The Country Network - The Cool TV For Rednecks

[DToTheJ]

It's launched this week on subchannels of a handful of Sinclair stations. Apparently, music video subchannels are all the rage once again:
http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/the-country-network-launches-on-10-sinclair-stations.html

I wonder if this means The Tube will be brought back from the dead?

 

[dave73]

It's launched this week on subchannels of a handful of Sinclair stations. Apparently, music video subchannels are all the rage once again:
http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/the-country-network-launches-on-10-sinclair-stations.html

I wonder if this means The Tube will be brought back from the dead?

I wish The Tube were brought back. I don't see that happening. The Cool TV is basically trying to pick up where The Tube left off. I only hope it works out better than The Tube did. I don't know if The Cool TV or The Country Network have a lot of advertisers, but I remember The Tube had few ads, which brought the demise of that network. I only wish The Cool TV would come to Chicago. I don't care if The Country Network doesn't come to Chicago, but I know others would like it to.

 

[Robnoxious]

All Cool TV has to do is copy the playbook from This TV which doesn't seem to be having any problems that The Tube did in DTV's multicasting infancy. We need more entertainment subchannels so I wish Sinclair's venture well.

 

[FightingIrish]

It's launched this week on subchannels of a handful of Sinclair stations. Apparently, music video subchannels are all the rage once again:
http://www.rbr.com/tv-cable/the-country-network-launches-on-10-sinclair-stations.html

I wonder if this means The Tube will be brought back from the dead?

I wish The Tube were brought back. I don't see that happening. The Cool TV is basically trying to pick up where The Tube left off. I only hope it works out better than The Tube did. I don't know if The Cool TV or The Country Network have a lot of advertisers, but I remember The Tube had few ads, which brought the demise of that network. I only wish The Cool TV would come to Chicago. I don't care if The Country Network doesn't come to Chicago, but I know others would like it to.

I'm guessing that The Tube was ahead of its time. They were around before OTA DTV really caught on. And the people who were springing for digital TVs were likely opting for cable rather than OTA. Hence, nobody watched, nobody advertised and they ran out of money. Nowadays, with everything digital, subchannel networks like This, RTV, Cool and others have a much easier time getting started. And there's plenty of stations out there looking for subchannel programming options.

Never got a chance to watch Tube, but have Cool (along with This and RTV) in my market. Not bad, but the presentation and video selection (mostly stale live performances rather than the classic clips we're all familiar with) makes it come off as really, really chintzy.

 

[dave73]

I'm guessing that The Tube was ahead of its time. They were around before OTA DTV really caught on. And the people who were springing for digital TVs were likely opting for cable rather than OTA. Hence, nobody watched, nobody advertised and they ran out of money. Nowadays, with everything digital, subchannel networks like This, RTV, Cool and others have a much easier time getting started. And there's plenty of stations out there looking for subchannel programming options.

Never got a chance to watch Tube, but have Cool (along with This and RTV) in my market. Not bad, but the presentation and video selection (mostly stale live performances rather than the classic clips we're all familiar with) makes it come off as really, really chintzy.
[/quote]

I did get a chance to watch The Tube, and I thought it was great. I believe you're right that they were ahead of their time. I got myself a TV tuner card to pickup DTV. That same TV tuner card works, but I want to get something better, but not sure what I'll get next. Hauppauge crashes on my pc. So I had to go with ATI. Unfortunately, I can't find ATI cards anymore.

As for the new music video channels, I don't know when, or, if they'll come to Chicago. It's sad that many smaller markets are getting The Cool TV & The Country Network (could careless) over Chicago. RTV has yet to make it to Chicago. Not sure if it ever will since Polnet hasn't gotten their act together with getting WPVN-LD ready for primetime. With Weigel's MeTV/MeToo & Tribune's upcoming Antenna TV, RTV might have a difficult time coming to the market, if most of the programming overlap. PBS World also isn't in Chicago. No Chicago PBS station has shown interest in the network. Not sure I'm really missing it, as I briefly watched it when WMVS Milwaukee came in in Gary Indiana, and thought that I could watch much of the same programming on WTTW Prime (a locally programmed 24 hour primetime channel on WTTW). PBS World is primarily a documentary channel, while WTTW Prime is all primetime programming, & also includes cooking, DIY, & travel shows.

