Well, now, we have a better look at what ION will look like in the near future. They have just released news that they will move all of their diginets - Bounce, CourtTV, CourtTV Mystery, Grit, and Laff - over onto the ION stations they have just acquired. They will make the transition on March 1st. Yes, that is just a little over six weeks from now. Also, to make room, they will cease the operations of ION Plus, Qubo, and Shop ION on Feb. 28th. In doing so, they will be cutting 120 jobs. They also said that ION will continue on their primary channel. However, they didn't say anything about HSN or QVC. So, I don't know what the plans are for them. I don't know if they will continue or be pushed off the ION stations. Also, for some of them, they will eventually move their networks over on ION as the affiliation agreements with other stations come to an end. They said the reason for buying ION Media is because they wanted to stop paying other stations for airing their networks. What this means for the following channels - WKRN's 2.2 and 2.4, WSMV's 4.2 and 4.4, and WTVF's 5.3 - I do not know at this time. I am posting several links to all of the press releases I found below. Until more news breaks, that's all for now.
Scripps Moving Multicast Networks onto Ion TV Stations
SCRIPPS Takes First Steps To Realize ION Synergies With Multicast Networks Move
Scripps Begins to Move Katz Networks to Ion TV Stations
Scripps Ending/Moving Diginets
- Posted January 14th, 2021 at 5:19pm
11 Comments
Brentwood OTA
- Posted on January 15th, 2021 at 7:22am
So, if ION Plus, Qubo, and Shop ION shut down on Feb. 28... and some Katz diginets won't be available until contracts end, possibly up to five years... what will fill the void on the subchannels that the closing nets vacate? Will Scripps be entering into agreements for other companies' nets, or will those subchannels go dark until the time comes? And will Laff continue on WTVF since it is owned by Scripps, or move to WNPX? And If Laff moves to WNPX, how would they fill the gap on WTVF? Stay tuned...
NashDigie
- Posted on January 15th, 2021 at 3:26pm
Yeah, I don't know if they will automatically leave on March 1st or if they will stay until the current contract is up here in the Nashville area. I also thought about that too, about the void on the subchannels. I believe that Laff will automatically go on WNPX on March 1st because of WTVF being owned by Scripps. What will fill that gap on 5.3, I do not know. I will be sending out some e-mails today to all three stations affected by the moves. I don't know if I will get a reply back until next week though or not. Like you said, Stay tuned...
Steve
- Posted on January 15th, 2021 at 2:06pm
Hope ME-TV will be moved to one of the other stations...
NashDigie
- Posted on January 15th, 2021 at 3:37pm - Edited
I'm sorry to dash your hopes, but with MeTV on WJFB which is owned by the same company as MeTV, it will not move anywhere, but look on the bright side, WJFB will be moving from Franklin Pike in Lebanon to one of the towers in northern Nashville sometime soon, when, I do not know. It will be moving to the same tower as WPGD 50, and it will increase power to 1000kw the same as WPGD. So, if you look at your reception of WPGD, that will be your reception of WJFB when they move. Also, when they move, I do not know what will happen to all the networks on WKUW-LD 40, since both will be broadcasting the same networks from the same tower and they do not own WKUW.
xmguy
- Posted on February 21st, 2021 at 6:50pm
That will be bad for me in McMinnville, TN. I can't get the station well now, but even further away, unless they go ATSC 3.0 I don't forsee getting their signal. I currently have a Channel Master 3020. But Have bought a Televes DATBOSS LR MIX, hope that will improve my UHF reception. However my total height of around 15' and trees all in the way don't help.
sensiblecinema7217
- Posted on January 16th, 2021 at 3:42pm
The WJFB move can't come soon enough. I can't reliably receive their stations in Fairview with a pre-amped Channel Master Digital Advantage 100 pointed directly at their current tower. All the WPGD stations come in perfectly and with a strong signal. I can't wait!
Random Guy
- Posted on January 17th, 2021 at 7:36am
Good now WKRN can boost the bitrate of their main channel and the CW subchannel. WTVF can also boost their main channel or choose to boost the subchannels
hdrick103
- Posted on January 18th, 2021 at 7:15am
It looks like Dignets are migrating to their owned TV stations. If that is the case why hasn't THIS TV moved over to WJFB? THIS TV is owned or simi owned my Weigel Broadcasting Group. It doesn't look like WRTN 17 will ever get there signal back on the air, even if it does it would not reach as many viewers as WJFB after the move to a White Creek tower.
NashDigie
- Posted on January 18th, 2021 at 2:23pm
Actually, Weigel left its partnership of owning This TV back in 2013. MGM has been running it and Light TV up until last year when they sold both of them to Byron Allen, owner of Allen Media Group. By the way, he just recently revamped Light TV as The Grio - www.thegriotv.com. Also, WRTN has been on the air. They have been broadcasting on RF channel 8. It looks like they will be changing RF channels to 17 either this spring or summer.
Brentwood OTA
- Posted on February 9th, 2021 at 8:34pm
The Wikipedia entry for WNPX now lists Laff at 28.5 instead of QVC. Is this the first move?
NashDigie
- Posted on February 10th, 2021 at 1:07pm
Yeah, I saw that too, but I also saw it on other ION stations' Wikipedia pages. So, I don't where that info came from. Also, Wikipedia has been known for having misleading information in the past. So, as they say, you might want to take it with a grain of salt.
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