The CW

The CW Network, LLC, commonly referred to as the CW, is an American commercial broadcast television network that is controlled by Nexstar Media Group, which holds an 81% ownership interest. The network's name is derived from the first letters of the names of its two founding co-owners, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. (which operated as a division of Time Warner at the time of the network’s founding). Nexstar acquired a 75% controlling stake in the network on October 3, 2022, with Paramount Global (now Paramount Skydance) and Warner Bros. Discovery, the respective successor companies of CBS Corporation and Time Warner, each retaining a 12.5% ownership stake. However, reporting from April 2026 by Deadline Hollywood, as well as Nexstar's own April 2026 Governance & Sustainability Report, indicated Nexstar upping its controlling stake in the network to 81%, leaving Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery with 9.5% each, respectively. The CW debuted on September 18, 2006, as the successor to UPN and the WB, which had both shut down that month. Its first two nights of programming—on September 18, 2006, and September 19, 2006—consisted of reruns and launch-related specials. The CW marked its formal launch date on September 20, 2006, with the two-hour premiere of the seventh cycle of America's Next Top Model. The network's programming lineup is intended to appeal mainly to viewers between the ages of 18 and 34, although from 2008 to 2011 the network shifted its programming to appeal to women in that demographic. As of August 2017, the network's audience was evenly split between men and women. The CW runs programming seven days a week: airing nightly in prime time along with a Saturday morning live-action educational programming block produced by Hearst Media Production Group called One Magnificent Morning. The CW is also available in Canada on...