Speaker 1: Welcome to Strictly Business Variety's weekly podcasts featuring conversations about
Speaker 1: the business of media and entertainment. I'm TV business writer
Speaker 1: Jennifer Monts. Dennis Miller, and Brad Schwartz took charge of
Speaker 1: the CW network last fall when they were appointed network
Speaker 1: President and entertainment President, respectively, by new owner Nextstar. With
Speaker 1: the fall TV season upon us at a particularly tumultuous
Speaker 1: time for Hollywood, I spoke with Pop TV alum Schwartz
Speaker 1: and Sony Pictures and Lionsgate TV v Miller about their sports,
Speaker 1: unscripted and acquired international content heavy slate, as well as
Speaker 1: the larger plan for the network born in two thousand
Speaker 1: and six out of the merger between CBS's UPN and
Speaker 1: Warner Brothers. The WB. Stay tuned for more after the break.
Speaker 2: And we're back with Brad Schwartz and Dennis Miller on
Speaker 2: the reinvention of the CW Network.
Speaker 1: So I'm going to start with like the most recent question,
Speaker 1: which is at what point the decision was made during
Speaker 1: the summer to alter the fall schedule given the changes
Speaker 1: from upfront time to them.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't think it's all that different. I
Speaker 3: think the biggest change was that we had All American
Speaker 3: on the schedule, which you know, at the time the
Speaker 3: strike wasn't happening, and we thought that show would deliver
Speaker 3: for fourth quarter. It's a monster of a show for us,
Speaker 3: and we were very smartly pairing that with a great
Speaker 3: show fifty first Street. When the strike impacted All American,
Speaker 3: we just had to make a little change, you know. There,
Speaker 3: So we moved our comedy block that we had talked
Speaker 3: about to Monday nights. We thought that was a good
Speaker 3: competitive night for comedies, and then on Tuesdays, we signed
Speaker 3: a great deal with NFL Films to bring Inside the
Speaker 3: NFL to the CW, which which brings the NFL, you know,
Speaker 3: the biggest sports brand in the country, a very valuable
Speaker 3: NFL Crest, a partner in NFL Films, and a forty
Speaker 3: year well known sports franchise that has won Emmys, and
Speaker 3: for the first time ever is available for sponsorship and advertising.
Speaker 3: So that was a really exciting opportunity for us to
Speaker 3: get into a partnership with the NFL. And besides that,
Speaker 3: I don't think anything else.
Speaker 1: Has changed, Dennis, the number of deals that I've made,
Speaker 1: you know, speaking about Inside the NFL, but just strictly
Speaker 1: on sports, right, there have been three since the last
Speaker 1: time that we talked, so I wanted to know how
Speaker 1: that came about, how long those talks were going, and
Speaker 1: if there's more coming live.
Speaker 4: You know, we were, you know, obviously, like everyone kind
Speaker 4: of like, wow, this is a huge new development and
Speaker 4: potentially could be very interesting for CW.
Speaker 5: Obviously there's a lot.
Speaker 4: Of uh, you know, field to plow right now for
Speaker 4: the Live Folks and the p I F and the
Speaker 4: p G A, and they're doing what they're doing, and
Speaker 4: we hope it comes to.
Speaker 5: A successful conclusion.
Speaker 4: They've announced the first half of next season that we
Speaker 4: did back in New York a while ago. But you know,
Speaker 4: we're we're just fingers crossed and hope that this comes
Speaker 4: to a place where Live and PGA can you know,
Speaker 4: coexist in a good way. And I think we think
Speaker 4: that's where this will all end up. But we we
Speaker 4: you know, remain kind of cautiously optimistic, uh. And then
Speaker 4: the ACC Sean Compton, you know, Jenny, I believe, you know,
Speaker 4: had been in conversations for a long time with the
Speaker 4: Raycon Folks, which is owned by Gray, and he had
Speaker 4: really kind of initiated the conversations as the a c
Speaker 4: C as Raycon was able to pull a package together
Speaker 4: of you know, top college football and basketball games given
Speaker 4: the you know, the existing incumbents in play, and so
Speaker 4: we jumped in and Sean and LeeAnne our CFO at
Speaker 4: Next Star really you know, actively were negotiating for some time,
Speaker 4: and then with the season approaching it it was moving
Speaker 4: expeditiously and ultimately we're able to you know, secure those
Speaker 4: rights and launching as you know, September ninth inside the
Speaker 4: NFL came across the transom from ross Quitoer at NFL Films,
Speaker 4: and we were delighted when we heard that there may
Speaker 4: be an opportunity to move the Emmy Award winning top
Speaker 4: show off of Showtime in HBO after all those years
Speaker 4: and have NFL Tuesday Night wrapping up the weekend and
Speaker 4: Monday night schedule. So that happened and moved, you know,
Speaker 4: very quickly, and NASCAR had been being negotiated for some time.
