Tribune’s classic TV multicast network is now cleared on 125 affiliates reaching 88% of U.S. TV households.
Antenna TV Adds 26 New Stations
Tribune’s Antenna TV diginet has added 26 new affiliates over the last 6-8 weeks — an increase brought about, at least in part, by the anticipated arrival of vintage Johnny Carson shows on the TV-oldies channel starting Jan. 1.
“The Carson announcement definitely captured [stations’] attention,” said Sean Compton, president of strategic programming and acquisitions for Tribune Broadcasting, in an interview with TVNewsCheck. He was referring to the widely reported announcement in August that Antenna TV had acquired the rights to air episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in a deal with Carson Entertainment Group. The classic Carson shows — which haven’t been seen since they first aired on NBC — will air at 11 p.m. ET weeknights.
Antenna TV announced today that its affiliate lineup has grown to 125 in recent months to reach 88% of U.S. TV households. The new affiliates for the Tribune-owned diginet include stations owned by Sinclair, Tegna, Red River Broadcast Co., Deerfield Media and Gocom Media, the company said.
The new Antenna affiliates include: WPGH Pittsburgh; WNUV Baltimore; WZTV Nashville; WSYX Columbus, Ohio; WSTR Cincinnati; WLOS Greenville-Spartanburg, N.C.; WTCN West Palm Beach, Fla.; WTTO Birmingham, Ala.; WTLV Jacksonville, Fla.; KTHV Little Rock, Ark.; KTUL Tulsa, Okla.; WKEF Dayton, Ohio; WCHS Charleston-Huntington, W.Va.; WLUK Green Bay, Wis; WSMH Flint, Mich.; WUHF Rochester, N.Y.; WMNT Toledo, Ohio; WLTX Columbia, S.C.; WCSH Portland-Auburn, Maine; WRSP Champaign, Ill.; KCEN Waco, Texas; WTGS Savannah, Ga.; KDLT Sioux Falls, S.D.; KVRR Fargo, N.D.; and KQDS Duluth, Minn.
“In the four years since Antenna TV has launched there has been a great response from viewers enjoying the classic programming, and from stations seeing an increase in revenue,” Compton said in a statement. “This latest round of affiliates adds 16 million additional households to Antenna TV’s reach and we are looking forward to continued growth for the network.”
Antenna TV’s lineup of classic shows includes The Jeffersons, All in the Family, Family Ties, Leave It To Beaver and Mr. Ed.
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Comments (7)
Siyabonga Africa says:
November 17, 2015 at 10:28 am
good wonderful news…especially in Pittsburgh and Cincy
Just Fine says:
November 17, 2015 at 12:30 pm
The Carson deal really helped those markets get better, stronger access to Antenna TV. Hopefully the schedule around it will be stronger come January.
Pierre Jaspar says:
November 17, 2015 at 2:57 pm
If WMNT is to show Antenna TV, It would be nice to not have their automation interrupt shows for “Time Event Legal ID’s” as they do on all of the diginets. For example, WMNT-CD Toledo has COZI on 48.4. They interrupt at xx:29:50, for a legal ID, which is allot longer than the :03 Window Cozi TV gives them. This interrupts spots, interrupts the show’s flow, etc. WMNT-CD Toledo needs to make 48 (or MY 58) and it’s diginets run as a leader, not as a tax write off. If I were a client of any of the Diginet network spots and saw my ad interrupted, I would be down Cornerstone Church’s throat (aka Matrix Communications), holder of the LMA, along with Community Broadcast Group’s. Someone needs to care about this station (WMNT-CA Toledo), for it to have any success. Heck, No local programming or spots run on it. How is it still afloat???
Cheryl Daly says:
November 17, 2015 at 6:40 pm
Two recent bad moves by Antenna TV: (1) the addition of a constant logo bug in the bottom right corner of the screen; this started on September 24th. Perhaps they want to use this ID bug as their watermark during the upcoming exclusive Carson shows, but does this annoying bug have to also mar the series that are forty or fifty years old? It was a pleasure to be able to watch programs as they once were shown, with no logo continuously on the screen. (2) starting a program on the right side of the screen while simultaneously showing the ending credits of the last show on the left side of the screen. The new program is well underway before those credits stop, and the credits are unreadable because they are reduced and shown at an angle. It’s bad enough that the series are hacked up with scenes removed for more commercial time.
Wagner Pereira says:
November 17, 2015 at 9:53 pm
You can always buy the DVD bug free. Beggars cannot be chosey.
Cameron Miller says:
November 18, 2015 at 1:29 am
@Insider: Go away!
@RBM8: The network doesn’t use a bug of their own. That is left up to affiliates who use a bug of their own if they choose to do so.
Dante Betteo says:
November 18, 2015 at 3:29 pm
Good News for Cincy and Dayton, but I will loose Get TV.