Pay TV channel in the United States
Television channel
TV Land
is an American
pay television
channel
owned by
Paramount Global
through its
networks division
. Originally a spinoff of
Nick at Nite
consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and classic television series (ranging from the 1960s to the 2020s), original scripted series and limited theatrically released movies. The network is headquartered at
One Astor Plaza
in New York City.
TV Land is available to about 90 million households in the United States as of January 2016.
[1]
History
[
edit
]
Launch and debut
[
edit
]
The network launched at 10:00 p.m.
Eastern
on April 29, 1996, as
Nick at Nite's TV Land
. Following a seven-minute short film introducing the network, the first program aired was a syndicated edit of
The Best of
The Ed Sullivan Show
featuring
the Beatles
' American debut along with routines by
Joan Rivers
,
Richard Pryor
and
Senor Wences
. The show led off a launch-day lineup that rebroadcast numerous
series premieres
,
pilot episodes
and television firsts.
[2]
TV Land's first logo ran from April 29, 1996, to December 31, 2000; the "Nick at Nite's" prefix accompanied it in full-time usage until December 31, 1996, and was used sparingly thereafter.
TV Land's second logo ran from January 1, 2001, to November 23, 2009. Another version from that point until May 7, 2012, featured a streamlined version with the boxes framing each letter removed and the "TV" letters rendered in
Clarendon
.
TV Land's logo used from November 24, 2009 to May 7, 2012. TV Land also gained a slogan, "Laugh more", in December 2011.
TV Land primary logo used from May 8, 2012 to June 22, 2015. It continued to be used as a secondary logo for the network's daytime classic programming until 2019, with the "Laugh more" tagline removed.
TV Land current logo used on June 22, 2015, to present with a flag paper parallelogram rectangle
The network's original lineup consisted of
Hill Street Blues
;
St. Elsewhere
;
The Ed Sullivan Show
;
Gunsmoke
;
That Girl
;
The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour
;
Honey West
;
The Addams Family
;
Love, American Style
;
Petticoat Junction
;
Green Acres
;
The Phil Silvers Show
; and
Hogan's Heroes
.
[3]
[4]
The channel launched during a time when
retransmission consent
was becoming more common with subscription networks and
terrestrial
television stations
nationwide as a result of a provision in the
1992 Cable Act
. However, MTV Networks offered TV Land to subscription providers for free for its five years of operation if providers would agree to add the channel to their expanded basic tiers during the 1996 calendar year.
[5]
USSB
, then one of two services that used the
DirecTV
satellite, offered TV Land as a free channel to USSB and DirecTV satellite users, without requiring a subscription, for its first years on air.
[3]
Shortly after TV Land's debut,
MCA
filed a lawsuit against Viacom.
[6]
Because MCA's original agreement with Paramount Pictures to operate
USA Network
prohibited either partner from operating other pay-television networks outside the
joint venture
, Viacom had been in
breach of contract
ever since the company bought Paramount in 1994, because it had operated MTV Networks (including Nickelodeon,
MTV
and
VH1
) since its founding in 1983, and
Showtime Networks
(owners of
Showtime
,
The Movie Channel
and
Flix
) since it was founded in 1985. MCA claimed that the intention of TV Land was to compete directly with USA, a claim that turned out to be true.
[7]
Viacom claimed that the matter had already been settled when
Sumner Redstone
released
Frank Biondi
from his contract to let him work at MCA.
[8]
The suit was eventually settled when Viacom agreed to sell its 50% stake in USA Networks to MCA (MCA later became
Universal Pictures
, formerly just a subsidiary, which eventually
merged with
NBC
and, later,
Comcast
).
In February 1999, according to
Nielsen
ratings data, TV Land averaged a 1.0 share during primetime, tying
ESPN
for tenth place among all pay-television networks. Its siblings, MTV and VH1, tied for 17th and 26th place respectively. Columnist John Dempsey reported in
Variety
:
"That February rating put TV Land into the top 10 for the first time since it began operating, and opened the eyes of the TV industry to the rich vein of golden-oldie TV shows that distributors are mining for an audience of nostalgia buffs and kids who are stumbling across the series for the first time."
[9]
Original programming efforts and shift to Generation X
[
edit
]
The network first forayed into original scripted programming in 2010 with the debut of the sitcom
Hot in Cleveland
(starring established sitcom stars
Valerie Bertinelli
,
Jane Leeves
,
Wendie Malick
and
Betty White
), which premiered in June 2010 to 4.75 million viewers, a record audience for the channel.
[10]
(The success of that series led to a
spinoff
called
The Soul Man
, which debuted in June 2012.) This was followed by the January 19, 2011, debut of
Retired at 35
.
[11]
In November 2014, amid growing allegations of sexual assault against
Bill Cosby
, the network removed reruns of
The Cosby Show
from its lineup and deleted all references of the series from its website. A marathon of
The Cosby Show
episodes that had been scheduled for
Thanksgiving
was also canceled.
