Antenna TV
Encyclopedia
Antenna TV is an American digital broadcast
television network
, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting
, a division of the Chicago
-based Tribune Company
. The network appears in several markets via digital subchannel
s of over-the-air broadcast television
stations, and is available on select cable systems. The network broadcasts 24 hours a day in 480i
standard definition.
Antenna TV launched on January 1, 2011, at midnight ET
(December 31, 2010 in other U.S. time zones), initially debuting on 17 Tribune-owned stations and 13 stations owned by Local TV, LLC; the first program to air on the network was the Three Stooges short "Woman Haters
" as part of a marathon of Three Stooges short films. Antenna TV's operations are overseen by Sean Compton
, who serves as the president of programming for parent company Tribune Broadcasting.
On October 1, 2011, Antenna TV introduced block scheduling for most of its programs, organized by genre and the decade of original broadcast; it included a weekday afternoon block of sitcoms from the 1950s, a weekend afternoon block of 1960s sitcoms, a Saturday night lineup of drama series (a genre of television programs which had previously aired on the network in very limited form on Sunday mornings only), an overnight block of classic television series from the black-and-white era of the 1950s and early 1960s, a Sunday primetime lineup of sitcoms from the 1990s and a weeknight primetime lineup of comedies from the 1970s.
, which comprises more than 270 television series and over 4,000 films. The network does not air a split-screen credit sequence or feature voiceovers promoting upcoming network programming during the closing credits (borrowing a format common in local broadcast syndication), nor does it display an Antenna TV logo bug
during its programs, although affiliates are inclined to display their own on-screen logo bug during Antenna TV programming if they choose to do so.
As is common with digital multicast networks, advertisements featured during commercial breaks on Antenna TV primarily consist of direct response advertisements for products featured in infomercials and particularly during its Saturday morning children's programming, public service announcements; satellite provider Dish Network
and insurance company Progressive are currently the network's primary national sponsors. The network's continuity announcer is disc jockey
and voice actor Gary Owens
of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In fame.
(which includes series produced by Screen Gems
, Columbia Pictures Television
, TriStar Television
, Columbia TriStar Television
, ELP Communications
(including predecessors T.A.T. and Embassy Communications), and Tandem Licensing Corporation
), DLT Entertainment, and NBCUniversal.
The network's series programming covers mostly sitcoms from the 1950s to the 1990s and includes shows such as The Partridge Family
, Three's Company
, Too Close for Comfort
, Married... with Children
, McHale's Navy
, Sanford and Son
, Burns and Allen
, The Monkees
, Here Come the Brides
, Leave It to Beaver
and The Three Stooges (unlike with cable channel AMC and IFC
, who has run The Three Stooges from 1998 to 2004 and again since 2009, Antenna TV airs each of the shorts, which each air in roughly twenty-minute blocks, uninterrupted with commercial breaks inserted only between shorts; although Three Stooges films that air as part of the Antenna TV Theater block are aired with commercial interruption); while several series on the network have been widely syndicated on other television outlets in the United States and abroad, some series featured on the channel (such as Hazel
, Bachelor Father and Father Knows Best
) have not been seen on television for several years.
Drama series, which occupied a limited amount of the network's schedule for the first few months on the air, have expanded with an October 2011 programming realignment, with crime drama, mystery and suspense programs airing in a nighttime block on Saturdays, which includes It Takes a Thief, Adam-12
, Alfred Hitchcock Presents
, S.W.A.T.
and Suspense Theater; some of these programs are also aired during the week in limited form during the early afternoon and late nights. In a rarity for television, Antenna TV rotates a television series and its spinoffs on its schedule in the same hour, such as airing the shorter-lived spinoffs of Three's Company (The Ropers
and Three's a Crowd
) with the parent show airing alongside either once they debut on the schedule.
, the agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment also includes access to movies from the film library of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group (including Columbia Pictures
, TriStar Pictures
, Sony Pictures Classics
, Screen Gems
, Triumph Films
, and the TV rights to the Embassy Pictures
library). The film roster does not concentrate on films from any specific era, meaning any film from the 1930s to the 1990s can be featured on the network's schedule.
