Nexstar Media Group names new leadership for CW Network

Nexstar Media Group is making a management change after finishing its acquisition of the CW Community.

The Irving, Texas-based station group proprietor introduced Monday that it has closed the deal to accumulate a majority stake within the CW and that Mark Pedowitz is stepping down as its chairman. Nexstar is putting in Dennis Miller, a former government from Sony Footage Tv whose background is in non-scripted programming.

Nexstar agreed in August to accumulate a 75% stake within the CW from Warner Bros. Discovery and Paramount International, which nonetheless personal 12.5% every. The CW was created in 2006 out of the merger of two smaller networks — UPN, which belonged to Viacom, and the WB, owned by Warner Bros.

Pedowitz, who headed the CW Community for 11 years, will revive his unbiased firm, Pinestreet Leisure. Pedowitz beforehand headed enterprise affairs for Disney’s TV studios.

Whereas the CW Community didn’t flip a revenue as a broadcast community, it did function an efficient launching pad for applications that generated important income for its studio homeowners, who had been capable of promote the collection to streaming providers and abroad broadcasters.

Pedowitz developed style programming, utilizing well-known properties from the DC Comics universe, to provide the CW Community the youngest viewers on community tv and a particular model identification. Many CW reveals, which drew small audiences on broadcast TV, grew to become wildly fashionable on Netflix, the place youthful viewers had been extra prone to uncover them.

Pedowitz additionally elevated the quantity of authentic programming on the community, increasing it from 5 to seven nights every week. He additionally improved range on the CW, bringing extra girls and folks of colour into its casts and behind the digicam.

“This upstart community with its distinctive mix of programming introduced The CW into the forefront of popular culture and social media,” Pedowitz mentioned in a memo he despatched to his employees Monday. “We made water cooler TV in a multi-platform world. We embraced what the viewers needed and gave it to them.”

Miller is a member of Nexstar’s board of administrators. He was chairman of Industrial Media, an organization specializing in non-scripted programming that was bought to Sony Footage Leisure earlier this 12 months. Industrial’s titles embody “90 Day Fiance” on TLC, “American Idol” on ABC, “Matchmaker” on Netflix and “The Climb” with Jason Mamoa on Apple TV+.

Nexstar is anticipated to maneuver away from younger-skewing scripted applications and towards extra broad-based fare that shall be extra appropriate with the ten p.m. native newscasts on its stations.