Aug 15 (Reuters) – Nexstar Media Group ( NXST.O ), the largest owner of local television stations in the United States, said on Monday it will take a majority stake in the CW network, home to popular shows such as “Riverdale.” Based on the popular Archie comics and superhero show “Flash”.
Warner Bros. Discovery ( WBD.O ) and Paramount ( PARA.O ), the current owners of the television network, each own 12.5% of The CW and will continue to offer originals, while Nexstar is a company with about 200. Distribution stations will own 75%. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the Wall Street Journal reported in June that Nexstar would take the lion’s share of the TV station’s more than $100 million in losses and would not be required to pay cash. (https://on.wsj.com/3QpVoRX)
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CW exec Mark Pedowitz will continue to lead the network, Nexstar said.
For Nexstar, already the largest owner of CW affiliates, the controlling stake represents a significant step in its content ambitions. It has already invested heavily in NewsNation, a national cable news service.
Paramount, formerly ViacomCBS, and AT&T’s ( TN ) WarnerMedia, now dissolved and merged with Discovery as Warner Bros. Discovery, have been longtime partners in the CW Network since the 2006 merger of the UPN and WB networks.
The stock sale comes as the media behemoths are doubling down on their streaming services to offset cord-cutting losses.
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Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru; Edited by Krishna Chandra Elluri
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