UPN/WB To Merge

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My Yahoo! View - Customize Press Release Source: CBS Corporation CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment Form New 5th Broadcast Network Tuesday January 24, 11:19 am ET Each Company to Hold 50% Interest In The CW Television NetworkTribune Broadcasting and CBS Corporation Stations Agree to 10-Year Affiliation Agreements Covering 48% of the CountryNew Television Network to Utilize the Best Programming from CBS Corporation and Warner Bros.Dawn Ostroff Is Tapped as President of Entertainment at The New Network; John Maatta Will Be Chief Operating OfficerThe WB and UPN to Cease Operations in September 2006 NEW YORK, Jan. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment today announced their intent to form a new 5th network, The CW, to be launched in the fall of 2006. The new broadcasting network will be a joint venture between Warner Bros. Entertainment and CBS Corporation, with each company owning 50%. In an important strategic move that secures major market distribution for The CW, it was announced that Tribune Broadcasting and the CBS Corporation's UPN affiliates have agreed separately to sign 10-year affiliation agreements with the new network.The announcement for the new network was made today in New York by Leslie Moonves, President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS Corporation and Barry Meyer, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros. Entertainment. The Tribune Broadcasting affiliation agreements were announced by Dennis FitzSimons, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Tribune Company. At the same time, it was announced that CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment will cease operations of their respective networks -- UPN and The WB. The WB and UPN will continue to broadcast their respective network schedules independently until the fall. The combination of Tribune's 16 major market stations and the 12 CBS-owned UPN major market affiliates give The CW instant coverage in 48% of the country. The remainder of the network's distribution system will be a combination of selected current UPN and The WB stations. The full distribution of the new network is expected to exceed 95% of the country. 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. "This new network will serve the public with high-quality programming and maintain our ongoing commitment to our diverse audience," said Moonves. "It will clearly be greater than the sum of its parts, delivering excellent demographics to advertisers, and building a strong new affiliate body. Additionally, The CW will be able to draw from the creative talent and production resources from the top two television production studios in the business, while also seeking programming from all sources -- independent producers or other studios. With this move, 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. I'd like to thank Dawn Ostroff and all the talented people at UPN who have worked so hard. For many years UPN had financial losses, but under CBS's guidance, UPN has been able to effect a dramatic creative turnaround in a short period of time." "This new network makes sound business and creative sense at every level -- for our viewers, advertisers, affiliates and for the shareholders of our companies," said Meyer. "Every key constituency of the network will now greatly benefit from this combination by being part of a highly rated, competitive, 5th broadcast network that is financially sound. As we form this new joint venture, we are also very pleased that in Dawn and John we have a management team of great creative vision and business acumen, one that will help to guide it successfully forward." "This is a very exciting day for Time Warner and its shareholders in the creation of what we believe will be a very strong and viable 5th broadcast television network," said Jeff Bewkes, President & Chief Operating Officer of Time Warner. "This new network will have all the strategic asset value as an outlet for our programming that The WB presented us, but with a much firmer and more secure financial present and future. The credit goes to Barry Meyer, who continues to have tremendous vision and extraordinary business acumen as the long time leader of Warner Bros. Entertainment, a company that we are proud to say continues to be number one in its class." "This is a great day for Tribune and its shareholders, and we are pleased to be the lead affiliate group of what will be a strong network," said FitzSimons. "We could not have had a better partner than Warner Bros. and Barry Meyer since we together launched The WB 11 years ago. Now, with the ownership role of CBS Corporation and the leadership of Leslie Moonves added to the mix, Tribune's viewers and advertisers will benefit from an even stronger programming lineup." 