) that were previously unseen in the United States. The remaining three hours consist of educational and informational
programming for children (featuring shows such as Mustard Pancakes, Critter Gitters and Curiosity Quest), which make up the FCC
-required amount of educational children's programming each week.
, as well as on stations owned by Local TV LLC (except for CBS
affiliate KFSM-TV
in Fort Smith, Arkansas
, which cannot due to having a MyNetworkTV
-branded station already on their DT2 subchannel) as part of that group's co-management agreement with Tribune. Tribune's flagship station WGN-TV
serves as the de facto flagship affiliate of the network. In the Denver and St. Louis markets, where both companies own stations, the network airs on the digital subchannels of Local TV's Fox affiliates KDVR
and KTVI
, rather than on Tribune-owned CW affiliates KWGN and KPLR
in order to address bandwidth concerns as Fox stations transmit their main signals by default in 720p
, which allows plenty of room for a subchannel, while CW stations are usually 1080i
on their main channel.
However, not all of the charter affiliates of the network added Antenna TV programming on their digital signals on the network's launch date. Salt Lake City Fox
affiliate KSTU
and Des Moines NBC
affiliate WHO-TV
(owned by Local TV) and Washington, D.C.
CW affiliate WDCW
(owned by Tribune) debuted the channel on their digital subchannels later in the month of January; while Oklahoma City
NBC affiliate KFOR-TV
did not carry the network until April 21, 2011 on a new third digital subchannel.
The network is being offered to would-be affiliates on a barter
basis, an agreement in which the station will get the programming at little or no cost in exchange for giving a certain amount of commercial time to the network. Despite this barter offer, some large television markets without stations owned by Tribune or Local TV, LLC have yet to acquire the network. Some affiliates such as KTLA
aired previews of Antenna TV prior to the launch date on their primary channel.
Not every program on the Antenna TV lineup airs in certain local markets; as an example, in the Los Angeles market, KTLA's
Antenna TV subchannel replaces the hour-long block of Married... with Children (which airs at 7 p.m. local time, in an earlier time slot than but airing simultaneously as the remainder of the country as Antenna TV operates only on an Eastern Time Zone
schedule), with a rebroadcast of that station's weeknight 6 p.m. newscast due to rights held by another local outlet (in this case, currently, independent station KDOC-TV
has to the local rights to the sitcom), though it is only affected Monday through Thursdays. Since the sitcom Soap
was added to lineup in May 2011, the Sunday night rebroadcast of KTLA's early evening newscast was removed, and Soap was cleared to air locally.
Digital terrestrial television
Digital terrestrial television is the technological evolution of broadcast television and advance from analog television, which broadcasts land-based signals...
television network
Television network
A television network is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, whereby a central operation provides programming to many television stations or pay TV providers. Until the mid-1980s, television programming in most countries of the world was dominated by a small...
, primarily featuring classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s, along with some feature films. It is owned by Tribune Broadcasting
Tribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
, a division of the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based Tribune Company
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
. The network appears in several markets via digital subchannel
Digital subchannel
In broadcasting, digital subchannels are a means to transmit more than one independent program at the same time from the same digital radio or digital television station on the same radio frequency channel. This is done by using data compression techniques to reduce the size of each individual...
s of over-the-air broadcast television
Terrestrial television
Terrestrial television is a mode of television broadcasting which does not involve satellite transmission or cables — typically using radio waves through transmitting and receiving antennas or television antenna aerials...
stations, and is available on select cable systems. The network broadcasts 24 hours a day in 480i
480i
480i is the shorthand name for a video mode, namely the US NTSC television system or digital television systems with the same characteristics. The i, which is sometimes uppercase, stands for interlaced, the 480 for a vertical frame resolution of 480 lines containing picture information; while NTSC...
standard definition.
Background
Tribune Broadcasting announced the formation of Antenna TV on August 30, 2010, with a planned launch in January 2011; originally the network was intended to launch on January 3, 2011, though the launch date was later moved two days earlier.Antenna TV launched on January 1, 2011, at midnight ET
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
(December 31, 2010 in other U.S. time zones), initially debuting on 17 Tribune-owned stations and 13 stations owned by Local TV, LLC; the first program to air on the network was the Three Stooges short "Woman Haters
Woman Haters
Woman Haters is the first short subject starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges. The trio made a total of 190 shorts for Columbia Pictures between 1934 and 1959.-Plot:...
