 | |
| Type | Syndicated programming service |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Broadcast area | Nationwide viaOTA digital television |
| Headquarters | Los Angeles,California |
| Programming | |
| Picture format | |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Fox Corporation |
| Parent | Fox Television Stations |
| Key people |
|
| History | |
| Founded | February 22, 2006 (2006-02-22) |
| Launched | September 4, 2006; 19 years ago (2006-09-04) |
| Links | |
| Website | www |
MyNetworkTV (stylized asmynetworkTV; unofficially abbreviatedMNT orMNTV) is an American commercialbroadcasttelevisionsyndication service and former television network owned byFox Corporation, operated by itsFox Television Stations division, and distributed via thesyndication structure ofFox First Run. Under the ownership structure of Fox Corporation, the service is incorporated as a subsidiary company,Master Distribution Service, Inc.[1] The service's weekly ten hours of programming is currently originated from the library ofNBCUniversal Syndication Studios, thoughNBCUniversal does not hold any stake in the service.
MyNetworkTV began its operations on September 4, 2006, with an initial affiliate lineup covering about 96% of the country,[2] most of which consisted of stations that were former affiliates ofThe WB andUPN that did not join the successor of those two networks,The CW.
On September 28, 2009, following disappointment with the network's results, MyNetworkTV dropped its status as a television network and transitioned into a programming service, similar toThe CW Plus, relying mainly onrepeats of recent broadcast andcable series.[3][4][5][6]
Fox Corporation retained MyNetworkTV after theacquisition of21st Century Fox byThe Walt Disney Company was completed on March 20, 2019.[7]
MyNetworkTV arose from the January 2006 announcement of the launch ofThe CW, a television network formed byCBS Corporation andTime Warner which essentially combined programming fromThe WB andUPN onto the scheduling model of the former of the two predecessors.[8] The CW would go on to become not just the fifth national TV network, behind Fox, but also the fifth major TV network.
As a result of several deals earlier in the decade,Fox Television Stations owned several UPN affiliates, including the network's three largest stations:WWOR-TV inSecaucus, New Jersey (part of theNew York City market),KCOP-TV inLos Angeles, andWPWR-TV inGary,Indiana (part of theChicago market). Fox had acquired WWOR and KCOP after purchasing most of the television holdings of UPN's founding partnerChris-Craft Industries,[9] while the company purchased WPWR in 2003 fromNewsweb Corporation. Despite concerns about UPN's future that arose after Fox purchased the Chris-Craft stations, UPN signed three-year affiliation agreement renewals with its Fox-owned affiliates in 2003. Those agreements' pending expiration (along with those involving other broadcasting companies) in 2006, as well as persistent financial losses for both UPN and The WB, gave CBS Corporation and Time Warner (the respective parent companies of UPN and The WB) the rare opportunity to merge their respective struggling networks into The CW.[8][10]
The CW's initial affiliation agreements did not include any of the UPN stations (nor a loneindependent station) owned by Fox Television Stations. In fact, as part of a 10-year affiliation deal with The WB's part-owner,Tribune Broadcasting, the coveted New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago affiliations all went to Tribune-owned stations (WPIX,KTLA, andWGN-TV, respectively). In response to the announcement, Fox promptly removed all network references from logos and promotional materials on its UPN affiliates and ceased on-air promotion of UPN's programs altogether. However, in all three cases (especially in the cases of Los Angeles and Chicago), the UPN affiliate was the higher-rated station; CW executives were on record as preferring the "strongest" WB and UPN affiliates.
