The WB
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| Type | Defunct broadcast television network |
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| Country | United States |
| Availability | National |
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Key people
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Launch date
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January 11, 1995 |
| Dissolved | September 17, 2006 |
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The WB Television Network (commonly shortened to The WB and short for Warner Bros.) was an American television network that was first launched on broadcast television on January 11, 1995 as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of Time Warner and the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Company, with the former acting as controlling partner. The network principally aired programs targeting teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 34, with the exception of its weekday daytime and Saturday morning program block, Kids' WB, which was geared toward children ages 7 to 12.
On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment announced plans to shut down the network and launch The CW later that same year. The WB Television Network shut down on September 17, 2006, with select programs from both it and competitor UPN (which had shut down two days earlier) moving to The CW when it launched the following day, September 18.
Time Warner re-used The WB brand for an online network that launched on April 28, 2008, about 18 months after The WB Television Network ceased broadcasting operations. Until it was discontinued in December 2013, the website allowed users to watch shows aired on the former television network, as well as original programming and shows formerly hosted on the now-defunct In2TV service (which itself was created prior to Time Warner's spinoff of AOL). The website could only be accessed within the United States.
Much like its competitor UPN, The WB was summoned in reaction primarily to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s then-recent deregulation of media ownership rules that repealed the Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, and partly due to the success of the Fox network (which debuted in October 1986, nine years before The WB launched) and first-run syndicated programming during the late 1980s and early 1990s (such as Baywatch, Star Trek: The Next Generation and War of the Worlds), as well as the erosion in ratings suffered by independent television stations due to the growth of cable television and movie rentals. The network can also trace its beginnings to the Prime Time Entertainment Network (PTEN), a programming service operated as a joint venture between Time Warner and the Chris-Craft Industries group of stations, and launched in September 1993.
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