ARE ALL COX TV STATIONS SWITCHING TO ME-TV ON JUNE 1?

[dave73]

WSB has not gone full-screen with Me-TV. They did the same with Retro TV. There are black
bars on each side. Are most of you outside Chicago seeing the black bars also?

Does this somehow save WSB some bandwith or something, why else would they do this? It
makes the picture about 25% smaller than normal.

WSB is transmitting it in widescreen (16x9) SD. This is likely for widescreen ads or non-MeTV content they air on 2-2.

- Trip

Weigel Broadcasting broadcasts MeTV in full screen. Since all the classic shows are full screen, they're not gonna broadcast it in widescreen. I however wish that for any widescreen movies they have on This TV, that the channel were in widescreen, instead of full screen.

 

[carolinaradio]

When many of these stations added these subchannels, RTV (then RTN) was the only thing going in classic TV. Then, previous owner Equity ran into financial problems and lost the CBS/Paramount/Viacom library and eventually had to close the Little Rock technical facilities when they liquidated. Luken built their current Chattanooga facility in less than one week's time after Equity closed shop, and two years later they still haven't managed to get all the bugs out of their systems.

Weigel, fresh off their success of This TV (as well as their local Chicago and Milwaukee "Me-TV" stations), saw that opportunity with the CBS classic TV library, and decided to take Me-TV national. From this standpoint, it's going to be tough for RTV to recover. They might as well just let Me-TV have the NBC-Universal library as well.

I think MeTV will kill RTV. Who really wants to carry it when they can carry MeTV, THIS, Antenna TV? RTV is pathetic. They never get any promos, new shows, or new schedules. They are starting to lose some big markets and even pulled their Facebook page from all of the complaints. I say good riddance.

Re: MeToo going national - as much as I would love it, I wouldn't really count on it now, if they're going to use the "Me" branding - that would probably mean if it were carried, it would have to be on a station already carrying MeTV, and since it is mostly on subchannels, many stations may not be willing to add a .3 for MeToo. I guess it could be offered as a supplement, but I doubt they would split comedy/drama since MeToo would likely not be as widespread. I wouldn't count out another subchannel from Weigel eventually, though - they clearly know what they are doing and do it well and successfully.

 

[gregg75]

RTV is down from 115 stations to something like 97, but they are not out. I think they see
where they have made mistakes and things can only get better for them. If ION can last
with something like 69 stations, then RTV will last with 97.

 

[carolinaradio]

RTV is down from 115 stations to something like 97, but they are not out. I think they see
where they have made mistakes and things can only get better for them. If ION can last
with something like 69 stations, then RTV will last with 97.

The difference between ION and RTV is that the majority of ION's affiliates are O&Os (and they also have cable/satellite carriage via a national feed in many areas), so they don't have to worry about being dropped for something else. How they stay on the air, honestly, is beyond me, but their shows do well for them. They have seen bankruptcy and other issues. ION controls its affiliates while RTV is at the mercy of theirs when the contracts are up. RTV is steadily losing its higher-power affiliates and isn't really gaining any.

RTV may be picked up in markets where they're dropped, but will likely not be on a full power signal (such as what is happening in Atlanta). If they affiliate with any new stations, it will probably be LPTV/LD ones (they are already affiliated with a lot of them). That is the difference we've seen with networks like MeTV/Antenna/maybe THIS - they seem much more selective about the type of station they will affiliate with. RTV needs to make some big changes (new shows, promos, and a uniform schedule for all affiliates would be starters). Scrap plans for an RTV2 and other digital nets, work on improving what you already have before it's too late, Luken. JMO