Breaking: Ion files for bankruptcy

[Robnoxious]

They ALREADY have, in effect, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Channel ? ? ? ?

I would like to see The Hogan's Hero's Channel

Isn't TNT essentially the Law And Order / Shawshank Redemption Channel
TBS is the Back To The Future Trilogy Channel

 

[JimmyJames]

How well was Boston Legal doing for ION? I'd imagine that would have helped them some audience wise.

 

[Robnoxious]

How well was Boston Legal doing for ION? I'd imagine that would have helped them some audience wise.

Probably not as well as the cost of airing it along with NCIS and ER. ION is plugging that they will start airing Ghost Whisperer next week. For a channel on the verge of collapse they really are trying to do something but it's probably too little too late.

 

[FreddyE1977]

are they still operating broadcast TV stations? If so that is probably why they're going under.
All of that money to pay electric bills, DTV conversion, etc. If they are just throwing a program stream up on a bird, I don't see how they can fail to make money unless they are paying satellite and cable systems cash money for the clearances. Their costs are fixed, they certainly aren't spending any money on new production, and the infomercials are actually a profit center.

 

[Markxxx]

In Chicago, WCIU has had a lot of success with WWME (Me-TV) and WMEU (Me-TOO) with niche markets. The old shows revolving around African Americans ("Good Times," "the Jeffersons," and "Cosby" are very popular.

I have noticed that when you watch the ads that run, they always are for little companies and the like (such as "pet cemetaries," "pet groomers," small schools, and even $8.00 hair cutting places).

So it seems to me WCIU is making a new market with it's old shows rather than trying to compete for the big ads.

Perhaps this could be done on more of a national level with ION and old shows.

 

[mescutia]

are they still operating broadcast TV stations? If so that is probably why they're going under.

Yeah, they own quite a number of stations, according to this Wikipedia page.

 

[BRNout]

In Chicago, WCIU has had a lot of success with WWME (Me-TV) and WMEU (Me-TOO) with niche markets. The old shows revolving around African Americans ("Good Times," "the Jeffersons," and "Cosby" are very popular.

I have noticed that when you watch the ads that run, they always are for little companies and the like (such as "pet cemetaries," "pet groomers," small schools, and even $8.00 hair cutting places).

So it seems to me WCIU is making a new market with it's old shows rather than trying to compete for the big ads.

Perhaps this could be done on more of a national level with ION and old shows.

Weigel Broadcasting has done an excellent job in programming and promoting it's channels "The U" (WCIU), "MeTV" and "MeToo." I spend an inordinate amount of time tuned to one of the three at various times. The production values are excellent, the programs offered are top-notch, the promos are slick, and judging from what I see they fill a lot of spots.

Ion, as a network, could take some lessons from Weigel's local operations.

 

[Nate Wesley]

I still think Ion had the right idea when it signed these expensive ideas for big studio movies, old TV shows, etc. The same with its current slate of 'incumbent' shows (NCIS, Boston Legal, Criminal Minds, ER, and both Criminal Minds and Ghost Whisperer fairly soon) that were/are still on major network TV this past season. Or at the very least, they didn't have the wrong idea--the network needed way better programming than they had during the PAX days.

But perhaps Ion missed out on a huge opportunity to capitalize on the yearly grief the major broadcast nets get on canceling shows. You know how The CW and the late WB & UPN were reluctant to pick up Fox, NBC, ABC, and CBS cast offs? Ion should have had no such pride. Think about what's getting tossed aside this year: Without A Trace, My Name is Earl, Samantha Who, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Life, The Unit, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, and others. Some were veterans with three or more seasons under their belt, some were critically acclaimed that barely got second seasons. And even as canceled shows, millions of people still checked them out--more than Ion probably could have attracted on its own.

I'm pretty sure it's not easy to simply nab the broadcast rights for a canceled show. But if Ion could have found a way to do it (say, no more than six months after official cancellation), they could have gotten some mileage out of these 'free agent' shows, primarily the ones that don't have quite enough episodes for syndication. A heavy dose of reaching out to fans online, word of mouth, and through on-air promos (Hey, Eli Stone fans! Your favorite show is coming to ION TV in June 20th!) might have worked. You could freshen up the lineup pretty quickly doing it this way I suppose, assuming one or two primetime showings of one show per week.

Way too late to try it now, though.

 

[KyDXIn]

Mama's Family was the biggest program on ION, (or was it "I" at the time). I recall Mama's Family was even regularly beating MyNetworkTV in the ratings and the CW every so often.

It's very unusual reruns of a 25 year old TV show would get ANY ratings - I remember they had a syndicated version of Mama's Family that ran until the early '90s....was that show REALLY that BIG?

I propose for next fall on NBC, "I'm Mama, Get Me Outta Here--Ya Yutz!" Take one of the most cantankerouos celebrities and put her in fun, laugh-a-minute situations.

Would you rather watch Sanjaya??

