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NBC launching competitor to Antenna, RTV, Me-TV

I know NBC had big plans for Nonstop. In NYC, they replaced the 5pm evening news with a sort of Nonstop show. All fluff news, all under-40 anchors, no desks, no ties on the men. They only did their real PM news at 6pm. But the ratings at 5 weren't good. They've gone back to a conventional 5pm newscast.

I'm sure Nonstop costs a lot of money. All those 30-something model-anchors make less money than their real news counterparts, but not much less. Most cable systems put Nonstop on an upper channel. On my system it's on Channel 159. I guess TV executives were hoping these subchannels such as Non Stop, Liv Well, Universal Sports, etc. would be bigger than they've turned out to be.

Meanwhile, Antenna, Me-TV and This-TV cost next to nothing to run. I'm sure the rights to 50s, 60s and 70s TV shows carry minimal fees. It makes sense for NBC to start its own Classic TV channel.

I hope they include "You Bet Your Life" with Groucho Marx. I understand this classic show is in the public domain. Groucho's estate must have allowed the copyright to lapse. It costs nothing to run it.
 
Why not just call the network NBC Classics? Capitalize on your brand, rather than having to add a new one?

Some may argue that it limits the amount of classic TV shows that it could air to only NBC run shows, but since NBC made 1/3 of the classics, it just seems logical....
 
NBC though is one of those insane companies that wants a copyrightable name, thus SyFy and Cloo. I don't understand how "Cozi"=classic TV in any way.

Also, if "Charlie's Angels" and "TJ Hooker" move here, what is the use of Universal HD now? It's idiotic that I pay $5 a month for it as part of an "HD Premier" package and all it airs is those shows, 292 episodes of The Unit a month, terrible movies and tape recorded football and time-buy extreme sports. Truly, it's a channel that needs to be put out of its misery.
 
mrschimpf said:
I don't understand how "Cozi"=classic TV in any way.
Click to expand...

Me either. Sounds like something the wifey knitted to put on the spare roll of toilet paper.
 
While clicking around one day I saw one of these retro shows playing on KNBC 4.2 and wondered why I wasn't watching yet another Sunday morning filler show. I guess LA was sending out a preview. However, if they're going to go for old shows they should switch the format back to 4:3.
 
mnradiofan said:
Why not just call the network NBC Classics? Capitalize on your brand, rather than having to add a new one?

Some may argue that it limits the amount of classic TV shows that it could air to only NBC run shows, but since NBC made 1/3 of the classics, it just seems logical....
Click to expand...

NBCUniversal might want to eventually extend the channel to stations 1) outside of NBCU ownership and/or 2) not affiliated with a NBCUniversal network.
 
I'm wondering if indeed NBC has thousands of original "Concentration" game show episodes in their vault.....if there was ever a time to release the tiger,..... :)

BTW is this to say that NonStop will stop?

cd
 
I was surprised to see shows from Sony (Columbia Pictures Television) and Classic Media in the mix, so they are not limiting themselves to the MCA/Universal and NBC owned libraries - interesting.

Wasn't it rumored a while back that CBS was considering doing the same thing.
 
mnradiofan said:
Why not just call the network NBC Classics? Capitalize on your brand, rather than having to add a new one?

Some may argue that it limits the amount of classic TV shows that it could air to only NBC run shows, but since NBC made 1/3 of the classics, it just seems logical....
Click to expand...

Many classic shows aired decades ago, and few people remember the original network they were on, so probably irrelevant.

cd637299 said:
I'm wondering if indeed NBC has thousands of original "Concentration" game show episodes in their vault.....if there was ever a time to release the tiger,..... :)
Click to expand...

These shows were recorded on videotape, which tended to be reused after the original airdate (the old 2" reels were expensive.) Might not be much, if anything, still around to use. For instance, many of the early years of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show are gone.
 
Mediafrog+ said:
cd637299 said:
I'm wondering if indeed NBC has thousands of original "Concentration" game show episodes in their vault.....if there was ever a time to release the tiger,..... :)
Click to expand...

These shows were recorded on videotape, which tended to be reused after the original airdate (the old 2" reels were expensive.) Might not be much, if anything, still around to use. For instance, many of the early years of Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show are gone.
Click to expand...
...apparently, past a few kinescopes at the Library of Congress and a few being offered on home video by Shokus, there's only less than a dozen of the Hugh Downs era productions of Concentration. There's even less surviving installments of the NBC version of Match Game and only one or two of the Bill Cullen game Eye Guess, from around the same time. Of course, NBC itself doesn't own very many of the programs it has ever had on its schedule...
 
Old episodes of Leno, and Late Night (with Letterman and Conan) are rotting away in the vaults. So are episodes of SNL older than 15 years (they may be on DVD and HULU but lazy channel surfers won't buy those). How many old game shows do they own?
 
You have to think that if Cozi does air old Leno/Late Night shows, it'll probably be in late late night or maybe the 10 PM ET hour like when CNBC used to run day-old Conan shows.
 
nomadcowatbk said:
Old episodes of Leno, and Late Night (with Letterman and Conan) are rotting away in the vaults. So are episodes of SNL older than 15 years (they may be on DVD and HULU but lazy channel surfers won't buy those). How many old game shows do they own?
Click to expand...
...Leno's shows are co-owned by Big Dog, Leno's production company, and Late Night is split up between Letterman's Worldwide Pants and the Johnny Carson Estate for Dave's stuff, and NBC Productions and Broadway Video for Conan's. And Broadway Video also owns SNL. NBC can't just grab the tapes and play them, there's a lot of red tape to go through first. NBC could more easily put on whatever kinescopes of Milton Berle and Sid Caesar that survive...
 
I already started a thread on this topic prior to this one, so not sure why someone started a second one.

In any case, there were so many good shows out in the 80's yet none of these retro networks seem to be going for them. They all lean way too old in my opinion, especially Me-Tv...too many black and white shows.
 
When I think of 80's shows whose reruns are not currently airing, I think "Perfect Strangers" - but then, I also think it wasn't a good show, IMHO.

I'm sure if you surf basic cable, you'll find many of the popular sitcoms and shows from that decade scattered about.
 
DToTheJ said:
When I think of 80's shows whose reruns are not currently airing, I think "Perfect Strangers" - but then, I also think it wasn't a good show, IMHO.

I'm sure if you surf basic cable, you'll find many of the popular sitcoms and shows from that decade scattered about.
Click to expand...

I can think of a whole list that are not currently airing:

Growing Pains
Diffrent Strokes
Silver Spoons
Punky Brewster
Perfect Strangers
MacGyver (only airs occasionally on Cloo)
Moonlighting
Webster
Charles in Charge
Empty Nest
L.A. Law
Love Boat
Fantasy Island
Incredible Hulk
Magnum PI
Night Court
Life Goes On
Gimme a Break
 
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