UPN and WB to merge

[Scott Greczkowski]

http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/24/news/companies/cbs_warner/index.htm?cnn=yes
'Gilmore Girls' meet 'Smackdown'

CW Network to combine WB, UPN in CBS-Warner venture beginning in September.

By Jessica Seid, CNNMoney.com staff writer
January 24, 2006: 1:01 PM EST



NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) - Warner Brothers and CBS Corp. announced plans Tuesday for the creation of a new broadcast television network, called CW, that would replace the WB and UPN networks in the fall of this year.

The new broadcast network will draw on programming from both WB and UPN, and will be a joint venture between Warner Bros. and CBS (Research), with each company owning 50 percent, officials of both companies said.

"This new network will serve the public with high-quality programming and maintain our ongoing commitment to our diverse audience," said Les Moonves, the chairman of CBS, in a statement (see video).
Prime time programming will target the profitable 18-34 age group, officials of Warner and CBS said.

The new network will broadcast such UPN shows as "America's Next Top Model" and "Veronica Mars," as well as WB programs "Beauty and the Geek" and "Smallville."

In addition, World Wrestling Entertainment's "Smackdown," which has been a mainstay at UPN, is expected to play a role in the schedule. The new fall line up is expected to be announced in May.

UPN and the WB have struggled to attract viewers from the four established networks since they were launched in the mid-1990s. But each has its strengths.

The WB has had some hits throughout its history, particularly with younger audiences, having done well lately with shows such as "Smallville" and "Gilmore Girls."

UPN has recently gained some critical acclaim and strong ratings for its sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris," which airs on Thursday nights and fared well against shows such as NBC's "Joey" and Fox's "The O.C."
Both networks will cease operations in September, broadcasting their respective network schedules independently until then.
Dawn Ostroff, currently president of UPN, will become president of entertainment, and John Maatta, currently chief operating officer of the WB, will become chief operating officer of the CW.

The new network will employ a lot of the same people, "but there will be one person where there used to be two" throughout CW, said James Gross, an analyst with Barrington Research, suggesting that there may be more executive jumbling in the works.
Warner Brothers Entertainment is a division of Time Warner (Research), as is CNNMoney.com.

 

[TBarclay]

I wonder how they will decide which stations will affiliate with the newly-combined network. Since CBS is involved, I would guess the CBS-owned UPN affiliates will get first dibs.

 

[Alan Gordon]

I wonder how they will decide which stations will affiliate with the newly-combined network. Since CBS is involved, I would guess the CBS-owned UPN affiliates will get first dibs.

They're splitting it up in the O&O cities. Atlanta's CW network will be WUPA.

~Alan

 

[Peter Parker]

Tribune owned part of the WB. So it may be more complicated than that.

 

[BFG]

lol, viacom just created a wb affiliate in WPB, by buying a low power station that is only carried on cable. I guess this means I'll be able to see some WB shows again in september and this time in HD!

 

[Peter Parker]

From the press release

The 16 Tribune affiliated stations will include New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Dallas, Washington, D.C., Houston, Miami, Denver, St. Louis, Portland, Indianapolis, San Diego, Hartford, New Orleans and Albany. The 12 CBS Station Group television markets will include Philadelphia, San Francisco, Atlanta, Detroit, Tampa, Seattle, Sacramento, Pittsburgh, West Palm Beach, Norfolk, Oklahoma City and Providence. Together, these top two station groups cover the top 13 television markets, 20 of the top 25 television markets and have a total coverage area of more than 48% of the country.

 

[Stargazer]

Oh well, if my local WB market shuts off their WB/UPN feeds that they currently get I will just remain watching the CW network on my superstations package unless the FCC denies us access to that. If we cannot get a CW network locally though wouldnt that automatically make us eligible to get the national CW network if the FCC denies many from getting the superstations package?

 

[Harrelson 69]

What's going to happen to the NYC channels?

What's going to happen to Channel 11(wb) and Channel 9(upn) in new york? They both can't have the same programming right?

 

[korsjs]

i like this idea. get rid of the crap and combine the good stuff.

