MyNetwork TV gives up its "network" status; exits ratings game

[Ace Goodheart]

http://www.variety.com/article/VR111...goryid=14&cs=1

Now that it's no longer a network, MyNetworkTV is out of the nightly ratings game.

Nielsen informed its clients Tuesday that MyNetworkTV has stopped supplying program information to its daily reporting service effective this week.
Instead, MyNetworkTV will now receive its numbers as part of the weekly syndication ratings report, which is released every Tuesday.
Move comes as MyNet officially morphed on Monday from a network into a programming service, airing off-net programming and movies as well as "WWE Smackdown" on Fridays.
Twentieth Television, which runs the programming service, will continue to sell MyNet's ad time based on those syndie numbers.
Although it will no longer receive daily national ratings, MyNet will still get some semblance of a daily report card via overnight ratings for Nielsen's 56 metered markets (although those numbers are generally ignored by network execs, who receive more accurate fast national ratings in the morning).
Twentieth execs were pleased with the early results from Monday night's back-to-back airings of NBC U's off-net "Law and Order: Criminal Intent." The two hours were up 43% in the metered markets vs. the same night a year ago, when MyNet aired the two-hour "Celebrity Expose."MyNet's sked also includes "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader" and "Deal or No Deal" on Tuesdays, back-to-back segs of "The Unit" on Wednesdays and movies on Thursday.


Not surprising at all. What I'm wondering is just how much longer it and The CW are going to survive. Didn't I hear that CW was also in shaky ground or was that just me?

[MasterDartz]

With two hours of primetime repeats, I gotta wonder when The CW will meet the same fate.

[Matt Hazuda]

So any bets on when Smackdown will announce it has a new home for the Fall 2010 season?

[Burgundy Ranger]

So any bets on when Smackdown will announce it has a new home for the Fall 2010 season?

I dunno when, but early odds say it won't be on broadcast.

[Mandouga]

So, if I'm reading this right, effective immediately, "MyNetwork TV" is now officially just a syndication block, which means that any and all "affiliates" are technically now "independent". Is that right?

[Knightmare]

So, if I'm reading this right, effective immediately, "MyNetwork TV" is now officially just a syndication block, which means that any and all "affiliates" are technically now "independent". Is that right?

That's my understanding of it, basically MyNetworkTv is kinda like the old Disney Afternoon or BKN blocks although instead of being "children's programing" they are being aimed towards adults, but like the old animated Blocks the affiliates will be able to pick and chose what they want to show. If this were 80's or the early to mid 90's this would be much better news back then independents were really good at coming up with their own line ups now a days a lot of just air endless hours of infomercials because it's cheaper and they make decent money off of them. Personally I'd like to see ThisTV and ION take over a lot of the former MyNetworkTV affiliates, both have much better programing to offer.

Also I wonder if Smackdown could end up on NBC especially on Saturday nights since they are really needing more hit programing and they wouldn't have to pay production costs or at least not as much as an original series.

[ShadowGUN]

So since it no longer a network I guess this mean they will change name to "MyTV" .

I wonder where can Smackdown go now? Back the CW? The USA Network?

[Ace Goodheart]

I honestly don't think that independent stations can compete in this day and age. So many other cable networks (and local stations depending on your area) have already swallowed up the rights to the best syndicated programming. Chances are that the stations with MNTV affiliation are not the #1 stations in their respective areas.........they're the "also-rans". That's the case here in NYC, WWOR-9 is the flagship MNTV station, and even under UPN its been the "skid row" of local NYC stations. Sad how the weekends are all taken up by infomercials.....

[Djm912]

Honestly. What could the Fox Network possibly be running on Fridays that Smackdown couldn't take the place of? Seriously.

[zimbach]

So since it no longer a network I guess this mean they will change name to "MyTV" .

I wonder where can Smackdown go now? Back the CW? The USA Network?

Why not Bravo for Smackdown? It's an NBC-U basic cable channel (two others of which air WWE's other primetime shows), and it's targeted at an audience that doesn't mind looking at oiled nearly-naked men grappling and rolling on the floor with each other. It should be a hit there.

[The Penguin]

This is interesting news. I don't know how long they are signed for, but I can't believe WWE would be happy being the crown jewel of a syndication package. I can't speak for others, but I have been exposed to two MyNetworkTV affiliates and both of them went by "My [STATION LETTERS]" rather than MyNetworkTV.

Honestly. What could the Fox Network possibly be running on Fridays that Smackdown couldn't take the place of? Seriously.

The quality is a matter of opinion, but this fall FOX is airing the Michael Strahan sitcom Brothers, sitcom Til Death and the Joss Whedon drama Dollhouse. FOX was interested in SmackDown once, but they wanted it to be live on the Thursday/Friday which doesn't work with the WWE's production schedule. Now with the other shows that are part of the taping (ECW and part of Superstars) it would be virtually impossible.

[JasonFox]

I only watched MyNetworkTV for Smackdown so as long as I can watch my SD i dont care about MNTV.

[chalmers]

I can't speak for others, but I have been exposed to two MyNetworkTV affiliates and both of them went by "My [STATION LETTERS]" rather than MyNetworkTV.

