The CW Majority Stake Sale Explored By WarnerMedia & ViacomCBS; Nexstar Among Suitors

deadline.com:

The CW may get a new majority owner. Fifteen years after the broadcast network’s launch, its co-parents, ViacomCBS and WarnerMedia, are considering a controlling stake sale, sources confirm to Deadline.

Nexstar Media Group, which is the CW’s largest affiliate group following its acquisition of Tribune, is believed to be among interested buyers.

Sources caution that conversations with multiple suitors are in exploratory stages and no deal is imminent.The potential sale, first reported by the WSJ, comes amid an ownership change for WarnerMedia, which is being acquired by Discovery, pending regulatory approval.

None of the architects of the CW, which replaced the WB and UPN in 2006, are still around, most notably former CBS CEO Les Moonves, who was the driving force behind it.