" as part of a marathon of Three Stooges short films. Antenna TV's operations are overseen by Sean Compton
Sean Compton
Sean Compton is an American radio and television executive. He currently serves as President of Programming and Entertainment for Chicago based Tribune Company. Compton oversees programming for 41 television stations which includes a program services arrangement with LocalTV llc...
, who serves as the president of programming for parent company Tribune Broadcasting.
On October 1, 2011, Antenna TV introduced block scheduling for most of its programs, organized by genre and the decade of original broadcast; it included a weekday afternoon block of sitcoms from the 1950s, a weekend afternoon block of 1960s sitcoms, a Saturday night lineup of drama series (a genre of television programs which had previously aired on the network in very limited form on Sunday mornings only), an overnight block of classic television series from the black-and-white era of the 1950s and early 1960s, a Sunday primetime lineup of sitcoms from the 1990s and a weeknight primetime lineup of comedies from the 1970s.
Programming
Antenna TV's program schedule relies on the extensive library of films and TV programming currently owned by Sony Pictures EntertainmentSony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
, which comprises more than 270 television series and over 4,000 films. The network does not air a split-screen credit sequence or feature voiceovers promoting upcoming network programming during the closing credits (borrowing a format common in local broadcast syndication), nor does it display an Antenna TV logo bug
Digital on-screen graphic
A digital on-screen graphic is a watermark-like station logo that many television broadcasters overlay over a portion of the screen-area of their programs to identify the channel...
during its programs, although affiliates are inclined to display their own on-screen logo bug during Antenna TV programming if they choose to do so.
As is common with digital multicast networks, advertisements featured during commercial breaks on Antenna TV primarily consist of direct response advertisements for products featured in infomercials and particularly during its Saturday morning children's programming, public service announcements; satellite provider Dish Network
Dish Network
Dish Network Corporation is the second largest pay TV provider in the United States, providing direct broadcast satellite service—including satellite television, audio programming, and interactive television services—to 14.337 million commercial and residential customers in the United States. Dish...
and insurance company Progressive are currently the network's primary national sponsors. The network's continuity announcer is disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
and voice actor Gary Owens
Gary Owens
Gary Owens is an American disc jockey and voice actor. His polished baritone speaking voice generally offers deadpan recitations of total nonsense, which he frequently demonstrated as the announcer on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. Owens is equally proficient in straight or silly assignments and is...
of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In fame.
Classic television series
Antenna TV has program licensing agreements with Sony Pictures EntertainmentSony Pictures Entertainment
Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc. is the television and film production/distribution unit of Japanese multinational technology and media conglomerate Sony...
(which includes series produced by Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
, Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television
Columbia Pictures Television was the second name of the Columbia Pictures television division Screen Gems . The studio changed its name on September 4, 1974.-1974-1982:...
, TriStar Television
TriStar Television
TriStar Television was an American television production company that was launched in 1986 by TriStar Pictures . The same year, Tri-Star Television joined forces with Stephen J...
, Columbia TriStar Television
Columbia TriStar Television
Columbia TriStar Television was the third name of the television studio Screen Gems, named after its then-current 1991 home video division....
, ELP Communications
Embassy Television
...
(including predecessors T.A.T. and Embassy Communications), and Tandem Licensing Corporation
Tandem Productions
Tandem Productions, Inc. was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear.-Tandem Productions:...
), DLT Entertainment, and NBCUniversal.
The network's series programming covers mostly sitcoms from the 1950s to the 1990s and includes shows such as The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family
The Partridge Family is an American television sitcom about a widowed mother and her five children who embark on a music career. The series originally ran from September 25, 1970 until August 31, 1974, the last new episode airing on March 23, 1974, on the ABC network, as part of a Friday-night lineup...
, Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
, Too Close for Comfort
Too Close for Comfort (TV series)
Too Close for Comfort is an American television sitcom which ran on the ABC network and later in first-run syndication from November 11, 1980 to September 27, 1986. It was modeled after the British series Keep It in the Family, which debuted nine months before Too Close for Comfort debuted in the U.S...
, Married... with Children
Married... with Children
Married... with Children is an American surrealistic sitcom that aired for 11 seasons that featured a dysfunctional family living in Chicago, Illinois. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created...
