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RTN Currently Off the Air

Grindlfan said:
RTN was on the air in Seattle this morning. In fact, I thought it odd that regular RTN programming was on instead of the Paid Programming spots they usually have on that channel on Sunday mornings. I havent been home since 11:30 am so I won't know the current status until later tonight. I'll let you all know then. It would be a complete bummer to lose RTN.
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That is interesting. For the rest of us, if you have to get your Rockford or Emergency! fix, there's always Hulu, I guess. They do have quite a library of good shows from both NBC and Fox. If they'd just add Quincy and Marcus Welby, I'd be happy.
 
jnewkirk77 said:
Grindlfan said:
RTN was on the air in Seattle this morning. In fact, I thought it odd that regular RTN programming was on instead of the Paid Programming spots they usually have on that channel on Sunday mornings. I havent been home since 11:30 am so I won't know the current status until later tonight. I'll let you all know then. It would be a complete bummer to lose RTN.
Click to expand...

That is interesting. For the rest of us, if you have to get your Rockford or Emergency! fix, there's always Hulu, I guess. They do have quite a library of good shows from both NBC and Fox. If they'd just add Quincy and Marcus Welby, I'd be happy.
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For Rockford and Simon and Simon, there's always NBC Universal's "Sleuth" network (if your cable provider carries it).


Equity could have sold RTN to an larger, more financially-stable group when they first got into financial trouble, but they decided to sell to someone who was then at the time a company insider. I still think the RTN concept has a lot of growth potential.

If RTN survives this, will "Unreliable Sources" (the Equity-produced talk show) be a casualty? If so, that's a good thing!
 
Eric: Agreed on Unreliable Sources, it's such trash.

As for selling it, Luken was the largest shareholder in Equity. Luken basically sold RTN to himself to keep it away from the bankruptcy. Such a scam.

- Trip
 
I did chronicle the events of Equity's troubles in this message from earlier last month. They are knee deep in trouble with lenders, program distributors, AND the FCC.

It's sad to see RTN end up in this condition, mainly because it had found a programming niche for stations' subchannels. Just imagine if you were a station (WSFA in Montgomery, anyone) that was affiliated at one time with BOTH The Tube and RTN...now you'd be reluctant to sign up for any other subchannel service (except for ThisTV, which at least has some deep pockets as financial backers).
 
Well, someone better get the word to WFLA TV Tampa. RTN is supposed to be Digital Channel 8.2 and theyve already secured space on both BrightHouse and Verizon HD.

They spent most of New Years weekend dropping promos and clips.
 
In Chicago WCIU's low power WWME channel 23 and WMEU-CA channel 48 broadcast most of the same shows as RTN, so at least in major markets stations should be able to put together a deal if they want to keep the programing
 
If Equity maintained the website, then it makes sense that the termination of the contract would result in the termination of the website.

- Trip
 
Programming returned to KRGV (south TX) around 3:30pm. I've noticed the shows aren't starting on time. They've been starting about 12 minutes late- 5:12, 6:12, etc. The lineup is still the same with one exception: they aired an episode of Knight Rider instead of that Retro Jams show.

And I agree about Unreliable Sources. I don't like that show.
 
Studio20 said:
Well, someone better get the word to WFLA TV Tampa. RTN is supposed to be Digital Channel 8.2 and theyve already secured space on both BrightHouse and Verizon HD.
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They already have space on Bright House and Verizon -- this is the replacement for Weather Plus. Some other NBC affils have plans to use RTN to fill the space once occupied by Weather Plus.

Studio20 said:
They spent most of New Years weekend dropping promos and clips.
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No doubt WFLA will have egg on its face if RTN is not back up by launch -- it would be an embarrassment to say that the channel has been postponed due to a dispute not involving the station itself.

silverthree said:
Programming returned to KRGV (south TX) around 3:30pm. I've noticed the shows aren't starting on time. They've been starting about 12 minutes late- 5:12, 6:12, etc. The lineup is still the same with one exception: they aired an episode of Knight Rider instead of that Retro Jams show.
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Many RTN stations (primarily non-Equity stations affiliated with RTN) have back-up programming available in event of satellite outages. Which came in handy in this case here.
 
azumanga said:
Studio20 said:
They spent most of New Years weekend dropping promos and clips.
Click to expand...

No doubt WFLA will have egg on its face if RTN is not back up by launch -- it would be an embarrassment to say that the channel has been postponed due to a dispute not involving the station itself.
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If RTN doesn't mean "Return To Normal" tomorrow, its architect, Neal Ardman (who also by the way hosts "Unreliable Sources" as "Gary Lee Robbins," IIRC), won't be a very popular man tomorrow with some station managers/groups.

silverthree said:
Programming returned to KRGV (south TX) around 3:30pm. I've noticed the shows aren't starting on time. They've been starting about 12 minutes late- 5:12, 6:12, etc. The lineup is still the same with one exception: they aired an episode of Knight Rider instead of that Retro Jams show.
Click to expand...

KAZT 7.2 is doing the same thing, and running some dated P-I spots in commercial breaks. One was for Countrywide Home Loans, which tanked and was eaten by Bank of America last year.
 
The on-screen message concerning the Retro Television Network continues to appear on WKRG-TV's digital sub-channel (5-3) in Mobile, Alabama. The station had just started running promotions for the network around the beginning of the new year after the digital sub-channel went on the air with a tone and some station identification on November 10th, 2008, followed by network programming on the next day.

When I was writing this message, WKRG-TV aired a promotional advertisement for RTN and the digital sub-channel, but no mention of the current situation was made during the station's newscasts since yesterday.
 
Can anyone tell me if WNGS-11 in Buffalo is still airing RTN at this point? I know the station was basically the flagship station.
 
WNGS was owned by Equity, IIRC, so I doubt.

So is Luken providing their own feed now? They should just switch to a national feed like ION uses and just not air the shows airing on other locals. Most of them aren't. At least do that until they can get straightened out.
 
Well, SOMETHING is on WEHT-DT2 as of 8 this morning; usually it's infomercials, but today it's Daytime, some show I've never seen before. I googled the name of one of the hosts, Dave Nemeth, and found out the show is produced by WFLA.

Guess we'll see what else comes down the pipeline later today!
 
Eric Stein said:
KAZT 7.2 is doing the same thing, and running some dated P-I spots in commercial breaks. One was for Countrywide Home Loans, which tanked and was eaten by Bank of America last year.
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RTN's meltdown is slightly surreal. KAZT 7.2 aired a pre-Christmas episode of 'Daytime' with John Tesh. The channel continues to follow Lazy time, with program starts at variable times some minutes after the hour. And there is NO RTN imaging or branding anywhere, nor any KAZT station IDs.

The relentless JG Wentworth and scrap gold bottom-feeder PI's make me long for the relatively classy days of Ronco.
 
Here in Detroit WXYZ 7.2 is also airing programs a few minutes past the normal start time. The programs do not match what the guide is showing. One thing I did notice is the picture quality has improved greatly suggesting WXYZ is running a back up system of tapes in house.
 
If they're not syncing up with the top of the hour, they're probably pulling in the national feed. I can't imagine so many local stations letting that slide.

- Trip
 
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