The CW Network, LLC, commonly referred to as the CW, is an American commercial broadcast television network that is controlled by Nexstar Media Group, which holds an 81.1% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the first letters of the names of its two founding co-owners, CBS Corporation and Time Warner Inc., which were succeeded by Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery respectively. Nexstar acquired a 75% controlling stake in the network on October 3, 2022, with Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery (now both merged into Skydance Corporation), the respective successor companies of CBS Corporation and Time Warner, each retaining a 12.5% ownership stake. By June 2026, Nexstar had upped its controlling stake in the network to 81.1%, with Skydance Corporation controlling 18.9%.
The CW debuted on September 18, 2006, as the successor to UPN and the WB, which had both shut down that month. Its first two nights of programming—on September 18, 2006, and September 19, 2006—consisted of reruns and launch-related specials. The CW marked its formal launch date on September 20, 2006, with the two-hour premiere of the seventh cycle of America's Next Top Model. The network's programming lineup is intended to appeal mainly to viewers between the ages of 18 and 34, although from 2008 to 2011 the network shifted its programming to appeal to women in that demographic. As of August 2017, the network's audience was evenly split between men and women.
The CW runs programming seven days a week: airing nightly in prime time along with a Saturday morning live-action educational programming block produced by Hearst Media Production Group called One Magnificent Morning.
The CW is also available in Canada on pay television providers through stations owned-and-operated by Nexstar and on affiliates owned by others that are located within proximity to the Canada–United States border (whose broadcasts of CW shows are subject to simultaneous substitution laws imposed by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, if a Canadian network holds the broadcast rights); it is also available through two Nexstar-controlled stations that are classified in the U.S. as superstations—New York City–based de facto flagship WPIX and Los Angeles–based de jure flagship KTLA.
Additionally, the network is available in northern Mexico through affiliates located near the Mexico–U.S. border (such as KUSI-TV—San Diego/Tijuana, KECY-DT3 in El Centro, California, KVIA-DT2 in El Paso, and KGBT-TV in (McAllen/Brownsville, Texas) on pay television providers. In both Canada and Mexico, some free-to-air CW affiliate signals originating from the U.S. are receivable over-the-air in border areas depending on the station's signal coverage.
History 1993–2006: Predecessors and formation
In April 1993, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ended the fin-syn rules that prohibited television networks from owning the rerun rights to programs they broadcast. Fearing that the networks would stop buying programs from independent studios, Warner Bros. Television and Paramount Television each decided to start their own networks.
The WB and UPN both launched within one week of each other in January 1995, just as the Fox Broadcasting Company had started to secure a foothold with American television audiences. The two networks launched to limited fanfare and generally mediocre to poor results. However, over the subsequent seasons, both were able to air several series that became quite popular, such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Star Trek: Voyager, The Sentinel, 7th Heaven, Dawson's Creek, Charmed, Smallville, Everwood, Gilmore Girls, Reba, The Steve Harvey Show, and America's Next Top Model.
Although their simultaneous starts and competition for affiliate stations initially caused the two networks to appear as rivals, by 1999, they had adopted differing strategies: The WB targeted young women, while UPN targeted young men. Towards the end of their first decade on the air, the WB and UPN were in decline, unable to reach the audience share or have the effect that Fox had gained within its first decade, much less than that of the Big Three networks (ABC, CBS, and NBC). In the eleven years that UPN and the WB were in operation, the two networks lost a combined $2 billion. Chris-Craft Industries, Viacom, and Time Warner officials had discussed a possible merger of UPN and the WB as early as September 1995, only eight months after their respective launches; however, discussions ultimately broke down over issues on how to combine Chris-Craft and Tribune Broadcasting's station interests in the proposal to merge the networks, since the two companies' station portfolios overlapped with one another in several major markets. By 2003, however, Time Warner became mired in several debt problems. The company had already been responsible for shutting down Warner Bros.' in-house animation department and for selling off major portions of the conglomerate, such as the 2004 sale of Warner Bros. Records and the rest of Warner Music Group to an investor group led by Edgar Bronfman Jr. and Thomas H. Lee Partners.
