Now that your broadcast TV favorites are on holiday break, TVLine is looking at how each network’s shows are stacking up thus far in the 2022-23 TV season — now turning its attention to The CW.
Nexstar Media Group’s The CW Network has appointed Ashley Hovey chief digital officer, a new title at the network, effective April 17. Hovey had been senior director for AVOD at The Roku Channel. At The CW, she will oversee business strategy and day-to-day operations of the network’s digital operations and streaming platforms.
TV’s nail-biting season has arrived. Although most of the cancellation headlines continue to be focused on the continuing purge at big streamers and premium cablers like Showtime, attention has begun to shift to the beleaguered Big 5 broadcasters as the May upfronts draw closer. While many in-limbo shows are a lock to return (NBC’s #OneChicago and Law & Order troikas and ABC’s Good Doctor, Station 19, The Conners and assorted Rookies), there are a handful of high-profile series on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW that remain very much on the bubble.
FBoy Island, the breakout HBO Max reality format, is getting another date. The CW is lining up a third season of the STX-produced show after beating out a number of other bidders. Interestingly, the network, which was recently acquired by Nexstar, is also set to pick up a spinoff: FGirl Island.
iSpot and Nexstar’s The CW have announced that the network will use iSpot to measure cross-platform premium video campaigns and sponsorships associated with the 2023 LIV Golf Tournament across linear and digital properties.
Using data from iSpotTV along with internal CW and LIV results, CW says LIV’s opening weekend at Camaleón Mayakoba Golf Course in Mexico averaged more than 3.2 million total viewers across all linear and digital platforms from Feb. 24 to 26. Day one of the tourney streamed on the CW app. Days two and three aired on affiliates, as well as indie stations and diginets.
Earlier this month, The CW proudly trumpeted how the 2023 LIV Golf League season will air in 100% of markets across the U.S. The 14-event schedule kicks off Friday at the El Camaleón Mayakoba Golf Course in Mexico, with the CW app streaming coverage on Fridays and linear CW broadcast picking up on Saturdays and Sundays. What was missing from the surprise announcement last week was the list of CW affiliates that declined to air the Saudi-funded tour that has deeply divided professional golf (and kept CBS/Paramount, NBCUniversal and Disney/ESPN on the sidelines when LIV looked to upgrade its media deal in year two after launching last year with free YouTube streams). Since CW affiliates are only contractually obligated to air primetime programming, all eight of the CBS-owned CW affiliates declined to air the weekend tourneys. So did the Weigel-owned CW affiliate WCIU in Chicago, and Tegna-owned CW stations like KFMB in San Diego and WCCT in Hartford-New Haven, Conn.
Exclusives
The CW announced Friday that 100 Days To Indy, its upcoming motorsports docuseries, will premiere on Thursday, April 27, at 9 p.m. on the network. Produced by Penske Entertainment and Vice Media Group, the six-part series is said “to take fans behind the scenes to chronicle the personalities of the NTT Indycar Series as they begin the 2023 season and start their epic quest for racing’s greatest prize.”
The CW said today that the LIV Golf’s first official full season of the Saudi-backed league will blanket the U.S. via some CW stations and on Nexstar owned and operated stations in key markets including Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Tampa and Hartford, Conn.
The original star of The CW drama was written out during the show’s Feb. 13 episode.
Tom Martin, a veteran business affairs executive with more than two decades of experience in the entertainment industry, on Thursday was named head of business affairs and general counsel for The CW Network. He joins from MasterClass.
The former CMO of HBO and WarnerMedia Entertainment will lead the broadcast and digital marketing efforts for the Nexstar network.
In what appears to be a new wave of CW layoffs, several senior scripted executives have left the broadcast network, including Gaye Hirsch, EVP, development, who is departing after more than 15 years, and fellow CW veteran and head of department, EVP, Current Programming Michael Roberts, who had been at the network (and its predecessor the WB) for 21 years, sources say.
Three Trump National Golf Club courses to see action from the controversial competition.
The programming veteran will lead development and production for all alternative series and specials at the Nexstar-owned network.
Although most of the canceled TV show headlines of late have been focused on the big streamers, attention will soon shift to the beleaguered Big 5 broadcasters as the May upfronts draw closer. Many in-limbo shows on the 2023 Renewal Scorecard are a lock to return, but there are a handful of high-profile series on ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and The CW that remain very much on the bubble.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the LIV/CW deal — details of the agreement between the Saudi-backed league and the Nexstar-owned network were not announced, including financial specifics — but in the days since the news was first reported, there’s also much we’ve learned about how this deal came to be, and what fans can expect from LIV broadcasts in 2023 and beyond. Here’s what we know.
A U.S. television deal was seen as critical for the rival league, which last year was available only through streaming on its website and on YouTube. The next season of LIV Golf League, with an emphasis on the 12 four-man teams it hopes to create as franchises, starts Feb. 24-26 on the Gulf coast of Mexico at Mayakoba, which hosted a fall PGA Tour event. Above, LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, left, walks off the course after the final round of the LIV Golf Team Championship at Trump National Doral Golf Club, Sunday, Oct. 30, 2022, in Doral, Fla.