Many of the affiliates around the country do this. It's actually similar to some of the branding that some WB affiliates did back in the day, some would refer to it as [enter city name here]'s WB, some would just use the channel numbers, and some would only refer to it as a WB affiliate during the primetime hours.

I'm not sure why, but Boise didn't get MNTV until earlier this year, but it already pretty much is just a programming block here, it's on a substation of our local Fox affiliate along with ThisTV, but it only airs MNTV programs during primetime, making ThisTV the primary network on that subchannel. It also is not reffered to as My Network TV, it is instead referred to as My Boise TV.

[TMC1982]

With two hours of primetime repeats, I gotta wonder when The CW will meet the same fate.

Knowing how Dawn Ostroff operates, that possibility doesn't sound so far fetched.

[MegaJ]

Run Smackdown. Run while you still can.

WGN America seems like they want it, but the WWE still wants the show to have a broadcast home. NBC just needs to bite the bullet and either put the show on Fridays or Saturdays. So what if it's "low-brow," so are a lot of other NBC shows past and present and a consistent (not huge, but consistent) ratings grabber would be just what they need.

[hobbyfan]

Memo to NBC-Universal:

Smackdown, coupled with Jay Leno on Fridays=Epic Ratings Win.

[Jeff Harris]

I honestly don't think that independent stations can compete in this day and age. So many other cable networks (and local stations depending on your area) have already swallowed up the rights to the best syndicated programming.

I don't know about that. I mean down here in the 757, we have one indy channel, Sky 4. Their lineup is pretty decent, and they're not airing as many infomercials as they used to. They got My Name is Earl, Frasier, Degrassi, Roseanne, Steve Harvey,King of the Hill, and a few others. Heck, I didn't see Dead Like Me until they showed it. It's a pretty decent network. Just wish modern channels didn't have such an aversion towards shows that are over 30 years old.

That said, I'd wish someone would put Retro Television on their second digital subchannel around here.

Chances are that the stations with MNTV affiliation are not the #1 stations in their respective areas.........they're the "also-rans".

That could be true. Though around here, especially from November to March, my local MNT affiliate, WTVZ, is also the home of ACC Basketball, meaning it's no slouch in the ratings in these parts.

Of course the local CW affiliate here, WGNT, is the home of ACC Football and dominates around here.

One other note. Though the flagship of MyNetworkTV is WWOR, the most-watched affiliate in the nation is WTVZ. That's on record. The most watched CW affiliate in the nation is WGNT, which was also the most-watched UPN affiliate. Guess that's why The CW made it a quasi-flagship affiliate.

That's the case here in NYC, WWOR-9 is the flagship MNTV station, and even under UPN its been the "skid row" of local NYC stations. Sad how the weekends are all taken up by infomercials.....

I thought they were "skid row" even before they became UPN to be honest largely famous for introducing the general public outside of New York to Morton Downey, Jr., Howard Stern, and Richard Bey (who was Jerry Springer long before Jerry Springer for you youngsters out there). I also blame the fact that they're owned by Fox as well since they spend and nurture WNYW more than WWOR.

But yeah, infomercials sapping prime channel space sucks. I blame cable.

[Gonzales]

This is interesting news. I don't know how long they are signed for, but I can't believe WWE would be happy being the crown jewel of a syndication package. I can't speak for others, but I have been exposed to two MyNetworkTV affiliates and both of them went by "My [STATION LETTERS]" rather than MyNetworkTV.

That's the same thing that happened to two stations I often watch. My local station, KCOP, branded itself as "My 13," while the station in Las Vegas branded as "My LVTV."

Anyway, as for what the future holds for the stations, the ones owned by Fox will do just fine. They have access to Fox's exclusive broadcast syndication rights, so they can just roll with that for now. The one's I'm worried about are the ones that actually are independent.

[TMC1982]

I know that this has been said already, but I agree that if WWE wants SmackDown! to continue airing on over-the-air TV, they should give NBC a shot. NBC is already airing Jay Leno's show at 10 p.m. for five nights a week. They have also in the past, aired the Tribute to the Troops special as well as the XFL. It's not like NBC has much to lose by putting a wrestling program at say, 8:00 on Saturday evenings (an otherwise dead zone for NBC). It was simply be like Saturday Night's Main Event, albeit every week.:anime:

[Djm912]

The quality is a matter of opinion, but this fall FOX is airing the Michael Strahan sitcom Brothers, sitcom Til Death and the Joss Whedon drama Dollhouse. FOX was interested in SmackDown once, but they wanted it to be live on the Thursday/Friday which doesn't work with the WWE's production schedule. Now with the other shows that are part of the taping (ECW and part of Superstars) it would be virtually impossible.

If you remember earlier in the year and late last year, they ran the experiment of taping ECW before Raw. Not to mention, they're already taping matches for Superstars on Mondays as well. If an opportunity were to come up from FOX for Smackdown, what would stop them from moving ECW back to Mondays?

If their relationship with Bonnie Hammer and NBC Universal has shown us anything, it's that not even the mighty manly man Alpha Male Vincent Kennedy McMahon (dammit!!) isn't afraid to do what 'the network' would ask of him.

And....really? Brothers and Til Death? Really?