[12]
Episodes from the
Steve Harvey
run of
Family Feud
were aired instead.
The network began a programming transition in March 2015, when the new
Sutton Foster
series
Younger
was launched without either traditional network branding or advertising. After the series finale of
Hot in Cleveland
, a new logo was unveiled as part of a larger rebranding that saw TV Land shift its focus to
Generation X
viewers who grew into the network's demographic. New original series
Impastor
and
The Jim Gaffigan Show
were unveiled as the network officially announced the rebranding on June 23, 2015.
[13]
Completing the shift to edgier, single-camera programming, TV Land announced on July 28 that the upcoming fifth season of the multi-camera sitcom
The Soul Man
would be its last.
[14]
Less than two weeks later, on August 10, TV Land's last remaining multi-camera sitcom
The Exes
was canceled as its fourth season was still airing, and the final episode aired on September 16.
[15]
In July 2015, TV Land dropped reruns of
The Dukes of Hazzard
after the removal of the
Confederate battle flag
from the grounds of the
South Carolina State House
because the flag is displayed atop the show's car, the
General Lee
.
[16]
2016 saw the debut of the single-camera sitcom
Teachers
.
[17]
Since 2017, Viacom has been reorganizing its media businesses around six flagship brands, including
Paramount Pictures
,
BET
,
Comedy Central
,
Nickelodeon
,
Nick Jr.
and
MTV
.
[18]
[19]
[20]
Network president Keith Cox was reassigned to the newly rebranded
Paramount Network
(the former Spike), and two series originally slated for TV Land?
American Woman
and
Heathers
?were reassigned to the channel. The former was canceled after its first season, while the latter eventually aired in a heavily edited and redacted form.
[21]
[22]
Younger
was also supposed to move to Paramount Network for its sixth season, but the move was reversed before the newest season launched.
[23]
The series would eventually move to
Paramount+
and
Hulu
for its final season, with later airings on TV Land.
[24]
[25]
On August 20, 2019, two TV Land-branded channels, TV Land Drama and TV Land Sitcoms, were launched on
Pluto TV
, a free streaming service acquired by Viacom in March 2019. The latter channel was a rebrand of the former Pluto TV Sitcoms channel.
[26]
[27]
Programming
[
edit
]
TV Land's programming originally focused on television series from the 1950s to the early 1980s. Such programming continues to air during the daytime hours, while the network's primetime lineup focuses on both recent and contemporary sitcoms originating from the late 1990s. The network held its own annual award show, the
TV Land Awards
, from 2003 to 2016.
Canadian version
[
edit
]
In 2001,
Craig Media
launched a
Category 2
pay-television
specialty channel
called TV Land Canada
[28]
through a
brand licensing
agreement with Viacom (which later acquired a minority ownership stake in the channel months after its launch). On August 2, 2010, TV Land Canada was rebranded as
Comedy Gold
, reformatting the channel as an offshoot of
The Comedy Network
. The rebranded channel focuses primarily on
sitcoms
and sketch-comedy programs from the 1970s to the 1990s.
[29]
Viacom sold back its stake in the channel to
CTVglobemedia
(which would later be acquired outright by minority shareholder
BCE, Inc.
on September 10 of that year to form
Bell Media
[30]
) following the rebrand.
[31]
The channel was shuttered on September 1, 2019, after its broadcast license was sold to
Wow Unlimited Media
.
See also
[
edit
]
- Antenna TV
? an American digital broadcast network owned by the
Nexstar Media Group
focusing on classic television series and movies from the 1950s to early 1990s.
- Catchy Comedy
- an American digital broadcast network owned by Weigel Broadcasting, formerly as Decades focusing on classic TV comedies from the 1950s to 1990s.
- fetv
- an American digital cable, satellite, livestream broadcast network owned by
Family Broadcasting Corporation
focusing on classic television series from the 1950s to 1980s.
- Retro TV
? an American digital broadcast network owned by
Get After It Media
focusing on classic television series from the 1950s to 1980s.
- Rewind TV
- an American digital broadcast network owned by Nexstar Media Group, and as the sister network of Antenna TV focusing on TV comedies from the 1980s to early 2000s.
- MeTV
? an American digital broadcast network owned by
Weigel Broadcasting
focusing on classic television series from the 1950s to 1980s.
- MeTV+ - an American digital broadcast network also owned by Weigel Broadcasting focusing on more classic television series from the 1950s to 1980s like their sister network, MeTV.
- Cozi TV
? an American digital broadcast network owned by
NBCUniversal
airing classic television programs from the NBCU library, along with programming from forerunner network NBC NonStop.
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Cable Network Coverage Area Household Universe Estimates: January 2016"
.
- ^
"TV Land Premiere (29 April 1996)"
.
YouTube
. Retrieved
August 1,
2020
.
- ^
a
b
"Nick-at-Nite's TV Land joins U.S. Satellite Broadcasting Lineup";
Business Wire
, April 30, 1996.
