Diginets

Larger multicast networks are retaining their viewers while newer players have successfully rolled out distribution.

Tegna’s multicast network is rebranding on July 27 as a one-stop destination for true crime content that will also offer a free, on-demand streaming service and podcasts.

New jobs posted to TVNewsCheck’s Media Job Center include openings for a sales director experienced in diginet business, a chief engineer and video producer in creative services. The openings are located in New York, Iowa and Alabama.

The digital-first lifestyle brand will add linear distribution on Feb. 17 as the multicast network Live Well Television is rebranded as Localish.

The country music/lifestyle channel will debut in more than 50% of U.S. TV households on stations from Gray and CBS. A companion OTT premium service is slotted to launch in late spring 2020.

The appetite for these specialized networks continues to grow, and with many of the diginets achieving coverage of over 80% of the television households in the United States, it looks as if this increased breadth and depth has set the stage for increased merger and acquisition interest.

David Hudson will oversee the development and production of all original programming for Katz Networks as EVP of original programming and has hired Sophia Kateris Kelley as SVP of original programming.

The Katz Diginet adopts its new name on Sept. 30. It’s available in 94% of the U.S.

CBS’s Television Distribution unit has officially launched Dabl, an ad-supported digital multicast network dedicated to what it describes as “informative, project-based, feel-good content” on lifestyle topics including cooking, home renovation, design, DIY, pets and travel. CBS announced the free-to-users network in June.

CBS Television Distribution’s new advertiser-supported digital lifestyle network Dabl (dab·​ble) is now cleared in over 80% of the country for launch on Sept. 9. In addition to the previously announced CBS Television Stations […]

Diginet channels like Cozi, Antenna TV and BUZZR can’t rely on big budgets to market their channels and programming, so they must get inventive to attract attention. Some attempts to attract viewers to classic TV shows really stink. You could even call it Smell-a-Vision.

Broadcasters including Scripps, Tegna, CBS, Sinclair, Ion and Gray have been laying bigger bets in the multicasting business, acquiring some of the more popular diginets and partnering to develop new ones in a market showing signs of further expansion. CBS’s new diginet DABL, for instance, is bringing back the classic lifestyle programming of Martha Stewart and others in the fall.

Beginning in the third quarter, Weigel Broadcasting’s Decades multicast network will be carried on Fox-owned stations in 12 major markets as part of a multiyear agreement with Fox Television Stations, LLC. The deal ups the network’s U.S. coverage to 60% with 65 TV affiliates nationwide. Decades will launch on Fox stations in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, San Francisco, Houston, Atlanta, Tampa, Phoenix, Detroit, Minneapolis, Austin and Gainesville, Fla.

It closes on the $77 million purchase of the 85% of the two diginets it didn’t own. Tegna taps Brian Weiss, former president and general manager of Cooper Media, as their president.

It’s paying Cooper Media $77 million for the 85% of the two diginets it doesn’t already own. Brian Weiss, Cooper’s president-GM, will join Tegna and continue to run the two.

Low-power TV group HC2 will carry the black-focused multicast network on its stations in 29 more markets, including Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas and Detroit.

The still unnamed country music service — comprising a broadcast diginet and an OTT streaming platform — will operate from offices and production facilities in Nashville. Drew Riefenberger has been tapped to head the joint venture as general manager. The OTT version, a mix of linear and on-demand programming, will not simulcast the multicast version, although there will be some overlap.

According to Jim starring Jim Belushi will be seen weekdays 5-7 p.m. ET on Scripps-owned comedy diginet Laff beginning Monday, March 4. Belushi plays an easy-going suburban Chicago father who often […]

The CBS Television Distribution shows will air weeknights back-to-back starting Mon. Feb. 18, from 7 to 9 p.m.

NewsNet follows a traditional “news wheel” format, with headlines at the top of each half hour, followed by a national weather overview, sports, and feature stories from across America. It’s distributed over-the-air by a network of affiliates, streams to mobile apps available for iPhone and Android, and will be launching OTT apps for Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Apple TV later this month.

The new multiplatform network, to debut in May 2019, has secured over-the-air distribution agreements with major local TV station group owners including Tribune, Scripps and Univision, giving Court TV coverage of more than 50% of U.S. television households at launch. Vinnie Politan will be the network’s lead anchor.