Me-TV

This article is about the broadcast television network. For other uses, see Me TV.

Me-TV

Type	Broadcast television network
Country	United States
Availability	Nationwide (available on OTA digital television and LPTV in most markets; also via satellite and AT&T U-verse)
Slogan	Memorable Entertainment Television
Owner	Weigel Broadcasting
Key people	Neal Sabin (President of Content and Networks, Weigel Broadcasting)
Launch date	January 1, 2005 (2005-01-01) (in Chicago) March 1, 2008 (2008-03-01) (in Milwaukee) December 15, 2010 (2010-12-15) (nationally)
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Official website	www.metvnetwork.com

Me-TV (stylized as MeTV, and a backronym for its on-air slogan "Memorable Entertainment Television") is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer that airs classic television sitcoms, dramas and classic commercials from the 1950s through the 1980s. Through its ownership by Weigel, the national Me-TV network is a sister network to This TV, which focuses more on films from the 1930s to the 2000s, with limited classic television series. Me-TV has a local version of the service known as "Me-Too" in Chicago, which has a wide variety of off-network sitcoms and drama series from a variety of distributors.

The national network though primarily airs sitcoms and drama shows from the CBS Television Distribution and 20th Television libraries, and several shows from other libraries. Like similar networks RTV and Antenna TV, Me-TV is designed to be broadcast on the digital subchannels of local stations; though some stations carry Me-TV as their primary channel affiliation, and a small number of stations air select programs from the network alongside their regular general entertainment schedules. It is also available nationwide on free-to-air C-band satellite via AMC-1 in DVB-S format.

Background

Beginnings in Chicago

Me-TV originated on January 6, 2003 as a programming block which was on the air from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on WFBT-CA (channel 23) in Chicago. Shows included The Jack Benny Program, Sergeant Bilko, The Carol Burnett Show, Maude, and One Day at a Time, though the lineup changed occasionally.

On January 1, 2005, Weigel rechristened the Chicago ethnic station as WWME-CA, with Me-TV full-time. The station's former ethnic programming and WFBT-CA call letters moved to channel 48. On March 1, 2008, that station became WMEU-CA and became MeToo, an extension of the original station. The two low-power stations also are broadcast locally on WCIU-TV's digital subchannels. Initially, the two stations ran similar schedules, but by 2008, one would air only sitcoms while the other aired only dramas.

On September 14, 2009, the two stations carved their own identities, as Me-TV began to run only off-network sitcoms (such as The Bernie Mac Show, All in the Family, The Three Stooges and Frasier) and was positioned as the station for comedy while MeToo began running only off network drama shows (such as Perry Mason, Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation and The Twilight Zone) and became known as the choice for drama.

Milwaukee expansion

Weigel expanded Me-TV to the DT3 subchannel of their Milwaukee station, WDJT, a CBS affiliate, on March 1, 2008. The Milwaukee version of the station featured much of the same programming, with some different shows and time slots.

On April 21, 2008, Weigel moved the Me-TV programming to its own dedicated full-powered channel, the newly acquired WJJA in Racine, changing the call letters to WBME-TV, and later launched the station's new digital transmitter on the Weigel tower in Milwaukee's Lincoln Park. Me-TV was still carried on channel 58.3 until November 1, 2008, with the launch of This TV on the same channel. The station also airs public affairs programming including Racine & Me, and because of their full power status, E/I programming such as WCIU's Green Screen Adventures and Saved by the Bell.

National expansion

On November 22, 2010, Weigel announced that they would take the Me-TV concept national and have it become a full-fledged network with a standardized schedule, available to any station wishing to affiliate; as a result, Me-TV would compete fully with RTV and Antenna TV, while complementing successful sister network This TV, which carries library product from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Cookie Jar Entertainment. The national Me-TV network launched on December 15, 2010. As with sister network This TV, MGM is handling the distribution of the network.

As part of the standardization with the new network, Chicago's local version of Me-TV merged with MeToo, airing both comedy and drama programming together as locally-programmed channel MeToo. The national Me-TV airs on WCIU subchannel 26.3 and WWME-CA, while the new MeToo moved to WCIU subchannel 26.4 and WMEU-CA. The local MeToo channel in Chicago airs a broader variety of programming than the national version, as MeToo locally continues to carry both classic and recent programs, while acquired programming on the national Me-TV network is limited to series that debuted prior to 1985.

