A 2001 press release from Time Warner called John Maatta the “first employee” of The WB, the company’s broadcast television network that goes off the air next month. Maatta, however, won’t be without work as he continues as the chief operating officer of The CW, a new joint network between Warner Bros. and CBS launching on Sept. 18 that essentially incorporates the WB and UPN networks. In that regard, Maatta could be called one of the first employees of the new network whose offices will call Burbank home. A San Francisco native who worked as a trial lawyer for 10 years before making the jump into television management, Maatta is bullish on the new network and the television industry as a whole. “It contains all the elements intellectual satisfaction, meeting interesting people, and working on stimulating issues,” Maatta said. Since Warner Bros. and CBS announced The CW in January, Maatta and his counterpart on the entertainment side Dawn Ostroff who comes from CBS have been busy assembling the new network, a process that didn’t come without its challenges. On the eve of the network’s launch, the three legs of the stool, as Maatta calls programming, distribution and marketing are in place. The network will include shows with large followings from The WB and UPN. They will be broadcast on 199 affiliates reaching 93 percent of U.S. households. Maatta, by the way, names “Smallville” as his favorite show transferring from The WB to the new network. “Of the UPN shows that I haven’t seen that much of ‘Veronica Mars’ looks fascinating to me, as does “Everybody Hates Chris,” Maatta said. Q: Can you talk about your role in putting together the new network? A: Somebody said that time was invented to keep everything from happening at once. That rule doesn’t apply here as we have so much going on. Dawn Ostroff (entertainment president for The CW) was quoted several months ago as saying that what we are doing is like building a car while driving a car. We still have the ongoing businesses going on at UPN and the WB. At the same time we have been involved in a real fascinating experience of everything from prosaic things like getting insurance for the company, working on the MIS system, who’s going to provide the travel, getting new office space. All the bread and butter stuff. The overlay of that is all the network stuff; working on the programming deals, working on promotion, keeping UPN and The WB on the air during the interim period. It’s been jam packed. Every day has been full of stuff. Q: What have been some of the challenges in doing that? A: UPN and The WB were obviously two, separate and thriving companies on their own. In consolidating, people had to be let go. That was a difficult process we had to go through. Each position had to be evaluated and typically there were two very good people for every one position. So that was a very difficult aspect of it. Aside from that, the process has been much smoother than one would probably anticipate. Q: What are you hoping from during the first year of the network? A: I think to have the company fully integrated, to have the staff firing on all cylinders. To get us located in our new home here in Burbank. A lot of success at a network is borne from pure pick and shovel work. I think if we can be smart and be close to flawless in our execution, I think we’ll do pretty well. Q: Having been at The WB what lessons have you learned that can be brought over to The CW? A: The WB was a great environment. What I’ve seen of UPN under Dawn Ostroff, it had many of the same characteristics. The thing that struck me about the WB as we were going through the process of looking to the future and closing it down in September is that a network does not have a lot of physical assets. We license our programs and our most important asset is the people who come to work here every day. It’s a highly creative business and the trick is to hire the best possible people, then listen to them and give creative freedom. You have to foster a really enlightened environment for these businesses to work. Q: If The WB was such a positive environment then why the change? A: I don’t think there was anything internal that mandated the change. I’ve been here since 1993, and day to day the WB environment was incredibly seductive. I do think though the change was borne from the realization that there was a huge opportunities for both of these companies. The fact of the matter is is that as great as a company as Time Warner is The WB was its only broadcast network. The ability to align with CBS, which is like the flagship among broadcast networks, that’s the kind of game changing and transformative opportunity that was just an extraordinary for a company like The WB. The network landscape is a tough environment and I think forward and smart thinking people look for opportunities and this is a huge opportunity. Q: A lot has changed in television since The WB was launched. How is the new network going to be addressing those changes? A: It comes down to quality programming. We, at both UPN, with shows like “America’s Next Top Model” and “Everybody Hates Chris,” and The WB shows “Gilmore Girls,” “Smallville,” “Seventh Heaven” I think the collection of programming assets is very strong. When we started The WB we had no program assets to launch with. The predicate for a successful network is to have programming that viewers want to see. We’re starting The CW with a full pallet of programs that are tried and true. Q: Can you talk about the marketing to get the word out about the new network? A: A lot has been happening in that area. We were fortunate to hire a man named Rick Haskins who had been head of marketing at Lifetime. He’s created a marketing campaign that by all accounts has been fantastic from the color green to the ‘Free to Be’ imagery. We have a mall tour going on around the country. The marketing is part of what I said about firing on all cylinders. It’s one of the legs of the stool. Programming, distribution and marketing those are three things you need to get a network going. On the distribution side we have a really strong station line-up. We’re stronger than The WB was. We went out around the country in the spring working with Peter Schruth from CBS and we signed some of the strongest station groups. It was a pretty easy sell. We were in big demand by stations around the nation. Q: Why do you think that was? A: That wasn’t the case in 1993 when we started The WB and we were going head to head with UPN. It had all the charm of an alley fight to get to affiliates. I think this time station people recognized the programming really gets viewers into the tent. These stations looked at our programming lineup. The broadcasters were anxious to get their hands on “America’s Next Top Model” and “Smallville” at the same network. Q: Tell us how the CW Lounge and the CW Lab fit in with the new network’s plans? A: The lab and the lounge are part of our online initiative to approach younger viewers in particular. The array of ideas and possibilities we have in front of us is breathtaking. We have a lot of smart people at UPN and the WB, people we brought to The CW, people at CBS and Warner Bros. who are able to point us in directions such as new media and wireless, streaming, podcasting. Every kind of iteration of new media that can give us a lift we are looking at all those things. And they seem to dovetail well with our demographic. Q: Other than the technological issues, what are some other issues facing the overall television industry? A: I think the technological changes are first and foremost. There’s an awful lot going on. I think generally for many years, the television industry was a more a placid type of place, where basically if you had a broadcast license in a market you would tend to do well. I think now it is a much more intellectual industry. I think the market pressures made the executive ranks smarter, better. I think stations today are up to snuff in terms of technology, in terms of strategy, in terms of marketing. It’s a real dynamic type of industry. Every time I read that broadcasters are twilight people, caught between a brilliant past and cloudy future it sounds like they are talking about an industry I don’t know. I don’t think the broadcasting business has ever been more vibrant in terms of new opportunities, new approaches. John Maatta Title: Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel, The CW Born: 1952; San Francisco Education: University of California, Hastings College of the Law; University of San Francisco Career Turning Point: 1986 joining Lorimar Telepictures Personal: Married. Three Children.
