The WB was an American broadcast television network operated as a joint venture between the Warner Bros. Entertainment division of Time Warner (which acted as controlling partner) and the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of the Tribune Company. Launched on January 11, 1995, it was one of two networks developed by major film and television studios in late 1993—alongside the United Paramount Network (UPN, a joint venture between Paramount Television and Chris-Craft/United Television)—to compete with Fox and the longer established Big Three television networks (ABC, NBC and CBS).
Like Fox, the network's programming targeted certain demographics underserved by the Big Three; it notably carved a niche catering to teenagers and young adults between the ages of 13 and 35 (with series such as 7th Heaven, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dawson's Creek, Smallville, One Tree Hill and Supernatural), although it also featured programs aimed at Black audiences (such as Sister, Sister, The Wayans Bros., The Jamie Foxx Show and The Steve Harvey Show) before gradually ceding that demographic to UPN—which had cemented its own niche among that audience with its slate of sitcoms—beginning in the early 2000s. The network also offered a children's program block, Kids' WB, which launched in September 1995 and featured primarily animated series targeted at children aged 4 to 12.
This article details the history of The WB tracing to its founding by Time Warner in November 1993, and its operational history from the network's January 1995 launch until its closure in September 2006, when Time Warner and CBS Corporation (then-owner of rival UPN) launched The CW, a new broadcast network formed by the two companies as a 50/50 joint venture that utilized certain resources and initially featured programming carried over from the predecessor networks.