<P> Currently, the Sinclair Broadcast Group is the largest operator of CW stations by numerical total, owning or providing services to 24 CW - affiliated stations, nine subchannel - only affiliates and one cable - only affiliate, covering 17% of all U.S. television markets; Tribune Broadcasting is the largest operator of CW stations in terms of overall market reach, owning or providing services to thirteen CW stations (including its three largest affiliates in New York City, Los Angeles and Chicago), covering 28% of the U.S. </P> <P> On the day of the network launch announcement, The CW immediately announced it had reached ten - year affiliation agreements with Tribune Broadcasting and CBS Television Stations . Tribune originally committed 16 stations that were previously affiliated with The WB (including its flagship broadcast stations WGN - TV in Chicago, KTLA in Los Angeles and WPIX in New York City; another committed station, KSWB - TV in San Diego, joined Fox in August 2008, and two others, WLVI - TV in Boston and WCWN in Albany, New York were respectively sold by Tribune to Sunbeam Television and Freedom Communications shortly after the network launched), while CBS committed 11 of its UPN stations (including WKBD in Detroit, WPSG in Philadelphia, KBHK - TV (now KBCW) in San Francisco and WUPA in Atlanta). These stations combined to reach 48% of all television households in the United States . Both companies also owned several UPN and WB - affiliated stations that did not join The CW in overlapping markets (such as Seattle, Philadelphia and Dallas). As part of its affiliation agreement with the network, the Tribune Company agreed to divest its ownership interest in The WB (a move it made partly to avoid shouldering shutdown costs for The WB) and did not acquire an equity stake in The CW . </P> <P> The network stated that it would eventually reach 95% of all U.S. television households . In markets where separate affiliates of both UPN and The WB operated, only one station became a CW affiliate . Executives were on record as preferring the "strongest" stations among The WB and UPN's existing affiliates . As one example, the new network's first affiliate outside the core group of Tribune and CBS - owned stations, WJZY in Charlotte (which was later acquired by Fox Television Stations and converted into a Fox O&O in July 2013), was tied with Atlanta O&O WUPA as UPN's fifth highest - rated station . In most cases, it was obvious where the new network would affiliate; there were only a few markets (such as Philadelphia, Miami--Fort Lauderdale, Boston, Charlotte and Atlanta) where the WB and UPN affiliates were both relatively strong in terms of local overall viewership . For example, one of the earliest affiliates to be announced outside the core group, WKCF in Orlando, Florida, had not only been The WB's highest - rated affiliate for the virtual entirety of that network's run, but had also been the fourth highest - rated television station in Central Florida . </P> <P> Nearly all of The CW's affiliates were formerly affiliated with UPN or The WB, with very few having been independent stations or affiliates of other networks prior to joining the network; a notable exception was Las Vegas affiliate KVCW, which had been a fairly successful independent before joining The CW . Although it was generally understood that The CW was a merger of UPN and The WB, the new network's creation was not structured as a merger in the legal sense . Rather, it was one new network launching at the same time that two others shut down, although it did assume certain programming content, operations and management from its predecessors . As such, The CW was not obligated by existing affiliations with The WB and UPN; it had to negotiate from scratch with individual stations . As a result, in several markets, the CW affiliation is on a local station different from either the former WB and UPN stations (for example, the CW affiliation in Las Vegas ended up on KVCW, instead of former WB affiliate KVMY or now - defunct former UPN affiliate KTUD - CA). The network has also affiliated with some digital subchannels, usually those launched by a local Big Four affiliate as a new service, in several other markets--especially if fewer than six commercial television stations existed at the time of affiliation, requiring The CW to carry its programming on a subchannel by default (for example, The CW opted to affiliate with a subchannel of WKRC - TV in Cincinnati--which has only five commercial full - power stations--instead of former WB affiliate WSTR - TV, which instead became an affiliate of MyNetworkTV). </P>

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