The CW has announced that it is expanding to seven-nights-a-week programming as it finally adds Saturday night content to its lineup.
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More than three years after its announcement that it would add a sixth night, Sundays, to its lineup, The CW is now going to cover the entire week. Saturday nights will be added in Fall 2021 bringing the network to 14 hours of primetime programming a week.
“Becoming a seven-night-a-week network has been a long-standing goal for everyone here at The CW,” Rob Tuck, EVP of National Sales, said in a statement, “and in an extremely tight broadcast environment, the ability to expand our primetime by two more hours each week is a dynamic shift that will be gladly welcomed by our clients and the agencies. Following the recent industry trend which has seen considerable contraction on a linear basis, The CW will buck that trend this season by adding a new night of original programming, creating new opportunities for us going forward.”
While Saturday night has traditionally been a dumping ground for most networks with repeats and movies, The CW has found great success with its streaming options. the night the programming airs doesn’t matter so much as generating additional content to be shown on The CW streaming app.
The CW will kick off its Saturday night programming on Oct. 2, 2021 with night 1 of the IHeartRadio Music Festival. What programming will reside on Saturday nights after that will be announced at a later date. With the network’s upfront presentation scheduled for May 25, however, something tells us we won’t have to wait too long to find out.
