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News Corp. Unveils My Network TV
By John M. Higgins & John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/22/2006 5:58:00 PM
Hoping to turn a void at its stations into an opportunity, News Corp. Wednesday laid out plans for a new broadcast channel/network/service, My Network TV.
The service, which launches Sept. 5, will be anchored by nine News Corp. stations being abandoned as that network merges with The WB to create The CW, plus one independent. But News Corp. executives are rushing to sign up orphans or even snag strong stations that might otherwise have signed up with The CW.
News Corp. President Peter Chernin, Fox Stations Chairman Roger Ailes, and station execs Jack Abernethy (CEO) and Dennis Swanson (president) began laying out their plans for the new network in a presentation to executives at a Manhattan hotel.
At launch, My Network TV will consist of 12 hours of original content per week, airing at 8-10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It will reach 24% of the country, according to News Corp.
Chernin said the service was intended to be profitable from day one. It will launch with two hour-long dramas, English-language telenovelas Desire and Secrets from co-owned Twentieth Television. The shows will be stripped (five days a week), with 13-episode arcs.
20th Century Television had planned to syndicate Desire, which is based on scripts translated from telenovelas aired in Latin America. But the syndication plans were scrapped when UPN announced Jan. 23 that it would go dark.
Chernin said My Network TV will have fresh programming 52 weeks a year. Shows in development include reality programs Catwalk, Celebrity Love Island, Transformed, and America's Brainiest, as well as On Scene, the last a Fox News-produced magazine.
Full Story
By John M. Higgins & John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 2/22/2006 5:58:00 PM
Hoping to turn a void at its stations into an opportunity, News Corp. Wednesday laid out plans for a new broadcast channel/network/service, My Network TV.
The service, which launches Sept. 5, will be anchored by nine News Corp. stations being abandoned as that network merges with The WB to create The CW, plus one independent. But News Corp. executives are rushing to sign up orphans or even snag strong stations that might otherwise have signed up with The CW.
News Corp. President Peter Chernin, Fox Stations Chairman Roger Ailes, and station execs Jack Abernethy (CEO) and Dennis Swanson (president) began laying out their plans for the new network in a presentation to executives at a Manhattan hotel.
At launch, My Network TV will consist of 12 hours of original content per week, airing at 8-10 p.m. Monday through Saturday. It will reach 24% of the country, according to News Corp.
Chernin said the service was intended to be profitable from day one. It will launch with two hour-long dramas, English-language telenovelas Desire and Secrets from co-owned Twentieth Television. The shows will be stripped (five days a week), with 13-episode arcs.
20th Century Television had planned to syndicate Desire, which is based on scripts translated from telenovelas aired in Latin America. But the syndication plans were scrapped when UPN announced Jan. 23 that it would go dark.
Chernin said My Network TV will have fresh programming 52 weeks a year. Shows in development include reality programs Catwalk, Celebrity Love Island, Transformed, and America's Brainiest, as well as On Scene, the last a Fox News-produced magazine.
Full Story