MyNetworkTV signs new affiliates

from broadcasting and cable

My Network TV Signs With Five Affils
By Allison Romano

Fox’s new My Network TV inked deals with five affiliates Tuesday,
bringing its distribution to 40% of the country. Raycom Media is

Jude Cormier...

There are currently no blockbuster sitcoms waiting in the wings to be
syndicated.
Do you think Two and a Half Men will fetch big syndicated ratings?

committing three of its stations – WUAB Cleveland, KFVE Honolulu and
WBXH Baton Rouge, La. – to the new mini-network, which is launching
Sept. 5.

“I love the concept of My Network TV’s business and programming model,
and am betting on the unparalleled track record behind the My Network
TV leadership and News Corp.,” Raycom CEO Paul McTear said in a
statement.

Also signing on are Mirage Media’s KPSE Palm Springs, Calif., and
Capitol Broadcasting’s WB affiliate WWWB Charlotte, N.C. Capitol owns
both the UPN and The WB in Charlotte, and committed the UPN affiliate
last week to The CW network.

The deals come the same day that the CW also signed five more stations
to bring its clearance to about 55% of the country. Both networks say
they will reach more than 90% of U.S. TV homes by launch.

videonovels...

Great. So we'll just have a repeat of the UPN/WB situation (fighting
over the same teen audience & losing money due to lack of viewers).
But instead they'll be named CW and My Network.

(shaking head)

Daniel Damouth...

Well, no offense, but from a viewer's perspective, what's wrong with
that? It may be tough on the networks, but the competition has been
good for TV programming.

The UPN/WB situation resulted in many good shows, some of which were so
low-rated that they would never have existed or lasted on any larger
network.

-Dan Damouth

akjack...

"Good shows" don't get low ratings.

The big four have noted that the number of channels available to cable
and satellite viewers have reduced the audience numbers for their
programming. I don't recall any complaints about losing viewers to
UPN or WB.

Don't these people learn from previous mistakes?

Jack Bauer's Spunky Sidekick, Ian J. Ball...

You don't get it - FOX2 (aka. "My Network TV") is *not* a real network:
it only exists to sabotage and collapse the attempt at making The CW
network.

If FOX is successful, once The CW folds due to lack of national
coverage, FOX will quickly fold FOX2, leaving *all* of the old WBN/UPN
affiliates out in the cold. Then they'll probably try to buy them up at
firesale prices...

Jim Reid...

Good theory, Sparky, except that Fox is at the ceiling for station
ownership. They had to do a little squeezing to get the stations they
already own under the cap. It's only that some of them are UHF that
made it work.

A better theory is that Fox suddenly found itself with 8 stations that
it was going to have to turn into true independants, and they knew they
had a big pile of programming sitting around. Why not?

Patrick Joseph McNamara...

I think it's more a case that FOX saw the CW as competition to FOX. If CW
got all the WB and UPN channels, they could possibly push the FOX channels
back to fifth.

videonovels...

If you look at the TIME ORDER of events, I think Jim is right:

- WB & UPN announce they are merging into a single network
- The resulting juggling leaves many stations w/o any network (i.e.
indepedent)
- 8 of those stations, reaching 25% of the nation, are owned by
FOX-Communications

.

So it almost follows by natural event, that these 8 stations would
merge under a single banner. I suppose they could have remained
indepedent, but not likely.

Ian J. Ball...

FCC regs aren't 'commandments' - in a 3-4 network universe, the
ownership caps will very likely be raised.

.

I would have preferred that those stations who were former UPN or WB
affiliates became >indepedent< to provide some non-network programming.
It's been a long time since I've seen a truly independent station & I
miss it.

Taylor...

Yeah, but what will they show in primetime??? "Woo-Hoo!" King Of The
Hill reruns from this season???

I assume the MyNetworkTV-thingy will be like a PTEN (Prime Time
Entertainment Network) block where it's run at the individual station's
convenience-- with the only ACTUAL branding of MyNetworkTV happening
during the primetime airings. Much like the days when stations would run
promos for 'Hurcules' or 'Xena: Warrior Princess', NOT using the "PTEN"
branding IN the promos, but WOULD air the "PTEN" brand as an opener and
closer of the block (think of the days of "Disney Afternoons") and

videonovels...

