Now that Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global have come to an agreement, the television network The CW has finally been sold. This is only the latest change created by Warner Bros Discovery CEO David Zaslav as he continues to rework the company. As for The CW, however, it now belongs to Nexstar Media Group. The company intends to make the network profitable after it was “operating at an ongoing loss” for years.
As noted via Deadline, both Warner Bros Discovery and Paramount Global will each continue to hold 12.5% of the ownership stake. Nexstar Media Group, however, will now hold 75% ownership of the network. It’s expected that the sale will close within the next few weeks.
CFO Lee Ann Gliha had the following to say about The CW not being profitable and how they hope to change that by 2025:
“It’s no secret that the CW is not profitable,” she said, “but this is not typical for fully-distributed broadcast or cable networks. In fact, according to SNL Kagan data, no other broadcast network operates at an ongoing loss.”
Lee Ann Gliha further explained that lowering expenses will be one of their key strategies:
“We expect to invest a low 9-figure amount over this 3-year period as we implement our plan,” Gliha said. “We view this amount as a proxy for a purchase price – or an investment made over time — rather than an ongoing drag on cash flow. You know us. We are profit and cash flow focused and expect this asset to achieve profitability.”
In the short-term, both Paramount and Warner Bros Discovery “will continue to produce scripted originals for the network.” However, this “arrangement would be ‘primarily’ for 2022-23. Beyond that, Nexstar ‘will have the option to extend the partnership,’ but nothing on that score is guaranteed.” As such, we could see some massive changes as we get closer to 2025.
Interestingly, it also appears that “the demographic focus of the CW will also change over time.” This was explained in the following manner by Nexstar President and COO Tom Carter:
“Historically, shows like Riverdale, All American, Arrow and Supernatural have focused on viewers in their teens through their 30s. The reality, though, is that the average CW viewer is 58 years old, and Carter said that schism explains why the CW is the lowest-rated broadcast network.”
As such, now that The CW has been sold to Nexstar Media Group, we can expect to see some massive changes in the coming years. With Warner Bros Discovery and HBO Max also facing a number of coming changes, it’ll be interesting to see how all of this impacts the industry going forward. Stay tuned to ScreenGeek for more updates as we have them.