The deal would mark one of the first major moves for the network since being acquired by Nexstar.
The Critics Choice Awards aired Sunday night without much fanfare. The CW’s broadcast of the 28th annual ceremony drew 900,000 viewers, according to early Nielsen numbers. That’s a slight dip from last year when the ceremony, which was simulcast across The CW and TBS, took home an audience of 1.1 million. TBS didn’t simulcast the ceremony this year, so technically this year’s viewership is larger than the CW’s portion a year ago, however the overall audience declined to a low for an in-person ceremony. (The virtual 2021 edition drew just 365,000 total viewers.)
First up is Riverdale, which kicks off its time-bending seventh season on Wednesday, March 29, at 9 p.m. ET, following a new episode of The Flash. Nancy Drew‘s fourth and final outing then begins on Wednesday, May 31, at 8 p.m., taking over The Flash’s time slot.
Former NBCUniversal exec Heather Olander is on the verge of joining The CW to oversee its unscripted programming. The news comes after Deadline revealed that the Nexstar-owned company was in the hunt for an alternative chief to work alongside recently appointed President of Entertainment Brad Schwartz.
All American has gotten an early renewal for Season 6 at The CW. “Over the last five seasons, All American has established itself as one of the all-time CW flagship franchises,” said Brad Schwartz, president of entertainment at The CW. “All American is not only the network’s youngest series, but also the strongest performer when combining all our platforms.”
Old schoolers like the late Gil Schwartz of CBS used to hate it when the press would commandeer executive sessions at TCA in the aughts with questions about the death of broadcast TV. HBO had come to dominate the Emmys year after year and the perception was that programming on the Big Three just wasn’t sexy, no matter how much Schwartz would argue that the size of CBS’ audience was far more valuable than the trophies it never seemed to collect at the Shrine Auditorium. Looking back, the fact that anyone was defending broadcast TV seems positively quaint these days.
Tyler Hoechlin and Bitsie Tulloch’s titular supercouple will return to The CW on Tuesday, March 14, at 8 p.m. ET. Superman & Lois‘ third season premiere will be followed by the series premiere of Gotham Knights at 9 p.m.
Titled 100 Days to Indy, the six-part series is said to “take fans behind the scenes to chronicle the bold and brash personalities of the NTT INDYCAR Series as they begin the 2023 season and start their epic quest for racing’s greatest prize.” The series does not yet have a premiere date, but is expected to launch in spring 2023.
Rob Tuck, the veteran ad-sales chief of the CW network, is leaving the outlet as it moves forward under new ownership, according to two people familiar with the matter. Tuck has posted information about his coming retirement on social media. He has been with the CW and its antecedent, the WB, since mid-1995 — its first broadcast season — rising up through the ranks until he was named executive vice president of national sales in 2008.
One of the glaring gaps in The CW’s midseason schedule has been filled, by way of a premiere date for The Flash‘s ninth and final season. Barry Allen & Co. will be back on Wednesday, Feb. 8, at 8/7c, where The Flash will lead into Kung Fu‘s midseason premiere at 9 p.m. As previously announced, Season 9 will consist of 13 episodes.
Walker and Walker Independence kick off the returns on Jan. 12 with other shows debuting through Feb. 11.
Nexstar Media Group, which has long been known for its enviable balance sheet and knack for finding ways to economize, plans to fund its investment in The CW with proceeds from its sale of a Chicago property to a casino developer. While the company’s drive to wring profits out of The CW and also its pending sale of the Freedom Center have both been publicly disclosed, the dots were connected by CFO Lee Ann Gliha today at a conference hosted by investment firm Stephens. Nexstar President and COO Tom Carter also took part in the conference session.
Currently in its 11th season, the improvisational comedy show is an adaptation of the British show of the same name. It originally aired on ABC and ABC Family from 1998 to 2007 before a revival was picked up by The CW and began airing in 2013.
The executive who once brought Schitt’s Creek to Pop TV talks about the future of the network’s current originals and mandates to make broader, highly watched originals that also happen to be profitable.
He will oversee programming, creative development and operations at the network.
The ‘Winchesters,’ ‘Walker Independence’ Set For Short Freshman Runs, As CW’s Future Remains Unclear
The veteran entertainment communications professional will oversee internal and external communications, succeeding Paul Hewitt who is leaving after 22 years with The CW.
Less than a month after Nexstar Media closed a deal to take 75% ownership of The CW, the broadcast network has been hit with dozens of layoffs. The exact number of departures is still becoming clear, but one person with knowledge of the situation pegged it at about 30 to 40. While Nexstar is known for local stations, the company also operates NewsNation, which it overhauled and reformatted from its prior incarnation, WGN America, after acquiring Tribune Media in 2019. The lower cost profile of news programming, a distinctly different neighborhood from the scripted fare that was briefly WGNA’s specialty, was the driving motivation of the makeover.
She joins the Nexstar-owned network brings her in from Google to oversee negotiating and managing The CW’s distribution and overseeing affiliate relations with its station group partners.