Low-powered WBME-CD in Milwaukee carries the entire national feed of Me-TV on channel 41.1; as a full-power station (prior to an August 2012 station license swap that saw sister station WMLW move to full-power channel 49, while WBME moved to low-power channel 41), WBME planned to launch their own locally-programmed MeToo subchannel for an early 2011 debut, though as of September 2012, this has not yet materialized. Weigel-owned WBND-LD in South Bend began carrying the network on its subchannel 57.2 on December 15, 2010.

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by Me-TV

Me-TV's program schedule relies on the extensive library of television programs that are currently owned by CBS Television Distribution and 20th Television; as such, no originally-produced programming appears on the network, though two programs produced by parent company Weigel Broadcasting (Svengoolie and Green Screen Adventures) are aired on Me-TV. The network's primary continuity announcer is local voice-over artist Carol Gallagher, who has served as Me-TV's staff announcer since its existence as a local programming format on WWME-CA and WMEU-CA, prior to its establishment as a national network; longtime voice-over artist Richard Malmos, who has been the voice announcer for Weigel's flagship station WCIU since December 1994, is the network's secondary announcer.

The network does not air a split-screen credit sequence or feature voiceovers promoting upcoming network programming during the closing credits (common in local broadcast syndication). Some Me-TV affiliates may not air certain programs due to either airing infomercials, public affairs programming, locally-acquired syndicated programming, or in some cases another station in the market having the rights to a particular program. To address this, Me-TV program promotions now display the fine print notation "On most Me-TV stations" during the timeslot card.

Classic television series

Me-TV has program licensing agreements with 20th Television (which includes series produced by 20th Century Fox Television, Four Star Television and MTM Enterprises), CBS Television Distribution (which includes most of the Paramount Television library that was acquired by CBS Television Distribution following the 2006 split of CBS and Viacom into separate companies, along with series from Desilu Productions, Bing Crosby Productions, Don Fedderson Productions, QM Productions, Spelling Television and Republic Pictures Television); Me-TV also shares broadcast rights to programs from the NBCUniversal Television Distribution library (including shows from Universal Television, Revue Studios, NBC Studios and MCA Television) as well as select titles from Sony Pictures Television with Antenna TV and select titles from the Peter Rodgers Organization with the Retro Television Network.

The network's programming covers a mix of sitcoms, dramas, and westerns from the 1950s to the 1980s and includes series such as The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Gunsmoke, The Rifleman, The Wild Wild West, Batman, The Bob Newhart Show, I Love Lucy, The Beverly Hillbillies, The Brady Bunch, M*A*S*H, Leave It to Beaver and That Girl; most of the series airing on the network have been widely syndicated on other television outlets in the United States and abroad, though a few series featured on the channel (such as Combat!, Petticoat Junction and The Phil Silvers Show) have not been seen on television for several years or syndicated on a fairly inconsistent basis.

Movies

Despite access to program content from the Universal Television, Paramount Television and 20th Century Fox libraries, movies have a relatively limited presence on Me-TV's weekly schedule. The only feature film content presently airing on Me-TV are Saturday evening airings of the Rich Koz-hosted horror and science fiction film showcase Svengoolie, which is syndicated by sister independent station WCIU-TV and features film releases from Universal Studios, and Sunday morning airings of Laurel and Hardy movies and shorts that are distributed by Sonar Entertainment.

Children's programming

In order to meet the FCC's required weekly amount of educational children's program content, Me-TV carries Green Screen Adventures, Weigel's Chicago-based program originally meant for local viewing (which also airs on sister network This TV), as well as syndicated sketch series Mad About and the Canadian teen drama series Edgemont.

Me-TV also previously ran a children's program block on Saturday mornings called "AniMeTV", that was handled by New York City-based Classic Media (which also owns the digital multicast network Qubo in conjunction with ION Media Networks, NBCUniversal, Nelvana and Scholastic Entertainment). The three-hour block debuted on April 7, 2012, and featured animated series such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and She-Ra: Princess of Power, along with Gumby and Mr. Magoo animated shorts. On October 6, 2012, the block officially ended, though one episode of He-Man and She-Ra still airs each week.

