In merger of UPN, WB networks, Channel 56 finds itself a winner

The merger of struggling youth-oriented networks UPN and the WB, announced yesterday, will leave WLVI-TV (Channel 56) a big winner in Boston.

Now a WB affiliate, the channel will be able to add whatever UPN shows it likes to its own network's lineup. UPN38, by contrast, faces an uncertain future as it loses its network tie and operates as an independent station. Most likely it will be forced to buy expensive syndicated programming.

The fallout comes from yesterday's news that CBS Corp., which owns UPN, and Warner Bros. Entertainment, which owns the WB, would fold the two into a single new network, to be called the CW.

''We're breathing a huge sigh of relief over here," said Kristen Holgerson, a WLVI spokeswoman. ''We'll be stronger now, with UPN's top shows and our own."

UPN38, however, will have to rebuild its prime-time lineup.

Ro Dooley Webster, a spokeswoman for the station, said it was a ''tremendous opportunity."

UPN currently provides just 10 hours of prime-time programming each week for the station, from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m., she said.

The rest of the day, she added, is filled with a morning local newscast and syndicated shows such as ''Dr. Phil" and ''Wheel of Fortune."

The station, to be renamed WSBK-TV (Channel 38), has the option of broadcasting more local programming, sports shows, movies, or syndicated series, Dooley Webster said.

She declined to comment on the potential expense.

The CW, which will launch this fall, will carry many programs now popular on the WB and UPN, including ''America's Next Top Model," ''Everybody Hates Chris," ''Veronica Mars," ''Smallville," ''Beauty and the Geek," ''Gilmore Girls," and WWE's ''Smackdown." But the network will also be looking for new fare, targeting 18- to 34-year-olds.

''This will be the new fifth broadcast network . . . a real competitor and a destination for young audiences, diverse audiences, and a real favorite with advertisers," Leslie Moonves, the president and chief executive of CBS, said at a press conference yesterday. ''C is for CBS. W is for Warner Bros. We couldn't call it the WC for obvious reasons."

UPN's president, Dawn Ostroff, will head the CW, which is being called a 50/50 jventure between CBS and Warner Bros. John Maatta, currently chief operating officer of the WB, will have the same title at the CW.

Both UPN and WB will broadcast their schedules separately until the fall, when CW launches.

Industry observers reacted cautiously to the news, mindful that UPN and the WB have both struggled to generate hits. UPN, an 11-year-old network known for its programming targeting African-Americans, threw marketing muscle behind ''Everybody Hates Chris" last fall, but the Chris Rock comedy is averaging just 5 million viewers -- not a bad showing by UPN standards, but not enough to change the network's fortunes.

Likewise, the WB, which launched one week before UPN in 1995, was once a hot destination for high schoolers fond of ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and ''Dawson's Creek."

Now ''Smallville" and ''Gilmore Girls" are its top shows, but they average just 5.7 million and 6 million viewers respectively.

''Even if they take the entire lineup of the WB and UPN, I'll bet they still wish they could get a little ABC in this mix, with a 'Lost' or 'Desperate Housewives,' " said Robert Thompson, director of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. ''This is kind of like two really poor people who decide to get married and join forces in their poverty. They are going to need a killer fall '06 schedule."

Sam Weisman, a Newton resident and a Hollywood producer who directed the pilot episode of the WB's long-running ''7th Heaven," said the demise of UPN and the WB is the inevitable result of increasing competition from cable and changing delivery options.

''Between Netflix and Pay-per-view, there's just so much clutter out there in the media landscape," he said.

''When people are inundated with stuff," Weisman added, ''it's very hard to capture people's collective consciousness. In the end, it's better to have one strong network than two that are weak."

Weisman said the industry is headed for more trouble if changes aren't made in the creative process.

''It used to be that producers and studios conceived of shows and sold them to the networks," he said.

Now, it's almost impossible to get a show on the air unless a network is a part-owner of the show.

''Most of the other creative people are struggling to get their voices heard. As long as that model exists, it's going to be really difficult for television to continue to have good shows."

In the announcement yesterday, CBS and Warner Bros. said the CW will be open to programming from all sources, including independent producers or other studios; however, it also plans to draw on the resources of Warner Bros. Television and CBS Paramount Television, currently the number one and two suppliers of prime-time programming in the industry.

The CW will use the WB's scheduling model, broadcasting six nights a week, Monday through Friday from 8 to 10 and Sundays from 5 to 10. It will also air weekday afternoons from 3 to 5 and Saturday mornings for five hours of animation provided by the Kids' WB! In total, the CW will provide 30 hours of programming each week to affiliates.

At his press conference, Moonves crowed about the network's future.

''We are going to have quite the schedule," he promised. ''This is a scheduler's dream."

Suzanne Ryan can be reached at sryan@globe.com.