u ...

(a ''de facto'' duopoly formed through Nexstar's 2011 purchase of WEHT and trade of WTVW to partner group Mission Broadcasting).

KASW KASW (channel 61) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with The CW. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside American Broadcasting Company, ABC affiliate KNXV-TV (channel 15). Both stations share studi ...

in Phoenix added a morning newscast extension from sister ABC station

KNXV-TV KNXV-TV (channel 15) is a television station in Phoenix, Arizona, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is owned by the E. W. Scripps Company alongside CW affiliate KASW (channel 61). Both stations share studios on 44th Street on the city's e ...

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 NewsNation is an American subscription television network owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and is the company's only wholly-owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel runs a mixture of entertainment programming (consistin ...

'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.

Sports programming

The CW agreed to a three-year broadcast deal in January 2023 with LIV Golf, a professional golf tour financed by

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

's Public Investment Fund, marking the first-ever national sports broadcasting contract for both the network and the tour. On February 14, 2023, the network said their LIV Golf coverage would be available in 100 percent of

media markets Media may refer to: Communication * Media (communication), tools used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Broadcast media, communications delivered over mass el ...

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. Both the network and Nexstar were criticized by the

National Press Club Organizations A press club is an organization for journalists and others professionally engaged in the production and dissemination of news. A press club whose membership is defined by the press of a given country may be known as a National Press ...

for participating in alleged

sportswashing Sportswashing is a term used to describe the practice of individuals, groups, corporations, or governments using sports to improve reputations tarnished by wrongdoing. A form of propaganda, sportswashing can be accomplished through hosting sport ...

by the Saudi government following the

assassination Assassination is the murder of a prominent or important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not have ...

of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The CW announced on July 13 that it had acquired the exclusive broadcast rights to 50

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...

(ACC) college football and basketball games each season through 2026–27, with

Raycom Sports Raycom Sports is an American producer of sports television programs. It is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, and owned and operated by Gray Television. It was founded in 1979 by husband and wife, Rick and Dee Ray. In the 1980s, Raycom ...

producing the broadcasts. On July 28, The CW announced it had picked up the media rights to the

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. On November 7, 2023, it was announced that '' WWE NXT'' would be moving to The CW from

USA Network USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison ...

in a five-year deal that will begin in October 2024. 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 Vortexx was a short-lived American Saturday morning children's television programming block that aired on The CW from August 25, 2012 to September 27, 2014. Programmed by Saban Brands, it replaced Toonzai, a block that was programmed by 4Kids Ent ...

children's programming block; The CW aired ''

SmackDown! ''WWE SmackDown'', also known as ''Friday Night SmackDown'' or simply ''SmackDown'', is an American professional wrestling television program produced by WWE that as of currently airs live every Friday at 8 p.m. ET on Fox. Fox Deportes simulc ...

'' from the network's launch to 2008. Outside of network programming, several CW affiliates have carried telecasts of

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and in some cases, other collegiate sporting events (such as

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

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 Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(the

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

) and the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(the Los Angeles Clippers on

Children's programming

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 Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

(which carried many series shared with the block and vice versa),

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

and

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

, and would sell the programming rights to the network's Saturday morning block to

4Kids Entertainment 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. (formerly known as Leisure Concepts, Inc. and later known as 4Licensing Corporation) was an American licensing company. The company was previously also a film and television production company that produced English- dub ...

(which at the time of the announcement, had produced a competing children's programming block, ''

4Kids TV 4Kids TV (often stylized as 4K!DSTV and formerly known as FoxBox from September 14, 2002 to January 15, 2005) was an American block programming, television programming block and Internet-based video on demand children's network operated by 4Kid ...

'', for

Fox Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

). ''Kids' WB'' ended its run on May 17, 2008 (though some CW affiliates that delayed the block to Sundays, such as

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 Toonzai (formerly known as The CW4Kids from May 24, 2008 to August 7, 2010, or stylized as TOONZAi) was an American Saturday morning cartoon children's television block that aired on The CW from May 24, 2008 to August 18, 2012. The block was c ...

''. 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 Chaotic was originally a Danish trading card game. It expanded to an online game in America which then became a television program based on the game. The program was able to be seen on 4Kids TV (Fox affiliates, nationwide), Jetix, The CW4Kid ...

'' as well as new seasons of ''

Yu-Gi-Oh! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuki Takahashi. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' magazine between September 1996 and March 2004. The plot follows the story of a boy named Yugi Mutou, w ...

'' and '' Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles''. The block was rebranded into ''

Toonzai Toonzai (formerly known as The CW4Kids from May 24, 2008 to August 7, 2010, or stylized as TOONZAi) was an American Saturday morning cartoon children's television block that aired on The CW from May 24, 2008 to August 18, 2012. The block was ...

'' 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. 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. Saban had acquired the agreement to program The CW's Saturday morning timeslots from 4Kids Entertainment in bankruptcy proceedings. The CW4Kids/Toonzai was replaced by ''

'' on August 25, featuring programs produced by Saban such as ''

Power Rangers Lost Galaxy ''Power Rangers Lost Galaxy'' is a tokusatsu television series and the seventh season of the ''Power Rangers'' franchise, based on the 22nd Super Sentai series ''Seijuu Sentai Gingaman''. The series was the first to follow the Sentai tradition of ...

'' and '' Digimon Fusion''. The block also carried notable third-party programming such as ''

WWE Saturday Morning Slam ''WWE Saturday Morning Slam'' is a short-lived American professional wrestling television show that was produced by the WWE. It aired as part of the ''Vortexx'' Saturday morning block launch on The CW from August 25, 2012 to May 11, 2013. The pro ...

'', which marked the return of WWE programming to the network since ''WWE Smackdown'' departed in 2008. 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 ''

'' on October 4. 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 ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and CBS. On January 7, 2016, The CW and Litton announced a five-year renewal for the block, extending it through the 2020–21 broadcast season. Starting with the 2017–18 broadcast season, the block's running time was reduced to three hours. On July 1, 2021, The CW and Litton announced another multi-year extension for the block.

Stations

The CW has 41 stations owned and/or operated by its majority owner Nexstar Media Group, and current and pending affiliation agreements with 225 additional television stations encompassing 50 states, the District of Columbia and three U.S. possessions. 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 Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

) and three U.S. territories (

American Samoa American Samoa ( sm, Amerika Sāmoa, ; also ' or ') is an unincorporated territory of the United States located in the South Pacific Ocean, southeast of the island country of Samoa. Its location is centered on . It is east of the International ...

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and Unincorporated ...

and the

United States Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands,. Also called the ''American Virgin Islands'' and the ''U.S. Virgin Islands''. officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory ...

) 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 Salisbury () is a city in and the county seat of Wicomico County, Maryland, Wicomico County, Maryland, United States, and the largest city in Eastern Shore of Maryland, the state's Eastern Shore region. The population was 33,050 at the 2020 United ...

affiliate WMDT-DT2, while New Hampshire is served by four CW stations based in three neighboring states (including Boston affiliate

WLVI WLVI (channel 56) is a television station licensed to Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, serving the Boston area as an affiliate of The CW. It is owned by Sunbeam Television alongside WHDH (channel 7), an independent station. WLVI and W ...

). 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 Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

) in a few markets, such as

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

(

KRNS-CD KRNS-CD (channel 46) is a low-power, Class A television station in Reno, Nevada, United States, affiliated with the Spanish-language UniMás network. It is owned by Entravision Communications alongside Univision affiliate KREN-TV (channel 27). Bo ...

) and Boise, Idaho (

KYUU-LD KYUU-LD (channel 35) is a low-power television station in Boise, Idaho, United States, affiliated with The CW Plus. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group alongside CBS affiliate KBOI-TV (channel 2). Both stations share studios on North 16th St ...

). 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 November 20, 2023, is KNXV-DT2 in Phoenix,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

, which maintains a secondary affiliation with Antenna TV. 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.

Digital multicasting and cable television

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 market A media market, broadcast market, media region, designated market area (DMA), television market area, or simply market is a region where the population can receive the same (or similar) television and radio station offerings, and may also incl ...

s) through

The CW Plus The CW Plus is a secondary national programming service feed of The CW that is fully controlled and 75% owned by Nexstar Media Group, with Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery each owning a 12.5% stake in the network. It is intended primar ...

, 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 In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a method of transmitting more than one independent program stream simultaneously from the same digital radio or television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compress ...

