excerpted from the San Antonio Express-News
NEW YORK - Two small, long-struggling telelvision networks - UPN and The WB - will shut down this fall, and programming from both will be used to launch a new network aimed mainly at young and minority viewers.
The new network will be called The CW - "C" for CBS Corp. and "W" for Warner Bros. - each of which will own half of the new entity and contribute programs, assets and executives to the venture.
UPN's shows include "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Veronica Mars." The WB's include "Supernatural," "Smallville" and "Everwood."
Tribune Co.. a Chicago-based media company will relinquish its 22.5 percent stake in The WB in exchange for a 10-year affiliation deal to carry the network on 16 stations. The rest of The WB was owned by Time Warner Inc., parent of Warner Bros.
The CW will also be carried on 11 stations owned by UPN, a unit of CBS Corp., guaran- teeing the network a presence in 47 percent of the country and 20 of the top 25 TV markets. Network executives said they hoped to have agreements in place to cover most of the rest of the country when they launch in the fall.
UPN and The WB had both struggled to compete against larger rivals in the broadcast TV business, including Walt Disney Co.'s ABC, General Electric Co.'s NBC, CBS and News Corp.'s Fox.
However, it is not yet clear that the combination of two struggling networks will result in a strog one, or even one that is a money-winner. Hal Vogel, a longtime media analyst and author of a book on entertainment industry economics, called the combination "inevitable," saying, "These companies were not making money for anybody."
The combination will trigger a shake-up of network affiliations in a number of cities. In the seven cities that have a Tribune-owned station and also one UPN-owned station, the companies have already divvied up which ones will carry the new network - Tribune stations in four markets, and CBS- owned ones in the other three.
In other cities that have both WB affiliates and UPN affiliates that are not owned by either CBS or Tribune, it's not clear what will happen.
Spokemen for San Antonio's WB affiliate, KRRT, and its UPN station, KBEJ, said it was too soon to tell what will happen.
The easy answer would be that one would become affiliated with the new network and the other would become an independent station, said Barry Faber, vice-president of Sinclair Broadcasting Group, which owns KRRT.
"It's more likely it would end up with us than Belo," Faber said, because Sinclair has a stronger relationship with UPN and The WB.
Sinclair owns 18 WB affiliates and 6 UPN stations. Belo, which programs KBEJ for the station's owner, Corridor Television, owns two WB affiliates and one UPN station.
Belo Vice President Carey Hendrickson said Belo also "had an excellent relationship" with both CBS and The WB, and that KBEJ could become San Antonio's CW affiliate.
Saleem Tawil, a managing partner of Corridor Television, agreed that it was too early to know what might happen with KBEJ. More should be known within a week or so, he said.
The CW will air 30 hours of programming per week, following the model of The WB. Six nights of prime time shows will air from 7 to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday and 6 to 9 p.m. Sundays CDT. There will also be showns on weekday and Sunday afternoons, and five hours of children's programs on Saturday morning.