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. The CW will incorporate The WB's current scheduling model, which consists of a 6 night-13 hour primetime lineup including Monday through Friday nights from 8-10 (EST/PST); Sundays from 7-10 (EST/PST); Sunday from 5-7 (EST/PST) outside of primetime as well as a Monday thru Friday afternoon block from 3-5 (EST/PST) and a 5-hour Saturday morning animation block. Together, the network will program 30 hours a week over seven days for its affiliated stations. As the top creative executive, Ostroff will have available a line-up of some of the most popular programming that appeals to young adults in the media business. These programming assets range from hit reality series such as "America's Next Top Model" and The WB's "Beauty and the Geek," to hit dramas like The WB's "Smallville," "Gilmore Girls," "Supernatural," and UPN's "Veronica Mars" as well as UPN's hit comedies "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Girlfriends" and The WB's hit comedy "Reba." In addition the WWE's "Smackdown," which has been a mainstay at UPN, is expected to play a role in the schedule. In addition, The CW will also broadcast the schedule of children's programming now known as Kids' WB!, a 5-hour original programming block on Saturday mornings from 7:00 a.m.-Noon, considered primetime for kids. Kids' WB! has been the broadcast network ratings champion since Fall 2000, capturing 16 consecutive sweep victories as the Number One Saturday morning kids' broadcaster. All programming, marketing, scheduling, publicity and research functions will report to Ostroff. Maatta will be responsible for the network's business operations. Bill Morningstar, The WB's Executive Vice President of Advertising Sales will become the head of sales reporting to Maatta. Other responsibilities that will report to Maatta include business affairs, network distribution, legal, finance and human resources. Meyer added: "This could not have happened without the tremendous energy and talent of Bruce Rosenblum, President of Warner Bros. Television Group and Nancy Tellem at CBS who worked tirelessly and cohesively together to make this new network a reality. I would also like to thank Dennis FitzSimons, who saw the great opportunity this new network presents for the Tribune Company and who continues to be one of the great professionals and broadcasters in the business today." Moonves added: "This idea becomes a reality only when a great station group like Tribune comes on board with us and delivers the powerful reach a new network requires. With formidable flagship Tribune stations in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, a great CBS line-up of owned and operated UPN stations, and strong affiliates from every available market, The CW launches as a strong competitor to the Big Four, and that's good for our business, for the viewing audience, and for free, over the air broadcasting. It is also good news for our shareholders, who will benefit from a much stronger business model, improved economics for our stations and new opportunities for our production businesses." CBS Corporation (NYSE: CBS.A - News and CBS - News) is a mass media company with constituent parts that reach back to the beginnings of the broadcast industry, as well as newer businesses that operate on the leading edge of the media industry. The Company, through its many and varied operations, combines broad reach with well-positioned local businesses, all of which provide it with an extensive distribution network by which it serves audiences and advertisers in all 50 states and key international markets. It has operations in virtually every field of media and entertainment, including broadcast television (CBS and UPN), cable television (Showtime), local television (CBS Television Stations), television production and syndication (CBS Paramount Television and King World), radio (CBS Radio), advertising on out-of-home media (CBS Outdoor), publishing (Simon & Schuster), theme parks (Paramount Parks), digital media (CBS Digital Media Group and CSTV Networks) and consumer products (CBS Consumer Products). For more information, log on to http://www.cbscorporation.com. Warner Bros. Entertainment, a fully-integrated, broad-based entertainment company, is a global leader in the creation, production, distribution, licensing and marketing of all forms of entertainment and their related businesses. Warner Bros. Entertainment, a Time Warner Company, stands at the forefront of every aspect of the entertainment industry, from feature films to television, home video/DVD, animation, comic books, interactive entertainment and games, product and brand licensing, international cinemas and broadcasting. TRIBUNE (NYSE: TRB - News) is one of the country's top media companies, operating businesses in publishing and broadcasting. It reaches more than 80 percent of U.S. households and is the only media organization with newspapers, television stations and websites in the nation's top three markets. In publishing, Tribune operates 11 leading daily newspapers including the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and Newsday, plus a wide range of targeted publications such as Spanish-language Hoy. The company's broadcasting group operates 26 television stations, Superstation WGN on national cable, Chicago's WGN-AM and the Chicago Cubs baseball team. Popular news and information websites complement Tribune's print and broadcast properties and extend the company's nationwide audience. Source: CBS Corporation