Executives from CBS and Warner Bros. announced on January 24, 2006 that they would respectively shut down UPN and the WB; they would combine resources to form a new broadcast network, to be called the CW. They confirmed that the network would—at the outset—feature programming from both of its predecessors-to-be as well as new content developed specifically for the new network. Warner Bros. and CBS expected to produce inexpensive shows for the network, which they could sell outside the U.S. Then CBS chairman Les Moonves explained that the name of the new network was formed from the first letters of CBS and Warner Bros., joking, "We couldn't call it the WC for obvious reasons." Although some executives reportedly disliked the new name, Moonves stated in March 2006 that there was "zero chance" the name would change, citing research claiming 48% of the target demographic were already aware of the "CW" name.
In May 2006, the CW announced that it would pick up a combined thirteen programs from its two predecessors to air as part of the network's inaugural fall schedule: seven series held over from the WB (7th Heaven, Beauty and the Geek, Gilmore Girls, One Tree Hill, Reba, Smallville and Supernatural) and six held over from UPN (America's Next Top Model, Veronica Mars, Everybody Hates Chris, Girlfriends, All of Us and WWE SmackDown!). Upon the network's launch, the CW chose to use the scheduling model utilized by the WB due in part to the fact that it had a more extensive base programming schedule than UPN, allowing for a larger total of weekly programming time for the new network to fill. (The WB carried 30 hours of programming each week because it had a children's program block and a daytime lineup that UPN did not offer; UPN was primarily a prime time-only network with 10 weekly hours of network programming at the time of the network's shutdown.) Also, according to at least one news report, prior to launch, the network's "formal" name was set to be "The CW Television Network". It is believed that, by the time of the network's launch in 2006, the decision had been made, in the style of merging its predecessor networks to form the CW, to also merge the brandings of its predecessor networks as well (using the "The" from The WB & "Network" from UPN alongside utilizing "CW" in reference to CBS Corporation & Warner Bros.) for the CW's legal entity, while retaining The CW Television Network as the network's formal branding (while just "CW" would eventually come to be its public-facing branding).
2006–2011: Launch and early struggles
Like UPN and the WB, the CW targets its programming towards younger audiences. CBS and Time Warner hoped that combining their networks' schedules and affiliate lineups would strengthen the CW into a fifth "major" broadcast network; however, research years later would indicate that, despite the combined efforts of the two companies in the creation of the CW resulting in the establishment of a persistent fifth network, the attempt at forming a fifth "major" network would end up falling short on account of significantly lower ratings and smaller viewership than the four majors, especially since, rather than appealing to a broad, mass-market demographic, the network focused primarily on younger demographics (adults 18–34 and teens), which limited its overall household reach compared to the majors. One week before the network's official launch, on September 11, 2006, a new, full version of the network website was launched, the website began to feature more in-depth information about the CW's shows.
The CW launched with a premiere special/launch party from the CBS Paramount-produced Entertainment Tonight at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California on September 18, 2006, after a repeat of the tenth-season finale of 7th Heaven; the same schedule was repeated on September 19, 2006, with the sixth-season finale of Gilmore Girls.TV Guide, September 11, 2006, p. 8 The network continued to air season finales from the previous season through the remainder of the first week, except for America's Next Top Model and WWE SmackDown!, which respectively began their new seasons on September 20, 2006, and September 22, 2006, with two-hour premieres. When Top Model made its network premiere on September 20, 2006, the CW scored a 3.4 rating/5 share (with hourly ratings of 3.1/5 and 3.6/6, the CW placed fifth overall) in the Nielsen household ratings. It scored a 2.6 rating among adults 18–49, finishing fourth in that age demographic and beating the 2.2 rating earned by Fox on that night. The network's second week consisted of season and series premieres for all of its other series from September 25, 2006, to October 1, 2006, with the exception of Veronica Mars, which debuted its third season on October 3, 2006.
Despite having several of the most popular programs carried over from UPN and the WB as part of its schedule, the CW—even though it experienced some success with newer programs that launched in subsequent seasons which became modest hits—largely struggled to gain an audience foothold throughout its first five years on the air. Because of declining viewership for the network during the 2007–08 season and effects from the Writers Guild of America strike, the network announced on March 4, 2008, that it would eliminate its comedy department (dismissing executive vice president of comedy Kim Fleary and senior vice president of comedy Steve Veisel), while also combining its drama and current programming departments into a single scripted programming unit. The corporate restructuring resulted in the layoffs of approximately 25 to 30 employees. It also included the elimination of certain positions, other newly opened positions being left unfilled, and layoffs from the Kids' WB unit, as the block was set to be replaced by the CW4Kids.