American broadcast television network focusing on classic television series
Television channel
Retro TV
(stylized as
retro
tv
), formerly known as
Retro Television Network
, is an American
broadcast
television network
owned by
Get After It Media
. The network mainly airs classic television
sitcoms
and drama series from the 1950s through the 1980s, although it also includes more recent programs from the 1990s and 2000s. Through its ownership by Luken, Retro TV is a sister network to several broadcast network properties that are wholly or jointly owned by the company, including the family-oriented
Family Channel
and
country music
-oriented network
Heartland
.
At its outset, Retro TV was designed to be broadcast on the
digital subchannels
of
television stations
; however in recent years, the network's affiliate body has been drawn down to primarily
low-power
stations, as many station groups have replaced the network on the subchannels of their full-power major
network affiliates
with similarly formatted networks such as
Antenna TV
and
MeTV
, which have assumed rights to many of the distributors that formerly held programming agreements with Retro. The network is also available nationwide on free-to-air
C-band
satellite via
SES-2
in
DVB-S2
format;
[2]
[3]
as individualized transmitter-ready feeds for each station are centrally generated using
broadcast automation
and delivered to the stations by satellite. In March 2020, Retro TV launched a live online feed, which carries a limited six-hour selection of the network's programming, looped four times each day.
[4]
History
[
edit
]
The Retro Television Network (originally branded as "RTN") launched in July 2005 on select television stations owned by the Equity Broadcasting Corporation (later known as
Equity Media Holdings
), a chain of small (often low-powered) satellite-fed
VHF
and
UHF
television stations controlled directly from Equity's headquarters in
Little Rock, Arkansas
. Equity had expanded quickly with purchases of many small stations in the early 2000s, but by 2008, the company was struggling to meet its obligations.
In June 2008, while the company was undergoing financial troubles, Equity Media Holdings sold RTN to Henry Luken III's ? Equity's former president and CEO, and the company's largest shareholder ? Luken Communications (which later rebranded as Reach High Media Group in 2019) for $18.5 million in cash. Equity had an option to repurchase the network for $27.75 million; the purchase option was not exercised and expired on December 24, 2008. Equity had filed for
Chapter 11
bankruptcy three weeks before the expiration of the purchase option.
[5]
On January 4, 2009, a contract conflict between Equity and Luken Communications interrupted RTN programming on many of its affiliates with Luken alleging that Equity had left many obligations to RTN's creditors, including programming suppliers, unpaid. As a result, Luken restored a national feed of the network from its Chattanooga headquarters with individual feeds to affiliates not owned by Equity following suit on a piecemeal basis. Equity-owned or -operated stations lost RTN affiliation, though Luken vowed to find new affiliates for the network in the affected areas.
[6]
The Retro Television Network changed its on-air branding to "RTV" in June 2009 (a nod to the
digital television transition
that occurred that month, though a trademark dispute with the
Racetrack Television Network
was also a factor in the change).
[7]
[8]
In 2012, RTV dropped from 120 to 80 affiliates with many ABC affiliates switching to the
Live Well Network
.
[9]
Further affiliate drops occurred as RTV's scheduling began to decline with lesser product, with
MeTV
and
Antenna TV
(both with strong corporate backing and financing, along with more generous affiliation terms than Luken) making major carriage deals with large broadcast groups. In March 2017, the final "major" group carrying the network,
Sinclair Broadcast Group
, dropped the network from three remaining Sinclair stations where RTV affiliation agreements were made with their former owners, replacing it with their in-house network
TBD
. On October 1, 2017, the network lost its last station with one of the major broadcast networks,
WKTC
in
Columbia, South Carolina
, which replaced its subchannel with
Laff
.
The network was re-branded as Retro TV in 2013. Of the top 25 digital broadcast networks for 2014, Retro TV ranked No. 10 with a coverage of 54% of households.
Concept and programming
[
edit
]
Since its creation, Retro's principal programming concept consists of classic television series, initially maintaining a 24-hour schedule of shows. As of 2019, the on-air lineup dates mostly from the 1950s to the 1970s, with the exception of
prime time
, which consists mostly of contemporary programming from
Canada
. Retro airs a full block of
Saturday morning cartoon
reruns and
family-friendly
adventure series and comedies on Saturdays; the network uses Sunday mornings to meet
E/I
liabilities, largely with programming widely available elsewhere.
