The WB
The WB (officially The WB Television Network ) was an American television network that belonged to the Time Warner media group . The network began broadcasting on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between Warner Bros. Entertainment and Tribune Broadcasting . The broadcasting of the network ended on September 17, 2006 ; The successor is the new network " The CW ", which emerged from the merger of the WB network with the United Paramount Network (UPN).
The network was created practically at the same time as UPN as part of the success of the FOX network founded in 1986 . In addition, changes were looming in the US media landscape, various film studios and media companies merged or changed hands in the 1980s / 1990s and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) lifted the ban on in-house production. As a result, the studios without a house broadcaster feared that they would no longer find a buyer for their programs.
However, the fear did not come true at Warner Bros. Television , especially NBC and CBS - despite their own production channels - remained loyal customers of Warner. As a result, The WB aimed at specific audience groups from the very first year: the first few years were mainly played with inexpensive sitcoms from in-house, which were aimed at an African-American audience. These shows later disappeared and The WB specialized in a program for teenagers and young adults - a target group that did not seem particularly interesting for the already established broadcast networks.
Due to the target group, the associated low ratings and the content that one has to muster to fill the program, The WB was in the uncomfortable position of having to strictly pay attention to costs, which usually resulted in a large part of the Program had to be obtained internally at Warner Bros. Television, which was well utilized even without the productions for The WB . Probably for this reason, The WB merged in September 2006 with the competitor UPN to form the new network The CW . This was the first time since DuMont in 1956 that an American network ceased operations.
Former US viewers of The WB are currently able to watch previous series and programs over the Internet. Since international legal regulations prohibit it, German viewers cannot use this service.
broadcasts
Examples of well-known series in Germany that were (first) broadcast on The WB are: