 | |
| Type | Digital broadcasttelevision network (classicgame shows) |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Programming | |
| Language(s) | English |
| Picture format | 1080i (HDTV) 480i (SDTV) |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | RTL Group |
| Parent | Fremantle |
| History | |
| Founded | January 20, 2015; 10 years ago (2015-01-20) |
| Launched | June 1, 2015; 9 years ago (2015-06-01) |
| Founder | Thom Beers |
| Links | |
| Webcast | Watch live |
| Website | www |
| Availability | |
| Terrestrial | |
| Seelist of affiliates[1] | |
| Streaming media | |
| Service(s) | Distro TV,Freevee,Pluto TV,Roku Channel,Samsung TV Plus,Sling TV,Stirr,Tubi,Xumo |
Buzzr (stylized as BUZZR) is an Americandigital broadcasttelevision network owned by Fremantle North America, a unit of theFremantle subsidiary ofRTL Group. The network serves as an outlet for the extensive library of classicgame shows owned by Fremantle.[2][3][4] Buzzr marks Fremantle's entry into North American television broadcasting;[5] parent company RTL currently operates numerous TV channels in Europe.
Buzzr'sdigital subchannel is seen in 62 U.S. television markets,cable television and is available as a channel on streaming servicesPluto TV,Stirr,Amazon Freevee (formerly IMDB TV), andSling TV. The network is also available nationwide on free-to-air C-band satellite via Galaxy 19 in theDVB-S2 format.
The brand is named after the game showbuzzer, which contestants use on certain game shows to signal their readiness to give an answer.
The Buzzr brand was first used by Fremantle for aYouTube channel created and produced by its digital content studio Tiny Riot, which debuted in late 2014. The Buzzr YouTube channel features classic clips, and short-form adaptations of its game show properties (such asFamily Feud andPassword), withinternet celebrities as contestants, primarily aimed towardsmillennials.[3][6][7]
On January 20, 2015, FremantleMedia (as it was known then) announced that it would launch Buzzr, a digital multicast network that would serve as an extension of the brand; the network, with theFox Television Stations as its charter station group. Buzzr features classic game shows from the company's programming library.[8][9][10]Thom Beers, formerCEO of FremantleMedia North America, stated his interest in launching a network centered on its game show content after he joined the company in 2012, calling such a project a "top priority" for Fremantle as a way to help monetize the value of its library. The company intended to focus Buzzr toward older adults, with Beers citing that the "old-format game shows are really, really hard [for the younger viewership that the Buzzr YouTube channel targets] to watch."[3]
The Buzzr television network debuted on June 1, 2015, with the launch preceded by a preview reel outlining its initial programming that aired in an eight-hour continuous loop, starting at 12:00 p.m.Eastern Time Zone. The network formally launched that evening at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time with the 1963 pilot episode ofLet's Make a Deal as the first show to be broadcast.[5][11][12][13]
In 2016, to celebrate the upcoming 75th year of the genre,[14] the network created a story arc of the game show with new episodes of favorable classics, along with additional promotions and special marathons all year long. Additionally, that fall, FremantleMedia began leasing select episodes ofCard Sharks withBill Rafferty andFamily Feud withLouie Anderson for weekend airings on their affiliates' main channels, though this practice ended after a single season.
In October 2016, FremantleMedia and Canadian video game companyLudia teamed up to create aslot machine app based on Buzzr's programming. The name of the app is called the "Buzzr Casino"[15] based on their former prime-time programming block.
On March 27, 2017, Buzzr began airing paid and religious programming from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. on weekdays, and from 6:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. on weekends. On January 1, 2018, paid and religious programming was also added to the 5:00 a.m. hour for both weekdays and weekends. However, Buzzr went back to airing game shows in the 5:00 a.m. hour on June 26, 2018.
In June 2018, Buzzr launched a live stream hosted on their website, which mirrors the network broadcast.[16]
On November 15, 2021, Buzzr began airing and promotingThe Newlywed Game forover the air andcable broadcast only; this was possibly due to licensing issues withSony Pictures Television, the owners ofThe Newlywed Game and the rest of theChuck Barris library, that prohibited Buzzr from streaming it. The online stream instead broadcastFamily Feud withRichard Dawson in its place.[17][18][19] This arrangement continued until January 9, 2022, whenThe Newlywed Game was finally made available for all Buzzr viewers over the air, cable, and streaming.
