Ion Media Networks - General Discussion

[JCB4TV 347]

In Tulsa, KTPX apparently used the space vacated by Qubo, 44.2, with a UHF simulcast of KJRH.

 

[Yankees4life 559]

18 minutes ago, JCB4TV said:

In Tulsa, KTPX apparently used the space vacated by Qubo, 44.2, with a UHF simulcast of KJRH.

 

Now...that's useful 

[Route66Fan 77]

KPXE-TV, in Kansas City, MO, has dropped HSN & is now carrying QVC2 on Ch. 50.6.

[tw-804 192]

WTVR in Richmond will be adding ION on 6.5 soon according to RabbitEars. Currently it's on WRIC 8.2. WRIC has been carrying ION since November 2015.

 

Edited April 2, 2021 by tw-804

[Asomrjsurf 6]

On 4/2/2021 at 3:32 AM, Route66Fan said:

KPXE-TV, in Kansas City, MO, has dropped HSN & is now carrying QVC2 on Ch. 50.6.

Might report it on AVS Forums to. 

 

Also WDAF feed of Court TV on 631 CCI.

Edited April 5, 2021 by Asomrjsurf

[PhillyWatch 239]

In Philadelphia, ABC O&O WPVI has dropped their Laff broadcast on 6.3 and replaced it with “this”, while also adding a 6.4 for what I believe is the first time to carry QVC. Maybe WPPX will be gaining Newsy soon now that QVC has found a new Philly OTA home. Here’s hoping!

[AdamTheJ 90]

30 minutes ago, PhillyWatch said:

In Philadelphia, ABC O&O WPVI has dropped their Laff broadcast on 6.3 and replaced it with “this”, while also adding a 6.4 for what I believe is the first time to carry QVC. Maybe WPPX will be gaining Newsy soon now that QVC has found a new Philly OTA home. Here’s hoping!

In fact, five other ABC O&Os have replaced Laff with thisTv. Only KTRK and KFSN still carry Laff on .3’s.

[The Frog 429]

A former ION employee predicts that Scripps will rebrand and change the network's programming strategy ahead of sports acquistions.

[CLETVFan 367]

This could be another opportunity for a rebranding of the network, which has undergone a lot of changes since it was originally PAX (after it was supposed to be PaxNet).

[Rusty Muck 4378]

4 hours ago, The Frog said:

A former ION employee predicts that Scripps will rebrand and change the network's programming strategy ahead of sports acquistions.

inb4 ION rebrands as “Scripps Sports” and ION Mystery casually drops “Mystery”…

[CLETVFan 367]

Can PAX ever come back as a subchannel network? (Wishful thinking on my part)

[BluesNews 186]

47 minutes ago, CLETVFan said:

Can PAX ever come back as a subchannel network? (Wishful thinking on my part)

PAX wasn't really even that great of a network. You can get the same comparable programming from Hallmark and other "family-friendly" channels now. The only thing PAX had going for it, IMHO, was Supermarket Sweep and Candid Camera. Aside from that, wasn't much of their dramas Canadian produced anyway? And it was never going to contend with the other networks with the amount of infomercials it ran.

[Yankees4life 559]

My only memory of PAX was watching AFV reruns and maybe you get a replay of the WNBC news or some programming that was preempted on NBC. 

 

 

 

As Ion, it is just rerun city. There's nothing really special there and I'm surprised Paxton got someone to pay for that network for a lot of money. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TheRolyPoly 2447]

On 12/22/2022 at 7:46 PM, KentBrockman said:

PAX wasn't really even that great of a network. You can get the same comparable programming from Hallmark and other "family-friendly" channels now. The only thing PAX had going for it, IMHO, was Supermarket Sweep and Candid Camera. Aside from that, wasn't much of their dramas Canadian produced anyway? And it was never going to contend with the other networks with the amount of infomercials it ran.

 

And Shop 'Til You Drop. I didn't mind that one either.

[DirtyHarry 727]

I just don't understand who watches TV today. It seems like there are a multitude of 1.0 rating shows, of no interest really to anybody. It's a miracle that can make all the numbers work and make a profit. 

