getTV

getTV is an American digital multicast television network that is owned by the Sony Pictures Television Networks subsidiary of Sony Pictures Television. Originally formatted as a movie-oriented service, the network has since transitioned into a general entertainment network featuring primarily classic television shows from the 1960s through the 2010s, much of which is sourced from the library of Sony Pictures Entertainment as well as 20th Century Fox Television and CBS Television Studios.

getTV
TypeDigital broadcast television network
(classic TV)
Country
United States
AvailabilityNationwide via OTA digital TV
(78% U.S. coverage)
Dish Network (channel 373)
FoundedApril 22, 2013 (2013-04-22)
HeadquartersCulver City, California
Broadcast area
Nationwide
OwnerSony Pictures Television
(Sony)
ParentSony Pictures Television Networks
Key people
Tom Troy
(senior vice president of U.S.Networks, SPT)
Jeff Meier
(senior vice president of U.S. Networks, SPT)
Launch date
February 3, 2014 (2014-02-03)
Picture format
480i (SDTV)
AffiliatesList of affiliates
Official website
www.get.tv

The network is available in many media markets via the digital subchannels of broadcast television stations and on the digital tiers of select cable providers through a local affiliate of the network.[2] It is also carried by several streaming services such as Philo . getTV provides programming 24 hours a day and broadcasts in 480i standard definition. The network competes with various other rerun television/movie networks such as Antenna TV, Bounce TV, Cozi TV, MeTV, Movies!, the Retro Television Network, and This TV.[3][5]

History

Sony Pictures Entertainment announced the formation of getTV on April 22, 2013;[3] with an initial main focus on pre-1980s films, Sony scheduled the network's formal launch for that fall.[2] On its website, the network had originally announced that it would launch in October 2013; the premiere date was later pushed back to February 3, 2014. getTV launched at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time on that date,[6] initially debuting on the subchannels of twelve Univision and fourteen UniMás stations owned and/or managed by Univision Communications; the inaugural program shown on the network was the 1957 comedy film Operation Mad Ball.[7]

On May 2, 2016, getTV switched its programming format from a largely exclusive focus on movies to a general entertainment network featuring a mix of television series and feature films (with its film focus shifting more towards movies released after 1960, outside its core Saturday western block). With the addition of series to its weekday daytime schedule, the network separated these programs into three daily blocks, consisting of sitcoms during the early morning, Westerns during the mid- and late-morning, and action and crime drama series during the afternoon and prime access dayparts (programs of the latter genre were also incorporated into the network's early morning schedule, preceding the comedy block, in September 2016).[8]

GetTV started Christmas programming in 2015 with two days. In 2016, the programming event expanded to 29 days starting on November 27 and was then named "The Most Wonderful Month of the Year".[9] The Most Wonderful Month event also featured the network's first original program, A Nashville Christmas music variety special, in 2017.[10]

Separate from the network's broadcast affiliation agreements, on December 17, 2015, Sony Pictures Television announced that the satellite provider would begin carrying getTV nationally on channel 373, available at minimum to subscribers of its "America's Top 120" programming tier. As a result of the deal, in which the network was added as part of a renewed carriage agreement with Dish Network for sister networks Sony Movie Channel and Cine Sony Television, getTV became the first digital multicast network to be carried by Dish, which (as with other satellite and IPTV providers) has typically refrained from seeking agreements to carry subchannels programmed by individual local television stations.[11]

Programming

Due to its ownership by Sony Pictures Entertainment, getTV's program schedule relies in part on a portion of the extensive library of films and television series currently owned by network sister companies Sony Pictures Television and Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, which comprises more than 3,500 films and 2,000 television series.[7] Sony Pictures already maintains programming distribution agreements with Antenna TV[12] (owned by Tribune Broadcasting) and Movies![13] (a joint venture between Weigel Broadcasting and Fox Television Stations), which allows those networks to carry films from the Sony library, in addition to a distribution deal with Antenna TV to broadcast television series to which Sony's television unit holds rights (mainly those produced by the various predecessors that existed prior to the company's 2002 consolidation of Columbia TriStar Television, Columbia Pictures Television and TriStar Television).

