is the senior partner. As a CW affiliate On January 24, 2006, CBS Corporation (which WKBD and WWJ-TV became part of as a result of the December 2005 split of the original Viacom, which became CBS Corporation, from CBS) and the Warner Bros. Television unit of Time Warner announced that the two companies would shut down UPN and The WB and combine the networks' respective programming to create a new network called The CW. That day, the new network signed a 10-year affiliation deal with 11 UPN stations owned by CBS, including WKBD. However, it is likely that WKBD would have been chosen over WB affiliate WDWB (now WMYD, which affiliated with MyNetworkTV, another upstart network that debuted two weeks before The CW's launch) in any event, as it was the higher-rated station. Programming Sports programming WKBD produced and broadcast Detroit Red Wings hockey telecasts from 1965 to 2003, with a two-year hiatus in the 1980s, when the team's games were carried on WXON (now WMYD) through the subscription television service ON-TV. Detroit Tigers baseball games were broadcast on the station from 1994 to 2005 (with WJBK occasionally airing Tigers games from 2004 to 2007), while Detroit Pistons basketball games were broadcast from 1972 to May 2004 (when rights moved to WMYD, which carried the Pistons telecasts until 2008); all three teams are now exclusively on Bally Sports Detroit. The short-lived World Football League, through the TVS network, aired games on WKBD in its only full season in 1974; the first telecast, on July 10, featured the hometown Detroit Wheels against the Memphis Southmen. (The station also planned to carry the September 25 game at New York, but backed off as both teams were about to fold by that point.) Later, Detroit Lions preseason football was broadcast on channel 50 from 1992 to 1996 and again from 2004 to 2008. The station also produced occasional pre-game and post-game shows for all four professional teams. WKBD aired special coverage of the Red Wings' Stanley Cup celebration and parade ceremonies in 1997 and 1998, as well as carrying the final Tigers game played at Tiger Stadium on September 27, 1999. During the final year of its Fox affiliation, WKBD was the primary station for the Lions for much of the 1994 season (the team's last game on WKBD was the December 10 game at the New York Jets, with the games moving