According to ComicBook, reports revealed that The CW has struck deal with Lionsgate for the network to syndicate reruns of the first five seasons of the Roseanne spinoff, The Conners. The reruns will begin on January 4th at 8:30 PM.
The CW plans to air episodes of The Conners back-to-back on Thursdays from 8:30 PM–9:30 PM, alongside episodes of Son of a Critch at 8 PM and Children Ruin Everything at 9:30 PM. Many people have found this arrangement with The CW bizarre because The Conners is currently airing on ABC.
The move is seen as a way for The CW to compete with other major networks.
According to ComicBook, Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said, “We’re competing in the same league as the big four networks, but we’ve got to do it smartly, and crawl, walk, run. We’re going to take some smart bets and calculated risks.”
According to ComicBook, the network has seen a variety of changes since the acquisition by Nexstar. Several original shows have been canceled with the network moving their content towards acquired and unscripted programming in hopes of generating revenue. As Nexstar revealed earlier this year, The CW has a net loss of $78 million in the second quarter of 2023. With the plan to bank on older and cheaper to produce content, Nexstar hopes for The CW to be profitable by 2025.
Even though The CW is changing direction, they still have original content in the pipeline for 2024. The fourth and final season of Superman & Lois, Walker, All-American, and All-American: Homecoming are all supposed to debut new seasons at some point within the next year.
According to ComicBook, The CW president of entertainment Brad Schwartz said in a recent interview, “CBS and Warner Bros. know what they make on them internationally, know what they make from their Netflix and HBO sales. We know how they do for us. They can project what a library of 60 or 70 episodes is going to make for them forever. You can put all the math together and be like, ‘Is there a path for us as partners?'”
According to ComicBook, The CW has not announced any additional titles they plan to acquire at this time.