Media reports speculated that the Fox-owned UPN affiliates would all revert to beingindependent stations, or else form another network by uniting with other UPN and WB-affiliated stations that were left out of The CW's affiliation deals. Fox chose the latter route and announced the launch of MyNetworkTV on February 22, 2006, less than a month after CBS and Time Warner announced the formation of The CW on January 24.[11]The Guardian reported that Fox would utilizeMySpace, the social networking website its parent company,News Corporation, had acquired in 2005, to help promote MyNetworkTV. Fox would also utilize MySpace's content-sharing model when it launched MyNetworkTV's website.[12]
MyNetworkTV'soriginal telenovelasDesire scored a 1.1 household rating/2 share;Fashion House went up to 1.3/2.[13] Fox had sold about half of its projections of $50 million in advance commercial sales.[14] On March 7, 2007, MyNetworkTV began to be included in Nielsen's daily "Television Index" reports, alongside the other major broadcast networks, although it was still not part of the "fast nationals" that incorporate the other networks.[15][16]
Last-minute changes to MyNetworkTV's 2007-08 Fall schedule included re-titling the reality seriesDivorce Wars toDecision House, and the addition ofCelebrity Exposé andControl Room Presents to the network's Monday lineup as well as a one-hourIFL Battleground, followed byNFL Total Access on Saturdays.[17]
In response to thetelenovela lineup's poorratings performance, highlighted by an average household rating of 0.7%, reports surfaced[18] that Fox executives were planning a major revamp of MyNetworkTV's programming, decreasing its reliance on telenovelas and adding new unscripted programs to the schedule such asreality shows, game shows (such asMy GamesFever), movies and sports, and a possible revisit to a deal with theUltimate Fighting Championship.[19] However, MyNetworkTV instead signed a deal with anothermixed martial arts organization, theInternational Fight League, in conjunction withFox Sports Net.[20]
On February 1, 2007,Greg Meidel, who was named to the newly created position of network president just ten days earlier, confirmed the rumors and unveiled a dramatically revamped lineup.[21][22] The intent of the shakeup was to increase viewer awareness of the network (and boost viewership, in turn), as well as to satisfy local affiliates who were disappointed over the poor ratings performance of the network under its initial format. After March 7 (whenWicked Wicked Games andWatch Over Me finished their runs), telenovelas were reduced to occupying only two nights of its programming schedule, airing in two-hour movie-style blocks rather than each of the serials airing in a one-hour, five-night-a-week format. The remainder of the schedule included theatrical movies and the newIFL Battleground (originally titledTotal Impact). In addition, the Saturday night telenovela recaps ended immediately, with movies running on that night until March. The 1986 filmSomething Wild aired on February 3, becoming the network's first non-telenovela presentation.
Specials (ranging from theWorld Music Awards to theHawaiian Tropic International Beauty Pageant) and reality programming were also a part of the network's reformatting, with the first two specials airing on March 7. MyNetworkTV also reduced its telenovela programming to a single night each week, withAmerican Heiress andSaints & Sinners airing for one hour each on Wednesdays until their unexpected termination, due to incompatible flow withIFC Battleground from Monday to Tuesday as far as promotions. The new Thursday night movie block featured mostlyaction/adventure films, with Friday night featuring a mix of contemporary classic films, beginning on June 5.[23]
A side effect of the new programming schedule was the loss of the network's claim that it was the only U.S. broadcast network at the time to have its entire programming schedule available inhigh definition, due to the IFL, some of the network's movies and additional programs being produced exclusively in480istandard definition.[24]
In the Fall of 2007, MyNetworkTV dropped telenovelas altogether, and began to air reality series and sports programs.[25] On September 1, 2007, the network aired its first live program, the men's final of theAVP Croc Tour's Cincinnati Open. The network debuted its first sitcom, theFlavor FlavvehicleUnder One Roof, on April 16, 2008; because the series used Canadian writers, it was unaffected by the2007–08 Writers Guild strike.
The network's shift from telenovelas to reality shows and movies produced only a small bump in the ratings. It averaged only a .7 household rating during September 2007.[26] MyNetworkTV continues to be the second lowest-rated English-language broadcast network in the United States, ahead of onlyIon Television.
