if you can't beat em

the struggling netlets wb and upn announce the decision to join forces this upcoming fall for a new network named, the cw (newsday mentions "The 'C' stands for CBS, the 'W' is for Warner."

through various deals, both announced and forthcoming, the new 5th network will cover over 95% of the country. further it will stick with a 13 hour primetime schedule with afternoon and saturday morning blocks along with the sunday repeat block to allow viewers to catch-up with network shows.

all the execs say the right things about strategic shifts, ratings and demographic improvement, etc. cbs head honcho les moonves makes the obligatory reference to the 'synergy' concept of a bygone time--"greater than the sum of its parts".

better words to describe the move are "unexpected" and "surprising" as stated by zap2it which sums up the current situation

UPN and The WB have been locked in a battle for young viewers virtually since they came into being in 1995. And while each net has a handful of shows with loyal followings....neither one has gained a definitive upper hand in recent years. This season, UPN is drawing about 3.4 million viewers per night and The WB 3.3 million.

newsday reports on their respective strengths

The WB has had some hits throughout its history, particularly with younger audiences, having done well lately with shows such as "Smallville" and "Gilmore Girls."

UPN has recently gained some critical acclaim and strong ratings for its sitcom "Everybody Hates Chris," which airs on Thursday nights and fared well against shows such as NBC's "Joey" and Fox's "The O.C."

looking at the primetime grid: upn 'wins' monday with 'everybody hates chris' maybe moving over here (opposite cbs comedy block), the wb 'keeps' tuesdays and thursdays (with aquaman likely joining fellow comic alum smallville), wednesday likely mixes reality top model with (hopefully) veronica mars, friday may 'stay' upn with wrestling (although i'd bolt if i were the wwe due to the relative shoddy treatment), sundays may keep charmed and leftover one tree hill.

the most troubling thing is that the combined network may still have trouble filling a robust primetime schedule despite doing this 2-for-1 move

update: time magazine's James Poniewozik handicaps the move also...
with the same title as my post (or mine as his)--i guess it's an obvious one