Take one UPN, add one WB, and what do you get? Your guess is as good as “experts” in the rapidly expanding field of television.
CBS Corp. announced last week that CBS’s UPN and Time Warner’s WB will cease to exist in September, to be reborn as a new network, The CW.
KWGN-Channel 2, WB’s affiliate here, is a sure thing to be The CW outlet in Denver. The hair in the soup for KTVD-Channel 20, UPN’s affiliate, is Gannett Broadcasting, which agreed in December to buy the station. Execs at Gannett, which also owns KUSA-
Channel 9, are mum on any plans.
That leaves Channel 20 one of two places: a happy marriage with Gannett as its No. 2, possibly all-news, station in Denver, or life as an independent operator.
Greg Armstrong, general manager at Channel 20, is walking the sunny side of the street. “We think we can do as well or better (without the UPN affiliation). I was kind of energized about the announcement. It gives you a ton of flexibility.”
Far behind the major networks in programming and marketing clout, neither UPN nor WB was economically viable from the day they were founded, almost simultaneously, in 1995. They combined to lose an estimated $1.8 billion in 11 years.
Armstrong points out that KTVD gets only about 13 hours of its programming a week from UPN. “We have plenty of options available. Even on the surface, it could be more entertaining and more financially viable. The question is, what are you going to put there?” He’s drawn up a schedule of what he would do, but he’s waiting to hear from Gannett. “Clearly, as it relates to me and the station, that’s Gannett’s call.”
Taken together, UPN+WB= CW is probably a viable fifth network. Each brings shows that appeal to young, minority audiences. “Veronica Mars” and “Everybody Hates Chris,” for example. But there are a lot of stinkers too. Think “Love Inc.,” “Twins” and “Beauty and the Geek.”
How far out of it are the two networks in the ratings? So far out, noted one Associated Press writer, that UPN’s top-ranked show, “Chris,” averages 5 million viewers, a million less than the ABC comedy “Emily’s Reasons Why Not,” dropped after one airing for lack of audience.
Dominoes already are falling. KQEG-TV in LaCrosse, Wis., on Friday bailed on its network affiliation with UPN, preferring to go independent. Armstrong says he’ll ride it out.
Around the dial
Popular Spanish-language radio host Raul Brindis joins KBNO 1280-AM on Wednesday. His nationally syndicated “El Show de Raul Brindis y Pepito,” will air 4-11 a.m. weekdays. … “Yesterday,” an Oscar-nominated film about a 30-year-old mother who lives in a remote village in South Africa’s Zululand threatened with AIDS, kicks off KBDI-Channel 12’s Black History Month programming (8 p.m. Thursday). … Quotable: “Do I sound heartbroken?” Greg Armstrong
Dick Kreck’s column appears Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He may be reached at 303-820-1456 or dkreck@denverpost.com.