On February 26, 2008, the network announced it had picked up the rights to airWWE SmackDown, which left The CW at the end of September 2008. The firstSmackDown episode on MyNetworkTV aired on October 3, 2008.[27][28] The first episode ofWWE SmackDown pulled in the largest audience in MyNetworkTV history with 3.2 million viewers, and for the first time, put the network in fifth place for the night – ahead of The CW – and was the top-rated program that night in the male 18-34 and 18-49 demographics.[29] The network went back to sixth place shortly afterward. Of the six broadcast networks,Nielsen Media Research said that only MyNetworkTV had increased viewership, with 1.76 million viewers per night, up 750,000 from the previous season.[30]
On January 5, 2009, MyNetworkTV aired episodes of the 2002 revival ofThe Twilight Zone (which originally aired on UPN, one of the networks MyNetworkTV had replaced). The series helped the network's ratings rise, along withWWE SmackDown, becoming the second highest-rated program on the network. The highest-rated program to have ever aired on MyNetworkTV is a December 10, 2008, broadcast of the 1990 comedy filmHome Alone, which brought in 3.70 million viewers (although not a record), but earned a 1.4 rating among the 18-49 adult demographic.[31]
On February 9, 2009, Fox Entertainment Group announced that MyNetworkTV would convert from a television network to a programming service, similar to that ofThe CW Plus, with a focus on repeats of acquired programs originally aired on broadcast and cable networks and in first-run syndication.[3][32][33]Litton Entertainment had reportedly expressed interest in leasing MyNetworkTV's Saturday evening time slots,[34] which MyNetworkTV chose to instead turn back over to its affiliates. MyNetworkTV began airing more syndicated programming in the fall, which included game shows and dramas, five nights a week.[35] This required the network's affiliates to re-negotiate a new affiliate agreement with the new corporation within Fox operating MyNetworkTV, Master Distribution Service, Inc., though it also gave a full and unencumbered "out" to stations which chose to end their association with MyNetworkTV under this guise, whichIon Television did with their three affiliates.[36]
On April 12, 2010, WWE announced thatWWE SmackDown would move to theSyfy cable channel that October; the move left MyNetworkTV with no first-run programming other than that it shared with its syndicators.[37] Despite the lack of first-run programming, MyNetworkTV renewed its affiliation contracts for three more years on February 14, 2011. The programming service has seen significant viewership growth since its 2006 startup as a television network. Although ratings on MyNetworkTV do not match those of the other broadcast networks,Nexstar (future owner of rival networkThe CW at the time) CEOPerry Sook noted his approval of its business model at the time, saying that Nexstar's MyNetworkTV stations get 'more (local ad) inventory per hour' than they would be associated with a traditional network such as Fox or ABC.[38] Nexstar has since become the owner of, and the largest affiliate base for, The CW, through several acquisitions and since converted three MyNetworkTV affiliations into CW affiliations includingWPHL-TV which was the largest MyNetworkTV affiliate by market size that is not owned and operated by theFox Television Stations subsidiary ofFox Corporation, which owns the programming service.[39]
In announcing its fall schedule for the 2012–13 schedule, MyNetworkTV executives revealed that the programming service increased ratings over the previous year, and rated as the #6 most-watched network during the 2011–12 season with around 2.5 million viewers.[40]
Though MyNetworkTV would earn some recognition from some as a sixth English-language broadcast television network at launch behind The CW, this tenuous status would eventually be lost as digital multicast networks such asMeTV gained wider distribution and more critical acclaim for its classic television schedule.Ion Television, which had struggled in the mid-2000s due to management struggles and programming issues after itself trying to become the sixth network as PAX TV, would also stabilize and eventually come to ratings parity with MyNetworkTV before passing it by the mid-2010s.
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MyNetworkTV began operations on Tuesday, September 5, 2006, with the premieres of its two initial series. Some affiliates unofficially began branding their stations well beforehand in July into August to allow viewers to grow accustomed to their new brandings, though most fulfilled their existing WB and UPN network commitments and did not start branding in earnest until September 1 (the Friday before), when the majority of those affiliate agreements expired. The network provided a block of preview programming that aired the day before on September 4, though it did not launch officially that day due to the low audience figures traditionally associated with theLabor Day holiday.
Initially, programming aired Monday through Saturdays from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. (Eastern andPacific Time). As of April 2013, MyNetworkTV broadcasts ten hours of primetime programming each week, airing on Monday through Friday evenings from 8:00 to 10:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific. MyNetworkTV does not air programming on weekends, the only broadcast service not to in the United States.
Heavy local sports preemptions were previously a problem for MyNetworkTV at its launch, as they were for all of the U.S. broadcast networks that have debuted since the January 1995 launches of The WB and UPN. These would become less of an issue with the end of the network's telenovela, where an airing of the pre-empted telenovela episode rescheduled as soon as possible on the same day as required by default rather than the flexibility that affiliates of UPN, The WB or The CW had to push a show off to a weekend slot.
