THE CW EYES NEW HOME, BUT WHERE?

Byline: Lisa Mascaro Staff Writer

The new CW television network scheduled to launch this fall could also become the newest resident of the San Fernando Valley's entertainment row.

Already the corridor that includes Burbank and Studio City is dotted with a who's who of Hollywood heavyweights - from CBS and NBC to Disney and DreamWorks.

As the Valley continues to develop as the heart of Hollywood, leaders are vying to convince the new network to position its headquarters, and several hundred jobs, next to the string of other industry giants.

``Entertainment's in the Valley,'' said Roberto Barragan, president of the Valley Economic Development Center. ``The whole 134 Freeway corridor - there's just huge entertainment business and all the supporting businesses. ... It's kind of like the whole idea of bio-med parks.

``It creates this whole synergy of creating business, attracting talent, from everywhere.''

The CW is a merger of CBS-owned UPN with Warner Bros.' The WB - creating a network from those who have brought such prime-time programming as ``Gilmore Girls'' and ``Smackdown.''

But while the company will have a home on the TV dial, it doesn't yet have a place to house its headquarters and employees, who are now split between UPN's Brentwood offices and The WB's facility in Burbank. And competition is heating up among economic development officials who want to lure the clean industry with its high-paying, white-collar jobs.

Many Valley leaders see the Burbank corridor as a prime spot, particularly since the two parent companies are already nearby - Warner Bros. is in Burbank while CBS is relocating much of its brass to nearby Studio City.

But Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's team is working to secure a home for the network Los Angeles city limits, so L.A. could benefit from tax revenues and boast about the job offerings.

``We are definitely interested in keeping the combined operation in a Los Angeles location. We are working on that,''' said Robert ``Bud'' Ovrom, Villaraigosa's deputy mayor for economic development, who as Burbank's former city manager was instrumental in creating that city's media center.

L.A. Councilwoman Wendy Greuel is working separately on a plan to bring The CW network to the Sherman Oaks Galleria where Warner Bros. already has offices - a win, she said, for both the city and the Valley.

``I shared my interest in having them stay in the city of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley,'' the councilwoman said. ``The location in Sherman Oaks is one that is freeway close, it is also close to a very thriving Ventura Boulevard with shopping, restaurants, mass transit.''

The CW spokesman Paul McGuire declined to comment on options but said a network location would be decided in the next four to six weeks.

The new entity has been considering three sites for its headquarters - the Pinnacle building in Burbank; a Century City office tower that once housed MGM; and a site in mid-Wilshire that's now home to the industry newspaper Variety.

``We are at once flattered and perplexed by the attention, but remain focused on the May 18 announcement of our first schedule, and our historic launch in fall 2006,'' McGuire said.

Burbank has long been the unexpected center of the entertainment industry, with Warner Bros. and Disney studios locating there in the 1940s, with networks moving in nearby in the early days of television.

And newer arrivals - Bravo, Clear Channel and Sony, to name a few - have helped grow the corridor into an economic powerhouse that in 2004 had a combined work force of 75,000 and annual payroll of nearly $5 billion, according to Daniel Blake, director of the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge.

Yahoo also plans to relocating to Burbank from Pasadena and Technicolor is moving to a site near Bob Hope Airport, officials said.

In nearby Studio City, CBS Studio Center - where such TV classics as ``Hill Street Blues'' and ``That '70s Show'' were produced - is adding a 162,000-square-foot facility to house executive offices, as well as its local news stations KCBS and KCAL.

``That's your entertainment corridor, where you have networks, stations, studios, production companies, post-production facilities,'' said Bill Allen, a former executive at MTM and CBS Television who now is president of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

``That really is the core entertainment cluster for Hollywood today.''

Still, Allen sees the lure of Century City, which is close to talent agencies that can provide the pool of writers, directors and actors from which The CW might draw.

In Burbank, the company is eyeing the Pinnacle office building, a 185,000-square-foot facility being constructed as a partner to a 400,000- square-foot tower that now houses Warner Music, NBC and others.

``If we can attract yet another component of that whole business, that would be terrific,'' said Burbank Mayor Jef Vander Borght.

Blake says one deciding factor in where The CW will be based may be the hefty business taxes that Los Angeles charges - up to 0.6 percent, which would be about $5 million annually on a company grossing $1 billion a year. Burbank has no such taxes.

``There's just a huge incentive, with a high gross receipts tax, not to locate (the business) into Los Angeles city,'' Blake said.

The Valley Economic Development Center's Barragan says Los Angeles shouldn't compete with Burbank, but rather draw on what Burbank has started by fostering entertainment-related firms in neighboring North Hollywood or Toluca Lake.

``Here's a chance for us to have that entertainment complex extend into the city of L.A.,'' he said. ``Burbank has taken a very proactive planning approach. We don't do that in L.A. We allow the market to dictate. We allow real estate developers to dictate. We're not doing anything in terms of planning. ... How do we create incentives, how do we actively attract these kinds of businesses?''

Villaraigosa said his team is working to keep L.A. as the entertainment capital of the world.

``I have been doing everything I can - working with the film industry, with CBS and its new facility in Studio City and others - to emphasize the importance of the industry in Los Angeles,'' Villaraigosa said.

``Los Angeles is the entertainment capital of the world, and we want it to stay that.''

Staff Writer Rick Orlov contributed to this report.

Lisa Mascaro, [phone]

lisa.mascaro(at)dailynews.com

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