Make a Contribution to Remove NSFW Ads

Official Discussion: CW Arrowverse (All Things!) CW sold to Nexstar UPDATE: Arrow 10 yr ANNIVERSARY

O.J PIMPSON

O.J PIMPSON

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
I was about to catch up on The Flash yesterday then I remembered how bad it was b4 I stopped watching it. I ended up straightening up my closet listening to my EPMD Playlist. That show need some canceling. Also I hope they do another Crisis like storyline in which Supermans kids are killed off or go into the Phantom Zone never to be seen again.
 
playahaitian

playahaitian

Rising Star
Certified Pussy Poster
Mad About The CW Cancellations? Blame Streaming, But Also Its Unusual Corporate Structure
Since its formation in 2006, the network has been a vehicle for corporate parents Warner Bros. TV and CBS Studios to make money. Until it wasn’t.
BY LESLEY GOLDBERG
Plus Icon



MAY 13, 2022 9:21AM
'Legacies,' 'Charmed' and 'Dynasty' were all canceled this week at The CW. COURTESY OF THE CW

Logo text
“It’s the Red Wedding at WBTV/CW today.”
That’s how Julie Plec, who co-created one of Warner Bros. Television and The CW’s most valuable franchises in The Vampire Diaries, described the mood Thursday after the network — for the first time in a decade — canceled nearly half its roster.

The CW canceled more shows (10) than it renewed (eight) as its total volume of originals slid to its lowest level since 2012. (At press time, The CW has 11 total scripted originals, not including low-cost acquired content, with decisions on two shows still to come).



As Plec and scores of other writers and producers learned this week, the free lunches have come to an end at The CW as its corporate parents, Warner Bros. Television and CBS Studios, prepare to divest their stakes in the younger-skewing broadcast network they launched as a joint venture in 2006.

Related Stories
TVUpfront Dispatches: The CW Stands Alone
TVHow The CW's Sale Could Affect Its Future Schedule

To understand what’s happening now at The CW, it’s best to look back to why the network was launched in the first place. Warners and CBS Studios saw the network as a cash cow: both studios would supply low-cost scripted series to the network and cash in with lucrative international rights. Then, in 2011, Warners and CBS Studios added revenue from a $1 billion Netflix streaming deal as shows like Plec’s The Vampire Diaries spinoffs The Originals and the unceremoniously canceled Legacies added a secondary revenue stream.
It didn’t matter that The CW was never profitable because both studios — then part of Viacom and Time Warner, respectively — made money hand over fist via foreign sales and the Netflix output deal. The business model was so lucrative that The CW expanded to original programming on Fridays and Sundays and largely stopped canceling much of anything. The CW canceled (or gave a proper farewell) to an average of only 3.3 shows during the past decade — a far cry from this season’s 10. In the same time frame, The CW renewed an average of 10.3 shows annually (vs. eight this year), while new show volume (three) is a bit below the norm (3.9).
So why, then, did The CW clean house this season? The blame isn’t squarely on network CEO Mark Pedowitz. Broadcast’s longest-tenured network topper reports to a board comprised of execs from Warners and CBS Studios, who for years have played a vital role in programming decisions. For example: While Dynasty has had the distinction of being broadcast’s lowest-rated scripted series for years, revenue from the reboot’s international sales and the Netflix deal kept it on the air for far longer than its linear numbers deserved. So after five seasons of living life on the bubble that included a wild history of casting changes, why did time run out on Dynasty and so many other CW favorites?



