The CW Could Be Sold Off? Yikes

A bomb was dropped by The Wall Street Journal this morning when it reported WB and CBSViacom, the joint owners of The CW, are thinking of selling off the network. The recipient would most likely be Nexstar, a Texas-based company that already owns most of The CW’s affiliate stations across the US. Nexstar could then do with the network what it wished.

As for a possible motive behind this sudden decision….uh, you’re not gonna like it. The network has had trouble turning a profit ever since they decided to stop making deals with Netflix and foreign markets to license their shows out to other streamers. WB is instead keeping its new shows completely for itself and hoarding them on HBO Max. A lot of us felt this was a bad idea for The CW and we were right. The loss of that revenue is now showing up on the ledgers and making them think “sell,” even though it’s entirely a mess of their own making.

The CW is the one remaining broadcast network I tune into on a regular basis, because though not all their shows are great, they’re rarely BORING. Give that channel five minutes, you’ll get an alien warlord or a witch or a CGI blob from another dimension. By contrast, the other networks’ schedules are so watered down with procedurals, singing competitions, weepy dramas and other snooze-tastic fare that they really can’t compete at all with what’s dominating most of my viewing hours now: streaming.

WB and CBS giving up CW doesn’t necessarily mean all the weird shows would be going away (the Fox network’s lineup remains mostly the same even though 20th Century no longer owns it). But it doesn’t guarantee those shows will stay, either. This one’s a nail-biter, folks. I hope at least Nancy Drew survives but I’m not holding my breath.