On January 24, 2022, Mark Deetjen, executive producer of global channels at Fremantle and the general manager of Buzzr, died at the age of 50.[20]
Fremantle's library ofgame shows spanned 154 series and an estimated 40,000 episodes overall at the time of its launch, from which Buzzr draws its programming.[21] The network's regular lineup – with series produced from the 1950s to 2000 – includes such programs asTo Tell the Truth,Password,Family Feud (encompassing episodes beginning withRichard Dawson as host and dating up toJohn O'Hurley's tenure),What's My Line?,I've Got a Secret,Beat the Clock,Card Sharks,Body Language,Match Game[2][3][4] (including, beginning in 2019, theMatch Game-Hollywood Squares Hour, which, up until then, had never been shown in reruns)[22] and theoriginal 1950s & 1960s version ofThe Price Is Right hosted byBill Cullen.[23] Episodes from theBob Barker era ofThe Price Is Right were made available in May 2024 after several years of negotiation, beginning with the season 13 premiere.[24] In addition to theMark Goodson-Bill Todman programs mentioned above, Buzzr's library includes Al Howard Productions (Supermarket Sweep),Bill Carruthers (Press Your Luck),Reg Grundy (Sale of the Century) andStefan Hatos-Monty Hall (Let's Make a Deal, andSplit Second, which would get revived by main competitorGame Show Network in April 2023) back catalogs. It occasionally licenses games from other sources, including a syndication deal withBurt Sugarman to carryWhew! beginning in September 2021.[25]
As of 2018, almost all of Buzzr's lineup consists of game shows that originally had aired between 1973 and 1993 (Match Game,Password,Family Feud andSupermarket Sweep, in particular, air multiple episodes each day), with select blocks of 1950s and 1960spanel shows also being featured.Celebrity Name Game andTemptation are the only recent game shows the network has aired. More obscure programs occasionally air as special program blocks, including the anthology seriesLost and Found, featuring rare episodes, unsold pilots, and forgotten shows. On October 20, 2017, Buzzr debuted its first original programGame Changers. This documentary reviewed the history of the game show genre and featured interviews with game show personalities such asAlex Trebek,Wink Martindale andDrew Carey.[26]
Buzzr airs a half hour ofeducational children's programming (cut from three hours shortly after the FCC eliminated rules requiring digital subchannels to carry such programs in late 2019), leading out of its weekend morninginfomercial blocks to minimize interruption;Science Nation andDog Tales air one episode each week. The channel carries two hours of infomercials each morning, a block that includes thetelevangelism seriesThrough the Bible with Les Feldick (some of the online simulcasts of Buzzr do not carry the infomercials orThrough the Bible due to restrictions on paid programming on those platforms). Other than these, the only non-game show related programming on Buzzr thus far was between September 14, 2017, and October 6, 2017, when episodes ofRichard Simmons Dream Maker briefly appeared on the schedule, and a marathon ofThe Great Christmas Light Fight in November 2018 and on November 28, 2019.
In 2017, Buzzr began streaming its programming toAmazon Prime Video andTwitch; the Prime Video offering providesvideo on demand, while Twitch offered a linear feed separate from the over-the-air telecast. The Twitch stream would be discontinued on April 22, 2019.[27][28][29][30] Buzzr also provided some game show programming to Nosey, a site offering video-on-demand ofdaytime television in the United States reruns. The local Buzzr affiliate sub-channel is carried in some areas on the streaming servicesLocalBTV,Locast and iGoCast (the streaming platform of KCKS-LD) as well.