 

[mleach]

But perhaps Ion missed out on a huge opportunity to capitalize on the yearly grief the major broadcast nets get on canceling shows. You know how The CW and the late WB & UPN were reluctant to pick up Fox, NBC, ABC, and CBS cast offs? Ion should have had no such pride. Think about what's getting tossed aside this year: Without A Trace, My Name is Earl, Samantha Who, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Life, The Unit, Pushing Daisies, Eli Stone, and others. Some were veterans with three or more seasons under their belt, some were critically acclaimed that barely got second seasons. And even as canceled shows, millions of people still checked them out--more than Ion probably could have attracted on its own.

In the case with "My Name is Earl"...one can take this with a grain of salt since we are talking tabolids here but a lot of them like the National Enquier. The Globe, US, National Examiner and the like have been reporting over the last several months about Earl star Jason Lee's "opinions" about the switch to DTV such as saying that the whole idea is "retarded" and how "NBC sucks ass" and about how all of the local NBC TV stations are ripping people off and lying to them in regards to DTV.

Now I am sure money and poor ratings are the key reason why "My Name is Earl" was cancelled. But on the other hand, if I was a station owner who is an affiliate of NBC and who has/had spent millions trying to convert my station from analog to digital only to have some "star" come out in the press saying that my station was "ripping people off and lying to them" about DTV..even if this was in the National Enquier, let me tell ya..I would NOT be a happy camper !!!

 

[Markieo]

Take the concept of "narrowcasting" one step further. Take these smaller networks, and perhaps some subchannels, and turn them into "One Show" Networks. Thus, you would have:
The MASH Channel
The Mama's Family Channel
The Cheers Channel
The Twilight Zone Channel
The Perry Mason Channel
The Saved By The Bell Channel

They ALREADY have, in effect, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Channel ? ? ? ?

I would like to see The Hogan's Hero's Channel

Personally, I think Nick should be called "The SpongeBobSquarePants Channel"!

 

[TheRover]

Watched the last half of Red October tonight.

It was aggrivating to see the cutout add of the moving person at the bottom of the screen while the movie was playing.

I hate that whenever any network does that!

 

[jal41]

I'm not surprised... this being the old Pax-TV - and as Paxson Communications didn't they file for BK too at some point?

As it goes, Ion isn't that bad... but then it isn't that good either. With the digital transition they are making sense by avoiding HD and having 4x SD channels on their signal. For areas that can get the Ion and PBS digital signals it's likely to give OTA households two childrens' channels to watch - an excellent move since kids TVs are more than likely not to be hooked up to cable/satellite and left with rabbit ears and connected to the VCR/DVD for watching (whatever the kids onto) for the nth time.

Ion is now in HD in certain markets...although not on many cable systems. They still have their three subchannels from what I understand.

Ion could have elected retransmit consent instead of must carry to guarantee coverage of their subchannels...making sure no cable company carried Ion.

The problem is those 16 hours of infomercials. Everyone still regards Ion as a 24/7 infomercial network. If everyone believes it is all-infomercials all the time, they will not watch. They have to limit infomercals to between 2AM-11AM if they want viewers. Yes...there will be more costs, but there will be more eyeballs and more advertisers for 30 second spots in return. Adding first-run programming would not hurt either. Ion has two choices...chuck the informercials or chuck the entire network.

Mama's Family aired on NBC from 1982-1984, when the network cancelled it. It was brought back in first-run syndication from 1986-1990. It had to have had a following in order for it to be brought back, even in syndication.

I honestly don't know how Pax/I/Ion survived all these years. Founder Bud Paxson (who was obsessed with selling stuff - he founded HSN) was thrown out a few years ago, and his name removed from the company name (Paxson Communications to Ion Media Networks). Yet the love of infomercials Paxson had was not removed with his departure and the corporate renaming. Ion Media Networks is now in the hands of private equity (Citadel Investments...not related to Citadel Radio).

As for if filing Chapter 11 will save a company...it probably won't in this case. Several companies (notably Circuit City and Linen's and Things) have had their Chapter 11 restructuring turn into Chapter 7 liquidation in a blink of an eye when those with the purse strings refused to go along with the plan. Given the economy...only a complete idiot would go along with a plan to restructure Ion...if the keep the infomercials.

Either a miracle is performed an infomercials are removed from the network...or the network is a goner. But then again...the network being around today is a miracle in and of itself.

 

[Nate Wesley]

As for if filing Chapter 11 will save a company...it probably won't in this case. Several companies (notably Circuit City and Linen's and Things) have had their Chapter 11 restructuring turn into Chapter 7 liquidation in a blink of an eye when those with the purse strings refused to go along with the plan. Given the economy...only a complete idiot would go along with a plan to restructure Ion...if the keep the infomercials.

Would not be surprised in the least if many of the owned and operated TV stations get sold.

 

[mleach]

Would not be surprised in the least if many of the owned and operated TV stations get sold.

Wonder who would get them? My guess ( as far as the Washington, DC's area channels 60 & 66 ) would be TBN.

Even time I hear the word "PAX" as in PAX-TV, reminds me of a rather bizarre incident involing WWPX-PAX 60 in Martinsburg, WV and a disc jockey on Martinsburg's then-WKMZ-FM 97.5.

