Post by George WK Newman on May 28, 2009 12:12:02 GMT -5
May 28, 2009 - New York, NY
The fledging national televison network being put together by PLS Media took a big step today towards national clearance when they announced an affiliation agreement with WLNY-DT 10/55, which is a digital only station operating out of Riverhead, NY. WLNY is carried on Cablevision, Comcast, Direct TV, Dish Network, RCN, Fios, and Time Warner Cable.
"This is a step up from being resigned to being a digital subchannel on one of the bigger stations, " claimed network CEO George Newman. "In addition to the Sinclair and other stations already signed, we now reach over 20% of US households." This despite not having a single program developed or even a name. "Our goal" continued Newman, "is to reach a critical mass of 70-80% of US households within a month after announcing our first schedule, and then reaching the 92-95% threshold by the time we go on the air."
WLNY has been operating since 1985 and was an independent station airing mostly syndicated programming. Currently the station airs a movie most nights between 8-10pm, this would likely be the time network programming would take over. If the network offers 10-11pm programming then it would displace Judge Judy. Another possibility mentioned was moving the local news from 11 pm to 10 pm if the network decides to have a news division. Oprah will provide a strong lead-in for network programming as the iconic talk show airs on WLNY at 7pm on weeknights.
The fledging national televison network being put together by PLS Media took a big step today towards national clearance when they announced an affiliation agreement with WLNY-DT 10/55, which is a digital only station operating out of Riverhead, NY. WLNY is carried on Cablevision, Comcast, Direct TV, Dish Network, RCN, Fios, and Time Warner Cable.
"This is a step up from being resigned to being a digital subchannel on one of the bigger stations, " claimed network CEO George Newman. "In addition to the Sinclair and other stations already signed, we now reach over 20% of US households." This despite not having a single program developed or even a name. "Our goal" continued Newman, "is to reach a critical mass of 70-80% of US households within a month after announcing our first schedule, and then reaching the 92-95% threshold by the time we go on the air."
WLNY has been operating since 1985 and was an independent station airing mostly syndicated programming. Currently the station airs a movie most nights between 8-10pm, this would likely be the time network programming would take over. If the network offers 10-11pm programming then it would displace Judge Judy. Another possibility mentioned was moving the local news from 11 pm to 10 pm if the network decides to have a news division. Oprah will provide a strong lead-in for network programming as the iconic talk show airs on WLNY at 7pm on weeknights.