In 2018, as part of their third birthday celebration, Buzzr[31] launched a livestream of the over-the-air telecast on their website. Later that year, Buzzr was added toPluto TV.[32][33][34]
In 2019,Stirr, a free over-the-top service launched bySinclair Broadcast Group, included Buzzr among its offerings.[35] In a preliminary assessment released July 2019, Stirr stated that Buzzr was the most-watched national channel on the service and the second-most-watched overall (second only to the combined viewership of its Stirr City local channels).[36]
On March 18, 2020,Sling TV added Buzzr to their service and made available to all its subscribers.[37]
On December 1, 2020, Buzzr launched a spin-off channel,The Price Is Right: The Barker Era, a 24/7 channel on Pluto TV that exclusively carries episodes ofThe Price Is Right fromBob Barker's hosting tenure. The episodes started with Season 11 in 1982, the first year where animal-based products (such as fur coats) were no longer offered on the show at Barker's request.[38] In a statement on Buzzr'sFAQ page, the company stated that this was the only way to distribute the reruns because of an exclusivity agreement withCBS (since renegotiated) that prohibited any network or outlet not owned by CBS or parent companyParamount (of which Pluto TV is a subsidiary) from airing episodes ofThe Price Is Right from 1972 onward, meaning Buzzr could not carry the show over-the-air at the time.[39] However,Bill Cullen-era episodes ofPrice were exempt from this limitation, as those episodes originally aired on NBC/ABC, and thus were allowed to air on Buzzr. As of January 2023, episodes airing onThe Price Is Right: The Barker Era range from September 13, 1982 (season 11) through October 11, 1985 (season 14, the last episode beforeJohnny Olson's death).[citation needed] On February 8, 2022,The Price Is Right: The Barker Era was added toThe Roku Channel; on the same day, a dedicated spin-off channel devoted toSupermarket Sweep was launched on the same platform.[40] On November 27, 2023, three months after Barker's death, 60 episodes from the first season (1972–73) ofThe Price Is Right, which hasn't been shown on TV in two decades, were added to the channel's rotation, with the episodes curated from those in which no fur coats were offered as prizes, or whose videotape prints are deemed satisfactory enough to air.[41]
A second Pluto spin-off channel featuringWayne Brady's era ofLet's Make a Deal was launched in July 2022, with episodes from theMonty Hall era continuing to air on Buzzr.[42]
To tie in with Buzzr's 8th anniversary as well as National Game Show Day, Buzzr launched two new spin-off channels on Pluto TV on June 1, 2023, with one dedicated to episodes ofThe Price Is Right fromDrew Carey's era, beginning with Season 38 and another, entitledFamily Feud Classic, showcasing episodes ofFamily Feud from the Richard Dawson andRay Combs era.[43]
They are also a part of the live stream section of theAmazon Freevee andThe Roku Channel apps.[44]
Streaming channels devoted to the current versions ofTo Tell the Truth andPress Your Luck were distributed via the online platforms ofABC, which carries the first-run episodes.[45] These were eliminated with the closure of ABC's mobile and smart-television apps in September 2023.[46] Direct TV Stream added Buzzr, the extra TPIR channels, and Let's Make A Deal to its lineup.
As of February 2016[update], Buzzr has current subchannel affiliation agreements with television stations in 53 media markets encompassing 26 states and the District of Columbia, covering over 60% ofmedia markets in the United States.[47]
Fox Television Stations was announced as the network's initial affiliate group, airing Buzzr on 12Foxowned-and-operated stations and fiveMyNetworkTV owned-and-operated stations. Buzzr has affiliates in all 10 of the largest and 15 of the 20 largest U.S. television markets (includingNew York City,Los Angeles,Chicago,Philadelphia,San Francisco,Boston-Manchester, New Hampshire andDallas–Fort Worth, Texas), with an initial reach of 37% of U.S. television homes.[2][8][23] In four of the network's launch markets (New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas–Fort Worth, andPhoenix, Arizona), Buzzr is affiliated with stations whose subchannels the network occupies were previously affiliated withBounce TV; as a result of a March 2014 agreement withUnivision Communications, Bounce TV moved its affiliations in those markets to Univision-owned stations in late May 2015, shortly before Buzzr launched.[48]
Debmar-Mercury (which serves as the distribution partner for the current syndicated run of the Fremantle-producedFamily Feud) was hired by Fremantle to handle responsibility for the recruitment of affiliates through agreements with other broadcasting companies.[2][4][23][49] The network hopes to expand its charter affiliate footprint to reach markets covering 50 million U.S. households with at least one television set.[3]
In September 2016,Yes TV, a small Canadiantelevision system with stations in Ontario and Alberta, began airing a Buzzr-brandedblock programming of classic game shows called "Buzzr After Hours" overnight Tuesday to Saturday from 1 to 3:30 a.m. (formerly 1-4 a.m.) local time.[50]
In May 2017,Dish Network began carrying Buzzr on channel 245.
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