Blame streaming. And mergers. And The CW’s impending sale.
Warners and CBS Studios — now overseen by newly merged Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount Global — ended the Netflix output deal in 2019 to help boost their respective streaming platforms, HBO Max and Paramount+. Foreign sales, too, have dried up; those rights need to stay in-house as both platforms continue their global expansion in a bid to compete with Netflix et al. in the streaming wars. That’s a loss of billions of dollars in revenue, making shows like Dynasty, for example, no longer profitable.
Without those two revenue streams, and amid new corporate ownership, The CW’s corporate parents are in active sale talks with station group Nexstar and other potential buyers. Some have pondered if the wave of cancellations impairs The CW’s valuation because the network’s scripted cupboard is half empty. Not really.
Most of the originals that got the ax this season were shows that long outlived their welcome — sorry, Dynasty — and would have been canceled at networks that weren’t governed by two studios who were making money on them. Should Nexstar — The CW’s largest station group owner — buy the network, it doesn’t matter if shows like Dynasty make money for the studios because it doesn’t rate on linear. Put another way, why would Nexstar pay a licensing fee for a show that nobody watches? The CW didn’t commission 22 episodes a season because it helped to sell ads but rather because the show’s producer, CBS Studios, made millions on every episode.
While The CW is expected to look considerably different next season — expect more low-cost foreign acquisitions and unscripted programming — the network’s most watched originals are all returning. The CW gave early renewals to seven of its eight returning shows, all of them among its highest-rated. Sources say Pedowitz wanted to bring back the Greg Berlanti-produced DC Comics dramas Batwoman and Legends of Tomorrow but Warners no longer wanted to pay the leases on the studio space, which expired May 1, and prompted April 29 cancellations. Plec’s Legacies was also said to be a financial decision made by the studio.



Legends and Legacies, along with Charmed, In the Dark and Roswell, New Mexico all were part of the Netflix output deal. Now, with the network’s three new series pickups in Gotham Knights, Walker: Independence and Supernatural prequel The Winchesters, all but three of The CW’s 11 scripted shows (The Flash, All American, Riverdale) will be able to stream on The CW’s website and streaming app, CW Seed.
Sources say the network’s robust streaming platform has been of particular interest to The CW’s suitors, including Nexstar. Affiliates have complained for years about The CW’s increased digital presence as companies like Nexstar do not receive revenue from those platforms. However, should Nexstar actually own The CW, that’s digital money in the bank. It also doesn’t hurt that The CW’s foreign acquisitions — featuring the likes of Patrick Dempsey, Brendan Fraser and Freddie Highmore — and unscripted fare (Whose Line Is It Anyway, among others) — also have stacking rights lined up at CW Seed. In short, it’s all part of Warners and CBS Studios cutting bait in an effort to make The CW more appealing to would-be buyers.
And before anyone can start a petition for the unfortunate shows that met their early demise this week, keep in mind that HBO Max and Paramount+ can’t save those lucky shows that were able to stay on the air as long as they did because they were part of the Netflix deal. Sorry, Legacies, Legends, Dynasty, Charmed, In the Dark and Roswell, as Plec said, “Today we mourn.”
The CW’s Scripted History*
2012201320142015201620172018201920202021
Canceled/ended3542243343
New series5543335344
Renewed67810121112141415
Total scripted11121213151417171819
*Does not include acquisitions
The CW in 2022
Canceled/ended: 10
New series: 3
Renewed: 8
Total scripted: 11 (Tally does not account for bubbles Tom Swift and Stargirl)
Source: THR research
Other Facts and Figures



  • The CW has canceled/ended an average of 3.3 shows annually over the past decade (10 in 2022)
  • The CW has renewed an average of 10.3 shows annually for the past decade (8 in 2022)
  • The CW has ordered an average of 3.9 new shows annually over the past decade (3 in 2022)
  • The CW’s average volume of scripted originals is 14.8 shows over the past decade (11 in 2022)
Keep track of all of the broadcast pilots, castings and series orders with THR’s handy scorecard. And follow along as all the bubble shows await word on their futures with our renewal guide.
 
playahaitian

playahaitian

Rising Star
Certified Pussy Poster
Upfront Dispatches: The CW Stands Alone
Stevie Wonder gives a goose to the week's final shill, yet one can't help but feel superstitious about a single broadcast network's relevance in the annual ad scramble.
BY MIKEY O'CONNELL