 

[shappyss]

What's going to happen to Channel 11(wb) and Channel 9(upn) in new york? They both can't have the same programming right?

and WB has the mets and UPN has the yankees although these contracts change often

 

[DarrellP]

In Portland, they are a joint venture, broadcasting from the same control station and tower.

 

[bpickell]

Does anyone know if this CW network is going to be HD like the WB is? Over the air here I only get UPN and its not HD, however the WB that is on cable is. So when they combine is it going to take the channel space of UPN and not be HD or will it take the place of the WB and be HD?

 

[Peter Parker]

They are negotiating agreements in different markets now. Sometimes it will be an ex WB affiliate sometimes an ex UPN affiliate. Where are you?

 

[bpickell]

Fort Wayne Indiana

 

[cablewithaview]

Local station drops UPN shows (KQEG-TV in La Crosse)

The fallout of the announced blending of the WB and UPN networks will be felt by Charter Communications cable subscribers as soon as Saturday.

KQEG-TV in La Crosse, the local UPN affiliate, will drop the network as of Friday, said Eleanor St. John, majority owner and managing partner of the station.

“I've chosen to go independent,” St. John said Tuesday, declining to comment on why she is doing that now rather than waiting until UPN shuts down. The station will continue working with the FamilyNet network, which has been its secondary affiliate and provides some of its programming.

“We're investigating some things” as far as more affiliations, St. John said. The station will immediately add more local programming as well as other programming as it ends its UPN affiliation, she said. It already provides more than 10 hours of local programming a week, she said.

KQEG is carried on cable channel 9 on Charter's cable lineup.

UPN carries such shows as “America's Top Model” and “WWE Smackdown!”


It was announced Tuesday the UPN and The WB networks will shut down this fall, and programming from both will be used to launch The CW network, aimed mainly at young and minority viewers.

The “C” comes from CBS Corp. and the “W” from Warner Bros., each of which will own half of the new entity and contribute programs, assets and executives to the new venture.

Early indications are WXOW-TV in La Crosse will be the local operators for the new The CW television network when it debuts this fall, station officials said Wednesday. WXOW is the sister station of WQOW-TV in Eau Claire


WXOW-TV has operated the local WB affiliate, WBCZ-TV, since it began in 1998. WBCZ-TV is carried on area cable TV systems, and doesn't broadcast over the air. On the Charter lineup, it is cable channel 15.

Chuck Roth, WXOW-TV vice president and general manager, predicted The CW network will be carried on cable TV systems. He had no prediction whether it eventually will be broadcast over the air in this area.

“Our relationship with WB has worked out very well,” Roth said. “They've been happy with our involvement, and the station has been very pleased. They've told us they'd like to see it continue as it has been” with The CW. “We anticipate it will,” but many details have to be worked out, Roth said.


Subscribers of satellite services, such as Dish Network and DirecTV, offer alternative sources of WB and UPN programming.

http://www.chippewa.com/articles/2006/01/26/news/news4.txt

 

[cablewithaview]

UPN, WB dial up new network (WWWB/ WJZY)

Manager of WWWB, WJZY says parent will seek `CW' affiliation
MARK WASHBURN
TV/Radio Writer

WWE's thundering "Smackdown" will be moving in with the cerebral "The Gilmore Girls" as rival TV netlets WB and UPN announced on Tuesday they are merging.

Beginning this fall, an alliance of the two networks called The CW will debut on many former affiliates, though where it will land in Charlotte is not yet known.

Executives said The CW will offer the most popular shows from UPN and The WB -- programs targeted at the 18-34 age demographic that advertisers covet -- including "America's Next Top Model," "Smallville," "Veronica Mars," "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Reba."

"We will be creating a viable entity, one well-equipped to compete, thrive and serve all our many publics in this multi-channel media universe," CBS President Leslie Moonves said.

CBS, which owns UPN, will co-own the new venture with Warner Bros. Entertainment, which operates The WB.

In Charlotte, UPN programming airs on WJZY (Channel 46) and WB shows are carried by WWWB (Channel 55). Both are owned by Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting.