, McHale's Navy
McHale's Navy
McHale's Navy is an American television sitcom series which ran for 138 half-hour episodes from October 11,1962, to August 31, 1966, on the ABC network. The series was filmed in black and white and originated in a one-hour drama called Seven Against the Sea, broadcast on April 3, 1962...
, Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977....
, Burns and Allen
Burns and Allen
Burns and Allen, an American comedy duo consisting of George Burns and his wife, Gracie Allen, worked together as a comedy team in vaudeville, films, radio and television and achieved great success over four decades.-Vaudeville:...
, The Monkees
The Monkees (TV series)
The Monkees is an American situation comedy that aired on NBC from September 1966 to March 1968. The series follows the adventures of four young men trying to make a name for themselves as rock 'n roll singers. The show introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to series...
, Here Come the Brides
Here Come the Brides
Here Come the Brides is an American comedy Western series from Screen Gems that aired on the ABC television network from September 25, 1968 to April 3, 1970...
, Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
and The Three Stooges (unlike with cable channel AMC and IFC
Independent Film Channel
The Independent Film Channel is an American cable TV network that airs independent film and related programming. IFC programming includes commercially interrupted feature-length films, original documentaries, shorts, animated series, original series, acquired series, and content exclusively for...
, who has run The Three Stooges from 1998 to 2004 and again since 2009, Antenna TV airs each of the shorts, which each air in roughly twenty-minute blocks, uninterrupted with commercial breaks inserted only between shorts; although Three Stooges films that air as part of the Antenna TV Theater block are aired with commercial interruption); while several series on the network have been widely syndicated on other television outlets in the United States and abroad, some series featured on the channel (such as Hazel
Hazel (TV series)
Hazel is a Screen Gems television series about a fictional live-in maid named Hazel Burke and her employers, the Baxters. The five-season, 154-episode series aired in primetime from September 1961 until April 1966...
, Bachelor Father and Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best
Father Knows Best is an American radio and television comedy series which portrayed a middle class family life in the Midwest. It was created by writer Ed James in the 1940s.-Radio:...
) have not been seen on television for several years.
Drama series, which occupied a limited amount of the network's schedule for the first few months on the air, have expanded with an October 2011 programming realignment, with crime drama, mystery and suspense programs airing in a nighttime block on Saturdays, which includes It Takes a Thief, Adam-12
Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
, Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
, S.W.A.T.
S.W.A.T. (TV series)
----S.W.A.T. is a 1970s American television series about the adventures of the WCPD's Olympic Division Special Weapons And Tactics team operating in an unidentified California city....
and Suspense Theater; some of these programs are also aired during the week in limited form during the early afternoon and late nights. In a rarity for television, Antenna TV rotates a television series and its spinoffs on its schedule in the same hour, such as airing the shorter-lived spinoffs of Three's Company (The Ropers
The Ropers
The Ropers is an American sitcom that ran from March 13, 1979 to May 22, 1980 on ABC. The series is a spinoff of Three's Company and based on the British sitcom George and Mildred...
and Three's a Crowd
Three's a Crowd
Three's a Crowd is an American television sitcom spinoff of Three's Company...
) with the parent show airing alongside either once they debut on the schedule.
Movies
Antenna TV broadcasts feature films Monday-Fridays from 5 a.m.-1 p.m. ET, weekend mornings from 5-9 a.m. and weekend afternoons from 1-3 p.m. ET (sometimes starting earlier or ending later depending on the length of the films), branded under the title of Antenna TV Theater. In addition to access to television series owned by Sony Pictures TelevisionSony Pictures Television
Sony Pictures Television, Inc. is an American and global television production/distribution subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. In turn, the latter is part of the Japanese conglomerate Sony.-Background:...
, the agreement with Sony Pictures Entertainment also includes access to movies from the film library of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group (including Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures
Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. is an American film production and distribution company. Columbia Pictures now forms part of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. It is one of the leading film companies...
, TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures
TriStar Pictures, Inc. is an American film production/distribution studio and subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, itself a subdivision of the Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group, which is owned by Sony Pictures...
, Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics
Sony Pictures Classics is an art-house film division of Sony Pictures Entertainment founded in December 1991 that distributes, produces and acquires specialty films from the United States and around the world. Its co-presidents are Michael Barker and Tom Bernard...
, Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
, Triumph Films
Triumph Films
Triumph Films is a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment geared towards theatre and direct-to-video film production and distribution....
, and the TV rights to the Embassy Pictures
Embassy Pictures
Embassy Pictures Corporation was an independent studio and distributor responsible for such films as The Graduate, The Lion in Winter, This Is Spinal Tap and Escape from New York.-Founding:The company was founded in 1942 by producer Joseph E...
library). The film roster does not concentrate on films from any specific era, meaning any film from the 1930s to the 1990s can be featured on the network's schedule.
Children's programming
Antenna TV also airs six hours of programming aimed at children on Saturday mornings, featuring a weekly hour of Totally Tooned In, a half-hour syndicated anthology of classic shorts (highlighted by Mr. MagooMr. Magoo
Quincy Magoo is a cartoon character created at the UPA animation studio in 1949. Voiced by Jim Backus, Quincy Magoo is a wealthy, short-statured retiree who gets into a series of sticky situations as a result of his nearsightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem...
) that were previously unseen in the United States. The remaining three hours consist of educational and informational
E/I
E/I, which stands for "educational and informative," refers to a type of children's television programming shown in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission requires that every full-service Terrestrial television station in the U.S. show at least three hours of these television...
programming for children (featuring shows such as Mustard Pancakes, Critter Gitters and Curiosity Quest), which make up the FCC
Federal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
-required amount of educational children's programming each week.
Affiliates
Tribune planned to launch Antenna TV in all markets served by a station owned by Tribune BroadcastingTribune Broadcasting
The Tribune Broadcasting Company is a group of radio and television stations located throughout the United States which are owned and operated by the Tribune Company, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois and named for the flagship Chicago Tribune newspaper.- History :Tribune Broadcasting...
, as well as on stations owned by Local TV LLC (except for CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
affiliate KFSM-TV
KFSM-TV
KFSM-TV is the CBS-affiliated television station for the Arkansas River Valley and Northwest Arkansas that is licensed to Fort Smith. It broadcasts a high definition digital signal on UHF channel 18 from a transmitter northwest of Winslow. Owned by Local TV, the station has studios on North 13th...
in Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith, Arkansas
Fort Smith is the second-largest city in Arkansas and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County. With a population of 86,209 in 2010, it is the principal city of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area, a region of 298,592 residents which encompasses the Arkansas...
, which cannot due to having a MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV
MyNetworkTV is a television broadcast syndication service in the United States, owned by the Fox Entertainment Group, a division of News Corporation...
-branded station already on their DT2 subchannel) as part of that group's co-management agreement with Tribune. Tribune's flagship station WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
serves as the de facto flagship affiliate of the network. In the Denver and St. Louis markets, where both companies own stations, the network airs on the digital subchannels of Local TV's Fox affiliates KDVR
KDVR
KDVR, , is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Denver, Colorado designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, under a local marketing agreement with Tribune-owned CW affiliate KWGN . Its transmitter is...
and KTVI
KTVI
KTVI, virtual channel 2, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the St. Louis, Missouri, designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, under a local marketing agreement with Tribune-owned CW affiliate KPLR...
, rather than on Tribune-owned CW affiliates KWGN and KPLR
KPLR-TV
KPLR-TV, channel 11, is a television station in St. Louis, Missouri. KPLR is owned by the Tribune Company, and is an affiliate of The CW Television Network. The station's studios are located in Maryland Heights, Missouri, in Northwest St. Louis County KPLR-TV, channel 11, is a television station...
in order to address bandwidth concerns as Fox stations transmit their main signals by default in 720p
720p
720p is the shorthand name for 1280x720, a category of High-definition television video modes having a resolution of 1080 or 720p and a progressive scan...
, which allows plenty of room for a subchannel, while CW stations are usually 1080i
1080i
1080i is the shorthand name for a high-definition television mode. The i means interlaced video; 1080i differs from 1080p, in which the p stands for progressive scan. The term 1080i assumes a widescreen aspect ratio of 16:9, implying a frame size of 1920×1080 pixels...
on their main channel.
