Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The WB lives online

KidsWB.com relaunches as well; The CW announces new name for its Saturday morning lineup

The WB died in the merger with UPN to form The CW two years ago, but now the frog is being resurrected online.

Time Warner announced Monday it is relaunching The WB brand online along with a revamped KidsWB website. The WB launches as a beta this week and is going live in August.

The new TheWB.com targets women 16-34 and feature shows that were popular in the demo, including Angel, Buffy, and Gilmore Girls. The site also features programming from Warner Bros. library, including Friends, The OC, and Veroinca Mars. Original programming is also planned for the website, as well as a partnership with social-networking site Facebook.

Meanwhile, KidsWB.com has relaunched, which now places its emphasis on classic Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera programming and characters, running the gamut from Bugs Bunny to George Jetson. The previous incarnation of the KidsWB.com has shifted to a new website called CW4Kids.com, to feature the network's new Saturday morning lineup this fall by 4KidsTV, which replaces the Kids WB lineup on CW affiliates.

CW's Saturday morning lineup is being re-branded as CW4Kids on May 24 with the programming changes taking effect in September, in a deal announced last October. Most, if not all of the current Kids WB programs are expected to be replaced. Some fare like Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get A Clue has already been removed from the schedule.

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