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Diginet shuffle

When the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, there will be some changes on the diginet landscape.

The country music/blue collar network Circle - seen here on WUAB 43.2 - will to end operations once the ball drops in Times Square.

However, Gray TV - WUAB/WOIO/Circle's owner - and Warner Brothers Discovery are collaborating to create 2 new diginets to debut on 1/1/24.

The 365 - black oriented programming
Outlaw - westerns.

Gotta assume one of these will take Circle's spot on 43.2, and the other we'll wait and see.
 
vjm said:
When the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, there will be some changes on the diginet landscape.

The country music/blue collar network Circle - seen here on WUAB 43.2 - will to end operations once the ball drops in Times Square.
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Circle seemed like a clear effort for Gray to lean back on some of its stations (Say WUAB) Gaylord days entwined with the Nashville Network/Country music theme of old. (I vividly remember 43's "Nashville Connection" block after midnight on Saturdays and "Superhosts" visit to Hee Haw. The latter which now dawns on me, he may have only appeared on the WUAB broadcast as he's unmentioned on Hee Haw's list of guest stars otherwise.) It was also interesting to see the very old, almost pre-1980's WUAB logo during "That Nashville Music" re-telecasts on Circle. I wondered if it was burned into the film or shown on purpose to bring us Golden Ager's who grew up on WUAB, some nostalgia.

Outside of "Covid upstart", Circle's problem was also "TNN's". Great concept, little interest, program theme continuity, original programming or Country Music themes. I lost interest in the Opry years ago, but moreover when realizing Circle was taping and rebroadcasting on Saturday, more pleasing acts to millennial's than anything else. The first, and last good broadcast was live during the first week of shelter-in-place, which was also in Circles infancy. TNN's "humble pie" came when reruns of "The Dukes of Hazzard" were their highest rated program after twelve years of original programming and an attempt to retool the network. I think during Tom Wopat's early, albiet short, run of hosting the "Nashville Now"/"Music City Tonight"/"Prime Time Country" evening show.

As for the Digis...We don't need another of either concept. But clearly Gray is trying to cover all the bases with these Channels. I will be anxious to see what shows they can offer as both concepts are more than covered on the other stations.

Also as for Digis...Still wishing I could pick up Channel 13 in Parma and WOCV-35 would offer us more. I could drop cable with both.
 
Northcoast43 said:
As for the Digis...We don't need another of either concept. But clearly Gray is trying to cover all the bases with these Channels. I will be anxious to see what shows they can offer as both concepts are more than covered on the other stations.
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As long as they don't activate another sub on WOIO/WUAB. It's bit staved the way it is. The other network may end up on WTCL-LD/WOHZ-CD, or when the contract of another affiliated network with the Gray stations runs out, perhaps Rewind TV?

Northcoast43 said:
Also as for Digis...Still wishing I could pick up Channel 13 in Parma and WOCV-35 would offer us more. I could drop cable with both.
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WIVX-LD (along with W27DG-D) is in the process of being sold off to Bridge News, owners of News Net. The channel line up will likely change once the new owners take over, keeping News Net and replacing the rest with ShopHQ and Sports News Highlights, which Bridge also owns and operates.

The only possible addition to WOCV-CD would be MeTV+, but as previously stated, Weigel Broadcasting won't add it as long as regular MeTV is affiliated with a 3rd party broadcaster. Otherwise, any other possible addition to WOCV-CD would be one of Weigel's own networks currently seen on WOIO (MeTV) and WBNX (Movies, H&I & Start TV). Weigel doesn't seem like they will pull the same thing that Scripps did and move all of their networks to their O&O stations, just as long as their 3rd party affiliates have a full power broadcast and provide decent cable coverage. This may have been different if Weigel owned a full power station in Cleveland, or perhaps had a repeater for WOCV-CD in the Akron/Canton area to expand their coverage in Northeast Ohio. The Weigel networks will likely only move to WOCV-CD if WOIO or WBNX decides not to renew their contracts, which at least would provide continous coverage for most of the market broadcast wise.

Footnote: There's an article that suggest that Weigel maybe launching another network soon, likely cartoon-based with the name of Toon TV. However, this could be the name used for an upcoming MeTV block as I don't see a broadcast cartoon-based network financialy feasable due to the lack of advertisers and FCC regulations. If Toon TV ends up becoming a diginet, it will likely launch on WOCV-CD.
 
vjm said:
The 365 - black oriented programming
Outlaw - westerns.

Gotta assume one of these will take Circle's spot on 43.2, and the other we'll wait and see.
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Looks like "Outlaw" will be channel 43.2. The guide for Cox cable shows it as such on January 1st. No real program listings as of yet though.

