Editing The WB (section)

===Affiliate distribution===
The WB was the only [[English language]] broadcast network that historically did not have any owned-and-operated stations. Although Tribune Broadcasting maintained an ownership stake in The WB, its stations in the three largest television markets of New York City (WPIX), Los Angeles (KTLA) and Chicago (WGN-TV) were [[network affiliate|affiliates]] of the network since Tribune did not have a controlling ownership interest in the network to allow its stations to be constituted as O&Os (by 2005, Tribune owned 22.5% of the network, while Time Warner held the controlling 77.5% interest). Time Warner did not have a station group of its own at the time (and still does not in the present day); although its [[Turner Broadcasting System]] division did own Atlanta independent station [[WPCH-TV]] (then WTBS, the local feed of then-[[superstation]] [[TBS (American TV channel)|TBS]]) at the time, but it never carried WB programming due to the network's affiliation with [[WATL (TV)|WATL]], which Tribune Broadcasting had owned from 1999 (when it acquired the station from Qwest Broadcasting, which was part-owned by Tribune) to 2006 (when it sold the station to the [[Gannett Company]], now [[Tegna, Inc.]]).

Unlike the other major networks, The WB distributed its programming in markets that did not have enough commercial television stations to support a standalone WB affiliate to cable-only outlets: the superstation feed of WGN-TV (now known as [[NewsNation]] and since converted into a general news cable channel) carried the network's programming from January 1995 to October 1999 to make The WB available primarily to areas where it did not yet have a full-time affiliate. While viewers in the Chicago area saw primetime and Kids' WB programming on separate stations until September 2004 (primetime shows on WGN-TV and children's programs on [[WCIU-TV]]), the WGN superstation feed carried the WB's entire schedule during the four-year period that it carried the network.

On September 21, 1998, The WB launched [[The WB 100+ Station Group]], an alternate national feed for small and certain mid-sized U.S. markets (generally those within the bottom 110 Nielsen media markets).<ref name="thc-wb100">{{Cite web |last=Jesse Heisiond |title=WB 100 Plus Stations Act Locally |url=http://russellmyerson.com/media/document/new_100_stations_act_locally.pdf |publisher=BPI |via=RussellMyerson.com |periodical=[[The Hollywood Reporter]] |access-date=2013-04-22 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000718/http://russellmyerson.com/media/document/new_100_stations_act_locally.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite press release |title=The WB 100+ station group hits 8 million, more than doubling its household reach since launch |date=January 15, 2002 |url=http://www.timewarner.com/newsroom/press-releases/2002/01/15/the-wb-100-station-group-hits-8-million-more-than-doubling-its |website=[[Time Warner]]}}</ref><ref name="tvweek-wb100">{{Cite web |date=September 22, 2003 |title=A Salute to The WB 100+ Station Group on its Fifth Anniversary |url=http://russellmyerson.com/media/document/russ_myerson_television_week2250.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304061500/http://russellmyerson.com/media/document/russ_myerson_television_week2250.pdf |archive-date=March 4, 2016 |via=RussellMyerson.com |periodical=TelevisionWeek}}</ref> The service – which transmitted its content via an [[IBM]]-developed [[server (computing)|data server]] network that digitally transmitted local and national advertisements, [[promo (media)|promos]], [[station identification]]s and customized [[digital on-screen graphic|logo bugs]] to each individual affiliate, with the programming feeds and accompanying data being relayed via [[communications satellite|satellite]] and stored to a wireless [[Personal computer|PC]]-based system (known as a "station in a box") – was primarily affiliated with cable-only television channels (which were mainly operated by area cable providers), though it was also carried on full-power or [[Low-power broadcasting|low-power stations]] in some markets. The WB 100+ offered its own master schedule with programs available on the syndication market that were acquired by The WB (including some feature films and [[infomercial]]s) airing outside of network programming hours; the addition of local advertisements and newscasts were at the discretion of the local distributor. Most of the stations that were part of The WB 100+ Station Group joined [[The CW Plus]] after The CW's September 2006 launch,<ref name="b&c=cwplus">{{Cite web |last=Allison Romano |date=February 24, 2006 |title=CW Creates Small-Market Service |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/cw-creates-small-market-service/78970 |access-date=August 20, 2015 |publisher=Reed Business Information |periodical=[[Broadcasting & Cable]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Allison Romano |date=February 24, 2006 |title=The Mating Game |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/news-articles/mating-game/78993 |access-date=August 20, 2015 |publisher=Reed Business Information |periodical=Broadcasting & Cable}}</ref> though most of the cable-only affiliates that became part of The CW Plus have since been replaced by or converted into [[digital subchannel]]s carried by major network affiliates.

Of the network's cable-exclusive affiliates, "WRWB" in [[Rochester, New York]] (owned by local cable provider Greater Rochester Cablevision and its operator/successor, WB sister company [[Time Warner Cable]]), [[WISC-TV#TVW (WISC-DT2)|TVW (Television Wisconsin Network)]] in [[Madison, Wisconsin]] (owned by [[Morgan Murphy Media]], owner of local CBS affiliate [[WISC-TV]]) and [[Toledo 5|WT05]] in [[Toledo, Ohio]] (owned by [[Block Communications]], operator of Toledo-area cable provider [[Buckeye CableSystem]]) were not part of The WB 100+ Station Group, having all predated that service's launch. Like the national cable feed, their respective owners handled programming for the three channels, running their own schedule of syndicated programs during non-network hours; this model was maintained by TVW and WT05 under their subsequent affiliations: TVW became a UPN affiliate in 2001 (having been added to a subchannel of WISC the year prior) and a MyNetworkTV affiliate in 2006, while WT05 operated as a CW affiliate from 2006 until its shutdown and replacement by [[WTVG|WTVG-DT2]] in October 2014. ("WRWB" moved to a subchannel of ABC affiliate [[WHAM-TV]] in November 2006, shortly after becoming a CW affiliate.) In certain mid-sized and smaller markets, some of The WB's stations held dual affiliations with another major network – most commonly, UPN (with The WB often serving as the primary affiliation) – if there were not enough television stations to allow both networks to maintain separate affiliates (though this was also the case in a few markets where enough stations were available for a standalone affiliate).