From the Los Angeles Times

UPN, WB to Merge Into New Network

By Matea Gold and Meg JamesTimes Staff Writers12:06 PM PST, January 24, 2006 NEW YORK — UPN and the WB will cease operations this fall to make way for anew broadcast network called the CW, aimed at young, ethnic viewers, CBS Corp.and Warner Bros. Entertainment announced today.By shutting down the two small networks that jousted over the same pool of 18- to34-year-old viewers and joining forces to capture that audience, the companies areessentially bowing to the reality of an increasingly competitive marketplace,executives acknowledged.Both companies will own 50% of the new venture, which will be carried by TribuneCo. stations — including Channel 5 in Los Angeles — and CBS-owned affiliatesthat carry UPN. They will offer 30 hours of programming a week, drawing from a pool of shows such as "Smallville," "Everybody Hates Chris" and "Beauty and theGeek."The new venture will likely mean the loss of about 200 jobs, mostly employees of Burbank-based WB, and there will be fewer outlets of programming for producers,writers and television studios. The news about the launch of the new network — which will dramatically reshape the broadcast television landscape — was kepttightly under wraps until this morning, when reporters were summoned to a newsconference at the St. Regis Hotel in Manhattan."We're coming here with a pretty historic announcement," said Leslie Moonves, president and CEO of CBS."The CW is going to be a real competitor, a destination for young audiences, diverseaudiences, and a real favorite with advertisers," Moonves added. "The CW will beable to do something truly remarkable: program already hit shows every single dayof the week, programs that consistently rank number one or number two in their time slots in the most coveted young adult demographic."Barry Meyer, chairman and chief executive officer of Warner Bros. Entertainment,called the new network "a partnership whose time has come.""The CW is a brand new network that will be a 50-50 partnership between Warner Bros. Entertainment and the CBS Corporation, with both companies contributing the best of their strategic assets — assets including existing hit television series, accessto new programming, the strongest executive talent from both the WB and UPN, anda solid national distribution system," he said.

2The new network, which will begin airing in September, takes its name from thefirst initials of each parent company."We couldn't call it the WC for obvious reasons," Moonves quipped.As the fifth broadcast network, it will compete against ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC — along with a slew of cable channels.Dawn Ostroff, currently president of UPN, will serve as entertainment president of the CW, while John Maatta, currently chief operating officer of the WB, will take onthat role at the new network. Bill Morningstar, the WB's executive vice president of advertising sales, will become the head of sales at the CW.The rest of the senior executive talent will be a blend of executives from UPN andthe WB, along with the possibility of some outside hires.Tribune Broadcasting, a WB stakeholder, signed a 10-year deal to carry the CW onits stations."From Tribune's perspective, this is the best of all worlds," said Dennis FitzSimons,chairman and CEO of the Tribune Co., which owns the Los Angeles Times."The Tribune stations, our employees and shareholders will benefit from thisalliance and the long-term nature of this agreement," he added in the statement. "Our TV stations will have a stronger prime time lineup, better lead-ins to their late night programming, and overall will be better positioned to compete for the long term."Together with the Tribune's 16 major market stations and the 12 CBS-owned UPNmajor market affiliates, the CW will be available in 48% of the country, executivessaid. In total, the new network is expected to reach 95% of viewers nationwidethrough stations owned by other companies.The deal leaves the Fox Television Station Group out in the cold; its contract withCBS to carry UPN on many of its affiliates expires in August. Fox owns Channel 13in Los Angeles."We thought they were a great affiliate group — this was just a great opportunity wecouldn't pass up," said Moonves, who added that by switching to Tribune-ownedstations, "our base becomes much, much stronger."CBS and Warner Bros. executives said that they decided to merge forces because of the challenges of keeping a small network afloat. UPN, which has been run by CBSsince 2002, "was getting to the point we were hoping to break even," said Moonves, but added that "the long-range plan is far better with this entity than where we wereright now.""We could achieve our financial goals a lot quicker doing this than the way we weregoing," he said. "Looking down the road, this is a much better thing than keeping the