Speaker 5: This was really at the Next Star.
Speaker 4: Level with Perry and you know all of his team, Leanne, Shawn,
Speaker 4: the whole gang and ourselves had series of meetings with
Speaker 4: the NASCAR folks and I think these were both founder companies,
Speaker 4: the France family and Perry having started next Door and
Speaker 4: being the fifth largest shareholder in the company. There was
Speaker 4: a commonality of kind of perspectives and interests. The Extinity
Speaker 4: came up opportunistically and we pounced and you know successfully
Speaker 4: were able to make that seven year deal with them. So,
Speaker 4: you know, a lot happened very very quickly, very opportunistically.
Speaker 4: I think the combination of cable erosion creating concerns for
Speaker 4: leagues wanting this broad distribution, RSN implosion, retooling of leagues
Speaker 4: which is ongoing right now, and I think Brad and
Speaker 4: I were both very you know, surprised and excited about
Speaker 4: what was coming our way. So we went from zero,
Speaker 4: as Brat might like to say to you know, four
Speaker 4: hundred and fifty hours in twenty twenty five of sports.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'll just put one more our button on the
Speaker 3: end of that. So yeah, so, you know, six months
Speaker 3: ago and historically zero live sports on the CW. This
Speaker 3: year we'll have over three hundred hours of live sports,
Speaker 3: and in two thousand and twenty five we'll have four
Speaker 3: hundred and fifty hours of sports, and we'll have live
Speaker 3: sports on the CW forty eight weekends a year, and
Speaker 3: that's moving very quickly into the sports business and what
Speaker 3: I love. And the other new thing that's happened is
Speaker 3: we now have CW programming hours on Saturday and Sunday afternoons,
Speaker 3: which we've never had, which also just allows for audience
Speaker 3: flow that you can talk to those audiences during the
Speaker 3: day about stuff that's coming into prime. Football can push
Speaker 3: to golf, Golf can push to college football, college football
Speaker 3: can push back to golf, and then we can you know,
Speaker 3: use all of that to promote our primetime lineup. So
Speaker 3: it's really exciting. And to answer the second part of
Speaker 3: your question that you asked, Dennis, as you can imagine,
Speaker 3: when you announce all these great big sports things, every
Speaker 3: other sports league arts calling. And so yes, I don't
Speaker 3: I don't think.
Speaker 1: We're done a little bit more for you on that rub,
Speaker 1: which is what the balance is like for you moving forward. Then,
Speaker 1: as we look at the new CW, with sports being
Speaker 1: such an important part of this, what the rest of
Speaker 1: your schedule looks like. You know, obviously there's the weekend
Speaker 1: and then there's primetime during the week and if you
Speaker 1: see more of it moving there, if there's a chance
Speaker 1: for that, and then how much time you have a
Speaker 1: program scripted and unscripted during the week and what you're
Speaker 1: looking for that balance there.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I think in our lot. In Nexttar's
Speaker 3: last earnings report, our CEO mentioned how we were starting
Speaker 3: to look and feel a lot more like Fox, you know,
Speaker 3: in that we have two hours of primetime a night,
Speaker 3: and now we're getting into major sports on the weekends.
Speaker 3: Our primetime lineup is still going to be heavily entertainment programming.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 3: I've always kind of thought as we evolve the CW,
Speaker 3: it'll be very balanced fifty to fifty between scripted and unscripted.
Speaker 3: And of course when we have the opportunity to put
Speaker 3: some sports into primetime, we're going to take some shots
Speaker 3: and do that. And having inside the NFL in prime
Speaker 3: time on Tuesdays, that's just where it's always been for
Speaker 3: forty years. That was kind of the easiest scheduling decision
Speaker 3: of all time. But we have some acc football games
Speaker 3: coming that will be in prime. Our first game on
Speaker 3: the ninth will be in prime, and then two weeks
Speaker 3: later we're going to have five hours of live golf
Speaker 3: leading into three and a half hours bACC football. That's
Speaker 3: eight and a half hours straight of live sports on
Speaker 3: the CW. It's just it's never happened before. So we'll
Speaker 3: put some sports into prime where we can. But really,
Speaker 3: from what we presented at the upfront, are you know
Speaker 3: two hours a night, seven nights a week is still
Speaker 3: very heavily entertainment programming.
