My Network TV
My Network TV (sometimes written
MyNetworkTV, and unofficially abbreviated "MyNet" or "MNTV") is an upcoming
television network in the
United States, owned by
News Corporation, which is scheduled to launch on
September 5,
2006. For the forseeable future, its schedule will consist entirely of
telenovelas. Most of its affiliates will be former affiliates of
The WB and
UPN that will not be joining
The CW. My Network TV will target a primarily female audience.
It will be a sister network to
FOX.
Roger Ailes will oversee the network in his capacity as chairman of the
Fox Television Stations Group, which will—as opposed to the management of FOX—have direct responsibility over the new network.
My Network TV arose as a result of the announcement of
The CW Television Network, which will essentially merge
The WB and
UPN. Fox Television Stations Group owned several UPN affiliates, including
WWOR in
New York, New York;
KCOP in
Los Angeles, California; and
WPWR-TV in
Chicago, Illinois, the three biggest stations in the network. Fox had bought most of them after acquiring most of the television holdings of
Chris-Craft Industries, cofounder of UPN along with
Paramount Pictures (which was acquired by
Viacom around the time of UPN's founding). Despite concerns about UPN's future at the time of Fox's purchase of the three stations, UPN renewed its affiliation deals with the stations in 2003 for three seasons. That agreement, and some others', pending expiration in 2006 gave UPN parent
CBS Corporation and The WB parent
Warner Bros. a rare opportunity to merge the two networks.
The CW included no Fox-owned stations; the New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago affiliations all went to stations owned by The WB's co-owner,
Tribune Broadcasting. In response, Fox scrubbed all UPN references from its UPN affiliates' logos and promotions, and stopped promoting the network's programs.
Media reports speculated that the Fox-owned UPN affiliates would all become
independent, or join with the other UPN and The WB affiliates The CW left out to form another network. Fox parent News Corp chose the latter course, and announced My Network TV on
February 22, less than a month after CBS and Warner Bros. announced The CW on
January 24. News Corp may have chosen the name
My Network TV for synergistic means, as it also owns the popular networking website
MySpace.com.
Programming will air from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. (
Eastern/
Pacific time) Monday through Saturday. Unlike the existing major broadcast networks, My Network TV plans to air primarily-original programming throughout the year, including the summer.
Initial series will include the
telenovelas
Desire and
Fashion House, each airing Monday to Friday with one-hour recaps on Saturdays. These series will air in continuous cycles of thirteen-week
seasons; when one series ends, another unrelated series will begin the following week.
The network had originally planned to use the umbrella titles
Desire and
Secrets (later
Secret Obsessions) for its telenovelas. Each storyline will now be titled separately. [
1] The remaining (tentative) titles for 2006-07 are
Art of Betrayal, Rules of Deception, and
Friends & Enemies in the 8 p.m. ET timeslot; the 9 p.m. ET timeslot will host
Watch Over Me, A Dangerous Love, and
To Love & Die.Given that My Network TV will air two programs six days a week produced by
20th Television (Fox's syndication unit), its programming is more akin to a
syndication model, such as the
Prime Time Entertainment Network,
Operation Primetime, or
The Disney Afternoon, than the existing major broadcast networks. Indeed, Fox had aimed
Desire for syndication prior to the My Network TV announcement.
The announcement of the new network also stated that additional unscripted and current-affairs programming were in development. These were
Catwalk, a series similar to
America's Next Top Model;
On Scene, a crime-based
news magazine produced by
Fox News; an American version of the quiz show
Britain's Brainiest; and an American version of the
ITV series
Celebrity Love Island. However, MyNetworkTV has since stated that it has abandoned its reality development and will be focusing solely on telenovelas, even if the format is not initially successful. [
2]
The manager of the My Network TV affiliate in
Roanoke, Virginia has stated that the network will eventually launch a national morning show similar to Fox News'
Fox & Friends. [
3] Nonetheless, the network has not officially indicated any plans for any programming outside of prime time, such as network
children's programming.
As of
July 24,
2006 161 stations are affiliated with the new network, reaching approximately 104 million households and covering 94.4% of the US. Ironically, these affiliates include six stations owned by companies involved in the founding of the CW: three owned by Tribune Broadcasting (located in
Atlanta, Georgia;
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and
Seattle, Washington), and three owned by CBS Corporation; however,
Gannett purchased the Atlanta Tribune station shortly after Fox confirmed it as a My Network TV affiliate (the Gannett acquisition of the Atlanta station was finalized on
August 7 2006).
