jal41 said:
CBS O&O WUPA Atlanta is still "CW 69" (which they did change to...from the original "CW Atlanta"), licensed to "Atlanta Television Station WUPA Inc." (WPSG "CW Philly" is a CBS O&O as well).
KTLA and WGN never have identified with the CW (nor the WB). WPIX was "CW 11" at last check. If WPIX ditches that branding...that is a true sign Tribune has no faith in the CW. If Tribune ditches their agreement...the CW will shut down, as they will lose market clearances in the top 3 markets, and that will send a signal to everyone else that there is no future for the CW.
Two years ago, when the CW and My Network TV launched, everyone was predicting MyNet would crash in burn in a few months due to the all-soap opera format that was the original plan, and that the CW might be around for a while. It looks like MyNet will outlive the CW.
KTLA has already been brought up, but I seem to recall WGN had a CW logo in its logo at first as well.
I wonder if CBS and/or TimeWarner has been making overtures to FOX for a potential CW-MyNet merger. Here's what may end up happening:
*2009: CW and MyNet merge, divvying up CBS-owned CW stations and Fox-owned MyNet stations. All Tribune stations are left out of merger. Tribune forms its own separate network, possibly a revival of the WB with its old partner.
*At some point down the line, the CW-MyNet merger itself merges with the new WB. This time CBS, Fox, and Tribune stations are divvied up fairly, creating as strong a network as possible. Meanwhile, the CW's mistakes, and those of the two predecessor networks, are properly learned and a real plan is made. That includes not pissing off Sinclair and LIN too much; those two owners combined own stations in most of the upper-mid-sized markets that come after the ones with CBS/Fox/Tribune-owned stations, including multiple stations in markets where the other network is either absent or (in the case of LIN's KNVA Austin) on the same station. Pissing off Sinclair enough to send, among others, Cincinnati's WSTR to MyNet was one of the CW's early mistakes.
However, I wouldn't be surprised if TimeWarner made an offer Fox couldn't refuse for the MyNet stations and network and revived the WB on the latter, and possibly bought (and/or affiliated with) a few CBS and Tribune stations for good measure. (Would WPCH, the former WTBS, be included in such a revival?) They recently spun off Time Warner Cable, so regulatory restrictions resulting from that shouldn't be an issue unless there are intricities of that I'm not familiar with. That would also allow stations like WGN, which some would argue should be independent, to go independent.
Back to reality. One interesting issue surrounding the CW folding and MyNet living on is that in most markets, MyNet is on the CW's rejects. In markets where Tribune owns a CW station but Fox does not own the MyNet station, could Tribune's skepticism on the CW mean a lessening of that problem in the near future? I smell WSFL, KWGN, KPLR, KRCW, WTTV, WTXX, and WNOL being MyNet-bound if the CW doesn't fold and Trbune remains skepticism. That really improves MyNet's standing, especially since KWGN and KPLR are strong, Big Four-caliber stations that produce their own news, and those two stations and WTTV are on VHF. (One interesting wrinkle is that the only remaining CBS-owned MyNet station, WBFS, would then move to the CW in a heartbeat. The other markets, though, would pose a big problem for the CW. It'd be interesting to see how willing Gannett, Roberts Broadcasting, Meredith, LIN, and Belo would be to affiliate with the CW after seeing Tribune ditch it.) WPIX, KTLA, WGN, KDAF, WDCW, and KIAH would then be the only Tribune-owned CW stations, and Tribune could well make KTLA and KDAF independent with a mutual agreement with CBS that would move the CW to KCAL and KTXA.
(Regardless of how plausible the above scenario is, I'd be surprised if Tribune
didn't move KPLR to ABC by January 2010, and positively shocked if they still didn't do it while the CW miraculously wasn't folding by then, after reading the last two posts.)
