MeTV
MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television programs from the 1930s through the 1990s.
Not to be confused with MTV, MyNetworkTV, We TV, or FETV.Type
United States
Nationwide
See: List of affiliates
English
- 720p HDTV master feed
- (downscaled to 480i (SDTV widescreen) on most over-the-air affiliates)
Me-TV National Limited Partnership[1]
- Neal Sabin
- (Vice Chairman, Weigel Broadcasting)[2]
- Norman Shapiro
- (President, Weigel Broadcasting)
Service(s): MeTV mobile app, DirecTV Stream, DIRECTV, Verizon FiOS, AT&T U-Verse, Frndly TV, Philo
Service(s): Frndly TV, Philo
The concept began as a 1950s to 1980s programming block on Chicago's WFBT-CA in 2003, growing until becoming a national network in 2010. Since 2010, the network has spun off six sister networks: MeTV+, the action/adventure-oriented Heroes & Icons, the sitcom-oriented Catchy Comedy, the film-centered Movies! (joint venture with Fox Television Stations), the drama-oriented Start TV (joint venture with CBS News and Stations), and the history/documentary network Story Television.
MeTV is carried on digital subchannels of affiliated television stations in most markets; however, some MeTV-affiliated stations carry the network as a primary affiliation on their main channel, and a small number of stations air select programs from the network along with their regular general entertainment schedules, with a few carrying the network in high definition. The network is also available nationwide on DirecTV and DirecTV Stream, free-to-air C band satellite via SES-1 in the DVB-S2 format,[3] and in some markets on AT&T U-verse and Verizon FiOS and cable television through cable TV providers nationwide.[4] As of March 28, 2022, MeTV is available on the streaming service Frndly TV.[5] As of August 9, 2022, MeTV is available on another streaming service Philo.[6] MeTV's operations are located in Weigel Broadcasting's corporate headquarters on North Halsted Street in Chicago, Illinois.
History[edit]
Chicago beginnings[edit]
MeTV was originally developed as a programming block that launched on January 6, 2003, on Class A television station WFBT-CA (channel 23) in Chicago, Illinois, an independent station owned by Weigel that otherwise maintained a format featuring programming aimed at the market's diverse ethnic demographics. The block – which initially aired for three hours daily from 12:00 to 3:00 p.m., before expanding to seven hours a day (from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) by 2004 – featured a broad mix of series from the 1950s to the 1980s, which included among others The Honeymooners, I Love Lucy, Perry Mason, The Carol Burnett Show, One Day at a Time, and Hogan's Heroes; although the programs that aired as part of the lineup changed occasionally.[7]
On January 1, 2005, Weigel rechristened the Chicago low-power station as WWME-CA and removed the ethnic-oriented programming that filled its late afternoon and nighttime schedule, adopting the MeTV format and on-air branding full-time. Channel 23's former ethnic programming and WFBT-CA call letters were transferred to its sister station on UHF channel 48, which used the W48DD call letters prior to the format change.[8]
On August 4, 2007, WWME launched a weekend morning block that primarily featured Spanish dubs of select classic series, "Sí! MeTV" (the first two parts of the moniker were based on the phrase "see me", although "Sí" is the Spanish word for "yes"). Most of the programs carried as part of the "Sí! MeTV" lineup – which ran on the station until its discontinuation on January 25, 2009 – were sourced from the Universal Television library (including Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, Miami Vice, Quantum Leap, and The Incredible Hulk), with syndication restrictions imposed on the original English-language versions resulting in some of the programs being made available to the station only in Spanish.[9]
Weigel expanded the format to its station on UHF channel 48 on March 1, 2008 – which adopted the WMEU-CA call letters at that time – under the "MeToo" extension brand, with the two low-power stations also being broadcast locally on separate digital subchannels of Weigel's flagship station WCIU-TV (channel 26).[10][11] The two stations eventually carved out their own identities, culminating in a format shift on September 14, 2009, when WWME began to exclusively carry off-network sitcoms (such as I Love Lucy, Leave It to Beaver, The Andy Griffith Show, The Bernie Mac Show, All in the Family, The Honeymooners, and Frasier),[12] while MeToo on WMEU began running only off-network drama series.[13]
Milwaukee expansion[edit]
On March 1, 2008, Weigel expanded the MeTV format to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where it began airing on the third digital subchannel of the group's CBS affiliate in that market, WDJT-TV (channel 58).[14][15] The Milwaukee version of the service featured much of the same programming as that aired on the Chicago outlets (some of which aired in different timeslots than on WWME and WMEU), as well as certain programs that were exclusive to the Milwaukee service.