Speaker 1: You know, as Brad said, not much changed for you
Speaker 1: all in the fall schedule, especially compared to your competitors
Speaker 1: who might have been a little riskier in making their
Speaker 1: initial decisions. So Dennis don't want to know how that
Speaker 1: ended up affecting the upfront and what sales look like
Speaker 1: and what partnerships look like going into this fall first
Speaker 1: that you guys are really modifying and changing and in
Speaker 1: control of the fall schedule.
Speaker 4: Well, we got lucky in ways because you know, we
Speaker 4: were had a number of uh, you know, high profile
Speaker 4: and high quality series that Brad and his team were
Speaker 4: able to you know, go out and dig under a
Speaker 4: lot of rocks and talk to a lot of talented
Speaker 4: production companies in the UK and Canada and elsewhere and find,
Speaker 4: you know, opportunities to put this programming on our prime
Speaker 4: time in the fall. We were ending a lot of
Speaker 4: stuff that had been already committed under the previous owners,
Speaker 4: So we were taking on a lot and running a
Speaker 4: lot of stuff. But we you know, we're fortunate to
Speaker 4: have a number of scripted series that we're just getting
Speaker 4: started on the CW. Obviously, as Brad just said, we've
Speaker 4: got sports on the weekend, and you know, Brad can
Speaker 4: tell you, but you know, we have a pretty active
Speaker 4: nonfiction slate right now that is shooting around the country.
Speaker 4: So I think compared to our competitors who were punkering
Speaker 4: down and as you know, Jenny talking publicly about selling assets,
Speaker 4: I think we were very pleased and happy to be
Speaker 4: building and buying.
Speaker 5: So we think we're we're in a pretty good.
Speaker 1: Place Brad going into this fall from a marketing perspective,
Speaker 1: you know, we talked back in May, but you were like,
Speaker 1: we've got more to com and you'll see how it
Speaker 1: rolls out so far. But promoting the fall and promoting
Speaker 1: the new CW also given that we know that this
Speaker 1: might not be exactly what things look like next fall,
Speaker 1: this could be very different, So how you're branding yourselves
Speaker 1: as the new CW with kind of an asterisk that
Speaker 1: like more to com things could change, Like we obviously
Speaker 1: don't have the same tools going into this fall that
Speaker 1: we could have to program.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, look, we knew that the fall was
Speaker 3: going to be a lot of new and exciting content
Speaker 3: on the schedule, and we need to keep our powder
Speaker 3: dry and keep our marketing dollars ready for fall. We
Speaker 3: just closed our upfront and we have ratings targets to hit,
Speaker 3: and we have a bunch of new shows that we
Speaker 3: think are going to hit them, and so we want
Speaker 3: to give those shows the best chance possible. So we've
Speaker 3: saved a lot of our marketing money, you know, to
Speaker 3: promote priorities like Sullivan's Crossing, like Son of a Critch,
Speaker 3: like Inside the NFL, like f Boy Island, the sports
Speaker 3: on the weekend. So we're going to be putting a
Speaker 3: lot of money behind, you know, giving those shows a
Speaker 3: great chance. And then what comes. As Dennis said, I mean,
Speaker 3: we have ten to fifteen unscripted series currently in production
Speaker 3: shooting all over the country, our unscripted teams visiting all
Speaker 3: these places, they're constantly out of the office. But we
Speaker 3: have a lot of really ambitious, exciting, new original, homegrown
Speaker 3: unscripted content coming and then also, you know, we have
Speaker 3: about five scripted series that are that are that are
Speaker 3: going that are co productions, that are independent productions that
Speaker 3: are that got waivers and are being produced. And so
Speaker 3: we're really excited about homegrown, from scratch scripted content that's coming.
Speaker 3: And then for some of the acquisitions that we've made,
Speaker 3: be it you know, Sullivan's Crossing or some kind of
Speaker 3: a Critch, those shows are shooting second and third seasons
Speaker 3: and we are creatively involved as co producers on all
Speaker 3: of those shows. So so our scripted team is crazy
Speaker 3: busy with a whole bunch of new stuff coming in
Speaker 3: the new year, and our unscripted team is busy, and
Speaker 3: we continue with sports. When can you inside the NFL?
Speaker 3: And you know, the SoundBite I like to say is
Speaker 3: this fall, the CW will have more scripted content on
Speaker 3: its schedule than any other broadcaster.
