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Seven Acme WB Affils Sign With The CW

Mar 9, 2006  •  Post A Comment

Acme Communications became The CW’s third-largest group of affiliates thus far with the announcement Thursday that seven of its eight WB affils have signed long-term affiliation agreements with the network.

The deal, the second CW affiliation announcement Thursday, raises CW clearances thus far to more than 58 percent of the TV universe in the country.

The newly signed affiliates are KWBQ-TV in Albuquerque-Santa Fe, N.M. (market No. 46); WBXX-TV in Knoxville, Tenn. (market 58); WBDT-TV in Dayton, Ohio (market 59); WTVK-TV in Fort Myers-Naples, Fla. (market 66); WIWB-TV in Green Bay-Appleton, Wis. (69); WBUI-TV in Champaign-Springfield-Decatur, Ill. (82); and WBUW-TV Madison, Wis. (85).

CW Chief Operating Officer John Maatta said in the announcement that the deal “also extends a valued business relationship we began with Acme nine years ago when their newly formed company affiliated their television stations with The WB. During that time Acme’s station group has produced impressive ratings and revenue growth, and in fact recently their Knoxville and Dayton stations tied for the No. 2 ratings spot among all WB affiliates in the November 2005 sweeps period for adults 18 to49. With these new long-term affiliation agreements, Acme now has the third-largest number of CW affiliates, after Tribune and CBS.”

Acme was co-founded by The WB founder Jamie Kellner.

Acme President and COO Doug Gealy said in the announcement, “Affiliating our television stations with The CW is an outstanding business opportunity.”

Acme also owns a WB affiliate in Salt Lake City, which it has agreed to sell to Clear Channel Television, and a UPN affiliate in Albuquerque.