[tyrannical bastard 3955]

Most channels are turn-key jukeboxes these days.  Look at virtual OTT providers like PlutoTV.  You have entire "channels" of old shows.  Trying to watch the 24-hour look of "A Christmas Story", both TBS and TNT are basically barker channels for the latest Superhero movies and HBOMax.  Aside from sports and news, the entertainment channels are useless since all of the content can be watched without commmercial interruption and visual cluttter promoting some program they want you to watch.

 

I can see why Scripps wants to focus on news and sports.  In terms of channels, Ion is like the "Ollie's Bargain Outlet" of TV shows.  Just off-network runs of mediocre TV shows no one else wants anymore.

[Megatron81 263]

I remember when PAX first came on it had to share at first was QVC then shared with TV Guide Channel was from 6PM to 1AM WZPX did air UPN from 11PM to 1AM 98-99 season when LIN launched UPN on low-power WXSP. Suckyvision oh I mean Cablevision didn't put it in the lineup WXSP.

 

When WZPX got The WB was when they got there own channel in fall 99 The WB was on WGN before they went with superstation branding in fall 99 with no WB primetime, the only thing that was ever in pattern was Kids WB as WB primetime was on a 22-hour delay Monday shows aired on a Tue until The WB ended in fall of 06. I called Pax paid programming network and the I Network as I Suck Network WZPX was one of highest rated PAX stations across the country largely because of The WB.

 

I was surprised that ION did air NFL Game Of The Week in fall of 07 that only lasted for one season was also surprised they aired UFC & WWE in 2011 & 2012 as not surprised both failed they couldn't keep the fans after the shows were over. I'm not surprised that Scripps will try to put sports on ION it will be more local sports in my opinion, I was surprised that Scripps didn't buy WZPX since it isn't a top 4 TV station in West Michigan when they own Fox17.

Edited December 27, 2022 by Megatron81

[tyrannical bastard 3955]

Paxson was especially destructive in both Akron and Canton in terms of putting their programming in the Cleveland television market. To do this, they pretty much destroyed the local television that was serving the Akron (WAKC) and Canton (WOAC) areas.  Paxson's first target was WOAC, a locally run indepdendent primarily targeting the Canton Area.  In 1993, they got carriage in Akron on Warner Cable (thanks to the new must-carry rules).  I believe the station was sold to another owner who LMA-ed the station to Paxson.  Entertainment programming and local operations (and all of the staff were fired) in the fall of 1995 and inTV began running infomercials 24-7.  While this was going on, Paxson was working on acquiring WAKC from ValueVision, who had acquired WAKC from the Berk Family only the year before.  The initial plans were to put home shopping on 24/7, but due to existing commitments to ABC until the end of 1996, was forced to run the station as is.

 

After Paxson took control in February 1996 and let the ABC affiliation lapse at the end of the year, they added the same inTV programming WOAC was already running.  Somewhere along the line, WOAC was sold to Shop At Home, and they dropped the Paxson programming and went Home Shopping 24/7.  Scripps ended up buying WOAC several years later (with the Shop At Home network) when duopolies became legal.  Still, I don't think any operations were ever integrated with WEWS.  Scripps then got out of the Home Shopping business with the wind-down of SAH, and their SAH stations were sold to Multicultural Television, and infomercials came back.  WAKC morphed into WVPX and went with the full transition into a PAX station.  WEWS did weather cut-ins for them before the NBC (and WKYC) partnership began, leading to an Akron/Canton newscast that lasted about 3-4 years before PAX changed to "I".

 

Years later after WOAC morphed into  TCT-owned WRLM, TBN sold their spectrum of longtime O&O WDLI , merged their license onto WVPX's spectrum, and sold the WDLI license to Ion as well.  For some reason, both WDLI and WVPX were both sold to Inyo, and not to Scripps when they purchased Ion.  Likely, the dual license of WDLI and WVPX would be better to be kept to themselves, for must-carry purposes.