On
March 6 2006,
Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that 17 of its stations, mostly affiliates of The WB but also a few from UPN and some independent stations, would become My Network TV affiliates in September 2006. This occurred despite the widespread presumption that affiliation with The CW, which at this point was still available in most markets, would be more valuable; however, Sinclair implied that My Network TV was more financially attractive for the company. Some of the markets the 17 Sinclair stations occupy include
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania;
Tampa, Florida;
Cincinnati, Ohio;
San Antonio, Texas;
Birmingham, Alabama;
Raleigh, North Carolina;
Nashville, Tennessee; and
Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
One of the stations named in a
April 26 2006 announcement of My Network TV affiliates was
KNVA Austin, Texas, which The CW had added to its list of confirmed affiliates a week previously. On
May 1 KWKB Iowa City, Iowa, another previously-confirmed affiliate of The CW, signed on to carry My Network TV. Currently, these two stations are the only in the US to be aligned with both new networks, leaving unclear how they will brand themselves in the months to come.
On July 12th 2006, MNTV added affiliates in Miami-Ft. Lauderdale,
WBFS market 17,
KTVD Denver, market 18,
WSYX in Columbus, Ohio, market 32,
WTCN in West Palm Beach, Fla, market 38,
WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Pa, market 41,
WUPL in New Orleans, market 43, and
WAWS in Jacksonville, Fla, market 52. WBFS, WTCN, and WUPL are owned by CBS Corportation (with WUPL set to be sold to
Belo), KTVD is owned by Gannett, WHP,and WAWS is owned by Clear Channel, and WSYX is owned by Sinclair Broadcasting. WSYX, WHP, and WAWS are digital sub-channel stations. [
4][
5] The deal with CBS to affiliate their non-CW stations with MNTV came as a surprise to everyone in the broadcasting industry, especially after the icy reception between CBS and News Corp that began after the CW and MNTV came into the picture, as they refused to allow WBFS, WUPL and Boston's
WSBK not to affiliate with MNTV as a response to pulling UPN names from the Fox-owned stations that were affiliated with UPN.
Currently, the four top 100 markets without a My Network TV affiliate are
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the 45th largest,
Providence, Rhode Island, ranked 51st,
Dayton, Ohio, ranked 59th, and
Toledo, Ohio, at number 70. (By contrast, the highest-ranking market without an affiliate of The CW is
Honolulu, Hawaii (#72).) In Dayton's case, it also is currently home to a translator of Cincinnati station
WSTR-TV, which will be joining My Network TV.
In Oklahoma City, the CW will be seen on Sinclair Broadcast Group's WB affiliate
KOCB, the only Sinclair-owned CW affiliate not in the same market as a Sinclair- or Fox-owned My Network TV affiliate. The local UPN affiliate is
KAUT, recently purchased by the
New York Times Company from CBS Corporation. KAUT, which at the time had just been sold off by CBS, was briefly listed as a CW affiliate on the press release announcing the network. There are no signs that NYT is leaning towards My Network TV affiliation or away from it, and currently, there is no My Network TV affiliate in the Oklahoma City-Norman area. Providence has a joint UPN/WB affiliate owned by CBS (WLWC), which then joined the CW. Dayton's UPN affiliate is a cable channel run by
WHIO-TV, and Toledo's is
WNGT-LP; both markets' WB affiliates joined the CW. My TV Network Website lists
Providence, Rhode Island WNAC-TV as their affliate and
Toledo, Ohio WNGT-LP as their affliate. Leaving really only
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma as their only top 100 market without any affililiation.
Due to the availability of "instant duopoly" digital subchannels that will likely be easily available on cable and satellite, and the overall lack of a need to settle for a secondary affiliation with shows aired in problematic timeslots, both the CW and MNTV will be launching with far greater national coverage than that enjoyed by UPN and the WB when they started in 1995. UPN for several years had gaps in the top 30 markets, and by 2005 managed to reach only 85% of the population. This resulted in secondary affiliations with other networks. In those markets, programs were either shown out of their intended timeslots or not at all. Examples included
Star Trek: Voyager and
Star Trek: Enterprise; when they were pre-empted, there were many viewer complaints.
In Canada,
Toronto, Ontario television station
CKXT "Sun TV" will show MNTV programs in the late afternoon.
Many Fox owned-and-operated stations are likely to brand local programming with the
My moniker. An example is
My 9 and
My 9 News for WWOR.
Several stations have already changed their on-air identities to accommodate for the upcoming network, including all of the Fox Television Stations Group-owned stations. Affiliates have begun to show promotions for the network featuring the theme of
"Entertainment you can call your own."
At the time plans for MyNetworkTV were announced, there was at least one station that was using a similar moniker.
WZMY Derry, New Hampshire filed a trademark for the "MyTV" name in the summer of 2005, and for a short time there was speculation the station might sue Fox for the use of 'MyTV.' [
6] However, on July 21, 2006, an e-mail was sent to WZMY's MyTV e-mail subscribers that the station would become a My Network TV affiliate. The official announcement came the following week and teasers to this effect have started to be to shown on the station.
*
List of My Network TV affiliates*
The CW Television Network*
Official Site *
My Network TV affiliate site*
My Network TV female-centric launch promo posted on MySpace (Flash video)*
My Network TV male-centric launch promo posted on MySpace (Flash video)
