The CW announced the signing of 17 affiliates last week, including seven owned by Acme Communications. Four separate deals announced last week lifted clearances for The CW to more than 58 percent of the U.S. TV universe, including 19 of the top 20 markets and 26 of the top 30 markets.

Acme now ranks as the third-largest affiliate group for The CW, behind the 16 Tribune Broadcast WB affiliates and 12 CBS-owned UPN affiliates who were attached to The CW when the network was announced Jan. 24.

The new affiliates are KWBQ-TV in Albuquerque-Santa Fe, N.M. (market 46); WBXX-TV in Knoxville, Tenn. (58); WBDT-TV in Dayton, Ohio (59); WTVK-TV in Fort Myers-Naples, Fla. (66); WIWB-TV in Green Bay-Appleton, Wis. (69); WBUI-TV in Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, Ill. (82); and WBUW-TV Madison, Wis. (85).

Also announced last week were long-term affiliation agreements with Commonwealth Broadcast-owned WHCP-TV, a primary WB affiliate and secondary UPN affiliate in Charleston-Huntington, W.V. (64); Pegasus Communications-owned WB affiliate WPXT-TV in Portland-Auburn, Maine (74); Minden Television-owned UPN affiliate KPXJ-TV in Shreveport, La. (81); Communications Corp. of America-owned WB affiliate WBRL-TV in Baton Rouge, La. (96); Belo Corp.’s WB affiliate KASW-TV in Phoenix, Ariz. (14); Hearst-Argyle’s KCWE-TV, the UPN affiliate in Kansas City, Mo. (31); WB/Time Warner Cable cable-only WRWB-TV in Rochester, N.Y. (79); Meredith-owned WB affiliate WFLI-TV in Chattanooga, Tenn. (86); Vindicator-owned WB-affiliated WBCB-TV in Youngstown, Ohio (102); and News-Press & Gazette-owned digital station KVIA-DT, part of ABC affiliate KVIA-TV in El Paso, Texas (99).