[DirtyHarry 727]

Scripps should get ahold of the WLWC call letters for WSFJ. If they really want to be creative they can drop in some Avco nostalgia, which I'm sure they can get a hold of easily from their crosstown rival in Cincinnati. Maybe they can even run some of those tribute shows WLWT runs periodically.

 

The WLWC call letters are on a station in Providence they had to offload. But they are friendly with that company so it should be easy to get them back.

 

The call letters won't mean anything in the long run, but they can get some cheap marketing attention for an otherwise forgotten station sharing a low power frequency. (Kind of like the WWJ call letters in Detroit.)

 

 

[Rusty Muck 4378]

On 12/22/2022 at 9:03 PM, Yankees4life said:

My only memory of PAX was watching AFV reruns and maybe you get a replay of the WNBC news or some programming that was preempted on NBC. 

 

As Ion, it is just rerun city. There's nothing really special there and I'm surprised Paxton got someone to pay for that network for a lot of money.

Scripps spent all that money for the broadcast spectrum, not the content featured. Replacing Ion Life (nothing but CanCon drama reruns) Ion Plus (an infomercial farm) and Qubo (the only Pax diginet that had some bit of care to it but ultimately felt neglected and didn’t have a chance) with Scripps’ Katz diginets absolutely constituted an upgrade.

[Rusty Muck 4378]

12 hours ago, tyrannical bastard said:

Paxson was especially destructive in both Akron and Canton in terms of putting their programming in the Cleveland television market. To do this, they pretty much destroyed the local television that was serving the Akron (WAKC) and Canton (WOAC) areas.  Paxson's first target was WOAC, a locally run indepdendent primarily targeting the Canton Area.  In 1993, they got carriage in Akron on Warner Cable (thanks to the new must-carry rules).  I believe the station was sold to another owner who LMA-ed the station to Paxson.  Entertainment programming and local operations (and all of the staff were fired) in the fall of 1995 and inTV began running infomercials 24-7.  While this was going on, Paxson was working on acquiring WAKC from ValueVision, who had acquired WAKC from the Berk Family only the year before.  The initial plans were to put home shopping on 24/7, but due to existing commitments to ABC until the end of 1996, was forced to run the station as is.

 

After Paxson took control in February 1996 and let the ABC affiliation lapse at the end of the year, they added the same inTV programming WOAC was already running.  Somewhere along the line, WOAC was sold to Shop At Home, and they dropped the Paxson programming and went Home Shopping 24/7.  Scripps ended up buying WOAC several years later (with the Shop At Home network) when duopolies became legal.  Still, I don't think any operations were ever integrated with WEWS.  Scripps then got out of the Home Shopping business with the wind-down of SAH, and their SAH stations were sold to Multicultural Television, and infomercials came back.  WAKC morphed into WVPX and went with the full transition into a PAX station.  WEWS did weather cut-ins for them before the NBC (and WKYC) partnership began, leading to an Akron/Canton newscast that lasted about 3-4 years before PAX changed to "I".

 

Years later after WOAC morphed into  TCT-owned WRLM, TBN sold their spectrum of longtime O&O WDLI , merged their license onto WVPX's spectrum, and sold the WDLI license to Ion as well.  For some reason, both WDLI and WVPX were both sold to Inyo, and not to Scripps when they purchased Ion.  Likely, the dual license of WDLI and WVPX would be better to be kept to themselves, for must-carry purposes.

Not that I want to toot my own horn, but I redid the history of channel 23 on Wikipedia. @Samantha redid the history of WBPX in Boston (which as WQTV was an unprecedented financial failure for the Church of Christ, Scientist, and as WABU had a good amount of local programming attached to it; it just struggled to find viewership at any point in its existence).

 

WPXN and those two stations—and to a lesser extent WOAC, which indeed was sold to “Whitehead Media” and LMAed to Paxson—are the only ones in the Paxson chain that genuinely had history attached to them. The others were struggling or failed U indies which never had a chance in their respective markets, but were bought … mostly for the broadcast spectrum and must-carry on cable, which in 1996 hadn’t been upheld yet by SCOTUS.

