Jump to content

What will happen to MynetworkTV in St Louis?


nomadcowatbk

Recommended Posts

If MyTV offered a programming service similar to how PrimeTime Entertainment Network operated in the early 90s, then there could be justification for its existence. Instead, it's nothing but "Law & Order: CI/SVU" reruns, which easily can be seen on Bravo, Oxygen, USA or WGN America at any given point and time.

Agreed. I never got the point to MyTV or understood who watches it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 59
  • Created
  • Last Reply
Guest Former Member 207

 

so might CW

 

But at least they have original programming. Their current lineup of shows may only appeal to a segment of the viewing audience, but at least The CW is putting forth an effort.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

ION and MyNetworkTV are indistinguishable during the evening. The two seem to air the same procedural crime dramas.

 

I never got what makes MyTV a "network" or why any TV station would want the affiliation. It looks to me like they just take reruns and make sure they all run at the same time in every market. What's the benefit to that to anybody other than national advertisers?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

WPHL has described itself as an independent station, and it is one, albeit one that adapted the MyNet logo into its (much better looking) own version. I don't consider MyNetworkTV a network, it's stuff for the Fox duopolies and other stations to throw on in prime time because movies on commercial broadcast television aren't viable anymore. I think that's one of the reasons they ended up letting 6 do their own branding

 

Only a few comedies do well in syndication these days, in large part because networks like USA air the shows repeatedly. In fact, there was this thread about a local station owner angrily sending a letter to 20th Century Fox bitching about it.

 

As for Fox Kids... ohhh man. I think if you mention those two words to some affiliates you will get death stares. By 2000 every affiliate was revolting against the block. If you want to know why NBC came up with the Move-Jay-Out-Of-10pm plan, look to Fox Kids. The affiliates owned a share of that network. They put Fox in charge of selling it, and Fox sold it to Fox Family. Fox Kids could promote Fox Family as much as they wanted on the block. Affiliates did not like.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Only a few comedies do well in syndication these days, in large part because networks like USA air the shows repeatedly. In fact, there was this thread about a local station owner angrily sending a letter to 20th Century Fox bitching about it.

 

Yes, here: http://forums.tvnewstalk.net/index.php?/topic/13519-kcwi-kdmi-gm-writes-open-letter-criticising-syndicator/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

As for Fox Kids... ohhh man. I think if you mention those two words to some affiliates you will get death stares. By 2000 every affiliate was revolting against the block. If you want to know why NBC came up with the Move-Jay-Out-Of-10pm plan, look to Fox Kids. The affiliates owned a share of that network. They put Fox in charge of selling it, and Fox sold it to Fox Family. Fox Kids could promote Fox Family as much as they wanted on the block. Affiliates did not like.

 

The Children's Television Act was the death blow to cartoons on broadcast TV that are entertaining to kids. When a TV station has to air three hours of unwatched educational programming every week, plus add restrictions on what can be advertised on those cartoons, the writing was on the wall. Major network-affiliated stations can recoup the lost ad revenue from the "E/I" shows by airing two hours of weekend local news before the "green vegetable TV."

 

I'm all for the repeal of the "three hour rule." It's outdated legislation that isn't working, when there are other sources of higher-quality children's educational programs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

The Children's Television Act was the death blow to cartoons on broadcast TV that are entertaining to kids. When a TV station has to air three hours of unwatched educational programming every week, plus add restrictions on what can be advertised on those cartoons, the writing was on the wall. Major network-affiliated stations can recoup the lost ad revenue from the "E/I" shows by airing two hours of weekend local news before the "green vegetable TV."

 

I'm all for the repeal of the "three hour rule." It's outdated legislation that isn't working, when there are other sources of higher-quality children's educational programs.

 

I think 24-hour childrens cable networks had more to do with that than anything. Toward the end, most of the children's programming was outsourced to either Disney (ABC), Nick (CBS), or 4Kids (Fox and CW). The CTA just sped up the process but the die was cast long before that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I think 24-hour childrens cable networks had more to do with that than anything. Toward the end, most of the children's programming was outsourced to either Disney (ABC), Nick (CBS), or 4Kids (Fox and CW). The CTA just sped up the process but the die was cast long before that.

 

The fact that cable came along surely was a large part of it. I came up on cartoons in the early 2000s and there were only one or two shows I watched that were over-the-air products. One was a Saturday show (on Kids WB), the other was a Sunday show (on Fox Kids which was known as the FoxBox by that point; it aired on Sundays in Phoenix because the WB affiliate had the rights to the block). It always baffled me why there was something called the FoxBox on the WB—of course, I've been writing the answer to that in chapters lately.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Children's Television Act was the death blow to cartoons on broadcast TV that are entertaining to kids. When a TV station has to air three hours of unwatched educational programming every week, plus add restrictions on what can be advertised on those cartoons, the writing was on the wall. Major network-affiliated stations can recoup the lost ad revenue from the "E/I" shows by airing two hours of weekend local news before the "green vegetable TV."

 

I'm all for the repeal of the "three hour rule." It's outdated legislation that isn't working, when there are other sources of higher-quality children's educational programs.

The only thing that the three-hour rule has accomplished is the prolonging of Jack Hanna's career.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The CTA was really the death knell, and cable was a huge part of it, but they also restricted the amount of advertising you could sell during a program aimed at children. That was a big factor. It's pretty much why, when ABC was airing Power Rangers (because Disney got the property and had no fricking clue what to do with it), many station groups ran it in the overnight hours or outright never cleared it.

