The CW Turns 20, From Teen Dramas to Sports and New Owners
The CW turned 20 on 18 September 2026.
The American broadcast network, meaning a free-to-air channel viewers can watch without a subscription, marked the birthday at the Nasdaq Marketsite in New York's Times Square, according to Deadline.
President Brad Schwartz led the commemoration with a LinkedIn article titled "Happy 20th The CW!". In it, he said the network "continues to evolve for a new generation of viewers". The CW Network's official LinkedIn account shared his message.
The date is exact. The CW was born on 18 September 2006, as Schwartz noted in his LinkedIn post. It began as a 50-50 venture by Warner Bros. and CBS.
That ownership changed in 2022. Nexstar acquired 75% of The CW that year. Paramount and Warner Bros. Discovery each kept a 12.5% stake, meaning a share of ownership.
The first-year schedule explains why many viewers still associate the network with that era. It included America's Next Top Model, Gilmore Girls, 7th Heaven, One Tree Hill, Smallville, Supernatural, Veronica Mars and Everybody Hates Chris.
Through the 2010s, The CW licensed many of its shows to Netflix. That arrangement ended when HBO Max launched in 2020.
Schwartz joined the network after the ownership change. He began his duties on 7 November 2022, according to Nexstar, reporting at the time to Dennis Miller, president of The CW Network. He oversees entertainment and sports programming strategy, creative and brand development, and day-to-day operations.
Sports is now a large part of that job. Schwartz has said there is "nothing better than sports to bring a large audience together simultaneously", according to the Sports Business Journal.
What makes this stand out is the distance travelled. A channel launched to house young-skewing dramas now programmes live sport alongside scripted and unscripted series. For the crews and writers behind those shows, each scheduling decision decides what gets made next.