Speaker 1: So if you had to give the best, like what
Speaker 1: you want the identity of the CW to be known
Speaker 1: as right now, and if you want to kind of
Speaker 1: leave it open for what it'll be in the future,
Speaker 1: what would you say?
Speaker 3: Yeah, you know what our goal was certainly to try
Speaker 3: and get broader, and when you look at all the
Speaker 3: broadcast networks. I mean, we are broadcast. We're not a
Speaker 3: niche cable channel. We have to reach the largest audiences possible.
Speaker 3: We need those audiences to fall in love with us,
Speaker 3: and we want to spend a lot of time with us.
Speaker 3: But if you steal some of the magic of the
Speaker 3: old CW, the CW was always a contrarian brand. There
Speaker 3: was always a more youthful brand, and I think there
Speaker 3: are some things in that world that we can put
Speaker 3: on the new CW. I think we're an underdog. I
Speaker 3: think that's a really nice place to be. We strive
Speaker 3: to be one of the you know to be big
Speaker 3: five network and all of our programming choices are pushing
Speaker 3: us there. And that's why we want comedy fans and
Speaker 3: adult drama fans, and sports fans and big unscripted fans
Speaker 3: to all come here. And we are currently working on
Speaker 3: a channel redesign, not a new name, but a redesign
Speaker 3: that kind of feels elastic enough where all these things
Speaker 3: make sense all together and wraps up. But I love
Speaker 3: the idea of feeling different than the other broadcast networks,
Speaker 3: of maybe being a little more youthful in our tone,
Speaker 3: even at just so that everything feels different when you
Speaker 3: come to the CW. But we are making broad choices,
Speaker 3: but also things that and you'll see in some of
Speaker 3: our newer announcements that haven't come out yet, some really
Speaker 3: contrarian things that I think the early days of Fox
Speaker 3: when they started things like married with Children that was
Speaker 3: just different than anybody else was doing. I think you're
Speaker 3: going to see a little of that coming as well.
Speaker 3: But if we can be an underdog, a contrarian, a
Speaker 3: little more youthful, a way of combining audiences that might
Speaker 3: be in their fifties on linear and they should have
Speaker 3: a passionate connection to the CW, and then that same
Speaker 3: content reach a completely unduplicated, younger audience on streaming and
Speaker 3: make that all feel makes sense together. That's the goal.
Speaker 1: So what have you all seen from next start in
Speaker 1: terms of your spend that you've been given, the access
Speaker 1: to content spend, marketing spend in this new CW.
Speaker 3: I think Dennis nailed it before. I think you look
Speaker 3: out there at the media industry and a lot of
Speaker 3: people are contracting or hearing interviews that people give, or
Speaker 3: people aren't trying to get rid of assets. And then
Speaker 3: I look at the CW and gosh, I we have
Speaker 3: ten or twenty positions that we're hiring for. We're hiring,
Speaker 3: we're growing, We're spending tons of money on sports rights.
Speaker 3: We're investing in scripted and unscripted and like four hundred
Speaker 3: and fifty hours original content that'll be on the CW
Speaker 3: next year. We're investing in our digital platforms. So I see,
Speaker 3: you know, I think a lot of people that come
Speaker 3: and pitch us these days are like, you guys are
Speaker 3: the only buyers in town, you know, as a joke.
Speaker 3: I think we're I think we're playing offense and that's exciting.
Speaker 3: That doesn't mean we can compete with Netflix budgets or
Speaker 3: Disney budgets, et cetera. We do have to be smarter
Speaker 3: and scrappier and find things that other in places other
Speaker 3: people aren't looking, and hit above our weight and have
Speaker 3: a high batting average at the same time. But I
Speaker 3: think we're being very aggressive and playing offense.
Speaker 1: Dennis has that it all affected the ideas of the
Speaker 1: path to profitability for the CW that were previously projected.
Speaker 5: I don't think so.
Speaker 4: I think that we you know that the entire company said, hey,
Speaker 4: sports is a way to drive asset value for the
Speaker 4: CW and probably the smartest you know component here visa
Speaker 4: you our local broadcasters. As you know, we have thirty
Speaker 4: plus CW stations, they've never had sports before. The MVPDs
Speaker 4: and the virtual MVPDs have made it clear that sports
Speaker 4: is really.
Speaker 5: The driver of value for consumers.
Speaker 4: We've been the beneficiary of a lot of rsns between
Speaker 4: their debt structures and the cable situation and bundles starting
Speaker 4: to decline dramatically that you know, imploded, and we've been
Speaker 4: the beneficiary of that. So I think our big boss,
Speaker 4: you know, Perry Sook, likes to say, hey, I want
Speaker 4: to play smart TV. I want to play moneyball, not
Speaker 4: interested in peak TV. That was something that Landgraft coined
Speaker 4: brilliantly at the time, and I think.