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

infomercial An infomercial is a form of television commercial that resembles regular TV programming yet is intended to promote or sell a product, service or idea. It generally includes a toll-free telephone number or website. Most often used as a form of dire ...

s) 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 ''Superstation'' (alternatively rendered as "super station" or informally as "SuperStation") is a term in North American broadcasting that has several meanings. Commonly, a "superstation" is a form of distant signal, a terrestrial television, br ...

feed of WGN-TV at the time, from January 1995 to October 1999 and network-operated

The WB 100+ Station Group The WB 100+ Station Group (originally called The WeB from its developmental stages until March 1999) was a national programming service of The WB—owned by the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of Time Warner, the Tribune Company, and group fo ...

(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 Toledo 5, The CW (formerly ToledoVision 5 and Toledo's WB 5) was a cable channel serving Northwest Ohio, primarily serving the city of Toledo and Northwest Ohio. The channel was operated by Buckeye Cablesystem, and was originally exclusive to ...

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Lucas County, Ohio, United States. A major Midwestern United States port city, Toledo is the fourth-most populous city in the state of Ohio, after Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati, and according ...

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 Buckeye Broadband (formerly known as the Buckeye CableSystem from August 1996 until May 2016, and as The CableSystem prior to August 1996) is a cable and telecommunications company located in Toledo, Ohio, owned by Block Communications (which al ...

(WT05 now exists as "CW13," having been converted into a digital subchannel of

-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 Winchester is the most north western independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. It is the county seat of Frederick County, although the two are separate jurisdictions. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Winchester wit ...

-based TV3 Winchester until Gray shut the channel down in December 2013).

Affiliate issues

Problems with Time Warner Cable

Some

Time Warner Cable Time Warner Cable, Inc. (TWC) was an American cable television company. Before it was acquired by Charter Communications on May 18, 2016, it was ranked the second largest cable company in the United States by revenue behind only Comcast, operat ...

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 Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

;

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the county seat, seat of El Paso County, Texas, El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau w ...

;

Honolulu Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island ...

, Hawaii;

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by land a ...

; Beaumont;

Waco Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...

and

Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi (; Ecclesiastical Latin: "'' Body of Christ"'') is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat and largest city of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patrici ...

, 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 (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 Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...

affiliate

WSTQ-LP WSTQ-LP (channel 14) is a defunct low-power television station in Syracuse, New York, United States, which operated from 2000 to 2021. In its latter years, it was owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group as an affiliate of The CW; it had common owners ...

could only be viewed on

digital cable Digital cable is the distribution of cable television using digital data and video compression. The technology was first developed by General Instrument. By 2000, most cable companies offered digital features, eventually replacing their previou ...

channel 266 in the

Ithaca Ithaca most commonly refers to: *Homer's Ithaca, an island featured in Homer's ''Odyssey'' *Ithaca (island), an island in Greece, possibly Homer's Ithaca *Ithaca, New York, a city, and home of Cornell University and Ithaca College Ithaca, Ithaka ...

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 WPKD-TV (channel 19), branded KDKA+, is an independent television station licensed to Jeannette, Pennsylvania, United States, serving the Pittsburgh area. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside KDKA-TV (channel 2), the mark ...

) in

, 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 Beaumont is a coastal city in the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat, seat of government of Jefferson County, Texas, Jefferson County, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur, Texas, Port Arthur Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan area, metropo ...

CBS station

KFDM KFDM (channel 6) is a television station in Beaumont, Texas, United States, affiliated with CBS, The CW Plus, and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to Port Arthur–licensed Dabl affiliate KBTV-TV (cha ...

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. On April 21, 2007, KCWQ-LP made its broadcast debut on channel 5 on Time Warner Cable in the Palm Springs area.

Pappas Telecasting bankruptcy

One of the network's major affiliate groups,

Pappas Telecasting Companies Pappas Telecasting Companies was a diversely organized broadcasting company headquartered in Visalia, California, United States. Founded in 1971, it was one of the largest privately held broadcasting companies in the country, with its stations r ...

, filed for

Chapter 11 bankruptcy Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...

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. 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 Yakima ( or ) is a city in and the county seat of Yakima County, Washington, and the state's 11th-largest city by population. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 96,968 and a metropolitan population of 256,728. The uninco ...

affiliate

KCWK KCWK (channel 9) is a defunct television station licensed to Walla Walla, Washington, United States. Owned by Pappas Telecasting, it was most recently affiliated with The CW, and had a low-power repeater (KCWK-LP, channel 27) in Yakima. The stati ...