 

Yeah, the CTA is something that needs to be abolished. All it's doing is forcing stations to show Jack Hanna or other things kids do not want to watch, and it restricts them - you can't really pre-empt it, so if breaking news hits on a Saturday morning, well...

 

I wrote a *very* long article about this a few years ago. Go and read.

 

There are also so many other credible choices out there for kids. I'm not playing the "NICK WAS BETTER WHEN I WAS A KID WAHHHHHH" card because Nick is a kids network and has to evolve with the times and tastes. You're designed to grow out of it. I have similar feelings towards Disney Channel - hell, you might not like what they air now, but aside from having some pretty damn awesome bumpers I was not a fan of what they were airing then. You have Hub, Disney Junior, Sprout, NickToons/TeenNick/NickJr... kids have a lot of choices now.

 

(Cartoon Network, on the other hand... I still think it's decent now, but it was absolutely amazing prior to segregation...)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not only has cable adequately filled the children's television genre, so too has PBS. Their content has vastly improved over the past twenty years.

 

I still believe in the need for children's television. I disagree, however, with the need for it to air on the main channel. Why not allow stations to air all of the required programming on one of the multicast channels?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Not only has cable adequately filled the children's television genre, so too has PBS. Their content has vastly improved over the past twenty years.

 

I still believe in the need for children's television. I disagree, however, with the need for it to air on the main channel. Why not allow stations to air all of the required programming on one of the multicast channels?

 

Because the multicast channels have the same requirement.

 

I do agree that the CTA is antiquated, I just think it was more complex and the same outcome would've happened without it, although at a much slower pace.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Children do not watch TV over the air nowadays. They are either watching cable, playing video games, watching YouTube videos, or using social networks. I know this because I have younger siblings. The E/I thing is out-of-date and needs to be abolished like Hulkie D. said. Also, it is not TV's responisbility to teach children right from wrong, it is the parent's. And if the parent decides to use the TV as a babysitter then that's their concern. There are certainly educational children's shows out there like PBS, but do kids really want to watch that? (not really)

 

Simply put, the landscape has changed over the past 20 years. Children are not really watching TV anymore, and if they are, they certainly aren't watching OTA broadcast TV. And they definitely are not watching "educational" programming because anything "educational" is boring to kids, especially after they have been in school all day. When they get home or are on the weekends, they want to watch something fun, cool, and entertaining. They don't want to learn. As far as a kid is concerned, that's what school is for (in their mentality).

 

Disney and CBS realized this and now outsource Saturday mornings to Litton (and I don't really think any of that programming is anywhere remotely close to appealing to children). NBC has Sprout and Fox and the CW leave it to the affiliates to fill the time. The only true option out there for kids who want Saturday morning cartoons OTA is the CW. I think eventually they will eliminate that but they have the Cartoon channel to piggyback off of so it makes sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Not only has cable adequately filled the children's television genre, so too has PBS. Their content has vastly improved over the past twenty years.

 

I still believe in the need for children's television. I disagree, however, with the need for it to air on the main channel. Why not allow stations to air all of the required programming on one of the multicast channels?

 

This is so true. Most parents tune to PBS if they want high-quality educational programming for their children. They're not making it an appointment for their kids to watch "Real Life 101," "Aqua Kids," or heaven forbid, "Gina D's Kids Club" (inside joke for those in Phoenix and know about KPHO's subchannel). I'm not sure if the tiny syndicators that distribute the bulk of the "E/I" product even make that much money off of it!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

This is so true. Most parents tune to PBS if they want high-quality educational programming for their children. They're not making it an appointment for their kids to watch "Real Life 101," "Aqua Kids," or heaven forbid, "Gina D's Kids Club" (inside joke for those in Phoenix and know about KPHO's subchannel). I'm not sure if the tiny syndicators that distribute the bulk of the "E/I" product even make that much money off of it!

 

You really hate Gina D's Kids Club don't you? It comes on that Smile of a Child channel on cable, it's not as bad as you make it out to be... :D
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

You really hate Gina D's Kids Club don't you? It comes on that Smile of a Child channel on cable, it's not as bad as you make it out to be... :D

 

Believe me, it's pretty bad if "The Soup" rips on it. I guess I wouldn't hate it so much if KPHO 5.2 didn't use that as their only E/I show on their weather subchannel, running it from 3PM to 6PM every Sunday for the last six-plus years, when there's better product (and more unobtrusive time slots) available. The station's PD has all the syndicators in his Rolodex, and there's an abundance of product out there.

 

And they claim to be "the best weather subchannel in Phoenix" - HA!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Because the multicast channels have the same requirement.

 

I do agree that the CTA is antiquated, I just think it was more complex and the same outcome would've happened without it, although at a much slower pace.

 

I realize they have the same requirement. Here's what I propose...

 

- each channel (.1, .2) must carry three hours of E/I-compliant programming per week

- stations would be able to "lump" the required programming onto one (.1, .2) channel. Therefore, a .2 could air six hours of programming per week, while the .1 airs zero.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I realize they have the same requirement. Here's what I propose...

 

- each channel (.1, .2) must carry three hours of E/I-compliant programming per week

- stations would be able to "lump" the required programming onto one (.1, .2) channel. Therefore, a .2 could air six hours of programming per week, while the .1 airs zero.

 

I would suggest being able to move only half of it in this scenario, so .1 airs 1 1/2 hours and .2 airs 4 1/2. That keeps E/I on the main subchannels where cable viewers can still get to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. By using TVNewsTalk you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.