Will Davis, general manager of Capitol's two Charlotte stations, said he intends to seek affiliation with The CW. "I'm not taking it for granted," he said. "We're going after it."

Already, WJZY is one of UPN's strongest performing carriers, landing consistently in the top 10 of affiliates in local ratings for network shows, he said. Overall, it is tied with UPN's Atlanta affiliate as the network's fifth highest-ranked in the nation.

Monday night's block of African American-themed comedies, for example, sometimes draw nearly twice as many viewers in Charlotte than they do across the nation.

Another home for the new network in Charlotte could be WAXN (Channel 64), the independent owned by Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, which also owns WSOC (Channel 9).

"We always look at every opportunity," said Lee Armstrong, general manager of WAXN and WSOC. "We have what we consider to be a pretty strong schedule. We'd have to think it through and assess it like any other opportunity if it were presented to us."

Davis said if WJZY gets The CW, programming WWWB would be no problem. The company might be able to increase the number of Charlotte Bobcats games or increase games from the Atlantic Coast Conference college sports schedule it shares with WBTV (Channel 3).

Movie packages and syndicated shows are available, and Capitol has contracts to add syndicated reruns of the sitcoms "According to Jim" and "Scrubs" in Charlotte beginning next fall, Davis said.

Fighting for same audience

The merger of The WB and UPN, both launched in 1995, marks the first time a commercial broadcast network has disappeared since DuMont went out of business in 1955.The WB and UPN, each targeting the youthful demographic that mainstream broadcasters find increasingly difficult to reach, have struggled financially.

Both faced high production costs for original programming but produced few breakout hits. They were widely viewed as fringe channels against the big four -- ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

During the last sweeps period in November, UPN averaged about 3.7 million viewers nightly and WB about 3.5 million, meaning they were viewed in less than 3 percent of U.S. households, both down slightly from a year earlier. By comparison, No. 1 CBS was viewed in more than 9 percent of households, reaching 14.6 million people.

The CW will copy The WB's prime-time scheduling approach of airing shows weeknights 8-10 p.m., Sunday 7-10 p.m. and offering no programming on Saturday nights, the weakest viewing night.

Since 1995, the networks competed vigorously, a rivalry that reached a bitter apex in 2001 when UPN lured the teen cult classic "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" away from The WB.

Warner Bros. responded by killing Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in the final episode for its network, forcing a cemetery resurrection for the UPN debut.

New Face Come Fall

The new network called The CW (the C from partner CBS, and the W from Warner Bros.) will debut in the fall with the best of UPN and The WB. Here is the early handicapping from TV writer Mark Washburn.

Shows likely to survive

• "Everybody Hates Chris," UPN.

• "America's Next Top Model," UPN.

• "Beauty and the Geek," WB.

• "Smallville," WB.

• "Gilmore Girls," WB.

• "Supernatural," WB.

• "Veronica Mars," UPN.

• "Girlfriends," UPN.

• "Reba," WB.

Maybe, maybe not

• "One on One," UPN.

• "All of Us," UPN.

• "Half & Half," UPN.

• "Eve," UPN.

• "One Tree Hill," WB.

• "What I Like About You," WB.

• "Living With Fran," WB.

• "Twins," WB.

• "Charmed," WB.

Say goodbye to ...

• "7th Heaven," WB.

• "South Beach, UPN.

• "Cuts," UPN.

• "Related," WB.

• "Love, Inc.," UPN.

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/charlotte/business/13705148.htm?source=rss&channel=charlotte_business

 

[cablewithaview]

RTN to Launch Fall Programming to Fill UPN, WB Vacancies

RTN Television Network announced Thursday it will launch three hours of original weeknight programming beginning Sept. 1, in response to the upcoming programming breach created by the merger of The WB and UPN networks.

The first show announced: an hour-long variety-talk show hosted by former "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" host Robin Leach. It will be a barter format.

"It's a very exciting time," said Neal Ardman, the general manager of Equity Broadcasting's WB affiliate KWBF-TV in Little Rock, Ark., and president of Little Rock-based RTN.

