Warner Bros. and the divorced-from-Viacom CBS are merging their second-tier broadcast networks. Instead of UPN and The WB, this September will see the “CW” network, which I’m sure some cynical critics will rename “WC” (Brit slang for a toilet, or “water closet”).

Locally, the merged programming slate will appear on KSTW, owned by CBS’s UPN Stations Group. That leaves KTWB, nee KTZZ, as a true indie again, scrambling for old movies or talk shows or judge shows to fill its evening hours.

I’m sure the expensive switch to HDTV played a factor in the merger decision. Perhaps now we’ll get an HD feed of KSTW, the only major commercial broadcast station in this region that doesn’t yet have one.