Affiliates

Main article: List of Me-TV affiliates

As of 2013, Me-TV had current or pending affiliation agreements with television stations in over 147 television markets in 46 states, covering approximately 89% of the United States (of these affiliates, many stations have carried the network as a formal primary channel affiliation and two are general entertainment stations that air select Me-TV programs on a tape-delayed basis). Me-TV currently does not have affiliates either within or overlapping any part of four states: Alaska, New Jersey and Vermont; Baltimore, Maryland affiliate WBAL-TV (whose signal overlaps the northwestern three-quarters of the state) serves as the network's de facto Delaware affiliate as Me-TV is not available on a station licensed within the state. Like sister network This TV, some of Me-TV's affiliates include regional descriptors reflecting the station's primary broadcast area underneath the on-screen logo bug displayed during the network's programming (these descriptors are also used in the customized station identifications shown at the top of each hour between programs or during commercial breaks, which differ from the silent lower third in-program IDs seen on This TV).

On January 7, 2011, KCTU-LD/Wichita became the first non-Weigel owned station to carry the Me-TV network. However, that station's affiliation with the network lasted only about one week and ended after KCTU-LD and Me-TV could not come to terms on a contract. In early 2011, Bahakel Communications became the first non-Weigel station group to sign selected stations to carry Me-TV on their digital subchannels, with the WCCB (Charlotte, North Carolina) and WOLO-TV (Columbia, South Carolina) subchannels beginning transmissions in early March of that year. On April 4, 2011, it was announced that Me-TV had signed with 14 broadcasting companies, most notably Hearst Television, Raycom Media, Cox Television, Media General, and Titan Broadcast Management to begin airing Me-TV; this brings the national Me-TV clearance mark to over 45%.

Me-TV affiliates in certain markets may not air every program on the network's lineup; as examples, two of Me-TV's digital subchannel-only affiliates carry its programming on a secondary basis while nominally serving as a primary affiliate of a major broadcast network due to a market not having enough stations for a standalone main channel affiliation; the third digital subchannel of WBBJ-TV/Jackson, Tennessee holds a primary affiliation with CBS, while the second subchannel of WIBW-TV/Topeka, Kansas is primarily affiliated with MyNetworkTV. Some of Me-TV's full-time affiliates where it is carried on a subchannel of a network-affiliated station (such as WLKY-TV/Louisville and WBAL/Baltimore) also preempt select Me-TV programs during certain morning and primetime slots in favor of local newscasts that are produced for the subchannel by that station's news department.

In two of the 10 largest U.S. television markets, New York City and Dallas, the local affiliate preempts certain Me-TV programs in favor of locally-produced, acquired or time-brokered programming (New York City affiliate WZME/Bridgeport, Connecticut and Dallas affiliate KTXD-TV/Greenville, Texas both preempt much of Me-TV's morning and late night schedule, with WZME replacing those programs with infomercials and KTXD airing mostly syndicated series and locally-produced programs in those slots). KTXD and WGCB-TV/Red Lion, Pennsylvania both offer blocks of the network's programming on their main channel's regular schedule, while running the full Me-TV network feed on a separate subchannel.

On December 13, 2012, Me-TV became available on AT&T U-verse in some localities. It is carried on channel 136.

See also

• This TV, sister network to Me-TV, owned by Weigel Broadcasting and MGM, specializing in feature films with select classic TV programming.
• Retro Television Network, a competing digital broadcast network owned by Luken Communications specializing in classic TV series from the 1950s to the 1970s.
• Antenna TV, a competing digital broadcast network owned by Tribune Broadcasting specializing in classic TV series and films from the 1950s to the 1990s.
• Bounce TV, a digital broadcast network with similarly styled retro programming/movies specifically targeting African-American audiences.
• Cozi TV, a competing digital broadcast network from NBCUniversal airing classic television from the NBCU library, along with programming from forerunner network NonStop.

External links

• Official website