 

[FightingIrish]

I did get a chance to watch The Tube, and I thought it was great. I believe you're right that they were ahead of their time. I got myself a TV tuner card to pickup DTV. That same TV tuner card works, but I want to get something better, but not sure what I'll get next. Hauppauge crashes on my pc. So I had to go with ATI. Unfortunately, I can't find ATI cards anymore.

As for the new music video channels, I don't know when, or, if they'll come to Chicago. It's sad that many smaller markets are getting The Cool TV & The Country Network (could careless) over Chicago. RTV has yet to make it to Chicago. Not sure if it ever will since Polnet hasn't gotten their act together with getting WPVN-LD ready for primetime. With Weigel's MeTV/MeToo & Tribune's upcoming Antenna TV, RTV might have a difficult time coming to the market, if most of the programming overlap. PBS World also isn't in Chicago. No Chicago PBS station has shown interest in the network. Not sure I'm really missing it, as I briefly watched it when WMVS Milwaukee came in in Gary Indiana, and thought that I could watch much of the same programming on WTTW Prime (a locally programmed 24 hour primetime channel on WTTW). PBS World is primarily a documentary channel, while WTTW Prime is all primetime programming, & also includes cooking, DIY, & travel shows.

We may just see how RTV does in a market with both MeTV and Antenna (and This). WITI (FOX 6) in Milwaukee is listed as an affiliate for Antenna TV. They already carry RTV on a subchannel. Not sure if Antenna will replace RTV or be put on 6.3 as a compliment to go after the Weigel stations in the market.

Milwaukee is a good market for people who like subchannels. Seems all the main ones are represented (RTV, This, Cool, Country Network, Accuweather, the Ion channels, etc.), even the PBS sub-nets (though the Kids channel is no longer on there).

And for the record, MeTV's on-air presentation blows RTV out of the water. RTV looks pretty amateurish, almost like cable access, while MeTV has a rather funky charm. Plus, RTV's show lineup is a bit stale these days. The Universal catalog only goes so far.

 

[dave73]

I did get a chance to watch The Tube, and I thought it was great. I believe you're right that they were ahead of their time. I got myself a TV tuner card to pickup DTV. That same TV tuner card works, but I want to get something better, but not sure what I'll get next. Hauppauge crashes on my pc. So I had to go with ATI. Unfortunately, I can't find ATI cards anymore.

As for the new music video channels, I don't know when, or, if they'll come to Chicago. It's sad that many smaller markets are getting The Cool TV & The Country Network (could careless) over Chicago. RTV has yet to make it to Chicago. Not sure if it ever will since Polnet hasn't gotten their act together with getting WPVN-LD ready for primetime. With Weigel's MeTV/MeToo & Tribune's upcoming Antenna TV, RTV might have a difficult time coming to the market, if most of the programming overlap. PBS World also isn't in Chicago. No Chicago PBS station has shown interest in the network. Not sure I'm really missing it, as I briefly watched it when WMVS Milwaukee came in in Gary Indiana, and thought that I could watch much of the same programming on WTTW Prime (a locally programmed 24 hour primetime channel on WTTW). PBS World is primarily a documentary channel, while WTTW Prime is all primetime programming, & also includes cooking, DIY, & travel shows.

We may just see how RTV does in a market with both MeTV and Antenna (and This). WITI (FOX 6) in Milwaukee is listed as an affiliate for Antenna TV. They already carry RTV on a subchannel. Not sure if Antenna will replace RTV or be put on 6.3 as a compliment to go after the Weigel stations in the market.

Milwaukee is a good market for people who like subchannels. Seems all the main ones are represented (RTV, This, Cool, Country Network, Accuweather, the Ion channels, etc.), even the PBS sub-nets (though the Kids channel is no longer on there).

And for the record, MeTV's on-air presentation blows RTV out of the water. RTV looks pretty amateurish, almost like cable access, while MeTV has a rather funky charm. Plus, RTV's show lineup is a bit stale these days. The Universal catalog only goes so far.

I can't find any info if WITI will continue to carry RTV along with Antenna TV, or drop RTV completely. They do have a lot of good subchannels in their market.

Just read on another messageboard that RTV has arrived in the Chicago market. Only Polnet showed interest in picking up RTV, and is on the main channel of WPVN-LD. So that means only those in the city & northern near western suburbs will get WPVN-LD. I'm outside of their coverage area, and won't get it. I do agree that MeTV/MeToo blow RTV out of the water (basing just on the schedule). I only hope that MeTV doesn't lose some of their programming in Chicago, due to Antenna TV eventually debuting in Chicago, and have some overlap shows.