He said RTN is negotiating with studios for other programming, including game and talk vehicles and comedies. Currently it produces two other original shows, one the sometimes racy "Confessions Live" in late night Friday and the other "Retrojams by Request," a Sunday night video show.

Mr. Ardman said Mr. Leach's show will originate from studios in Las Vegas (where Mr. Leach's attempt last year to get an all-Vegas channel off the ground ended in acrimony and lawsuits), New York, Dallas and Little Rock.

http://www.tvweek.com/news.cms?newsId=9282

 

[cablewithaview]

Sinclair will reveal WB, UPN stations' fate in February

In the wake of news that television networks UPN and WB are merging to form a new network called CW, Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group, which operates affiliates under both flags in Nashville, said it would address the changes when it announces earnings Feb. 8.

Nashville is one of four markets — along with Birmingham, Ala., Milwaukee and Raleigh, N.C. — in which Sinclair operates both the WB and UPN affiliates. Here, the stations affected are WNAB-Channel 58 and WUXP-Channel 30, respectively. Sinclair also operates Nashville's FOX affiliate, WZTV-Channel 17.

A news release issued by the company earlier this week indicated that "approximately 1% to 1.5%" of the company's net broadcast revenue would be at risk as a result of the merger.

Sinclair President and CEO David Smith said in a news release that executives "look forward to having a more in-depth discussion" when year-end results are revealed.

http://tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060126/BUSINESS01/601260409/1436/BUSINESS

(NOTE: It has been said that WTTO in Birmingham will carry the CW Network)

 

[cablewithaview]

Kicking Upn To The Curb

January 26, 2006 -- IF UPN can live without Ch. 9, then Ch. 9 can live without UPN.

Fox-owned Ch. 9 yesterday removed the "UPN" from its on-screen logo and renamed its nightly newscast, which is now called "9 News at 10" — deleting any reference to UPN.

The abrupt changes came in the wake of Tuesday's mega-merger between UPN and The WB — creating The CW network and leaving Ch. 9 out in the cold without a network affiliation.

UPN will not officially go out of business until the August merger, but Ch. 9 moved quickly to distance itself from the network that cut the station off without notice.

Ch. 9 is owned by Fox, a division of News Corp., which also owns The Post.

Yesterday, Ch. 9 and Fox execs were scrambling to fill in its prime-time schedule for next fall.

The station has only eight months to figure out how to fill 13 hours of prime-time once occupied by UPN shows like "America's Next Top Model" and "Veronica Mars."

Experts say Ch. 9 could always borrow some shows from corporate cousins Fox and cable network FX.

"Fox may pull the reigns in and take some stuff from FX or re-purpose something off their own network — maybe get a second run of 'Bones' on Ch. 9," says a high-placed syndication source.

" 'The Shield' has been sold into syndication already, but what about 'Rescue Me' or 'Nip/Tuck'? Those would be kind of challenging shows for broadcast, but that's possible."

Another possibility for Ch. 9 could be to air syndicated shows. But that market is extremely thin.

"There's no major stuff available in syndication. Shows like 'The George Lopez Show' are spoken for, and the cupboard is pretty bare in the sitcom market," says the source. "New York is traditionally an extremely tight marketplace with options that are kind of narrow.

"But this [UPN-WB] event is so huge that it may shake free some stuff that none of us could've expected a couple of months ago.

"Given the limitation of what the syndication community can do, I suspect what you see [on Ch. 9] in the fall of 2006 may not much resemble what you'll see in the fall of 2007 — or even next January."

http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/62287.htm

 

[Stargazer]

Manager of WWWB, WJZY says parent will seek `CW' affiliation
MARK WASHBURN
TV/Radio Writer

WWE's thundering "Smackdown" will be moving in with the cerebral "The Gilmore Girls" as rival TV netlets WB and UPN announced on Tuesday they are merging.

Beginning this fall, an alliance of the two networks called The CW will debut on many former affiliates, though where it will land in Charlotte is not yet known.

Executives said The CW will offer the most popular shows from UPN and The WB -- programs targeted at the 18-34 age demographic that advertisers covet -- including "America's Next Top Model," "Smallville," "Veronica Mars," "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Reba."