  • "The Most Wonderful Month of the Year" (2015–present) This event began in 2015 with only two days. In 2016, the event gained a name and expanded to 29 days starting on November 27 with Christmas programming in prime time and a marathon the last two days. [9] The event also featured the network's first original program, A Nashville Christmas in 2017. This music variety special lasted 60 minutes featuring country stars, Wynonna, Emmylou Harris, Lorrie Morgan, Pam Tillis, Ashley Cleveland and Dailey & Vincent, and aired on December 7, 2017.[10]

Television series

In the fall of 2015, getTV began to break from its all-movie format (outside required children's programming content) to incorporate television series to its schedule, including series that have either not been syndicated in the past or have merely not been seen on broadcast television in decades.

Then on September 28, 2015, getTV announced that it had reached respective agreements with World Nation Live Entertainment and Reelin' In the Years Productions to acquire the rights to The Judy Garland Show (which had not aired on television since it originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1964) and a selection of about 50 episodes of The Merv Griffin Show, which would serve as the cornerstones of a new Monday night block of variety and talk programming (running from 8:00 to 11:00 pm. Eastern Time, with same-night replay after the initial airing). The block, which debuted on October 12, also features musical variety specials and episodes from variety series (helmed by performers such as Andy Williams, Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey, Dionne Warwick and Jim Nabors) acquired through agreements with Legacy Entertainment and Paul Brownstein Productions.[4][14]

On January 1, 2018, the network began to air the most prominent sitcoms in the Sony Pictures Television library such as All in the Family, Sanford and Son and Good Times as part of their primetime lineup, after the expiration of Sony's contract with Tribune Broadcasting's Antenna TV, along with the expiration six months prior with Rural Media Group where SPT programmed that company's FamilyNet with sitcoms until they went in another programming direction as The Cowboy Channel.[15]

Affiliates
Main article: List of GetTV affiliates

As of May 2016, getTV has current or pending affiliation agreements with 92 television stations in 87 media markets encompassing 35 states (including stations in 47 of the 50, and all of the 25 largest Nielsen markets), covering approximately 73.24% of the United States.[16][17] The network is offered to prospective affiliates through leasing arrangements, in which the network pays a monthly license fee to its stations for subchannel carriage, and handles all responsibility in selling advertising inventory – instead of the typical method for multicast services by securing affiliation deals through barter deals, with a network's affiliates sharing the duty of selling ads (as such, advertisements carried by most getTV affiliates strictly are those broadcast by the network, with no locally provided content outside federally mandated hourly station identifications).[18][19]

When the network was first announced, getTV entered into a channel lease agreement with Univision Communications, which launched the network in 24 markets served by a station owned by the group or operated through local marketing agreements with Entravision Communications – giving getTV affiliates in 17 of the 20 largest U.S. television markets (including markets such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas–Fort Worth and Miami).[6] The network immediately sought carriage on the digital subchannels of television stations owned by other broadcasting companies;[3][2] on April 1, 2014, the Cox Media Group became the first station group outside the core Univision-owned outlets to sign select stations to carry getTV on their digital subchannels; Cox-owned KIRO-TV in Seattle, WAXN-TV in Charlotte and KMYT-TV in Tulsa began carrying the network on that date, with WTEV-TV (now WJAX-TV) in Jacksonville following suit that summer.[20]

Most notably, on June 23, 2014, the network reached a channel lease agreement with the Sinclair Broadcast Group; the deal gave getTV affiliations with stations that Sinclair owns or operates from Deerfield Media and Cunningham Broadcasting (including several that formerly carried TheCoolTV and The Tube on a digital subchannel that had been silent immediately prior to joining the network) in 33 markets, increasing getTV's reach to 70% of U.S. television households.[21][22] 29 Sinclair stations added the network on July 1, with the others beginning to carry getTV by the end of September 2014. Several stations involved in the Sinclair agreement have opted to preempt certain getTV programs to run to carry sports events from the company's American Sports Network syndication service in place of the network's national schedule during prime time (with some even switching to ASN event programming while a film is in progress) to accommodate regular programming on the main channel.[23]

