This May Explain Why We Have a Shirtless 'Magnum, P.I.' On Our Cover Today

We take a look at the lively digi-net landscape in our new issue–specifically, how the arrival of multicast channels from the NBC Owned Stations (Cozi TV) and Fox Television Stations (Movies!) affect what was already a pretty packed entertainment channel landscape.

Cozi, showing old series and a handful of originals, debuted in January. Movies! is shooting for Memorial Day.

One leader in the space is Me-TV, with 190 affiliates covering 85% of the U.S. Antenna TV, for its part, weights in at 72 affiliates covering 62% of the nation. This TV, showing films, is a biggie in the space too.

Booming in the broader digi-net space are the likes of Bounce TV, targeted to African Americans reaching 68% of the U.S, and MundoFox, the new Spanish-language entry from Fox with 50% U.S. coverage. 

Next week, Me-TV begins receiving national ratings from Nielsen.

“It’s the duopoly you don’t have to buy,” says Neal Sabin, president of content and networks at Me-TV/This TV parent Weigel. “It’s a very economical way to get another stream into the market.”

Michael Malone

Michael Malone is content director at B+C and Multichannel News. He joined B+C in 2005 and has covered network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television, including writing the "Local News Close-Up" market profiles. He also hosted the podcasts "Busted Pilot" and "Series Business." His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The L.A. Times, The Boston Globe and New York magazine.