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[rkmsuf]

one big crappy channel or two little crappy channels

it's like the chicken and the egg debate

[JonInMiddleGA]

Obviously the combination is stronger than either of the two parts, so this is a good move them both of them. I can't help but wonder how much the prospect of being passed by Univision for 5th place network might have influenced this, since the combination might just be enough to hold off the Hispanic giant.

On a personal note & on the downside, I'm now left to wonder how this will shake out for affiliates ... since I'm right in the middle of placing my Fall buys & have used some occasional stuff (non-primetime) on affiliates of both. The fate of whichever current affiliated station in a given market gets left out of the new arrangement becomes questionable at best, meaning that I'm probably going to have to dump a lot of stuff on all of the affiliates until things shake out.

[stevew]

Does this now mean we will get eclectic supernatural soap operas about black teenagers for a change?

[Cringer]

I thought this would have happened a long time ago. Decent move I think, just from a outsiders point of view.....

[cthomer5000]

Logical move. It's the only chance they had of really making any money. I know for a fact UPN still hadn't hit the break-even point.

[ISiddiqui]

Well, can't be worse than each individually. We'll see if they can build from the merger to actually be more successful.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Let's see here, going back to the November Sweeps, here's the HH ratings for the primetime shows for each network.
http://www.tvweek.com/docs/docs/chart112805.pdf
7th Heaven - WB - 3.9
Related - WB - 1.9
One On One - UPN - 2.0
All of Us - UPN - 2.3
Girlfriends - UPN - 2.5
Half & Half - UPN - 2.3
Gilmore Girls - WB - 4.0
Supernatural - WB - 2.8
One Tree Hill - WB - 2.5
Veronica Mars - UPN - 2.1
Amer. Top Model - UPN - 3.9
Smallville - WB - 3.5
Everwood - WB - 2.8
Everybody Hates Chris - UPN - 3.6
Love, Inc. - UPN - 2.4
Eve - UPN - 2.1
Cuts - UPN - 2.1
What I Like About You - WB - 1.7
Reba - WB - 2.1
Twins - WB - 1.8
Smackdown - UPN - 3.1
Charmed - UPN - 2.9

Now from that list, IIRC, we know that 7th Heaven is already cancelled & I think Charmed is pretty much finished as well. So we're looking for 13 hours worth of primetime programming.

1 hr shows -- Gilmore Girls, Amer. Top Model, Smallville, Smackdown, Supernatural, Everwood, One Tree Hill all seem like easy picks, probably Vernoica Mars & One Tree Hill too. That's 10 hrs (counting WWE as 2 hrs)

1/2 hr shows - Everybody Hates Chris & Girlfriends are likely survivors, as are Half & Half and All of Us. That's 2 hours of comedy's.

So now we're at 12 hours total combined. Throw one movie night/special (Awards shows, etc) in there & you're at 14 hours, with the following shows on the outside looking in:

Love, Inc. - UPN - 2.4
Related - WB - 1.9
Eve - UPN - 2.1
Cuts - UPN - 2.1
What I Like About You - WB - 1.7
Reba - WB - 2.1
Twins - WB - 1.8

The one thing that strikes me off-hand is that the lineup seems a little bit heavy on 1 hr dramas & a little light on 1/2 shows, but maybe that's what hits the 18-34 target demo best these days.

[Ksyrup]

Don't forget the reality stuff, like Beauty and the Geek. I love that show!

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

Don't forget the reality stuff, like Beauty and the Geek. I love that show!

I thought about that, but those are hard to plug in exactly because they seem to be more randomly scheduled than traditional scripted shows. It might end up sharing a timeslot with another reality show like Next Top Model.

I saw a little blip earlier this week in one of the trades that mentioned that "Arrested Development" is probably done on Fox, "though producer 20th Century Fox Television said Showtime and ABC have expressed interest in acquiring the low-rated but critically heralded show."

I wonder how something like that might fit in with the new CW?

[Toddzilla]

Yay! Now only half of the shows to ignore!

[Butter]

Coffee Warlord's getting a channel?

[Crapshoot]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Obviously the combination is stronger than either of the two parts, so this is a good move them both of them. I can't help but wonder how much the prospect of being passed by Univision for 5th place network might have influenced this, since the combination might just be enough to hold off the Hispanic giant.

On a personal note & on the downside, I'm now left to wonder how this will shake out for affiliates ... since I'm right in the middle of placing my Fall buys & have used some occasional stuff (non-primetime) on affiliates of both. The fate of whichever current affiliated station in a given market gets left out of the new arrangement becomes questionable at best, meaning that I'm probably going to have to dump a lot of stuff on all of the affiliates until things shake out.

Question - much like buying the NFL gave Fox credibility as the 4th network, back in the day - could the combined network be a likely candidate to bid for one of the sports packages in its quest for "legitimacy" ? I'm curious, because generally speaking, UPN and WB appear to be seen as "lesser" networks .

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Question - much like buying the NFL gave Fox credibility as the 4th network, back in the day - could the combined network be a likely candidate to bid for one of the sports packages in its quest for "legitimacy" ? I'm curious, because generally speaking, UPN and WB appear to be seen as "lesser" networks .

what, WWE doesn't make them legit? the nerve.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I thought about that, but those are hard to plug in exactly because they seem to be more randomly scheduled than traditional scripted shows. It might end up sharing a timeslot with another reality show like Next Top Model.