With the service's switch to an all-rerun schedule in 2009, this effectively allows stations to pre-empt repeat programming at will to fit in sporting events (mainly those provided by syndication services such asESPN Regional Television and theACC Network, as some local events that had aired on its affiliates have moved toregional sports networks in the time since MyNetworkTV launched) without much consequence. During the telenovela era, affiliates often scheduled contractual "make goods" of the network's daily schedule between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. local time. Not only are these light viewing hours, but they air afterNielsen processes its preliminary morning network ratings.
The network's original format focused on the 18-to-49-year-old, English-speaking population[41][42] with programming consisting exclusively oftelenovelas (a version of thesoap opera format rarely attempted on American television outside ofSpanish language broadcast networks, much less in primetime), starting withDesire andFashion House. Originally, each series aired Monday through Friday in continuous cycles of 13-weekseasons, with a one-hour recap of the week's episodes airing on Saturdays; when one series ended, another unrelated series would begin the following week. The fifth and sixth series,American Heiress andSaints and Sinners, appeared one hour per week on Wednesdays before abruptly vanishing from the schedule.[43] The MyNetworkTV serial lineup was broadcast inAustralia on theW. Channel under the block nameFOXTELENOVELA. InCanada, the firstDesire/Fashion House cycle aired weekday afternoons onToronto independent stationCKXT-TV, which decided not to air subsequent cycles for unknown reasons.
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The announcement of the network also stated that additional unscripted reality-based and current-affairs programming were in development. These included:
MyNetworkTV abandoned the development of these programs in mid-2006, choosing to focus solely on telenovelas.
Later announcements by Fox regarding additional programming to air on MyNetworkTV owned-and-operated stations – such asDesperate Housewives repeats in traditional weekend syndication, a trial run of the sitcomTyler Perry's House of Payne (which later moved toTBS), and the daytimeviewer-participationgame showMy GamesFever[44] – never applied to the network as a whole.
To satisfyE/I requirements, some affiliates carry theLittonGo Time block[45][46] while others carryXploration Station.[47][48][49][50]
At launch, MyNetworkTV's affiliation base consisted of former WB or UPN affiliates. Along with Fox's existing UPN station group, three Tribune WB stations[51] and three CBS-owned UPN stations signed up with the network.[52]Sinclair Broadcast Group signed up 17 of their stations on March 6, 2006;[53] this was followed by deals withRaycom Media andCapitol Broadcasting Company one day later.[54] FourLIN Media stations agreed to affiliate on April 26, 2006;[55] additional affiliation deals were later announced that placed MyNetworkTV ondigital subchannels or on stations that already agreed to carry The CW, includingKNVA in Austin, Texas, andKWKB in Iowa City, Iowa.[56] Carriage in Miami, New Orleans, Denver and Boston was secured by July[57][58] and most remaining vacancies in the top 100 television markets were filled by August.[59] The Boston affiliate,WZMY-TV in Derry, New Hampshire, already filed atrademark for "MyTV" on July 6, 2005, lending to speculation it would file a lawsuit against Fox over the name.[60][61]
Most affiliates, including all stations owned by Fox Television Station (except WWOR-TV), initially utilized anaming convention including the "My"moniker and network logo, but have been downplayed following MyNetworkTV's business model shift. In particular, Cincinnati'sWSTR-TV revived its former "Star 64" brand,[62] WPMY in Pittsburgh rebranded as "22 The Point"WPNT,[63] andKAUT-TV rebranded as "OK43", and again as "Freedom 43";[64][65] both WPNT and KAUT switched to The CW in 2023.[66][67] Some MyNetworkTV stations have rebranded as extensions of a parent station, particularly Fox's owned-and-operated stations, such asWDCA becoming "Fox 5 Plus".[68]
By 2014, when the service acquired off-network reruns ofThe Walking Dead, MyNetworkTV boasted a carriage rate of 97 percent of U.S. television households.[69]
(A)mong the assets that will remain behind as part of Fox Corp.: MyNetworkTV.
MyNetwork lineup, which reaches 97% of U.S. TV households.
