The CW Network has become a player in the sports rights space, and that investment will help it become profitable in 2026, executives say.
In 2022, Nexstar Media Group took a majority ownership stake in the network, taking 75% ownership while CBS and Warner Bros. Discovery took on the remaining 12.5% stakes in the organization. At the time of the deal, executives projected that the network would be profitable in 2025.
During an appearance at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference, Nexstar Media Group CFO Lee Ann Gliha was asked about the company’s profitability projections.
“We’re getting there,” Gliha said. “We started with a very, very negative business, and quarter after quarter, year after year, have been improving it.”
She noted that the network has more than halved its programming costs.
Since the investment by Nexstar Media Group into The CW, the network now owns rights in college football and basketball, NASCAR, WWE, and LIV Golf. Sports programming now accounts for 40% of all content seen on the network, Gliha noted.
“We feel very proud of what we’ve done so far,” Gliha said of the network, adding that “the profitability discussion only tells you part of the story.”
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