Speaker 5: Everyone's pulling back from that. But it's time to play
Speaker 5: smart TV right now.
Speaker 1: We'll be back with more from Brad and Dennis after
Speaker 1: this break.
Speaker 2: And we're back with more from Brad Schwartz and Dennis
Speaker 2: Miller on the reinvention of the CW network.
Speaker 1: I mean this was back in April, but with you
Speaker 1: all hiring your first ever chief digital officer, I want
Speaker 1: to know what that signals for the future of the CW.
Speaker 1: There are a lot of people, you know, talking about
Speaker 1: what the relationship with streaming would be post the sale,
Speaker 1: and I just want to know what you guys are
Speaker 1: planning going forward.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think a couple of things. You know,
Speaker 4: Brad likes to say the CW needs to be everywhere,
Speaker 4: and I think, you know, a brand needs to be
Speaker 4: touching consumers everywhere. And as we're seeing, you get an audience,
Speaker 4: you know, just by way of past example, an audience
Speaker 4: or all American on the CW, an audience that is,
Speaker 4: you know, median age fifty nine, an audience that's median
Speaker 4: age twenty nine for all American on the CW digital platform,
Speaker 4: and then a top ten performing show on Netflix a
Speaker 4: week later. So these shows have different audiences and different
Speaker 4: touch points and engagement. And I think a lot of
Speaker 4: people you know witness you know, Suits off of USA
Speaker 4: being the number one streaming show on Netflix today. So
Speaker 4: we made a big hire in Ashley Hovey coming out
Speaker 4: of Roku. We loved the experience and knowledge she came
Speaker 4: off of one of the top performing you know, avon
Speaker 4: platforms out there. You know, Jenny what Pluto and twob
Speaker 4: and free v and Roku are doing in terms of
Speaker 4: driving audience awareness. They're now showing up on Nielsen reports here.
Speaker 4: So you're going to see over the next certainly you know,
Speaker 4: one to two years, and starting very soon, a very
Speaker 4: aggressive content acquisition strategy for the CW Digital. We're going
Speaker 4: to grow it was a bit of an afterthought under
Speaker 4: the previous owners, but generate a lot of impressions. So
Speaker 4: we're going to really focus on that twenty five to
Speaker 4: forty year old spot. The app is being upgraded dramatically,
Speaker 4: so we have you know, kind of best in class
Speaker 4: vise are ther peers and then a lot of hours
Speaker 4: and half hours and programs, fast channels and just you
Speaker 4: know on demand programming that will supplement around that twenty five.
Speaker 5: To forty year old base.
Speaker 4: So that is you know, maybe one of the biggest
Speaker 4: growth opportunities for the CW.
Speaker 5: Overall, and you're going to see.
Speaker 4: The resources and people you know, put against that under
Speaker 4: Ashley's direction.
Speaker 1: So with that, I want to know what the future
Speaker 1: any outside partnerships for streaming look like. As you all
Speaker 1: mentioned how well All American does on Netflix, So decision
Speaker 1: like that whenever that does come back what you see
Speaker 1: as those Is there more of a thought to wanting
Speaker 1: to own your own content and stream your own content
Speaker 1: or do you can those partnerships that have proved.
Speaker 5: A successful I'll let that softball go to brand.
Speaker 3: Yeah. You know, one of the one of the biggest
Speaker 3: challenges of the of the previous c W is they
Speaker 3: didn't have the rights to the content. The content was fabulous.
Speaker 3: But and as Dennis said in a week where Succession
Speaker 3: was had its finale and ted Lasso had its finale, uh,
Speaker 3: the All American on Netflix beat both of them on
Speaker 3: the Nielsen ratings, Like, we know that the CW can
Speaker 3: create hits and uh. And one of the issues with
Speaker 3: the old CW is those rights, you know, were CBS
Speaker 3: rights and they were Warner rights, and so that kind
Speaker 3: of third, fourth, fifth, sixth window on this programming was
Speaker 3: never really credited back to the c W. And all
Speaker 3: the new content we're doing, both scripted and unscripted, all
Speaker 3: those rights are ours. And so as we decide, you know,
Speaker 3: the future of CW content after we've monetized it on
Speaker 3: linear and we've made the biggest hay with it on linear,
Speaker 3: and we've monetized them our on our digital platforms. Those
Speaker 3: decisions of where else we can take that content to
Speaker 3: monetize it are now completely ours, and Ashley Hovey is
Speaker 3: working on a ton of strategies that can make sure
Speaker 3: that every CW show is watched by as many people
Speaker 3: as possible and that we are monetizing those connections everywhere
Speaker 3: it happens. So that's absolutely a top three strategy for
Speaker 3: the future of the Cwuh.
