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MyNetworkTV to switch to 'programming service', ceasing most originals next fall

N

Nate Wesley

Hard to say CW won when they still face the possibility of extinction. Last I checked My Network TV was still neck-and-neck with CW in the ratings too. I think My Network TV figured out that having one real ratings draw (wrestling) along with some old movies and other cheap programming was a lot more viable than paying for original programming 6 nights a week.
 
Hey Nate,

This is a VERY bad idea!
Maybe from some standpoint it will allow "affiliates" more flexibility to put shows on at time better suited to region. But it will be bad because it will confuse viewers from one market to the next. A small network like MyNetwork TV needs stability, and this will rob them of it, especially for the small market affiliates. There's no such thing as a "hybrid," either you are a network or you are syndicator.

Yeah, I'd say CW has won. Essentially, MNTV has fallen off the rading screen.
That's said, I don't think CW is too far behind.
 
I don't watch MNTV in its current state, but this is just another example of the networks becoming more homogeneous. Nothing says "generic network" like reruns of Law & Order. NBC recently ruined their Sleuth network by replacing classic series like Magnum PI and Simon & Simon with Law & Order and NCIS reruns. It's really too bad for us viewers.
 
How is this a bad idea? The way I read it, MNTV is no more. Ten hours a week of programming: two hours of first run wraslin', two hours of Law & Order reruns, and three old movies a week. The only reason they aren't calling this a shutdown of the network is to keep Smackdown syndication rights instead of allowing it to go to WGN. Apparently they are convinced that WWF was worth the cost of keeping MNTV alive in this bizarre form, with everything else being reruns that could be shown anytime... on any night (I'm assuming here that affiliates will be encouraged to show Smackdown at 8pm on Fridays.) Since all the other programming on the new MNTV has been syndicated and shown at different times in different markets in the past, they're green lighting the affiliates to make programming changes to fit their needs. At least, that's what I'm gathering from the two articles.

Does anyone think that WWF was warned that MNTV was on the verge of collapse and secured time on WGN starting in April just in case they needed to make another new home for Smackdown? Or is it just a coincidence that WGN starts carrying WWF programming this close to the announcement that MNTV will cease to be a network as we know it by the start of the fall season?
 
Re: MyNetworkTV to switch to 'programming service', ceasing most originals next

poledo said:
Does anyone think that WWF was warned that MNTV was on the verge of collapse and secured time on WGN starting in April just in case they needed to make another new home for Smackdown? Or is it just a coincidence that WGN starts carrying WWF programming this close to the announcement that MNTV will cease to be a network as we know it by the start of the fall season?
Click to expand...

The wrestling company may have been cautious before the announcement by expanding to another network with knowledge of the type of network currently depending on "SmackDown" to stay in operation. I understand your use of the initials WWF, as I continue to think of the company by those letters, too, and not the World Wildlife Fund (the organization's recent TV commercials have people saying "WWF", which seemed strange). WWE never sounded right to my ears or suited the company.

If WGN-TV's cable station were to get "SmackDown", it would be great for all the viewers in areas spared from MyNetworkTV, which should have never been created in the first place to distribute programs that would have been great for all the potential independent stations after the CW Television Network was first announced. WJTC-TV, Mobile's former United Paramount Network (UPN) affiliate, thankfully decided to become an independent station and allowed MyNetworkTV programming to go to WFGX-TV in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, all though it doesn't cover all of Mobile-Pensacola, it's still considered part of the TV market even in the farthest corner.

When WFGX-TV was a Warner Bros. Network (WB) affiliate for the small area it covers in northwest Florida, Comcast Cable subscribers in Mobile had WGN-TV's cable station for the network's programming until it had to stop in 1999. Shortly afterwards, Comcast started providing WB programming directly from the network in a separate channel slot, which was later filled by WBPG-TV in 2001.
 
KML-224 said:
Poledo? It's been WWE since 2002.
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It was late, some neurons in my brain weren't firing right. I watched a whole lot more WWF shows than WWE shows, so the information hasn't balanced out in my head yet. At least everyone could understand what I meant to post.

