The CW Secures In-Season Streaming Rights to New Series ‘Batwoman,’ ‘Nancy Drew’ and ‘Katy Keene’
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The CW is going to be the exclusive in-season streaming home for its new series going forward.
Beginning with this season’s freshman shows, namely “Batwoman,” “Nancy Drew,” and “Katy Keene,” the CW’s series will stream exclusively on its digital platforms throughout the full current season. After the season finale of each new show, the full season will be available on the network’s digital platforms until 30 days prior to the start of the next season, at which point they will move to their respective longer term streaming homes, HBO Max for “Batwoman” and “Katey Keene,” CBS All Access for “Nancy Drew.” Every episode of the CW’s new series will stream the day after broadcast throughout the season.
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The announcement was made by CW president Mark Pedowitz during the network’s Television Critics Association’s summer press tour.
“We are incredibly excited to offer our viewers the full stack of our new shows on our preeminent A-VOD digital platforms, giving them the chance to catch up on these shows from the beginning at any point during the season, for free and without authentication,” said Pedowitz. “By being the exclusive in-season streaming home for our new series going forward, it also provides us with more information about how viewers are consuming our programming, how we can engage with them, and create even more multiplatform sales opportunities for advertisers.”
Once inside the 30-day window, the CW will have a rolling five episodes of its new shows on its streaming platforms until the following season’s episodes become available. The same will apply for returning series.
In other CW-streaming related news, the network has announced it has acquired the off-season streaming rights to Pop TV’s hit series “Schitt’s Creek.” Seasons one through four of the series will be available to stream on the CW Seed starting today.
The Canadian show, which will end after season 6 and recently picked up four Emmy nominations, follows a wealthy family who suddenly find themselves broke and forced to live in Schitt’s Creek, a small town they once bought as a joke.
“We love everything about ‘Schitt’s Creek’ – the comedy acting, writing as well as the show’s binge-ability. All of which are perfect for the CW Seed audience,” said CW executive vice president Rick Haskins when announcing the deal. “We’re excited to help expand the awareness and hope to generate new fans of this brilliant series on our free, ad-supported platform.”
The CW also announced it has moved the premiere date for season 3 of “Black Lightning” forward to Monday, October 7 at 9 p.m. ET/PT. The series was previously scheduled to debut two weeks later on October 21, and will now have the season 2 premiere of “All American” as its lead-in.
Finally, the network unveiled the schedule for its upcoming multi-series crossover event “Crisis on Infinite Earths,” based on the DC comic book series. The crossover event will air across five different episodes of the network’s superhero series, including “Supergirl,” “Batwoman,” “The Flash,” and “Arrow,” “DC’s Legends of Tomorrow.” Characters from “Black Lightening” will also feature for the first time in the crossover, alongside legendary voice actor Kevin Conroy who provided the voice of Batman for multiple animated series and will make a guest appearance as Bruce Wayne from the future.
See below for the five-episode schedule:
“Supergirl” – Sunday, December 8, 2019 (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT)
“Batwoman” – Monday, December 9, 2019 (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT)
“The Flash” – Tuesday, December 10, 2019 (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT)
“Arrow” – Tuesday, January 14, 2020 (8:00-9:00pm ET/PT)
“DC’s Legends of Tomorrow” – Tuesday, January 14, 2020 (9:00-10:00pm ET/PT)
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