However, not all of the charter affiliates of the network added Antenna TV programming on their digital signals on the network's launch date. Salt Lake City Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
affiliate KSTU
KSTU
KSTU, channel 13, is the Fox-affiliated television station serving the Salt Lake City designated market area. The station is owned by Local TV LLC, the media arm of private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners, and its transmitter located on Farnsworth Peak, southwest of Salt Lake City...
and Des Moines NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate WHO-TV
WHO-TV
WHO-DT is a television station that broadcasts on Channel 13 in Des Moines, Iowa. It is affiliated with the NBC television network and serves most of central Iowa. The station transmits from the WOI Tower in Alleman, Iowa, which is actually owned by WHO-DT's owners. WHO-DT brands itself as WHO-HD...
(owned by Local TV) and Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
CW affiliate WDCW
WDCW
WDCW, channel 50, is the CW-affiliated television station for Washington, D.C. It transmits from the Hughes Memorial Tower located in the Brightwood section of the city. Owned by the Tribune Company, the station has studios on Wisconsin Avenue Northwest in the Glover Park section of Washington...
(owned by Tribune) debuted the channel on their digital subchannels later in the month of January; while Oklahoma City
Oklahoma city
Oklahoma City is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma.Oklahoma City may also refer to:*Oklahoma City metropolitan area*Downtown Oklahoma City*Uptown Oklahoma City*Oklahoma City bombing*Oklahoma City National Memorial...
NBC affiliate KFOR-TV
KFOR-TV
KFOR-TV, virtual channel 4 , is the NBC-affiliated television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. KFOR-TV is owned by Local TV, a subsidiary of the private equity group Oak Hill Capital Partners, in a duopoly with MyNetworkTV affiliate KAUT-TV ; its studios are located at 444 East Britton Road in...
did not carry the network until April 21, 2011 on a new third digital subchannel.
The network is being offered to would-be affiliates on a barter
Barter
Barter is a method of exchange by which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. It is usually bilateral, but may be multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a...
basis, an agreement in which the station will get the programming at little or no cost in exchange for giving a certain amount of commercial time to the network. Despite this barter offer, some large television markets without stations owned by Tribune or Local TV, LLC have yet to acquire the network. Some affiliates such as KTLA
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
aired previews of Antenna TV prior to the launch date on their primary channel.
Not every program on the Antenna TV lineup airs in certain local markets; as an example, in the Los Angeles market, KTLA's
KTLA
KTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
Antenna TV subchannel replaces the hour-long block of Married... with Children (which airs at 7 p.m. local time, in an earlier time slot than but airing simultaneously as the remainder of the country as Antenna TV operates only on an Eastern Time Zone
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
schedule), with a rebroadcast of that station's weeknight 6 p.m. newscast due to rights held by another local outlet (in this case, currently, independent station KDOC-TV
KDOC-TV
KDOC-TV is an independent television station based in Orange County, California . The station's transmitter is located on Mount Wilson, California...
has to the local rights to the sitcom), though it is only affected Monday through Thursdays. Since the sitcom Soap
Soap (TV series)
Soap is an American sitcom that originally ran on ABC from 1977 to 1981.The show was created as a parody of daytime soap operas, presented as a weekly half-hour prime time comedy. Similar to a soap opera, the show's story was presented in a serial format and included melodramatic plot elements such...
was added to lineup in May 2011, the Sunday night rebroadcast of KTLA's early evening newscast was removed, and Soap was cleared to air locally.
See also
- Retro Television NetworkRetro Television NetworkThe Retro Television Network is a system of television stations that airs classic television shows as well as more recently produced programs...
, a competing digital broadcast network owned by Luken Communications specializing in classic TV series from the 1950s to the 1970s. - Me-TV, a competing digital broadcast network owned by Weigel BroadcastingWeigel BroadcastingWeigel Broadcasting is an American locally based television broadcasting company. The company is based in downtown Chicago, Illinois, alongside its flagship station WCIU-TV , at the apt address of 26 North Halsted Street in the Greektown neighborhood.- History :The company was founded by Chicago...
specializing in classic TV series from the 1960s to the 1980s. - This TVThis TVThis TV is a United States general entertainment television network, with a large emphasis in its programming on movies....
, a digital broadcast network owned by MGMMetro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
and Weigel Broadcasting specializing in feature films with limited classic TV programming.