Nexstar, which acquired a 75% stake in the money-losing CW Network in 2022, is looking to put CW affiliations on more of its own stations.
Speaking on Nexstar’s fourth-quarter earnings call Wednesday, Nexstar President and COO Mike Biard said that the company’s CW affiliated stations are the most profitable of its network affiliated stations, both in terms of margin and gross dollars.
“We are laser focused on fortifying the performance for the long term by acquiring more CW affiliations for Nexstar stations and focusing our programming investments in content that matters to the broadcast viewer, including live sports,” Board said.
Last year, Nexstar moved the CW affiliations to its own station in markets including Philadelphia, San Francisco and Tampa.
Nexstar also acquired KUSI in San Diego for $35 million. At the time the company said the transaction would be “accretive to Nexstar’s operating results when The CW Network affiliation becomes available in the market." KFMB is the current CW affiliate in San Diego, airing the network on a digital channel.
Nexstar reported that in the fourth quarter, The CW lost $50 million on an adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, a $!4 million improvement from the previous year.
“We made significant headway in 2023 on our path to profitability” at the CW, said Perry Sook. “First, we further streamlined the network operations, improving cash flow by almost $90 million versus 2022, which was under prior ownership for 3/4 of the year. We also implemented a compelling programming lineup including a diversified mix of entertainment, unscripted programming, sports and events.”
But Sook noted that the the CW might not get into the black by the fourth quarter of 2025, as previously forecast. “Whether that's exactly Q4 of 2025 or with the writer's strike that kind of moves into the first part of 2026, I think is irrelevant. We are adding value, creating value there with the growth in audience, beating our competitors head to head upon occasion. I mean, those are all things that we hope to do.,” he said.