"We will be creating a viable entity, one well-equipped to compete, thrive and serve all our many publics in this multi-channel media universe," CBS President Leslie Moonves said.

CBS, which owns UPN, will co-own the new venture with Warner Bros. Entertainment, which operates The WB.

In Charlotte, UPN programming airs on WJZY (Channel 46) and WB shows are carried by WWWB (Channel 55). Both are owned by Raleigh-based Capitol Broadcasting.

Will Davis, general manager of Capitol's two Charlotte stations, said he intends to seek affiliation with The CW. "I'm not taking it for granted," he said. "We're going after it."

Already, WJZY is one of UPN's strongest performing carriers, landing consistently in the top 10 of affiliates in local ratings for network shows, he said. Overall, it is tied with UPN's Atlanta affiliate as the network's fifth highest-ranked in the nation.

Monday night's block of African American-themed comedies, for example, sometimes draw nearly twice as many viewers in Charlotte than they do across the nation.

Another home for the new network in Charlotte could be WAXN (Channel 64), the independent owned by Atlanta-based Cox Enterprises, which also owns WSOC (Channel 9).

"We always look at every opportunity," said Lee Armstrong, general manager of WAXN and WSOC. "We have what we consider to be a pretty strong schedule. We'd have to think it through and assess it like any other opportunity if it were presented to us."

Davis said if WJZY gets The CW, programming WWWB would be no problem. The company might be able to increase the number of Charlotte Bobcats games or increase games from the Atlantic Coast Conference college sports schedule it shares with WBTV (Channel 3).

Movie packages and syndicated shows are available, and Capitol has contracts to add syndicated reruns of the sitcoms "According to Jim" and "Scrubs" in Charlotte beginning next fall, Davis said.

Fighting for same audience

The merger of The WB and UPN, both launched in 1995, marks the first time a commercial broadcast network has disappeared since DuMont went out of business in 1955.The WB and UPN, each targeting the youthful demographic that mainstream broadcasters find increasingly difficult to reach, have struggled financially.

Both faced high production costs for original programming but produced few breakout hits. They were widely viewed as fringe channels against the big four -- ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

During the last sweeps period in November, UPN averaged about 3.7 million viewers nightly and WB about 3.5 million, meaning they were viewed in less than 3 percent of U.S. households, both down slightly from a year earlier. By comparison, No. 1 CBS was viewed in more than 9 percent of households, reaching 14.6 million people.

The CW will copy The WB's prime-time scheduling approach of airing shows weeknights 8-10 p.m., Sunday 7-10 p.m. and offering no programming on Saturday nights, the weakest viewing night.

Since 1995, the networks competed vigorously, a rivalry that reached a bitter apex in 2001 when UPN lured the teen cult classic "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" away from The WB.

Warner Bros. responded by killing Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) in the final episode for its network, forcing a cemetery resurrection for the UPN debut.

New Face Come Fall

The new network called The CW (the C from partner CBS, and the W from Warner Bros.) will debut in the fall with the best of UPN and The WB. Here is the early handicapping from TV writer Mark Washburn.

Shows likely to survive

• "Everybody Hates Chris," UPN.

• "America's Next Top Model," UPN.

• "Beauty and the Geek," WB.

• "Smallville," WB.

• "Gilmore Girls," WB.

• "Supernatural," WB.

• "Veronica Mars," UPN.

• "Girlfriends," UPN.

• "Reba," WB.

Maybe, maybe not

• "One on One," UPN.

• "All of Us," UPN.

• "Half & Half," UPN.

• "Eve," UPN.

• "One Tree Hill," WB.

• "What I Like About You," WB.

• "Living With Fran," WB.

• "Twins," WB.

• "Charmed," WB.

Say goodbye to ...

• "7th Heaven," WB.

• "South Beach, UPN.

• "Cuts," UPN.

• "Related," WB.

• "Love, Inc.," UPN.

http://www.centredaily.com/mld/charlotte/business/13705148.htm?source=rss&channel=charlotte_business

They left out EVERWOOD! HUGE oversight!