The Cw: Launching a Television Network

1. The most important challenges for a new television network include advertising, settling on a target demographic, building a distribution system, and market the new brand. With the case of CW, dividing the responsibilities between the former WB and former UPN networks was also a major challenge, in addition to deciding which shows from each network would continue. Distribution is the primary concern, as it’s important for the network, especially a new one, to reach as much of the country as possible. Finding affiliate stations and distributors was crucial for the CW to start off successfully. Fortunately for them, they were able to secure many of the former UPN and WB stations and distributors and broadcast to 95% of the country, approximately the same as the other four major networks. Beginning with finding a name and brand and continuing through determining a demographic, marketing and branding determines a great deal about who will be watching the network and also, how advertisers will react to the network. Choosing CW as the name was an important first step, as many viewers were able to identify its affiliation immediately. CW decided to use a more specific demographic than the other major networks as a way of attracting advertisers.
2. Upon hearing about the merging of UPN and WB, News Corp. decided to first stop any advertisements that were airing on its networks promoting either of the former stations. Second, they created another network, My Network TV. This second decision seemed to be made in direct response to the forming of CW. It was created to compete with the network for distributors and stations across the country. While understandable, as News Corp. did not want CW to gain too much of the market share, however, I believe this was misguided. The first step to eliminate any promotions with UPN and UPN affiliates was, if not completely necessary, got rid of a portion of the new networks marketing. Deciding to create a sister network to directly