- ^
TV Land archives on Freewebs
Archived
2012-10-24 at the
Wayback Machine
(1996?2004)
- ^
Brown, Rich. "Nick at Nite becoming Nick at Nite-and-Day; MTV Networks Inc.'s launching of classic TV channel called TV Land"
,
Broadcasting & Cable
, October 30, 1995.
- ^
"Mca, Viacom Sue Each Other"
.
Chicago Tribune
. April 30, 1996. Archived from
the original
on June 27, 2013.
- ^
"
Sumner Red-faced Over 'Embarrassing' Papers
";
New York Daily News
, November 5, 1996
- ^
"Mca, Viacom File Suits In Dispute Over Usa Network"
;
SunSentinel
, April 30, 1996
- ^
Dempsey, John, "It's Boom(er) Time for TV Land";
Variety
, March 8?14, 1999.
- ^
Betty White Lightning Strikes! "Hot In Cleveland" Draws Nearly 5 Million; Breaks Records
Archived
2010-06-21 at the
Wayback Machine
TV by the Numbers, June 17, 2010
- ^
Andreeva, Nellie (January 3, 2010).
"TV Land finds cast for George Segal pilot"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
.
- ^
TV Land scraps
The Cosby Show
marathon set for Thanksgiving week
.
Variety
(November 19, 2014). Retrieved November 19, 2014. "(E)pisodes have been pulled immediately for the foreseeable future…TV Land even removed references to
The Cosby Show
from its website on Wednesday afternoon as the scandal accelerated."
- ^
Littleton, Cynthia (June 23, 2015).
"TV Land Unveils New Logo, Branding Campaign Aimed at Gen-Xers"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
June 24,
2015
.
- ^
Nellie Andreeva (July 28, 2015).
"
'The Soul Man' Picked Up For Fifth & Final Season By TV Land"
.
Deadline Hollywood
.
- ^
Andreeva, Nellie (August 10, 2015).
"
'The Exes' Cancelled By TV Land After 4 Seasons, Last Multi-Cam Original Series"
.
Deadline Hollywood
. Retrieved
August 15,
2015
.
- ^
"TV Land Pulls 'Dukes of Hazzard' Reruns"
. ABC News. July 1, 2015
. Retrieved
July 1,
2015
.
- ^
Andreeva, Nellie (October 1, 2014).
"TV Land Picks Up
Impastor
&
Teachers
To Series"
.
Deadline Hollywood
. Retrieved
August 13,
2015
.
- ^
Andreeva, Nellie (February 9, 2017).
"Spike President On Channel's Rebranding As The Paramount Network"
.
Deadline Hollywood
. Retrieved
February 10,
2017
.
- ^
Andreeva, Nellie (February 9, 2017).
"Spike To Change Name & Become The Paramount Network In Viacom Rebranding"
.
Deadline Hollywood
. Retrieved
September 18,
2017
.
- ^
Lieberman, David (February 9, 2017).
"Viacom CEO Supports Paramount And Non-Core Networks ? But For How Long?"
.
Deadline Hollywood
. Retrieved
September 18,
2017
.
- ^
"
'Shannara Chronicles' Canceled as Paramount Network Passes on Season 3"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
January 17,
2018
.
- ^
Wagmeister, Daniel; Holloway, Elizabeth (March 16, 2017).
"TV Land's 'Heathers' Reboot and 'American Woman' Moving to Launch Paramount Network"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
September 27,
2017
.
- ^
Swift, Andy (April 3, 2019).
"Younger Season 6 Will Air on TV Land; Move to Paramount Network Cancelled"
.
TVLine
. Retrieved
April 3,
2019
.
- ^
Low, Elaine (February 24, 2021).
"
'Younger' Season 7 to Premiere on Paramount Plus"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
March 3,
2021
.
- ^
Del Rosario, Alexandra (March 17, 2021).
"
'Younger': Paramount+ Unveils Premiere Date & Teaser For Comedy's Seventh & Final Season"
.
Deadline Hollywood
. Retrieved
March 17,
2021
.
- ^
"Viacom Announces Completion of Pluto TV Acquisition"
.
www.businesswire.com
. March 4, 2019
. Retrieved
March 4,
2019
.
- ^
Bouma, Luke (August 19, 2019).
"Pluto TV is Adding 4 New Channels Tomorrow Including TV Land Drama, TV Land Sitcoms, & Comedy Central Roast"
.
Cord Cutters News
. Retrieved
August 21,
2019
.
- ^
TV Land, MTV and Craig Broadcast Systems to Launch New Canadian Services in September
; PR Newswire; 2001-08-21
- ^
CTV tweaks TV Land Canada's focus
,
The Hollywood Reporter
, 21 June 2010
- ^
Bell Canada (September 10, 2010).
"Bell to acquire 100% of Canada's No.1 media company CTV"
. CNW Group
. Retrieved
September 10,
2010
.
- ^
[1]
Archived
October 11, 2010, at the
Wayback Machine
External links
[
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.
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