.

No. PTEN was more akin to sydicated programs like Star Trek TNG and
DS9 (sold one program at a time to each station) which were shown
whenever the station felt like it. PTEN was not a true network, but
just a producer of shows like Paramount.

Donna B...

In a way it was nothing more, nor less, than a syndication group, albeit
with a tight approach to packaging.

videonovels...

Were Xena/Hercules PTEN shows? I didn't think they were. I thought
they were MCA/Universal aka ActionPack programs?

As far as I know the only popular PTEN show that people still remember
was Babylon 5. PTEN was pretty much a one-hit/one-year wonder... after
which time it only survived because B5 survived. (And B5 outlived PTEN
by 1 year.)

Rob Jensen...

Time Trax was also part of PTEN (and the PTEN logo survived for about
2-3 years, IIRC, not one.)

videonovels...

Yeah but >like I said< the PTEN logo only survived because Babylon 5
survived. None of the other series lasted more than one year. PTEN
was essentially Babylon 5 after year 1, and nothing else.

.

videonovels...

NOPE. It was Warner Bros.

PTEN was born in 1993. WB 1994. So I'm sure WB was anxious to
eliminate the self-competition & focus all its money on WB.

Irony of ironies, too, but PTEN was a co-venture of Warner and
Paramount.

-- Rob

.

My Network will be an actual network with programming Monday-to-Friday
at 8 and 9 p.m. just like any other net.

possibly the start and end of the shows during that block.

Jude Cormier...

Actually Xena and Hercules were part of Universal TV's (then called Studios
USA) "Action Pack" and were not part of PTEN.

Patrick Joseph McNamara...

I liked how Action Pack started. They started with a bunch of movies, then
made sequels to the more popular of the two, Hercules and Rising Son (I'm
not sure about the name). Hercules became four movies, then a TV series

videonovels...

.

Also there were 4 Tekwar movies based off the novels..... and they
spun-off and became a USA television series.

Yeah it would be cool to see another "action pack" premiere as a way to
test new potential shows. BUT AGAIN, as we've been discussing, there's
simply NO ROOM for these projects. All of the free space has been
filled by UPN and WB programming.

Jude Cormier...

oh please no.......SGN butchered the reruns so badly that entire dialog
scenes were missing from episodes of "Bewitched"

Taylor...

But they did occasional breaks of regular programming to run theme weeks
like Christmas, running Square Pegs and Hello, Larry and other failed
shows that don't get run at all since it's in their catalog.

Jude Cormier...

I wouldn't mind a full time channel called the Screen Gems Network that
aired catalog programs from Sony's library (and other studios willing to
lease their shows). But not in the format like the syndicated block.

ANIM8Rfsk...

Except for the fact that that's totally untrue. It wasn't true even when
UPN and the WB still existed; they didn't send out that many hours. And now

videonovels...

These mini-nets >do< still exist and will continue existing until
September.

As for your local affiliates, one will become UPN/WB aka CW.
The other will become MY Network with 10 hours every week.

that they're forming the CW, half those stations need programming. For
instance, our WB channel is apparently going to become the CW, and our UPN
channel already dropped the name UPN and is just trying desperately to sell
Malcolm in the Middle reruns to us. Come fall, they won't have anything to
put on in prime time.

which spawned Xena.

Jude Cormier...

It was called "Vanishing Son" and became a short lived series as well.
I also remember "Bandit" and the ones based on the Charles Grodin
flick..."Midnight...." something

Jude Cormier...

Just remembered it "Midnight Run"

I would like to see that done again. Give a selection of pilot movies, then
go with the more popular ones.

Jude Cormier...

Would be a nice concept

....This being the case rather than branding WUAB-TV43 as "My Network TV
Cleveland" or "My Network TV 43".

Jude Cormier...

The branding will simply be "My 43"