Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount World to Retain Minority Stake and Produce Unique, Scripted Content material for The CW
IRVING, TX – Nexstar Media Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: NXST) (“Nexstar”) (the “Firm”) introduced as we speak that it entered right into a definitive settlement to accumulate a 75 p.c possession curiosity in The CW Community, LLC (“The CW” or the “Community”). Warner Bros. Discovery (Nasdaq: WBD) and Paramount World (Nasdaq: PARA, PARAA), the present co-owners of The CW, will every retain a 12.5 p.c possession curiosity in The CW and can proceed to provide authentic, scripted content material for the Community.
Nexstar, along with its companion stations, is the nation’s largest native tv broadcasting firm and the most important CW affiliate group with 37 CW and CW Plus associates, together with associates in 5 of the highest ten DMAs, accounting for 32 p.c of the Community’s nationwide attain. The proposed transaction is anticipated to create worth for Nexstar shareholders by solidifying the Firm’s income alternatives as the most important CW affiliate, diversifying its content material exterior of reports, rising its publicity to the nationwide promoting market, establishing it as a participant in promoting video-on-demand providers and enhancing The CW rankings, income, and profitability, by prioritizing programing for the Community’s broadcast viewers.
Mark Pedowitz will proceed to function The CW’s Chairman and Chief Government Officer, with accountability for day-to-day operations. The transaction is anticipated to shut within the third quarter.
Perry Sook, Nexstar’s Chairman and Chief Government Officer, commented, “Our acquisition of The CW is strategically and operationally compelling, as it is going to allow us to leverage our operational expertise to enhance the Community’s efficiency by way of our administration of this highly effective nationwide platform. We plan to use the identical strict monetary requirements to working The CW as we apply to our different companies.”
“The CW has delivered signature programming to its broadcast and digital audiences for 16 years,” mentioned George Cheeks, President & Chief Government Officer of CBS. “Collectively, with our companions at Warner Bros. and The CW, we now have created a welcome dwelling for content material that has resonated with viewers on the community and on platforms around the globe. This new possession construction allows us to companion with Nexstar and Warner Bros. Discovery on the subsequent chapter of The CW whereas re-deploying capital to different content material platforms at Paramount.”
Channing Dungey, Chairman, Warner Bros. Tv Group, commented: “For 16 seasons, The CW has been dwelling to among the most groundbreaking and generation-defining programming in tv, from the long-lasting DC Tremendous Heroes of Greg Berlanti’s Arrowverse sequence to The Vampire Diaries, and all the things in between, together with the All American franchise, the unique Gossip Woman, Kung Fu, Nikita, Riverdale, Smallville, and plenty of many extra. The community was additionally the house of Supernatural, the longest-running live-action fantasy sequence in U.S. TV historical past, for 14 of its 15 seasons. We’re excited that the Supernatural story will proceed with The Winchesters premiering this fall. We sit up for persevering with to collaborate on our shared sequence and future initiatives to return below Nexstar’s management. We’re eternally grateful to our companions at The CW, particularly Mark Pedowitz, who has been an important pal to the studio for thus a few years, and to me personally. We all know that the community will proceed to thrive below his management.”
Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Loeb & Loeb LLP served as authorized advisors to Nexstar. Guggenheim Securities acted as monetary advisor and Paul Hastings LLP served as authorized advisor to Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount World and The CW.