Just before PAX went on the air in 1998 with reruns like Here's Lucy, The Hogan Family and The Love Boat, the WKMZ jock went on the air one night talking about the "reruns" PAX 60 will be airing when they go on the air in a few weeks. Well someone at PAX 60 calls up the the jock and WKMZ airs the call live. A buddy of mine still has the aircheck.

PAX: "...boy am I MAD..DAMN MAD..GET IT RIGHT....PAX TV WILL NOT BE AIRING RERUNS..how DARE you say PAX will be airing reruns"

WKMZ: "..wait a damn minute....what about Here's Lucy? The Love Boat? Eight is Enough? Alice?..PAX airing those?"

PAX:.."why yes we are"

WKMZ: "Here's Lucy and Alice and the others...they are OLD shows..shows that had aired before..so if PAX is airing them..does that make them reruns?"

PAX.."..well we at PAX don't consider them reruns..or even old shows...we consider them family entertainment...but they aren't reruns..please be more correct when you talk about us on the radio".

Needless to say as a result of this" exchange", PAX even before day one was already considered a joke. At least in Martinsburg, West Virginia anyway.

 

[kenrayc]

Take the concept of "narrowcasting" one step further. Take these smaller networks, and perhaps some subchannels, and turn them into "One Show" Networks. Thus, you would have:
The MASH Channel
The Mama's Family Channel
The Cheers Channel
The Twilight Zone Channel
The Perry Mason Channel
The Saved By The Bell Channel

They ALREADY have, in effect, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Channel ? ? ? ?

I would like to see The Hogan's Hero's Channel

Personally, I think Nick should be called "The SpongeBobSquarePants Channel"!

TV Land should be called "The Andy Griffith Channel".

 

[azumanga]

WKMZ: "Here's Lucy and Alice and the others...they are OLD shows..shows that had aired before..so if PAX is airing them..does that make them reruns?"

PAX.."..well we at PAX don't consider them reruns..or even old shows...we consider them family entertainment...but they aren't reruns..please be more correct when you talk about us on the radio".

Needless to say as a result of this" exchange", PAX even before day one was already considered a joke. At least in Martinsburg, West Virginia anyway.

Firstly, considering that they inherited the frequency that was used by the ill-fated Fox affil WYVN, they practically continued to be a joke in Martinsburg.

Secondly -- the rep at Pax believed that "if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck and eats like a duck...", then it's a kangaroo.

 

[Markxxx]

Infomericals are a cash cow, that's how smaller TV stations survive.

Put I do agree Ion in a lot of places, people aren't even aware of it, or think it's all infomericals.

 

[jegrant]

To the poster upthread that asked NBC O&Os to carry qubo as a 24/7 subchannel - that's not the kind of carriage Ion is after. They already carry qubo as a 24/7 subchannel on all Ion stations that have gone digital. And i'd guess that in the majority of cases, they've moved the digital Ion to have much better market coverage than the analog Ion did in a given market.

What Ion really wants is cable and/or satellite companies to carry qubo. And, they'd even give them qubo for free. The main thing would be, in most cases, it'd have to be offered in clear digital, so that anyone with a digital box or a digital TV with Clear QAM would be able to get it with even just basic cable.

And, I guess, cable companies are not that interested in adding new stations they can't charge a whole lot for, and they may figure they already provided more "premium" well known brands of kiddie TV with Disney and Nick and PBS Kids Sprout anyway.

Qubo seems to be in the same boat with Smile of a Child. Yes, one is generally secular (except for a few Christian vegetables) and the other is mostly religious, but both are new brands trying to break into kids TV and most operators aren't that interested. The only operators that do seem to carry such networks are the telcos like AT&T U-Verse and Verizon FIOS. Beyond that, some of the overbuilders and municipal systems do as well. But those operators probably only want them as a small competitive advantage. They both increase channel count and could draw in one or two new subscribers that would switch for one channel they'd like to get. Also, there are probably some "public interest" benefits as it makes the new entrants appear quite community minded in the eyes of the FCC, thus keeping the heavy hand of regulation further away, at least for now.

I really think we need multicast must-carry. I'm all for setting some rules on it. Such as - no more than 25% of programming between 6 AM & 12 Midnight may be infomercials or other long form advertising. And, a nonduplication rule akin to the one in the APTS/NCTA agreement, basically saying that if two local stations provide nearly identical subchannels, there would be no requirement to carry both.

 

[vchimpanzee]

Ion is not available in any way, shape or form where I live. It's ridiculous. It all started when WAXN-TV carried a portion of their programming. Apparently they couldn't carry the Pax cable channel some markets get if WAXN was doing that. I wrote Pax and was told they had a very good relationship with WAXN. No, actually they have a very bad relationship. In this day and age they can't get ALL their programming carried? I don't think "Doc" ever aired in Charlotte, NC.

With rabbit ears I used to sometimes pick up an Ion station with a fuzzy signal at best. That of course is impossible now. Or wil be on June 12.