It’s not been too long ago since the first news arrived that Warner Bros. Discovery was continuing its dismantling of the original structure, such as selling the CW Network. Now, it seems that Nextar Media Group who owns a slew of local television stations, is eyeing to take over the majority of the program. Accoridng to the Wall Street Journal, they aren’t even going to pay cash for it but rather will cover a significant part of its losses, which supposedly are above $100M currently.
WSJ does point out that the deal isn’t final and could fall apart but we would know within the next few weeks. Surprisingly, Warner Bros. Discovery will still remain a shareholder with a 12.5% stake, the same amount that Paramount is going to keep. CBS and WB are still planning on creating content for CW, but Nexstar is eyeing to expand with other producers while the minority owners keep the content-licensing revenue from pre-existing deals such as their very lucrative Netflix dealings.
It should be noted that Nexstar is already the largest owner, but this would give them almost full control over future ventures. The big focus will be to expand its target audience, as the CW broadcaster generally built its dynamic around teen-focused dramas such as Riverdale, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, and many more. CW was never truly seen as profitable, but the Netflix deal became one of its biggest sellers that it managed to carry a network even with direct income losses from ad revenue. the broadcaster was famous for renewing series that seemingly had no audience, while their dramas entered the top 10 in the U.S. on Netflix. So, we’ll have to see if the deal comes together in the coming weeks.
Source: WSJ
