Tribune Advertising Stations, the foundation of the new CW network, has been struggling tremendously in the early months of 2006 with poor advertising placement. They say that it will get worse before it will get better, according to mediapost.
The group says that advertising dropped by 1 percent in the second quarter and will go down into low single percentage points.
Tribune Company's CEO Dennis FitzSimons says few advertisers are interested in Tribune's prime-time lineup due to the "lame duck status" of The WB, the network that runs on its stations.
This was a concern a year ago as analysts were concerned that when the major owners of The WB and UPN, Warner Bros. and CBS Corp, made the decision to merge. The ratings for The WB have resulted in huge all-time lows.
The Tribune added that even with the drop, there is some encouragement as they believe the new CW network ratings will increase by 25% over the normal WB ratings.
Their recent earning release showed that it fell by 63 percent or $85.7 million to $231.3 million for the second quarter.
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