Speaker 1: You know, you've got mid season not locked at all,
Speaker 1: because no one does, but you do have a plan
Speaker 1: moving forward, and I think looking at it, you have
Speaker 1: roughly half of those shows that you've listed are done
Speaker 1: in the can and can go, but several of them aren't.
Speaker 1: So I want to know, you know, with the ongoing strikes,
Speaker 1: how soon you all feel like you need to go
Speaker 1: back into production to be able to hit a mid
Speaker 1: season target for some of those and how soon you
Speaker 1: need to rethink those being part of that grouping.
Speaker 3: We're we're in really really good shape. The strike impact
Speaker 3: that shows for us All American, All American Homecoming, Walker,
Speaker 3: Superman and Lois Librarians, which we announced at the upfront.
Speaker 3: Those shows are all you know, waiting for the strike
Speaker 3: to end. But you know, we have a ton of
Speaker 3: scripted content that is out there, co productions that that
Speaker 3: are that is our in production. That show Joan that
Speaker 3: we talked about we're really excited about. That's a co
Speaker 3: production with the UK that Sophie Turner is starting in.
Speaker 3: That show just wrapped. That's going to be an Awards
Speaker 3: conversation piece that's just looking amazing. And then as we mentioned,
Speaker 3: we have a ton of unscripted content that we haven't
Speaker 3: even announced yet, but I'm sure Rob has a plan
Speaker 3: for us to everybody know about that soon. But I mean,
Speaker 3: I look at our Q one, I'm looking at it
Speaker 3: right now, in our Q two, I mean we are
Speaker 3: solid right through to kind of Q three, So I
Speaker 3: think we're in good shape. And hopefully this strike ends
Speaker 3: really soon and we can get into production on all
Speaker 3: of those other amazing hit shows and have those come
Speaker 3: in Q three Q four, and it's gonna your real
Speaker 3: solid year for the CW. I mean, we have new
Speaker 3: seasons of Son of a Critch, new seasons of Children
Speaker 3: and Everything, new seasons of Run the Verbs, new seasons
Speaker 3: of Family Law and Family Law. Last week just on
Speaker 3: a Friday night, just killed it and then a ton
Speaker 3: of unscripted stuff that, as I said, we'll be announcing
Speaker 3: here momentarily, but we're we're in really good shape and
Speaker 3: we will maintain that kind of fifty to fifty scripted
Speaker 3: unscripted plus sports well into halfway through twenty twenty four
Speaker 3: without any problem.
Speaker 1: So do you see, like, have you made multiple plans
Speaker 1: for what misseason click look at? Is there any chance
Speaker 1: that you couldn't make those dates you think if there
Speaker 1: was that happening, or are you really looking at these
Speaker 1: new unscripted shows biling that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think we have a schedule that is set
Speaker 3: through Q two of twenty twenty four, so halfway through
Speaker 3: twenty twenty four, I think we're pretty solid, and you'll
Speaker 3: be seeing those announcements coming soon and then hopefully all
Speaker 3: the great and you know, hopefully the strike end and
Speaker 3: everyone can get back to work on these shows that
Speaker 3: we're also really excited about. And if those can come
Speaker 3: in the second half of next year, I think it's
Speaker 3: going to be, as I said, a really wonderful year.
Speaker 1: Dennis. Do you see the Direct TV blackout if it
Speaker 1: continues to go through on next next our stations into September,
Speaker 1: how much that might affect your relaunch plans and what
Speaker 1: the wider reach of the CW looks like this fall.
Speaker 5: It's not going to affect our relaunch plans.
Speaker 4: We're hopeful that it gets concluded by around Labor Day here,
Speaker 4: and these things tend to happen around the NFL season,
Speaker 4: you know, kicking off in earnest, so we're hopeful about
Speaker 4: that there's a good resolution for both sides here, but
Speaker 4: we have no plans to alter the kickoff of our
Speaker 4: fall schedule. It tends to impact you know, all stations,
Speaker 4: all ratings at about thirteen to fourteen percent of you know,
Speaker 4: your normally delivered on bians. But I think you know,
Speaker 4: reasonable heads will prevail and we'll all be back in business,
Speaker 4: you know, come Labor Day.
