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Nexstar’s majority acquisition of The CW in early 2022 marks the third start for the fifth major broadcast network. Will the third time be the charm?
Ever since The CW was founded in 2006 with the merger of The WB and UPN, it has struggled.
To be sure, it offered many shows that found their way into the zeitgeist: Gossip Girl, the long-running Supernatural, Jane the Virgin, The Vampire Diaries, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and the final wave of CW shows — an array of offerings, such as Arrow and The Flash, derived from Warner Bros.’ DC Universe.
The Flash
In 2011, The CW and its studio owners made the smart move to license its original series to Netflix for $1 billion as well as to international buyers, taking pressure off The CW’s financial model. Putting the shows on the upstart streamer gave them a cachet they did not have as solely broadcast series, and while young adults are scarce on broadcast TV, they came in droves to Netflix.
Those viewers discovered such shows as Riverdale and Arrow on Netflix and then some of them came to The CW to watch their broadcast premieres. The license fees covered the cost of Warner Bros.’ expensive shows and kept The CW afloat as basically a marketing window for the studios’ programs.
By 2019, however, all of the major studios were launching their own direct-to-consumer streaming services, and Warner Bros. ended the Netflix deal in order to