I saw a little blip earlier this week in one of the trades that mentioned that "Arrested Development" is probably done on Fox, "though producer 20th Century Fox Television said Showtime and ABC have expressed interest in acquiring the low-rated but critically heralded show."

I wonder how something like that might fit in with the new CW?

Only if Arrested can't get on anything else (*shudder*)... though I guess CW wouldn't mind about low ratings. Not like anything else is blowing the roofs off.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Crapshoot

Question - much like buying the NFL gave Fox credibility as the 4th network, back in the day - could the combined network be a likely candidate to bid for one of the sports packages in its quest for "legitimacy" ? I'm curious, because generally speaking, UPN and WB appear to be seen as "lesser" networks .

I don't see a bid happening simply because of the massive amounts of money involved. After all, the money is what is driving this merger in the first place & the rights fees are already beyond the ability of a lot of people to get involved as it is.

In this business anything is always possible, but I'd be very surprised if the new CW even sniffed at anything other than maybe something like an 18-34 targeted
fringe/niche like Extreme Sports, UFC, etc.

[Coffee Warlord]

Originally Posted by Butter_of_69

Coffee Warlord's getting a channel?

And a shitty one at that!

[JPhillips]

JIMGA: Have you seen how Sinclair Broadcasting's stock is taking a beating today? It has to be merger related.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

JIMGA: Have you seen how Sinclair Broadcasting's stock is taking a beating today? It has to be merger related.

I hadn't noticed it until you brought it up, but I think it makes some sense that investors are at least nervous (to say the least).

Here's Sinclair's statement about the merger
http://finance.myway.com/jsp/nw/nwdt...&date=20060124

"Some of our markets may benefit from the merger, while others may be negatively impacted. After a cursory review of our WB and UPN markets, we believe that approximately 1% to 1.5% of our net broadcast revenues would be at risk.

From looking at their station list (see below) I think that 1% impact is more than just a little optimistic:

Sinclair properties potentially affected by the merger
Tampa, FL - WB
Minneapolis, MN - WB
Pittsburgh, PA - FOX/WB
Baltimore, MD - FOX/WB
Raleigh, NC - WB/UPN
Cincinnati, OH - WB
Milwaukee, WI - WB/UPN
Nashville, TN - FOX/WB/UPN
Asheville, NC/ Greenville, SC - ABC/WB
San Antonio, TX - FOX/WB
Norfolk, VA - WB
Buffalo, NY - FOX/WB
Oklahoma City, OK - FOX/WB
Greensboro, NC - ABC/UPN
Birmingham, AL - WB/UPN
Las Vegas, NV - WB/IND
Syracuse, NY - FOX/WB
Paducah/Cape Girardeau, MO - FOX/WB
Charleston, SC - FOX/UPN

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I thought about that, but those are hard to plug in exactly because they seem to be more randomly scheduled than traditional scripted shows. It might end up sharing a timeslot with another reality show like Next Top Model.

I saw a little blip earlier this week in one of the trades that mentioned that "Arrested Development" is probably done on Fox, "though producer 20th Century Fox Television said Showtime and ABC have expressed interest in acquiring the low-rated but critically heralded show."

I wonder how something like that might fit in with the new CW?

I just don't see it at all in the demographic they are targeting but I've been wrong before.

SI

[Honolulu Blue]

Good, logical move that should have been made years ago, IMO. I wouldn't bet on the joint venture lasting too long - one side or the other will buy the other out, or it'll get spun off.

[JonInMiddleGA]

http://www.radioandrecords.com/Newsr...sunivision.asp

Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2006


Is Univision On The Block?


The New York Times is reporting that Univsion's board of directors is meeting today to discuss the possibility of putting the company up for sale. Potential suitors for the company — which is valued at around $10 billion — include News Corp., Time Warner and CBS.

In fact, CBS executives have, in the past, expressed an interest in expanding their company's presence in Spanish-language media. CBS CEO Les Moonves even said during a conference in September that his company would like to own Univision. CBS currently owns a 10% stake in Spanish Broadcasting System.

Mexico-based Grupo Televisia, which already owns 10% of Univision and supplies some of the company's television programming, could also make a play, though it would probably need to bring in a U.S.-based partner to overcome an FCC regulation that prevents over 25% foreign ownership.