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Scripps soon moving Katz TV subchannels to ION stations

Many ION markets will still have QVC and/or HSN after the moves are made. Disappointing but not surprising.

I just don't understand why the other station groups won't immediately use the opportunity to get other programming on their subchannels, instead of forcing Scripps-Howard to keep to their current contracts. What's the point of having several channels showing Laff, Grit or Court TV in many markets? It's basically free promotion for their competitors after the end of this month.
This reminds me that Court TV is seen on both KMCI-TV, Ch 38. 4 (Owned by Scripps & started carrying the diginet in Janurary 2020) & WDAF-TV, Ch. 4.3 (Owned by Nexstar - started carrying the diginet in October 2019) in Kansas City, MO. This happened due to KSHB-TV, Ch. 41 (Also owned by Scripps) in Kansas City, MO carrying Cozi TV on Ch. 41.2 & having to wait for the contract with that network to expire & Scripps signing affilation contracts with both Tribune (WDAF-TV's former owner from 2013-2019) & Nexstar. When KMCI-TV finally started carrying Court TV in Janurary 2020, they put it on Ch. 38.4, displacing Grit which moved to KSHB-TV, Ch. 41.2 which, in turn, displaced Cozi TV which moved to KSMO-TV, Ch. 62.4 (Owned by Meredith). In a related note, on the day that Cozi TV moved from Ch. 41.2 to Ch. 62.4, there was a period of time, a few hours or so, where both channels were carrying Cozi TV.
 
According to Zap2It.com, KPXE-TV in Kansas City, MO will be switching Ch 50.2 from Qubo to Court TV & Ch. 50.3 from Ion Plus to Grit on March 1, 2021. The change on Ch. 50.2 is supposed to happen at 6:00AM & 5:00AM on Ch. 50.3. No mention yet of what time Chs. 50.4, 50.5 & 50.6 will make their changes.
 
I found out from Rabbitears.com that WPXX 50 in Memphis will be getting Court TV and Mystery and the home shopping channels will stay for now. That is definitely a big disappointment to me since I care nothing about any of those channels. I also think Scripps is wrong in not keeping Qubo, especially since they're replacing it with nothing else fit for kids.
 
According to Zap2It.com, KPXE-TV in Kansas City, MO will be switching Ch 50.2 from Qubo to Court TV & Ch. 50.3 from Ion Plus to Grit on March 1, 2021. The change on Ch. 50.2 is supposed to happen at 6:00AM & 5:00AM on Ch. 50.3. No mention yet of what time Chs. 50.4, 50.5 & 50.6 will make their changes.
Rabbitears.info does have anything yet on the other Kratz channels KSHB/KMCI and nothing from Cable Systems either on their plans yet.
 
According to Zap2It.com, KPXE-TV in Kansas City, MO will be switching Ch 50.2 from Qubo to Court TV & Ch. 50.3 from Ion Plus to Grit on March 1, 2021. The change on Ch. 50.2 is supposed to happen at 6:00AM & 5:00AM on Ch. 50.3. No mention yet of what time Chs. 50.4, 50.5 & 50.6 will make their changes.
On their 50.4 on March 1st shows Laff and to others still shows QVC,HSN.
 
Katz has elected to give its Western Network, Grit, better exposure in the LA Market by moving it to KILM-TV (the station that had the crazy FilmOn experiment for about a year). Court TV replaces Qubo on KPXN 30.2
 
According to Zap2it, for WPPX in Philadelphia, Court TV will replace Qubo on 61.2, Grit will replace Ion Plus on 61.3, and Court TV Mystery will replace Ion Shop on 61.4
 
Going Rabbit Ears site in Hartford Bounce will be on 26.2, Court TV will be on 26.3, and Grit will be on 26.4 Not sure what will happen to 8.2, 20.2, and 59.2
I'm wondering the same thing, I'm not sure what's going to happen to 2.2, 2.3, 6.3 and 17.3 in Philadelphia
 
In Grand Rapids, WZPX will pick up the following:
43.2 will become Court TV (currently on WXMI (17.3))
43.3 will become Grit (currently on WOTV (41.3))
43.4 will become Laff (currently on WOOD (8.3))

There are currently duplicates of the following:
Court TV Mystery on WXSP (15.3) and WXMI (17.4)
Dabl on WOTV (41.2) and WLLA (64.6)
 
It's also happening in Detroit, Pittsburgh and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre too..

