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RTN (Retro Television Network)

U

upn38fan

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/070320/cltu183.html?.v=7

I found the above article and it states that RTN is going national on July 7, 2007. Some of their programming looks good right now, and they are supposed to be getting access to the CBS library of programming in July. Do you think that anything good will come of this new deal? Let's hope RTN gets good national coverage, and it gives TVLand a run for its money.
 
From that article, I'd say that it sounds very promising -- an opportunity for stations to air large amounts of classic TV programming on a bartered basis will surely help expand the distribution for classic TV shows. Right now, stations that want to carry these programs have to pay a cash licensing fee, which is a huge disincentive versus picking up newer product that is available on a barter basis.

Aside from that, this is programming that will be available for free, OTA, to anyone with a digital tuner in markets where it is offered.

Finally, I can't help but note the irony of CBS helping create an OTA competitor to TV Land, since the companies were under the same corporate umbrella until last year. CBS is certainly making it clear that they're more than willing to step on toes over at Viacom...
 
Maybe WRNT-LP/48 in Hartford, Connecticut will pick up the affiliation. Problem is they're not on cable ;D . I'm dead serious there's and LPTV station on Channel 48 in Hartford that has the WRNT calls. That could stand for the RTN network. - Why not? A now-defunct radio station in Boston Called MEGA 1150 (later MEGA 890) had the calls WAMG, which stood for Mega.
 
I saw RTN on a trip to St. Louis last year, and I would love to have it in my area. It appears that ION isn't making any effort to become real competition for Nick at Nite/TV Land other than in prime time (and not much at that), so I'd love to see RTN take off and be a real competitor against both of them.
 
I've heard about RTN but I've never seen a station so if it's a good showcase of classic television(by classic I mean '50s, '60s, and early '70s) and not having mulitple airings of Roseanne and others 80s/90s sitcom garbage I'd be all for it.
 
Since CBS is helping this along, maybe this is a sign that they don't want TVLand to be airing this stuff anymore because of the demos.
 
ssetta said:
Do you think it will have shows like Sesame Street and The Electric Company?
Click to expand...

Does RTN have commercials? If so, I think the answer is "no", unless they can managed to scissor them up.
 
TexasTom said:
From that article, I'd say that it sounds very promising -- an opportunity for stations to air large amounts of classic TV programming on a bartered basis will surely help expand the distribution for classic TV shows. Right now, stations that want to carry these programs have to pay a cash licensing fee, which is a huge disincentive versus picking up newer product that is available on a barter basis.

Aside from that, this is programming that will be available for free, OTA, to anyone with a digital tuner in markets where it is offered.

Finally, I can't help but note the irony of CBS helping create an OTA competitor to TV Land, since the companies were under the same corporate umbrella until last year. CBS is certainly making it clear that they're more than willing to step on toes over at Viacom...
Click to expand...

I'm looking forward to this. I'm 25, love classic TV, and find it sad to see TV Land abandoning its founding principles. But it always happens -- just look at SCI FI.

RTN is carried on our NBC affiliate (WSAV)'s DT channel, which also airs MyNetworkTV in this market. What's nice is that we have DIRECTV at home and WSAV's DT channel is available to us (channel 29), thus I'm able to watch RTN.
 
Brian Donegan said:
Since CBS is helping this along, maybe this is a sign that they don't want TVLand to be airing this stuff anymore because of the demos.
Click to expand...

CBS and TV Land are no longer under common ownership -- when Viacom split in half last year, the TV program syndication unit went into CBS Corp, while TV Land remained a part of Viacom. So treat this deal as if TV Land was not even considered when CBS and RTN reached their agreement -- because TV Land probably wasn't considered!

In addition, note that broadcast and cable rerun rights are generally sold separately from each other, which is why the same reruns can air on both a cable network and a local broadcast station.

There was also a question raised earlier that CBS might run this as a digital subchannel in markets where they own a broadcast station. While this is possible (but far from guaranteed), my suspicion is that it would run on the subchannels of CBS-owned CW affiliates and independents before it would appear on any of their CBS outlets. CBS has generally been very much against reducing the digital bitrate for the HD broadcasts on their flagship CBS stations.
 
Sorry to pull up a year-old thread, but local indie WRDQ just recently started carrying RTN on a digital subchannel. All I can say is.....wow. It's what TV Land used to be. Tons of classic 60's and 70's shows, including all the great old QM cop/detective dramas. It's a middle-aged nostalgist's dream come true. Only regret is that they run infomercials in the wee hours, so if I have insomnia I can't tune in to "Cannon" or "Rockford Files" or "Hogan's Heroes." :(

In regard to what had been discussed previously in this thread -- they do have some commercials, as well as "retromercials" (again, just like TV Land). And FWIW, WRDQ is indie but is co-owned with ABC affiliate WFTV. Don't see any rhyme or reason to what sort of stations are picking RTN up.
 
Two stations in the Quad Cities (western Illinois and eastern Iowa) area should consider RTN: They are WHBF-DT and KLJB-DT. My reasons for these suggestions are as follows:

1. Digital 4.2 is pretty much the standard signal of WHBF, which will leave the air forever in less than a year, anyway.

2. Digital 18.2 is currently the Quad Cities' CW, which has it's own digital signal. But if the CW is supposed to have a stronger signal closer to the QCA, that would render 18.2 needless, so KLJB might as well consider RTN for that reason.

Also, the FCC approved a channel 53 in the market, but there's no telling when it will sign on, but if it ever does, it could be RTN....
 
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