KML-224 said:
As for MY's direction, this will be a huge mistake if this happens. :(
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Of course. They've announced the end of MY Network TV. Why not just fold Smackdown into Fox's syndication division rather than keep MyNet (in name alone) going for one original show? I think I remember MyNetwork having an easier time signing affiliates than CW had, what else did they really offer to get those stations to sign on? A guarantee from News Corp. that the new network would survive the length of the contract?
It would have been cheaper for MyNetwork to just shut down and offer WWE time on Fox if they wanted to, or had to, keep WWE programming.

I guess we'll have to wait and see if My Network TV looses many affiliates this year.
 
Re: MyNetworkTV to switch to 'programming service', ceasing most originals next

Mario-500 said:
When WFGX-TV was a Warner Bros. Network (WB) affiliate for the small area it covers in northwest Florida, Comcast Cable subscribers in Mobile had WGN-TV's cable station for the network's programming until it had to stop in 1999. Shortly afterwards, Comcast started providing WB programming directly from the network in a separate channel slot, which was later filled by WBPG-TV in 2001.
Click to expand...

I never figured out why WB left WBQP-LP, which covered more households than WFGX-TV. At the time WFGX wasn't even on cable in Pensacola, and when they were added Cox was picking it up OTA and couldn't provide a decent signal for the station, a problem that still exist today I believe. Of course a full powered station in the DMA looks better on paper even if its 70 miles from the geographic center of the Mobile market's population. I doubt WFGX has ever gone out of it's way to inform anyone that they aren't available to any viewers in the city of Mobile even though they have been a Network affiliate for the Mobile DMA for a long time now.
 
Garrett said:
Hey Nate,

This is a VERY bad idea!
Maybe from some standpoint it will allow "affiliates" more flexibility to put shows on at time better suited to region. But it will be bad because it will confuse viewers from one market to the next. A small network like MyNetwork TV needs stability, and this will rob them of it, especially for the small market affiliates. There's no such thing as a "hybrid," either you are a network or you are syndicator.

Yeah, I'd say CW has won. Essentially, MNTV has fallen off the rading screen.
That's said, I don't think CW is too far behind.
Click to expand...

I think its a good idea. For a station, it keeps a branding/identity and they don't have to worry about programming the prime-time. While Tribune maybe able to operate stations not needing a national identity (like WDCW is now cleverly "DC 50"), some stations get pretty insignificant quickly being independent without an identity. For the network, there isn't much operational costs involved so its an ancillary service by Fox, and they need it for their Fox owned stations esp. in small markets. And, perhaps in NY/NJ, they can try out something at WWOR, perhaps moving My9 News to 9 so it doesn't compete directly against WNYW FOX 5 news (although I know WWOR has more NJ stories so that alone distinguishes the two, but it can also free something different for the 10pm hour rather than 3 newscasts on the 5, 9 and 11...which is quite boring for NYC dwellers), but that's just one thought.

The viewers from "one market to the next" factor shouldn't be so concerning. Already, MyNetwork TV is programmed at different times on the West coast, and even on the east coast, such differences happen with other shows... Jeopardy and Wheel are flipped around in some markets.
NY, Philly, Baltimore, Hartford, most east coast markets - Jeopardy then Wheel,
Boston, DC/Hagerstown, Harrisburg - Wheel then Jeopardy, and such differences between one market to the next nearby one, seem to be sustainable for both those shows.

I don't think CW really won, for the fifth place. I think YouTube, digital cable, VOD, etc. won.
 
Re: MyNetworkTV to switch to 'programming service', ceasing most originals next

Should WGN ever get the rights to air "Smackdown", deals must be made to carry the show in local TV syndication. Many cable systems, including the major ones in New York City, do not carry WGN.

Mario-500 said:
I understand your use of the initials WWF, as I continue to think of the company by those letters, too, and not the World Wildlife Fund (the organization's recent TV commercials have people saying "WWF", which seemed strange).
Click to expand...