In Detroit, WPXD will pick up the following...
31.2 will become Court TV (currently on WXYZ [7.4])
31.3 will become Grit (currently on WADL [38.2])
31.4 will become Court TV Mystery (currently on WMYD [20.3])

In Pittsburgh, WINP will pick up the following...
16.2 will become Bounce TV (currently on WIIC [31.1] and WPCB [40.3])
16.3 will become Court TV (currently on WPCB [40.2])
16.4 will become Court TV Mystery (currently on WOSC [61.5])

In Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, WQPX will pick up the following...
64.2 will become Bounce TV (currently on WYOU [22.3])
64.3 will become Court TV
 
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I just don't understand why the other station groups won't immediately use the opportunity to get other programming on their subchannels, instead of forcing Scripps-Howard to keep to their current contracts. What's the point of having several channels showing Laff, Grit or Court TV in many markets? It's basically free promotion for their competitors after the end of this month.

Money. The reason Scripps bought ION was to save money. For each of these station groups, Scripps is PAYING for carriage. They signed a contract agreeing to pay the other station owners a certain amount of money for a certain amount of time, and a station owner would be stupid to walk away from "free" money, regardless of what they are promoting.

If another network owner were to approach these station owners offering MORE money for the slot AND they could get Scripps to agree to an early termination of the contract, then new programming would appear.
 
In Knoxville, Tennessee, according to On TV Tonight, WPXK will show Court TV on 54.2 (currently on WKNX 7.3), Laff on 54.3 (currently on WATE 6.3), and Court TV Mystery on 54.4 (currently on WBXX 20.2). QVC and HSN are still on 54.5 and 54.6 respectively.
 
Money. The reason Scripps bought ION was to save money. For each of these station groups, Scripps is PAYING for carriage. They signed a contract agreeing to pay the other station owners a certain amount of money for a certain amount of time, and a station owner would be stupid to walk away from "free" money, regardless of what they are promoting.

If another network owner were to approach these station owners offering MORE money for the slot AND they could get Scripps to agree to an early termination of the contract, then new programming would appear.
I think that another reason that this is happening is that Scripps is one of the companies that is pushing ATSC 3.0. In areas where Scripps owns another station, or two, they can move their diginets to the Ion TV stations & free up bandwidth on their other TV stations. For instance, in the Kansas City, MO area, they can move their diginets from KMCI-TV & KSHB-TV, which are owned by Scripps, to KPXE-TV & free up bandwidth for ATSC 3.0 broadcasts on both TV stations. Just last month, thru email, I asked the full power TV stations in Kansas City, MO when they would launch ATSC 3.0 & KMCI-TV & KSHB-TV said that they expected to launch ATSC 3.0 by late Summer 2021.
 
I think that another reason that this is happening is that Scripps is one of the companies that is pushing ATSC 3.0. In areas where Scripps owns another station, or two, they can move their diginets to the Ion TV stations & free up bandwidth on their other TV stations. For instance, in the Kansas City, MO area, they can move their diginets from KMCI-TV & KSHB-TV, which are owned by Scripps, to KPXE-TV & free up bandwidth for ATSC 3.0 broadcasts on both TV stations. Just last month, thru email, I asked the full power TV stations in Kansas City, MO when they would launch ATSC 3.0 & KMCI-TV & KSHB-TV said that they expected to launch ATSC 3.0 by late Summer 2021.
They had to divest the station in KC. I understand the agreement calls for carrying Scripps networks on there for now, but suspect freeing up bandwidth isn't the primary reason for the ION purchase.

The official reason was so they could save money in airing their diginets, because they no longer have to pay other station owners for carriage. I suspect any other benefits are just a bonus.
 
They had to divest the station in KC. I understand the agreement calls for carrying Scripps networks on there for now, but suspect freeing up bandwidth isn't the primary reason for the ION purchase.

The official reason was so they could save money in airing their diginets, because they no longer have to pay other station owners for carriage. I suspect any other benefits are just a bonus.
Yeah. They sold it to INYO Broadcast Holdings. Also, with these changes, some of the Katz diginets will be carried on the main channel of TV stations like WLWC-TV in Providence, R.I. which will make them more money & guarantee must-carry status.
 
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A similiar situation is also happening in Nashville, Tennessee too, on WNPX-TV.

28.2 Qubo will be replaced by Court TV (currently on WSMV [4.4])
28.3 Ion Plus will be replaced by Grit (currently on WKRN [2.4])
28.4 Ion Shop will be replaced by Laff (currently on WTVF [5.3])
 
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