CW will start making a profit in 2026, and the owner of the NEXSTAR Media Group group reaffirmed, thanks to a large part of live sports.
“During the year 2025, we will reset the affiliation agreements that represent more than two -thirds of the base of subscribers in CW,” said the head of the NexStar and Operations Manager Mike Biaard during the fourth -quarter profit call. He added that this step will strengthen the results in the fourth and quarterly quarter of 2026.
“In line with our previous guidelines, we expect the impact of this re -appointment on our advertising path will enable CW to achieve profitability during the year 2026,” Biad said.
Previously, the broadcasting network was seized from 50 to 50 CBS and Warner Bros. And the broadcast network was taken by Nexstar in 2022 after the local TV giant acquired a 75 % stake. Paramount Global and Warner Bros. Discovery keeps each of 12.5 % in the network.
Bayard said the CW programming reset was the main engine of the results in the summary. Along with the demobilization of a number of senior executives and the reduction of the total costs, the network has taken a major shift towards sport and non -strained fare. In 2025, about 400 hours of sport or “sporting” fare will be broadcast, which represents about 40 % of the total programming time, “a major change from the old CW, which had no sports programming at all,” said Biar.
“In 2025, we see our new programming investments begin to pay stock profits,” added Exec.
Although sports rights are often expensive, CW has sought more offers at reasonable prices because they created themselves on the market. Her university football and basketball, Xfinity chain included in NASCAR, a small arrow race, and a similar subsidiary of WWE in WWE NXT.
In the previous preparation, CW was placed as a wide way to the young textual drama, and she gained an audience on her way to broadcast. NexStar managed an engineer to obtain its dominant share without any money provided, and instead agreed to absorb the network debts and make it a game of synergy with its leading portfolio from local stations. Before the deal, NexStar had already managed the largest group of CW companies for any station owner.
