The CW’s Strange Next Act Is Starting To Make Sense
Back in December, we argued here that The CW was headed toward perhaps the strangest ownership arrangement in American broadcasting. Nexstar controlled the network, while Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery still held minority interests. Nexstar was pursuing TEGNA, and Paramount Skydance was pursuing WBD — raising the possibility that the owner of CBS could simultaneously retain a stake in one of its smaller broadcast competitors.
Nine months later, nearly every piece of that chessboard has moved. Yet instead of becoming more convoluted, The CW’s future is beginning to look surprisingly . . . coherent.
The network increasingly appears to be evolving into something other than a conventional fifth broadcaster trying to compete directly with ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. It is becoming a strategic programming and distribution asset inside Nexstar’s much larger local-TV operation — valuable not only for what it airs, but for the leverage, optionality and reach it gives its owner.
The Ownership Puzzle Is Solving Itself
Paramount’s proposed acquisition of WBD moved materially closer to completion this week after the company reached settlements with the 12 states and the Writers Guild of America that had sued to block the transaction. The agreement still requires judicial approval, and the merger has not yet closed, but one of its biggest remaining legal obstacles has been removed.
That might seem to recreate the conflict envisioned in December: CBS and WBD under one roof while retaining an interest in The CW. Meanwhile, Nexstar has steadily been simplifying that ownership structure.
Its original 2022 stake was 75%, but that had already grown to 79.7% by last fall, reached 80.8% at year-end and stood at 81.1% as of June 30. On August 4, one unidentified minority owner exercised its contractual right to put its remaining interest back to Nexstar, although Nexstar retains a one-year deferral right. The company currently estimates the redemption value of all remaining non-controlling CW interests at roughly $110 million.
The direction is increasingly clear even if the timing is not: The CW is moving toward becoming entirely, or nearly entirely, a Nexstar property.
A Paramount-WBD combination therefore may ultimately simplify the old partnership rather than complicate it. The merged company could remain involved as a supplier — licensing library titles, second windows or individual projects — without needing to remain a meaningful owner of the network itself.
The CW Becomes Affiliate Insurance
The more consequential development is that Nexstar has begun demonstrating why owning The CW matters even if the network itself never approaches Big Four ratings.
In July, Nexstar renewed CBS affiliations in 36 markets while CBS moved elsewhere in six others. In four markets — Jackson, MS; Birmingham, AL; Bismarck/Minot, ND; and Rapid City, SD — Nexstar replaced or is replacing CBS with The CW, while Albuquerque elevated Fox onto its primary channel. Greenville-Spartanburg’s WSPA also became a CW affiliate after CBS moved to Hearst’s WYFF. Nexstar management subsequently described The CW as providing value both “offensively and defensively.”
That gets directly at the strategic value we hinted at back in December. Local affiliates have traditionally needed their networks much more than networks needed any individual affiliate. Nexstar increasingly has another option. If the economics of a Big Four affiliation become unattractive enough, it owns an alternative national network that can move into the slot while preserving the local station, its news operation and much of its advertising inventory.
That does not mean Nexstar is preparing to abandon CBS, NBC, ABC or Fox. Their programming and economics remain far too important. But it does give Nexstar something most station groups lack: affiliate insurance.
And there is already evidence that this insurance has economic value. In its second-quarter filing, Nexstar explicitly attributed part of the growth in its legacy distribution revenue to higher rates, vMVPD subscriber growth and “the addition of CW affiliations on certain of our stations.”
That turns The CW from an abstract negotiating weapon into something more tangible: a network whose expansion across Nexstar-owned stations can contribute directly to distribution economics.
The addition of TEGNA could eventually magnify that leverage. Nexstar closed the acquisition in March, but federal litigation requires the companies to remain separately operated pending a bench trial scheduled for July 2027.
If Nexstar ultimately prevails and can integrate TEGNA, The CW could become affiliate insurance across a significantly larger station portfolio.
Sports Give The Network A Center Of Gravity
Meanwhile, The CW itself is becoming easier to understand.
Nexstar is building it around live sports, lower-cost entertainment, acquired programming and broad free-to-air distribution. Its sports portfolio includes NASCAR, major college football and basketball, WWE’s NXT, PBA, PBR and AVP — enough appointment viewing to create national relevance without requiring The CW to compete directly for the most expensive NFL-, NBA- or MLB-level packages.
There is now early evidence that strategy can produce meaningful audience. According to the network, last month’s New Mexico State–Florida State football game averaged 1.96 million viewers (peaking at 2.4 million), the largest audience for a sports broadcast in CW history.
Its streaming strategy is similarly pragmatic. CW Sports now streams live through the ESPN app for ESPN Unlimited subscribers, while The Roku Channel is becoming a next-day destination for entertainment programming and a large CW library hub. The network’s own free app continues to operate, but Nexstar is using established platforms to expand discovery rather than spending heavily to build another subscription streaming service. Broadcast still remains the core product.
That gives The CW a potentially durable niche: a national free-TV home for sports properties that have enough value to deserve broad reach but do not require the rights-fee economics of the major leagues. In an increasingly fragmented sports marketplace, that is a considerably more useful position than simply trying to be the fifth-best general entertainment network.
The Fifth Network Finds A Different Job
Taken together, the pieces increasingly reinforce one another.
Greater Nexstar ownership makes The CW easier to deploy strategically. Sports provide national relevance. ESPN and Roku extend digital reach without forcing Nexstar into another expensive streaming war. Paramount-WBD can remain a programming supplier without necessarily remaining an owner. And the expanding CW station footprint is already showing up in Nexstar’s distribution economics.
The local component is beginning to change as well. KXMB in Bismarck expanded its local-news schedule after moving from CBS to The CW, while Nexstar has said it plans to expand local news in Greenville-Spartanburg. That suggests the model may increasingly combine national CW programming with larger blocks of locally controlled content — portending The CW to look less like a smaller version of CBS and more like a national programming framework sitting atop a large collection of local stations.
Which brings our December argument into clearer focus. The concern then was that The CW might become less a conventional television network than a bargaining chip inside a giant vertically integrated station company. That now looks less like an unintended consequence than an emerging business model.
The CW does not have to beat the Big Four at their own game. It only has to remain useful enough — as a sports outlet, programming service, distribution brand and negotiating alternative — to make Nexstar’s much larger local television business stronger.
Local News To Peruse:
Here's Your Future — Scott Jones [FTV Live]
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Sacramento Kings End 32-Year Radio Partnership With Sactown Sports 1140 - Jason Anderson [Sacramento Bee]
Sinclair Adds Another ‘National’ Newscast To Local Stations In 12 DMAs - Adam Jacobson [Radio+Television Business Report]
Cox Media Group To Rebrand WRDQ As “Magic TV 27” - Matthew Keys [TheDesk.net]
Charlotte Hornets, Gray Media Team Up To Bring Hornets Games To More Fans Across The Carolinas - WECT.com
Mobile Overtakes Radio As Primary In-Car Device For 13-34 Demo, Edison Research Data Shows - Garrett Searight [Barrett Media]
FCC Filing: Tests Show Offline NextGen TV Boxes Fail to Deliver EAS Messaging - Jim Kimble [Antenna Land]