Is this true? I thought they "got the F out"? ;D
 
MNTV and CW are both junk. Neither is on my menu. The only redeeming programming on CW is our local affiliate's showing of old "Two & A Half Men" without screen bugs. I hope they don't figure that out before I finish taping that series. Beats the hell out of getting it off first-run C(BS) where they have three (3!) screen bugs as well as pop-ups two or three times per show.
 
poledo said:
I think I remember MyNetwork having an easier time signing affiliates than CW had, what else did they really offer to get those stations to sign on? A guarantee from News Corp. that the new network would survive the length of the contract?
Click to expand...
Better financial conditions. The CW was asking affiliates to pay the network to carry it, the reverse of the traditional American network model. MyNet gave the affiliates a split similar to that in syndication. This "is it a network or isn't it" question is nothing new for MyNet; in fact it was more like a syndicator when it launched with its telenovela lineup. (Though I'm not sure MyNet really had that much easier a time signing affiliates than the CW...)

Honestly, I've had some trouble figuring out exactly what's going on here. It seemed to me like MyNet is just cutting Saturdays, cancelling some first run shows (but note that in the B&C article, "first-run shows" are included as part of the new mix, though that could have just meant SmackDown) and reworking the ad revenue split. Keep in mind that MyNet's schedule, including Saturdays, is already loaded up with quite a few movies. This is really just replacing "Street Patrol" and "Jail" with "Law and Order Criminal Intent".

If this is effectively the end of MyNet, I hope SOME stations I know (I'm looking at you, WSTR Cincinnati and KFVE Hawaii) that chased the short-term money over the long-term investment can find a way to add the CW to their lineup, so their markets don't effectively consist of four affiliates, an independent, and the CW on a digital subchannel. Of course, right now neither investment looks particularly good in the long term... after all the talk of Tribune phasing out CW branding, I wonder what they think of MyNet now...

I wonder what the news would be today if the CW had never dropped SmackDown... and now I'm morbidly curious to know where landtuna lives...
 
poledo said:
Of course. They've announced the end of MY Network TV. Why not just fold Smackdown into Fox's syndication division rather than keep MyNet (in name alone) going for one original show? I think I remember MyNetwork having an easier time signing affiliates than CW had, what else did they really offer to get those stations to sign on? A guarantee from News Corp. that the new network would survive the length of the contract?
It would have been cheaper for MyNetwork to just shut down and offer WWE time on Fox if they wanted to, or had to, keep WWE programming.

I guess we'll have to wait and see if My Network TV looses many affiliates this year.
Click to expand...

This sounds eerily similar to the end of the DuMont network in the mid-1950s, where they basically shut down the network, except for some live sporting events, before eventually shutting down altogether.
 
Re: MyNetworkTV to switch to 'programming service', ceasing most originals next

DToTheJ said:
Should WGN ever get the rights to air "Smackdown", deals must be made to carry the show in local TV syndication. Many cable systems, including the major ones in New York City, do not carry WGN.
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Same situation happened with Monday night Wresting on The Nashville Network a few years back, they managed to get things worked out pretty quick. The "redneck" channel was on cable in New England within a couple weeks of WWE (or was it WWF then?) debuting. I think Tribune, WGN and WWE combined would be able to get WGN on most of the cable system holdouts. You have to remember that Smackdown is essentially an infomercial for the monthly PPV which pays the cable systems a small commision on sales.

DToTheJ said:
Is this true? I thought they "got the F out"? ;D
Click to expand...
Isn't one of the WWE's newer catch phrases "F-U"?
 
WNDY, the My affiliate in Indianapolis, was pre-empting WWE wrestling for high school football last time I checked (realizing that it is not football season any more)
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
WNDY, the My affiliate in Indianapolis, was pre-empting WWE wrestling for high school football last time I checked (realizing that it is not football season any more)
Click to expand...
I stole that idea from a local indie station that used to carry UPN programming. They replaced Smackdown with a Friday Night High School game of the week when UPN and WB merged onto the local WB affiliate. It seems to be working out well for them. Since we have more high schools that football stadiums, they could probably put on a Thursday Night High School football game also.
 
The more I think about it, the more I can't help but think that Ion Television is getting a bigger, better funded competitor.

I could see giving one or two nights to cable originals--say a two-hour run of Monk or Nip/Tuck (sanitized for broadcast, if possible). But to cease all of your original programming outside of WWE Smackdown for off-network programming, that's throwing in the towel I think. WWE can't be too mad as their show stays on terrestrial broadcast. But for all the trouble of signing the show to a News Corp property, it might as well be part of Fox's Friday nights.
 
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