There have been some deviations to the format, including during the network's ownership under Equity, which added some original talk programming (notably
Unreliable Sources
) during the late night slot on weeknights from the summer of 2008 to early 2009, a concept billed as "Classic Hits All Day & Fresh Talk All Night". Overnights also eventually became devoted to
Shop LC
and
paid programming
.
[10]
The network has also featured originally produced horror film showcases such as
Wolfman Mac's Chiller Drive-In
[11]
and
Off Beat Cinema
; Retro also aired the talk show
Daytime
produced by
WFLA-TV
's Riverbank Studios in
Tampa, Florida
, co-hosted by Jerry Penacoli and Cyndi Edwards.
Until 2011, Retro offered a customized schedule for use at the discretion of the local affiliate. The network then moved towards a set national schedule, although affiliates have the option to pre-empt or reschedule some network programming.
[12]
By June 2011, when Retro's distribution agreement with
NBCUniversal Television Distribution
ended, the network adjusted its schedule to feature programming from other distributors (such as
I Spy
and
Starsky and Hutch
) and public domain programs (such as early episodes of
The Beverly Hillbillies
), as well as low-cost Canadian barter programs (such as
Cold Squad
and
Da Vinci's Inquest
) and reality and documentary programming (including
Crusade in Europe
based on Gen.
Dwight Eisenhower
's memoirs of
World War II
and
Crusade in the Pacific
). Retro also featured a Saturday morning block of vintage cartoon programming.
[13]
In 2014, Retro began broadcasting
Mystery Science Theater 3000
, the soap opera
The Doctors
, and the classic era of long-running British science fiction television show
Doctor Who
;
MST3K
departed the schedule upon the rights being purchased by
Sinclair Broadcast Group
's
Comet
.
The network previously had major content deals with
CBS Television Distribution
until July 2008,
[14]
and NBCUniversal Television Distribution (whose programming agreement began after the deal with CBS ended) until June 2011. Retro's current programming roster draws from various distributors including
BBC Studios Distribution
, Genesis International,
Shout! Factory
,
Peter Rodgers Organization
,
CBC Television
, and
SFM Entertainment
, as well as
John DiSciullo
(the distributor of
Off Beat Cinema
); compared to its competition, public domain series continue to compose a large portion of the schedule.
Affiliates
[
edit
]
As of March 2017, Retro TV is carried on 97 affiliates and translators across the United States, covering 60% of the country's DMA households.
Prior to the 2009 digital transition, Retro TV was seen on a number of analog stations owned by
Equity Media Holdings
, the network's former owner. Some Equity stations mixed Retro programming with first-run and recent off-network syndicated programming or also carried another network, such as
MyNetworkTV
or
The CW Plus
.
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Buckman, Adam (July 26, 2016).
"Diginets Keep Growing, Despite Auction Cloud"
.
TVNewsCheck
. NewsCheck Media
. Retrieved
November 7,
2016
.
- ^
SES-2 at 87.0°W
, LyngSat
Archived
May 29, 2014, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Free TV from United States
, LyngSat
Archived
December 7, 2013, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
https://www.watchretrotv.com/schedules
[
bare URL
]
- ^
Arkansas Business: "Creditor Files to Liquidate Equity Media, Claims Company Cannot Meet Payroll Obligations", 12/10/2008.
Archived
February 18, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
Jessell, Harry A. (January 5, 2009).
"Financial Dispute Disrupts RTN Diginet"
.
tVNewsCheck
. Retrieved
February 18,
2015
.
- ^
"RTN Rebrands as RTV"
, from broadcastingcable.com 6/17/2009
Archived
September 28, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Attorney Defends Luken Actions In Purchase Of Retro TV Programming"
.
The Chattanoogan
. July 24, 2013
. Retrieved
July 27,
2013
.
- ^
Marcucci, Carl (October 31, 2012).
"Luken RTV affiliate losses not a big hit"
.
Radio-TV Business Report
. Streamline RBR, Inc
. Retrieved
February 18,
2015
.
- ^
"Back from Basic,"
from
BusinessTN
, September/October 2009
Archived
February 23, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"Wolfman Mac interview"
, from Outsight Radio Hours, 3/27/2011
- ^
RTV Changes Schedule, Loses Universal
Archived
August 24, 2013, at the
Wayback Machine
- ^
"RTV Bringing Back Retro Saturday Morning TV"
, from TVNewsCheck, 8/5/2010
- ^
Creditor Files to Liquidate Equity Media, Claims Company Cannot Meet Payroll Obligations
Archived
February 18, 2012, at the
Wayback Machine
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