(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 Columbus is a consolidated city-county located on the west-central border of the U.S. state of Georgia. Columbus lies on the Chattahoochee River directly across from Phenix City, Alabama. It is the county seat of Muscogee County, with which it ...

lost its CW affiliation in April 2009 to a subchannel of NBC affiliate

WLTZ WLTZ (channel 38) is a television station in Columbus, Georgia, United States, affiliated with NBC and The CW Plus. It is owned by SagamoreHill Broadcasting, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with Gray Television, owner of ABC a ...

because of the network's concerns about Pappas' financial state; 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 Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV) is an American free-to-air television network owned by the NBC Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs classic television series from the 1960s to the 2000s. The network origina ...

affiliate).

Marianas Media bankruptcy

Marianas Media signed on KTKB-LD in

Hagåtña, Guam Hagåtña (; ; formerly in English: Agana , in Spanish: Agaña) is the capital village of the United States territory of Guam. From the 18th through mid-20th century, it was Guam's population center, but today it is the second smallest of the ...

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 Inc., forced the station off the air on March 31, 2011. The station resumed operations the following year.

Tribune's relations with The CW

While

Tribune Media Tribune Media Company, also known as Tribune Company, was an American multimedia conglomerate headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Through Tribune Broadcasting, Tribune Media was one of the largest television broadcasting companies, owning 39 ...

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), adding to more questions surrounding The CW's future. In a March 2008 seminar by Tribune's then-chairman and CEO

Sam Zell Samuel Zell (born Shmuel Zielonka, September 28, 1941) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. A former lawyer, Zell is the founder and chairman of Equity Group Investments, a private investment firm, founded in 1968. He has ...

, 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 XETV-TDT (channels 6 and 16) is a television station located in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico, broadcasting programs from Canal 5 (Mexico), Canal 5 and Nueve (Mexican TV network), NU9VE. Its terrestrial television, terrestrial signal also cov ...

, which had been a Fox charter affiliate since that network's October 1986 inception. XETV (which is licensed to

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

Baja California Baja California (; 'Lower California'), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Baja California), is a state in Mexico. It is the northernmost and westernmost of the 32 federal entities of Mex ...

, Mexico under the ownership of Grupo Televisa but whose U.S. operations are programmed by

Bay City Television A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narr ...

) was not informed of Zell's deal until it was made public. 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". 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). Some of these stations eventually began reincorporating the CW branding starting in 2011, such as KDAF/Dallas, KIAH/Houston and

KRCW-TV KRCW-TV (channel 32) is a television station licensed to Salem, Oregon, United States, serving as the CW outlet for the Portland area. It is owned and operated by network majority owner Nexstar Media Group alongside CBS affiliate KOIN (chann ...

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. Tribune Company president and CEO

Peter Liguori Peter Liguori (born January 7, 1960) is an American business executive who most recently held the position of president and chief executive officer of Tribune Media; he departed the company at the end of March 2017. He was appointed to the positio ...

said in a May 2014 discussion at the MoffettNathanson Media & Communications Summit that he was "not pleased with where the CW is n regards to its ratings performance" stating that the network "should not program to oungpeople who don't watch onventionaltelevision." 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. Speaking at

Goldman Sachs Goldman Sachs () is an American multinational investment bank and financial services company. Founded in 1869, Goldman Sachs is headquartered at 200 West Street in Lower Manhattan, with regional headquarters in London, Warsaw, Bangalore, H ...

' 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 Discovery, Inc. was an American multinational mass media factual television conglomerate based in New York City. Established in 1985, the company operated a group of factual and lifestyle television brands, such as the namesake Discovery Chann ...

), saying that " iguoriwould 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 BS'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). In an October 2014 interview with ''

Broadcasting & Cable ''Broadcasting & Cable'' (or ''Broadcasting+Cable'') is a weekly telecommunications industry trade magazine published by Future US. Previous names included ''Broadcasting-Telecasting'', ''Broadcasting and Broadcast Advertising'', and ''Broadcast ...

'', 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 sratings and the positive critical response to the new primetime lineup. In particular, W CEO Mark Pedowitzhas 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." 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 Ott, OTT or O.T.T. may refer to: Entertainment * OTT (group), a pop band from the late 1990s * Ott (record producer), British record producer and musician * "O.T.T" (song), a song by Fugative * ''O.T.T.'' (television series), a UK TV programme f ...

service. The impasse in negotiations resulted in a months-long standoff between the two groups. 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 WGN-TV (channel 9) is an Independent station (North America), independent television station in Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by Nexstar Media Group, it is sister station, sister to the company's sole radio property, talk ra ...