Speaker 1: As you mentioned, some assets conversation going around in the
Speaker 1: whole environment right now. I know this came up on
Speaker 1: the earnings call and Perry was asked about it. But
Speaker 1: the chance that nextar could be looked at and seen
Speaker 1: as a potential buyer for ABC or CBS. What conversations
Speaker 1: like that out there in the media make you all
Speaker 1: think about when the CW is what you're focused on
Speaker 1: and what next ours said they are focused on.
Speaker 4: Look, I think that the nice thing is is that
Speaker 4: we're in a very enviable situation because unlike our peers,
Speaker 4: we have you know where we have very low leverage,
Speaker 4: we have you know, really good cash flow, we have
Speaker 4: a really good margin business. We're not in streaming, which
Speaker 4: is a great advantage. Who would have thought, but it
Speaker 4: seems to be a great advantage for your cash flow
Speaker 4: balance sheet. We're heading into what is going to be
Speaker 4: a tumultuous, loud political year, which is always a boon
Speaker 4: for local broadcasts. So uh, and we have a you know,
Speaker 4: a great mix of Fox, ABC, NBC, CBS, and CW station.
Speaker 4: So I like our you know, uh, our situation as
Speaker 4: it is. And as we're heading into after what has
Speaker 4: been you know, bumpy and challenging for everybody, are you know,
Speaker 4: our other peers have announced that they're going to probably
Speaker 4: need to make strategic moves with their assets. And I think,
Speaker 4: you know, when we recently Perry recently hired Mike Beard
Speaker 4: from Fox who's had a front row seat for all
Speaker 4: of the you know, accomplishments and building that has gone
Speaker 4: on at Fox, and it will be the new.
Speaker 5: President CEO starting early next week.
Speaker 4: So uh, I think we're we're in a really good
Speaker 4: situation to look at everything that comes our way and
Speaker 4: continue to figure out, Hey, what's the best alignment of assets,
Speaker 4: you know, going forward here?
Speaker 1: So I know Dennis has extended his contract, Brott, are
Speaker 1: you staying with us for the foreseeable future?
Speaker 4: This is his last stagey, It's really a real point.
Speaker 4: But this is a wonderful, wonderful way to go out.
Speaker 6: Oh am, I supposed to answer that question, yes, you're
Speaker 6: to question. Yes, I've I've never had more fun in
Speaker 6: my career. This is This has been absolutely thrilling. Like
Speaker 6: I think we've assembled a hell of a team.
Speaker 3: We already talked about Ashley Hovey and she's a genius
Speaker 3: and an incredible executive. And Chris Pattuccini was the former
Speaker 3: CMO of HBO, is now running marketing for US and
Speaker 3: an amazing you had a BA and Tom Martin who
Speaker 3: worked for Katzenberg and worked for NBC. And Heather Olander
Speaker 3: is a superstar and one of the greatest unscripted executives
Speaker 3: in the entire industry. And Liz Wise, who runs our
Speaker 3: scripted team, who has done both current and scripted for
Speaker 3: some of the biggest CW scripted hits of all time
Speaker 3: is running our scripted team. It's just it's a really
Speaker 3: amazing team that Dennis and I have been able to assemble.
Speaker 3: And I love it, and you know, I'll hitch my
Speaker 3: wagon to Dennis and just we'll keep rolling.
Speaker 5: Yeah, Jenny, we are a team.
Speaker 4: We've been a team before, and I couldn't do the
Speaker 4: things that I like to do without somebody with Brad's
Speaker 4: skill set and capabilities, you know, managing the day to
Speaker 4: day and his programming and marketing instincts. And I get
Speaker 4: to spend some time thinking about, you know, where we
Speaker 4: go from here and deal with some of the larger
Speaker 4: kind of business you know, dynamics here. So we found
Speaker 4: the right yin and yang. I feel very blessed to
Speaker 4: have Brad as my partner.
Speaker 1: Brad, I know we had already talked about and I
Speaker 1: was pretty excited to hear. With Sullivan's crossing coming, there's
Speaker 1: that old CW connection with Chad, Michael Murray and Scott
Speaker 1: Patterson being in that series and then you all picking
Speaker 1: up the Librarians. There's these touch points and then obviously
Speaker 1: the shows that you did were new and so I
Speaker 1: want to know, you know, with the straight being looming there,
Speaker 1: if there are other ways that you're trying to find
Speaker 1: to keep that running through to mid season two next
Speaker 1: spring and stuff with that still being a question mark,
Speaker 1: are there other acquisitions you're looking at other ways to
Speaker 1: have those little ties.