On February 1, 2016, Sony announced that it had reached a distribution agreement with Media General (which had announced days prior that it would merge with the Nexstar Broadcasting Group) for the network to be carried on stations owned and/or operated by the group in 20 markets (including San Francisco, Portland, Indianapolis, Grand Rapids and Harrisburg). WISH-TV in Indianapolis, WOTV in Grand Rapids and WHTM-TV in Harrisburg began carrying getTV on new or existing subchannels on that date, with additional Media General stations adding the network throughout the first quarter of 2016.[16][24][24]

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References
  1. Buckman, Adam (July 26, 2016). "Diginets Keep Growing, Despite Auction Cloud". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved November 7, 2016.
  2. Downey, Kevin (April 22, 2013). "Sony Pictures TV To Launch Movies Diginet". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  3. Todd Spangler (April 22, 2013). "Sony Pictures TV Slates Fall Debut for getTV Movie-Classics Net". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  4. Stephen Battaglio (October 12, 2015). "Don't touch that dial: Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, Judy Garland are back on TV". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  5. Malone, Michael (April 22, 2013). "Sony Pictures Television launches entertainment Digi-Net 'getTV'". Broadcasting & Cable. NewBay Media. Retrieved June 1, 2013.
  6. "Sony Pictures Television Networks today launches getTV – a new digital broadcast television network dedicated to classic Hollywood movies". Sony Pictures Television (Press release). February 3, 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  7. Kevin Downey (February 3, 2014). "Sony's getTV jumps into multicasting fray". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
  8. Mark K. Miller (April 18, 2016). "getTV unveils new weekday lineup". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved August 31, 2016.
  9. Wiebe, Sheldon (November 7, 2016). "GETTV LAUNCHING THE MOST WONDERFUL MONTH OF THE YEAR". Eclipse Magazine. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  10. "Deck the Halls with Lots of Divas: getTV Debuts 'A Nashville Christmas'". Extra. December 2, 2017. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  11. Farrell, Mike (December 17, 2015). "Dish Adds Three Sony Channels". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  12. Phil Rosenthal (August 30, 2010). "Tribune Company Launching Digital Subchannel Antenna TV Network". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Publishing. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  13. Gash, Chris (June 18, 2014). "Wily Indies Succeed on Digital Channels Where Majors Struggle". Variety. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
  14. Cynthia Littleton (September 28, 2015). "'The Merv Griffin Show,' 'Judy Garland Show' to anchor talk-variety block on getTV". Variety. Penske Media Corporation. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  15. "Rural Media Is Changing FamilyNet to Cowboy Channel". MultiChannel News. June 22, 2017. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  16. "getTV inks distribution pact with media general". Multichannel News. NewBay Media. February 1, 2016.
  17. "Stations for network – getTV". RabbitEars. Retrieved April 24, 2013.
  18. Elizabeth Guider (June 18, 2014). "Classic TV Diginets make the old new again". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
  19. Kevin Downey (June 19, 2014). "Pay-For-Play is growing Diginet strategy". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
  20. "GetTV Diginet expanding into four new markets". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. April 1, 2014. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
  21. "getTV signs big affiliation deal with Sinclair". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media. June 23, 2014.
  22. "getTV signs major affiliation deal with Sinclair Broadcast Group to bring the classic movie channel to 33 new markets including Minneapolis, Pittsburgh and St. Louis". The Wall Street Journal (Press release). News Corp. June 23, 2014. Retrieved July 5, 2014 – via PR Newswire.
  23. "Preemptions". getTV. CPT Holdings, Inc. Retrieved November 13, 2015.
  24. "getTV in multi-market deal with media General". TVNewsCheck. NewsCheck Media=February 1, 2016. February 2016.
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