The affiliate lineup comprises 23 Univision-owned stations including WFUT New York and KFTR Los Angeles, Word Broadcasting’s WBNA Louisville, Ky., and a station in Bakersfield, Calif., that GetTV is not yet ready to identify. At launch today, the network will be in 17 of the top 20 markets.
Sony’s GetTV Jumps Into Multicasting Fray
With a big assist from Univision, Sony Pictures Television Networks’ first digital subchannel GetTV debuts today on TV stations in 25 markets reaching 45% of TV homes.
The affiliate lineup comprises 23 Univision owned and/or operated stations including WFUT New York and KFTR Los Angeles, Word Broadcasting’s WBNA Louisville, Ky., and a station in Bakersfield, Calif., that GetTV is not yet ready to identify.
At launch, the network will be in 17 of the top 20 markets. The Univision stations, which come with cable carriage, include WFUT New York, KFTR Los Angeles and WGBO Chicago.
“Univision is one of the last giant broadcasters out there without a digital network,” says Superna Kalle, senior vice president of Sony Pictures Television Networks and general manager of GetTV. “That gives us an advantage.”
The English-language, 24-hour channel will target adults 50 and older with movies from the 1930s through the 1960s. GetTV kicks off today at 4 p.m. ET with the 1957 Jack Lemmon movie Operation Mad Ball.
“We found a niche in classic Hollywood films,” Kalle says. “None of the other channels is concentrating on these movies. In that sense, we’re competing with TCM more than these other channels.”
BRAND CONNECTIONS
Sony is jumping into an increasingly crowded subchannel marketplace with established networks like Weigel Broadcasting’s Me-TV, which is in more than 90% of TV homes, and Weigel and Fox TV’s Movies! in 50% of homes.
“The Nielsen ratings for Me-TV are fantastic,” says Michael Kokernak, president of Across Platforms, which publishes the newsletter Subchannel Report. “If GetTV can mirror that success, they’ll do well.”
GetTV’s schedule will include “Get-” themed programming blocks that highlight various movie genres, such as Westerns on Saturdays in its “Get Out of Town” block and its Tuesday “Gets Groovy” movies.
Each weekday at 1 p.m., GetTV will air movies targeted to women in its “Afternoon Delight” block.
GetTV today also is launching its channel guide get.tv, which has program information and a channel finder to identify GetTV in local markets.
GetTV launches today on these channels:
|
Market |
Station, (Channel #) |
|
Atlanta |
WUVG-DT, Athens (34.3) |
|
Austin |
KAKW-DT, Killeen (62.3) |
|
Bakersfield |
TBD |
|
Boston |
WUTF-DT, Marlborough (66.3) |
|
Chicago |
WGBO-DT, Joliet (66.2) |
|
Cleveland |
WQHS-DT (61.3) |
|
Dallas |
KSTR-DT, Irving (49.2) |
|
Denver |
KTFD-DT, Boulder (14.3) |
|
Fresno |
KFTV-DT, Hanford (21.2) |
|
Houston |
KFTH-DT, Alvin (67.2) |
|
Los Angeles |
KFTR-DT, Ontario (46.2) |
|
Miami |
WAMI-DT, Hollywood (69.3) |
|
New York |
WFUT-DT, Newark (68.3) |
|
Orlando |
WOTF-DT, Melbourne (43.2) |
|
Philadelphia |
WUVP-DT, Vineland (65.3) |
|
Phoenix |
KFPH-DT, Flagstaff (13.3) |
|
Raleigh |
WUVC-DT, Fayetteville (40.4) |
|
Sacramento |
KTFK, Stockton (64.3) |
|
Salt Lake City |
KUTH-DT, Provo (32.3) |
|
San Antonio |
KWEX-DT, San Antonio (41.2) |
|
San Francisco |
KDTV-DT, San Francisco (14.3) |
|
Tampa |
WFTT-DT, Tampa (50.3) |
|
Tucson |
KUVE-DT, Green Valley (46.3) |
|
Washington, D.C. |
WFDC-DT, Arlington (14.3) |
Comments (3)
none none says:
February 3, 2014 at 11:22 am
GET real – no one watches the main channel on most of these stations, how is anyone going to know about watching a sub channel?
mike tomasino says:
February 3, 2014 at 2:52 pm
Good point. If it hadn’t been for having a Dish DTVpal, which automatically scans for new channels, I would have never known when KTFD added its subchannels. GetTV has been running a movie loop for the past year on 14.3. It was originally suppose to launch last September. I can’t see it getting MeTV type ratings.
darren shapiro says:
February 3, 2014 at 7:07 pm
While your “sub-channel” comment holds water, so do this comment: “if you are not on cable” also holds water, as well as this other comment: “Many Cut the Cord” holds water. All these comments together, are “Holding all that water on a huge bucket”.
Many Millions are unaware just like you about the “new sub-channels” and there are a few millions that really watch these sub-channels.