Speaker 3: Look, we don't want to alienate an audience that we
Speaker 3: spent twenty years cultivating. It just can't be the only
Speaker 3: thing we do, right. It can be like one of
Speaker 3: five things that we do. We are currently in production
Speaker 3: on a scripted series that may or may not have
Speaker 3: a star from Riverdale, so little touch points like that
Speaker 3: are always in the back of our minds when we
Speaker 3: make casting decisions. How can we you know, maybe have
Speaker 3: a little bit of a nod uh to uh to
Speaker 3: to the old CW. But but it's certainly you know,
Speaker 3: one of five things. As I said, there are some
Speaker 3: comedies that I'm that are coming that I feel harkened
Speaker 3: back to those early days of maybe those amazing African
Speaker 3: American comedy that used to do, you know, be on
Speaker 3: the old upn and so I think there will always
Speaker 3: be a little bit of that. And of course we
Speaker 3: have four huge shows coming back from the CW. So yeah,
Speaker 3: We always had that in the back of our mind
Speaker 3: to play in some of the places we've been successful
Speaker 3: as we look to grow into new places at the
Speaker 3: same time.
Speaker 1: And then my last one is for both of you,
Speaker 1: which is I really did think it was very accurate
Speaker 1: to describe the CW, the upcoming CW as looking more
Speaker 1: and more like Fox, and even more so behind the
Speaker 1: scenes with all of your recent hires, one being very
Speaker 1: much from Fox. But the level and the caliber you
Speaker 1: all yourselves of what the CW has right now. I
Speaker 1: want to if you all see the industry looking at
Speaker 1: you that way, yet, even if the schedule proves that way,
Speaker 1: if you've seen your reputation the way the CW is
Speaker 1: seen right now, do you see yourselves at that level
Speaker 1: with who you're talking to and how those conversations go.
Speaker 1: Where do you feel like you still have a ways
Speaker 1: to go before other people catch up with their opinion
Speaker 1: of the CW.
Speaker 4: I would say, we you know, we are, we got
Speaker 4: a ways to go. We're just getting started. Purchase was
Speaker 4: in October, most of the team joining first of the year,
Speaker 4: just sports just coming on to the network. Uh, you know,
Speaker 4: it took obviously Fox a number of years before the
Speaker 4: they developed some really cool alternative shows, and then Rupert
Speaker 4: had the brilliant idea of which he was you know,
Speaker 4: questioned about, to bring the NFL to Fox, and that.
Speaker 5: Really took it to a whole other level. So, you know,
Speaker 5: we're just getting started.
Speaker 4: I think we know some things are hopefully some things
Speaker 4: are going to work, and a lot of things are
Speaker 4: not going to work, and we're going to fail fast
Speaker 4: and then put on things that work. But no, we've
Speaker 4: got we got work to do. We've got a long
Speaker 4: standing tradition that we want to, as Brad said, be
Speaker 4: sensitive to, but now kind of build on. We're gonna,
Speaker 4: you know, I think hopefully have the benefit of seeing
Speaker 4: what some of our you know, competitors are doing and
Speaker 4: what's working or not.
Speaker 5: We're realigning the stations in a way.
Speaker 4: Where we have the best kind of distribution architecture out
Speaker 4: there and put the best people in place. But we
Speaker 4: know this is a you know, this is a half marathon,
Speaker 4: it's not a sprint, so we've got to you know,
Speaker 4: we're just we're just getting up to the starting line
Speaker 4: and get ready to go.
Speaker 5: But we have we have a lot of work to do.
Speaker 3: It's it's execution time now. You know, we've laid out
Speaker 3: some plans for Phase one and it really is just
Speaker 3: a phase one and now it's now it's a go
Speaker 3: to prove it. Now, let's go execute, and we have
Speaker 3: the right team to do it. And after phase one
Speaker 3: we'll get more into homegrown development, we'll get our digital strategy,
Speaker 3: you know, rolling, and it's the right team to do it.
Speaker 3: And it's a really exciting, exciting time now and looking
Speaker 3: forward to the future.
Speaker 1: How many phases do we have plotted out right now?
Speaker 3: Thirty eight?
Speaker 1: Thirty eight, Oh no, well ahead of Marvel's just really
Speaker 1: up long term. Well, it's always are speaking to you guys.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for giving me this much time today.
Speaker 1: I appreciate it. Thank you for joining us for this
Speaker 1: week's episode of Variety Strictly Business. You can find new
Speaker 1: episodes weekly on Apple Podcasts.