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. The CW affiliation moved to WPWR-TV, a Fox Television Stations-owned MyNetworkTV station. On September 19, 2019, Tribune Media was acquired by Nexstar Media Group.

Roberts Broadcasting bankruptcy

Roberts Broadcasting Roberts Broadcasting Company is a media company based in St. Louis, Missouri. It is a subsidiary of the parent company, the Roberts Companies, one of the largest African American-owned conglomerates. It is co-owned by brothers Steven Roberts, Presid ...

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 WRBU (channel 46) is a television station licensed to East St. Louis, Illinois, United States, broadcasting the Ion Television network to the St. Louis, Missouri area. Owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company ...

Columbia, South Carolina Columbia is the capital of the U.S. state of South Carolina. With a population of 136,632 at the 2020 census, it is the second-largest city in South Carolina. The city serves as the county seat of Richland County, and a portion of the city ...

(

WZRB WZRB (channel 47) is a television station in Columbia, South Carolina, United States, airing programming from the Ion Television network. owned-and-operated station, Owned and operated by the Ion Media subsidiary of the E. W. Scripps Company, th ...

) and

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson, officially the City of Jackson, is the Capital city, capital of and the List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city in the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city is also one of two county seats of Hinds County, Mississippi, ...

(

WRBJ-TV WRBJ-TV (channel 34) is a religious television station licensed to Magee, Mississippi, United States, serving the Jackson, Hattiesburg and Meridian television markets as an owned-and-operated station of the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). ...

) 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

WAZE-TV WAZE-TV (channel 19) is a defunct television station licensed to Madisonville, Kentucky, United States. It served the Evansville, Indiana television market from 1983 to 2013, and was most recently affiliated with The CW. The station's transmitt ...

, had instead affiliated with The WB prior to 2006, as it was owned by

South Central Communications South Central Incorporated (Formally South Central Communications) is a privately owned company based in Evansville, Indiana, and owned and operated by the Engelbrecht family: John D. Engelbrecht (President & CEO), JP Engelbrecht (Vice-President & ...

until February 2007). The company had also been hit with lawsuits from Warner Bros. Television, Twentieth Television and

CBS Television Distribution CBS Media Ventures, Inc. (formerly CBS Television Distribution, Inc. and CBS Paramount Domestic Television, Inc.) is an American television distribution company owned by CBS Studios, part of CBS Entertainment Group, a division of Paramount Glob ...

over its failure to pay fees for syndicated programming; Roberts eventually settled with Twentieth but lost the Warner Bros. and CBS cases. On March 24, 2011, the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains jurisdiction ...

(FCC) canceled WAZE's license for Roberts' failure to construct its digital transmitter facilities. However, the station continued to broadcast via its three-station analog

translator Translation is the communication of the Meaning (linguistic), meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The ...

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. On October 22, 2012, Roberts announced that it had sold WRBJ to the Trinity Broadcasting Network; the deal was approved by a bankruptcy court on January 17, 2013, with TBN officially taking over operational control of WRBJ five months later on May 24 (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. On December 2, 2013, Roberts filed to sell WZRB to Radiant Light Ministries, a subsidiary of Tri-State Christian Television, for $2 million. On December 4, Roberts also filed to sell WRBU to TCT for $5.5 million. 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. 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. The CW affiliation in Columbia moved to

WKTC WKTC (channel 63) is a television station licensed to Sumter, South Carolina, United States, serving the Columbia area as an affiliate of MyNetworkTV and Telemundo. The station is locally owned by WBHQ Columbia, LLC, and maintains studios in th ...

(with MyNetworkTV, which the station had already been affiliated with, being relegated to a secondary affiliation) in March 2014, 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

In July 2023, Nexstar implemented a blackout of The CW, along with its affiliates for other major broadcast networks, on

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. It ...

, 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. In August 2023, Nexstar reached a renewal agreement with

for 35 markets, including restoring broadcasting of The CW on DirecTV Stream in 21 markets. Nexstar and DirecTV signed a new multi-year agreement on September 17, 2023, allowing the latter to resume broadcasting and streaming The CW.

Related services

Video-on-demand services

The CW provides

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

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 app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

s for

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

and

Android Android may refer to: Science and technology * Android (robot), a humanoid robot or synthetic organism designed to imitate a human * Android (operating system), Google's mobile operating system ** Bugdroid, a Google mascot sometimes referred to ...

devices (with programs streamable over

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

and cellular networks), a traditional VOD service – called The CW on Demand – that is available on most traditional cable and IPTV providers, and through content deals with

Hulu Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television serie ...