After four days of hype, sizzle reels, data and an unexpected abundance of celebrity profanity, there’s not much left to be said about the 2022 upfront presentations. So, it felt more than fitting that things wrapped up on Thursday morning with a sales pitch from a single broadcast network that’s up for sale itself.
The CW made its return for media buyers in a deeply traditional 60-minute presentation that offered up a performance from Stevie Wonder, polite banter from talent and trailers for four upcoming shows. It was virtually unrecognizable from the spectacles from massive media institutions who filled the previous three days. “We are going to keep things pretty simple,” said Rob Tuck, EVP of national sales, to a noticeably engaged crowd at Midtown Manhattan’s New York City Center, “by only talking about one network … The CW.”



Not only are The CW’s corporate parents exploring a sale — the network is joint venture by Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery, two different companies that no longer stand to benefit much from partial ownership — the network is coming off of its biggest wave of cancellations in its 15-year history. (A whopping 10 series got the ax, nearly half of its roster of scripted originals.) Obviously, none of this came up. It was business as usual, and not just because all of he new shows being proffered are a tied to familiar network IP.
“Our brand continues to be recognized for its strong appeal to diverse audiences and our influence in pop culture,” said CEO Marc Pedowitz, who plugged two prequels (Walker: Independence and Supernatural origin series The Winchesters), a spinoff (Nancy Drew tie-in Tom Swift) and yet another glug from the seemingly bottomless DC Comics pitcher, Gotham Knights. “This is what we will continue to do.”
As long as advertisers let them, of course.
It was almost quaint — and not just because the most marquee talent (excluding Mr. Wonder) to take the stage (Jared Padalecki, Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins) were the stars of a series that started on the long-dead WB Network, aired for 15 seasons and only ended in 2020. The three Supernatural actors, now producing and acting on various other CW projects, tried to sell Pedowitz on one-off revivals for their late series — each of which he politicly rebuffed. (In reality, if the three agreed to reprise the characters together, the programming exec would say yes to any number of horrible pitches.)



Pedowitz went on to go through The CW’s fall schedule, night-by-night, hour-by-hour. He listed off the summer’s offerings and continued to emphasize the network’s free and entirely ad-supported streaming app. He trotted out Riverdale star KJ Apa, who earlier this week learned their series’ upcoming seventh season would be indeed be its last. (Apa also lost a gig in the abrupt cancelation of HBO Max movie Wonder Twins, so it’s been a rough one.) And, in the very end, all network talent that had assembled for the event joined him on stage.
It felt like a goodbye. Sure, The CW will probably live to host another upfront. But such events will shrink alongside its slate of originals and its position in the marketplace — not that it’s the network’s fault. This year’s upfronts cemented the fact that legacy media corporations in the TV business — Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount — no longer place priority on any one TV channel or sub-brand. They are, however, more than happy to exploit their former flagships’ longstanding rapport with advertisers to juice their shiny new streaming platforms.

www.hollywoodreporter.com

Upfront Dispatches: The CW Stands Alone

Stevie Wonder gives a goose to the week's final shill, yet one can't help but feel superstitious about a single broadcast network's relevance in the annual ad scramble.
www.hollywoodreporter.com www.hollywoodreporter.com
 
ansatsusha_gouki

ansatsusha_gouki

Land of the Heartless
Platinum Member
playahaitian said:
www.eonline.com

Colton Haynes Reveals the Real Reasons He Left Teen Wolf and Arrow - E! Online

In his new memoir, Colton Haynes opens up about his exits from MTV's Teen Wolf and The CW's Arrow. See what the actor revealed about what ultimately led to his departures.
www.eonline.com www.eonline.com
Click to expand...


I was about to post this....I wonder,who it is.


dis-belief-surprised.gif
 

Make a Contribution to Remove NSFW Ads
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top