 

Inyo is a shell operator that explicitly exists so Scripps can continue to operate at the 39% national ownership cap for OTA stations. Ion Media didn’t have to worry about an existing chain of network affiliates (having sold off WPBF in 1996) when they set up their chain that also corresponded to the 39% limit. It’s the only reason why WVPX-WDLI was “spun off”.

Edited December 27, 2022 by Myron Falwell

[T.L. Hughes 890]

4 hours ago, Myron Falwell said:

Scripps spent all that money for the broadcast spectrum, not the content featured. Replacing Ion Life (nothing but CanCon drama reruns) Ion Plus (an infomercial farm) and Qubo (the only Pax diginet that had some bit of care to it but ultimately felt neglected and didn’t have a chance) with Scripps’ Katz diginets absolutely constituted an upgrade.

Ion Plus (which began as Ion Life, and now exists as a streaming network carried on a few AVOD streamers like Samsung TV+ and is soon being added along with the mothership and five other Scripps diginets to FuboTV) was the one that carried drama reruns (and lifestyle shows, most of which were also Cancon in nature, before that). Shop Ion (which used that branding only as an identifier for program listings, never on-air) was the “infomercial farm”.

Edited December 27, 2022 by T.L. Hughes

[DirtyHarry 727]

I was watching Bounce last night and just curious about the logistics. Right on the money, "WSFJ-TV, LONDON, OHIO" appears at the top of the hour. I'm assuming that it is hubbed somewhere? Do they hub it here in Ohio or with the other ION stations?

 

First of all, why isn't anybody smart enough to type "LONDON - COLUMBUS" into the computer?

 

Second, I'm curious why they picked London as their city of license. It was Newark before, and that's about 50 miles away on the other side of Columbus.

 

Also, they channel-share with an LPTV station. That adds another link in the chain that could possibly break. Who monitors that?

 

Do they have to have a local presence anymore? Like an office or a studio somewhere in town?

 

Do they have local public service requirements they have to meet anymore?

 

And if they were smart, just as a marketing gimmick, they would bring back the WLWC call letters. I'm sure they'll just keep running this on autopilot, but if they ever do want to turn this into a real TV station, you might be able to get noticed in the market that way (like WWJ). WSFJ stands for "Winning Souls for Jesus." I wonder if anybody at Scripps even realizes that.

[BluesNews 186]

Ion is positioning itself to be more like Weigel’s Heroes & Icons, at least based on a recurring promo that is now running on Scripps News.
 

The slogan they tout is “A Home for Heroes” in a promo of their off-network syndicated crime dramas.

 

I think I liked it better when they were just “Positively Entertaining,” but that’s just me thinking about clever promotion.

Edited February 8, 2023 by BluesNews

[AmericanErrorist 149]

On 1/29/2023 at 1:08 PM, DirtyHarry said:

I was watching Bounce last night and just curious about the logistics. Right on the money, "WSFJ-TV, LONDON, OHIO" appears at the top of the hour. I'm assuming that it is hubbed somewhere? Do they hub it here in Ohio or with the other ION stations?

 

First of all, why isn't anybody smart enough to type "LONDON - COLUMBUS" into the computer?

 

Second, I'm curious why they picked London as their city of license. It was Newark before, and that's about 50 miles away on the other side of Columbus.

 

Also, they channel-share with an LPTV station. That adds another link in the chain that could possibly break. Who monitors that?

 

Do they have to have a local presence anymore? Like an office or a studio somewhere in town?

 

Do they have local public service requirements they have to meet anymore?

 

And if they were smart, just as a marketing gimmick, they would bring back the WLWC call letters. I'm sure they'll just keep running this on autopilot, but if they ever do want to turn this into a real TV station, you might be able to get noticed in the market that way (like WWJ). WSFJ stands for "Winning Souls for Jesus." I wonder if anybody at Scripps even realizes that.

 

The Main Studio Rule was abolished in 2019, and every ION station office closed up soon after. An hour of public service programs on weekday mornings produced by those stations were accordingly canceled, according to Wikipedia