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

and

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fil ...

. 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 Copyright infringement (at times referred to as piracy) is the use of works protected by copyright without permission for a usage where such permission is required, thereby infringing certain exclusive rights granted to the copyright holder, s ...

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. 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). 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. 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. 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. Beginning in 2020, WarnerMedia streaming service

(later rebranded to

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

under Warner Bros. Discovery) would be the exclusive streaming home for Warners-produced CW shows. 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 Comcast Corporation (formerly known as American Cable Systems and Comcast Holdings),Before the AT&T merger in 2001, the parent company was Comcast Holdings Corporation. Comcast Holdings Corporation now refers to a subsidiary of Comcast Corpora ...

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 Comcast Cable Communications, LLC, doing business as Xfinity, is an American telecommunications company and division of Comcast Corporation used to market consumer cable television, internet, telephone, and wireless services provided by the com ...

systems nationwide on October 25.

High-definition feed

The CW's master feed is transmitted in

1080i 1080i (also known as Full HD or BT.709) is a combination of frame resolution and scan type. 1080i is used in high-definition television (HDTV) and high-definition video. The number "1080" refers to the number of horizontal lines on the screen. ...

high definition High definition or HD may refer to: Visual technologies *HD DVD, discontinued optical disc format *HD Photo, former name for the JPEG XR image file format *HDV, format for recording high-definition video onto magnetic tape * HiDef, 24 frames-pe ...

, with all transmission of the network's programming moving to the format in June 2012. All of the network's prime time 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 A holiday is a day set aside by custom or by law on which normal activities, especially business or work including school, are suspended or reduced. Generally, holidays are intended to allow individuals to celebrate or commemorate an event or tra ...

special carried over to the network from The WB) and select movie presentations. The network's Saturday morning E/I block,

, is also broadcast in HD, with the final SD program, the two-season daytime talk show ''

The Robert Irvine Show ''The Robert Irvine Show'' is an American daytime talk show hosted by Robert Irvine and produced by Tribune Studios and Irwin Entertainment. The show premiered on The CW on September 12, 2016, as part of their late afternoon timeslot, and repla ...

'' converting to the format for its second to last season in September 2017 (and in turn ending American broadcast network 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 480i is the video mode used for standard-definition digital television in the Caribbean, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Laos, Western Sahara, and most of the Americas (with the exception of Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay). The ''480 ...

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 720p (1280×720 px; also called HD ready, standard HD or just HD) is a progressive HDTV signal format with 720 horizontal lines/1280 columns and an aspect ratio (AR) of 16:9, normally known as widescreen HDTV (1.78:1). All major HDTV broadcast ...

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 16:9 framing for all of their graphics in August 2020. All the HD programming are broadcast in

5.1 surround sound 5.1 surround sound ("five-point one") is the common name for surround sound audio systems. 5.1 is the most commonly used layout in home theatres. It uses five full bandwidth channels and one low-frequency effects channel (the "point one"). Dolb ...

CW Seed

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. 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. The free media app became available on several devices, including Roku and Amazon Fire TV. CW Seed produced various web series, including '' Vixen,'' '' Freedom Fighters: The Ray'', and '' Constantine: City of Demons''. On January 8, 2020, CW Seed acquired U.S. streaming rights to 14 series from

BBC Studios BBC Studios is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide. ...

. 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 Nikita may refer to: * Nikita (given name) * Nikita, Crimea, a town in Crimea * Nikita the Tanner, a character in East Slavic folklore Film and television *''Little Nikita'', a 1988 film * ''La Femme Nikita'' (film), also known as ''Nikita'', a 19 ...

'', and '' XIII: The Conspiracy''. The CW Seed app and website were reabsorbed into The CW's in April 2022.

Footnotes

References

External links

* (Site only accessible from within the United States) {{DEFAULTSORT:CW, The The CW Nexstar Media Group CBS Television Network Warner Bros. Discovery networks Joint ventures Companies based in Burbank, California Television networks in the United States Television channels and stations established in 2006 2006 establishments in the United States 2022 mergers and acquisitions

History

1993–2006: Predecessors and formation

2006–2011: Launch and early struggles

2011–2016: New leadership and content shift

2016–2021: Streaming era deals