Every time I see Circles current schedule. I think they sign off in 2023 with one of those Old-Fashioned type implosions like ESPN used to do when a stadium was demolished. Unless one liked blocks of syndicated reruns of shows that no bigger network would show, it was really a letdown.
 
tblanks said:
According to Titan TV, Twist will no longer be on WKYC 3.5 as of January 1.
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There are reports suggesting that Twist will be going away. Nexstar & Hearst stations have already dropped Twist, and Univision announced that they will be dropping the network from their stations at the end of the year.

If WJW does not pick up Rewind TV, perhaps it may end up on 3.5.
 
OK, this is very confusing. WOIO/WUAB has already stated on their website that Outlaw will be on 19.4 and 365 on 43.2 at the beginning of the year.

Per the Zap2It listings, it's showing Outlaw on 43.2 and what I assume will be The 365 on 19.3, with Rewind TV remaining on 19.4.

Is Dabl leaving and Rewind being bumped to 19.3? Or did someone goof up the listings for Zap2It?

Also, Zap2It and TitanTV now shows True Crime programming for WKYC 3.5, likely being a placeholder until the TEGNA stations can find a replacement network for Twist.
 
Lots of fuss and bother for channels whose audience can be numbered in the tens of tens, if that.
And what was the announced purpose of these subchannels? Oh, that's right...to give the people more outlets for local programs and interests. Bwahahahaha! Fooled them again!
 
snowdog88 said:
OK, this is very confusing. WOIO/WUAB has already stated on their website that Outlaw will be on 19.4 and 365 on 43.2 at the beginning of the year.

Per the Zap2It listings, it's showing Outlaw on 43.2 and what I assume will be The 365 on 19.3, with Rewind TV remaining on 19.4.

Is Dabl leaving and Rewind being bumped to 19.3? Or did someone goof up the listings for Zap2It?

Also, Zap2It and TitanTV now shows True Crime programming for WKYC 3.5, likely being a placeholder until the TEGNA stations can find a replacement network for Twist.
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When Circle debuted on New Years day 2020, it was put on 43.2 with Bounce being bumped to 43.3. Circle had the bug on the screen mentioning where Bounce can be found. This, I felt, caused chaos with cable systems that may have felt the change was unfair to them and/or their subscribers.

With no real explanation, the two swapped around a few weeks later. Maybe they are planning the same thing, but who knows what Grays mentality was. In Circle's case, it clearly was a "Gray network thinks this concept would be a blessing to current Country music fans, and old TNN fans" station. The entire situation turned a little awkward.
 
skiwest said:
I'm guessing there will be some consolidation of diginets eventually. There are just way too many right now.
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True...But the same can be said about cable. Also, it's too bad some cable stations would feel ashamed if they dropped 24 hour programming.

Really...How many reruns of Sportscenter need to be aired overnight?
 
Northcoast43 said:
True...But the same can be said about cable. Also, it's too bad some cable stations would feel ashamed if they dropped 24 hour programming.

Really...How many reruns of Sportscenter need to be aired overnight?
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Four time zones produce constant waves of viewers catching up on the day's sports before heading to bed and viewers catching up on last night's sports right after getting up. The needs of all of them are satisfied by that one overnight SportsCenter, repeated hourly.
 
It looks like Dabl is being reworked into another African-American comedy based diginet (not the 365) on December 29th. That could explain the programming on 19.3
So, the 365 could still end up on 19.4
 
Northcoast43 said:
When Circle debuted on New Years day 2020, it was put on 43.2 with Bounce being bumped to 43.3. Circle had the bug on the screen mentioning where Bounce can be found. This, I felt, caused chaos with cable systems that may have felt the change was unfair to them and/or their subscribers.

With no real explanation, the two swapped around a few weeks later. Maybe they are planning the same thing, but who knows what Grays mentality was. In Circle's case, it clearly was a "Gray network thinks this concept would be a blessing to current Country music fans, and old TNN fans" station. The entire situation turned a little awkward.
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43.2 had cable coverage at that time, but not 43.3, so it made sense to originally place Circle on 43.2 in order to promote and instantly launch it on cable systems. My guess is that the outcry from the Bounce cable viewers caused Gray to backtrack on this decision and move Bounce back to 43.2. When 43.3 eventually obtain cable coverage, it had less of a presence compared to 43.2.

tblanks said:
It looks like Dabl is being reworked into another African-American comedy based diginet (not the 365) on December 29th. That could explain the programming on 19.3
So, the 365 could still end up on 19.4
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The 365 will likely end up on 43.2 due to its cable coverage. The 365 will probably attract more viewers at launch compared to Outlaw, so again, it would make sense to place it there. 19.4 has no cable coverage AFAIK, though that may change soon.

So with the shift in programming, does that mean Dabl will undergo a rebrand? I guess they've been running out of lifestyle shows to acquire, as within the last few years they've been airing more reality shows, some of which don't even fit their format.

EDIT: Found this article on Cord Cutter News.
 
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