The following month on April 21, Weigel moved the MeTV programming to its dedicated full-powered channel – WJJA (channel 49) in Racine, a Jewelry Television-affiliated station that the group had recently purchased from Kinlow Broadcasting and had its call letters changed to WBME-TV on April 29.[16][17] It later began transmitting the station's signal from a new digital transmitter on the Weigel tower in Milwaukee's Lincoln Park on October 20 of that year, after WBME officially transferred its operations into the West Allis studios of WDJT and sister stations WMLW-CA and WYTU-LP. MeTV continued to be carried on digital channel 58.3 until October 30, 2008, when it was replaced by newly launched sister network This TV on the same channel. The station also aired public affairs programming including Racine & Me, and because of its full-power status at the time of the move of MeTV programming to channel 49, programming compliant with FCC educational programming requirements such as Green Screen Adventures (a children's program produced for Weigel's Chicago flagship station WCIU-TV) and Saved by the Bell.
National expansion[edit]
On November 22, 2010, Weigel announced that it would take the MeTV concept national and turn it into a full-fledged network with a standardized schedule, available to any station that wished to affiliate. As a result, MeTV would compete fully with the Retro Television Network and the then yet-to-launch Antenna TV, while complementing successful then-sister network This TV, which carried library product from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (with a limited number of classic television series featured alongside its movie-dominated schedule) and – until Tribune Broadcasting took over Weigel's operational interest in This TV on November 1, 2013 – children's programming from the Canada-based Cookie Jar Entertainment (now WildBrain).[18] The national MeTV network launched in December 2010. As with This TV, MGM handled distribution of the network to prospective affiliate stations.[1]
As part of the standardization with the new network, Chicago's local version of MeTV was integrated with MeToo, combining a selection of comedy and drama programming that had respectively been featured on WWME and WMEU onto the latter station's schedule under the MeToo brand as a locally programmed service. In the Chicago market, the national MeTV is carried on WCIU subchannel 26.3 and WWME-CA (the latter of which serves as its flagship station, and through its ownership by Weigel, an owned-and-operated station of the network); the new MeToo moved to WCIU subchannel 26.4 and remained on WMEU-CA.[19]
Low-powered WBME-CD in Milwaukee carries the national feed of MeTV in its entirety on digital channel 41.1; as a full-power station, prior to an August 2012 license swap that saw sister independent station WMLW move to full-power channel 49, while WBME moved to low-power channel 41 (the latter of which resulted in MeTV returning to its former secondary 58.2 slot to allow the latter to reach the entire market and to provide cable providers with a quality source of its signal),[20] Weigel-owned ABC affiliate WBND-LD (channel 57) in South Bend began carrying MeTV on its 57.2 subchannel on December 15, 2010.
On April 1, 2013, Nielsen began to tabulate national viewership for MeTV, including the network in its prime time and total day ratings reports. In February 2016, the network began to transmit its master feed in 16:9 widescreen standard definition (which is also the preferred aspect ratio for sister networks Heroes & Icons and Decades), after conducting beta-testing in the format on WWME-CD months earlier. Although most affiliates continue to carry the MeTV feed in the 4:3 format due to technical considerations regarding transmission of their primary channel in high-definition and/or carriage of other subchannels, the switch to a widescreen feed was done mainly to accommodate national and local advertisers that produce commercials exclusively in the 16:9 format and prefer not to have their advertising letterboxed into a 4:3 presentation, and stations which carry newscasts and other local programming on their MeTV subchannels that prefer to present them in widescreen. With the conversion, MeTV also began to carry remastered widescreen prints of some programs (such as Leave It to Beaver, I Love Lucy, The Honeymooners, and The Monkees) and present its program promotions in the 16:9 format; most other programming to which Me-TV has only obtained 4:3 prints are presented in an anamorphic 14:9 format. According to Nielsen, MeTV averaged 719,000 viewers in prime time for 2019, a 2% increase over 2018.[21]
