Cozi TV

Cozi TV

Type	Digital broadcast television network (classic television series, movies)
Country	United States
Availability	Nationwide via OTA digital television (covering 70%+ of the U.S.)[1]
Slogan	The Easiest Decision You'll Make All Day
Headquarters	New York City, New York
Owner	NBC Owned Television Stations (Comcast)
Key people	Valari Staab (President, NBC Owned Television Stations) Meredith McGinn (VP, Local Programming) Marni Kupfer (VP, Lifestyle Production)[2]
Launch date	March 9, 2009 (2009-03-09) (New York Nonstop) 2010 (2010) (nationally; as NBC Nonstop) December 20, 2012 (2012-12-20) (relaunch; as Cozi TV)
Picture format	480i (SDTV; widescreen)
Affiliates	List of affiliates
Official website	www.cozitv.com

Cozi TV (stylized on-air as COZI TV^[3]) is an American digital multicast television network that is owned by the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations division of NBCUniversal. The network airs a mix of classic television series from the 1950s to the 1980s, movies, and first-run lifestyle programming.^[2][4][5]

The network originated as a local news and lifestyle programming format that was launched between 2009 and 2011 and was seen on digital subchannels operated by nine owned-and-operated television stations of the NBC television network in the United States under the brand NBC Nonstop.^[2] The sitcoms and drama series now appearing on Cozi are primarily from the NBCUniversal Television Distribution program library, along with original programs from other distributors.

Overview

Local/regional format as NBC Nonstop

NBC Nonstop logo.

After NBCUniversal shut down NBC Weather Plus in December 2008 (shortly after the company, along with Blackstone Group and Bain Capital, purchased The Weather Channel), the company's flagship television station WNBC in New York City replaced Weather Plus' successor automated local weather service, NBC Plus, on digital subchannel 4.2 on March 9, 2009, with NBC New York Nonstop, a channel that featured a mix of locally produced news and lifestyle programming.^[6]

In June 2010, NBC Local Media appointed former WNBC general manager Tom O'Brien in the newly created position of executive vice president of Nonstop Network.^[7] In October, WNBC sister stations WCAU and WRC-TV respectively launched their own versions of the Nonstop channel in the Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. markets. Chicago's WMAQ-TV launched its own local version in November 2010. NBC's three owned-and-operated stations in California (KNBC in Los Angeles, KNTV in San Jose-San Francisco and KNSD in San Diego) collaborated to launch the only regional Nonstop channel, NBC California Nonstop, in January 2011; Nonstop channels were also launched by KXAS-TV in Dallas-Fort Worth and WTVJ in Miami that same month. Each station's Nonstop subchannel carried eight hours of locally produced programming (usually in the form of additional local newscasts exclusive to the subchannel that were produced by each station for their respective market, and some lifestyle or talk-oriented programs), along with core programming from affiliated production company LXTV (such as Talk Stoop, First Look and Open House – the latter two of which were later picked up by NBC for its Saturday late-night lineup).^[8]

Relaunch as Cozi TV

On November 3, 2011, NBC Owned Television Stations announced that its seven local Nonstop subchannels would become a single national network under the proposed name NBC Nonstop Network (also to have been called NBC Nonstop or Nonstop Network); the format of the national network was originally planned to feature a format similar to the local Nonstop channels, which would have placed the network in direct competition with the Live Well Network.^[2][9] An NBC executive indicated that the independently-formatted Nonstop channels were performing well, but needed separate programming. NBC stated that the network would carry reruns of classic television series during daytime hours and lifestyle programming at night, and that local stations would be able to preempt the national Nonstop Network programming to carry their own local content. By July 2012, it was announced that NBC was considering using a different name for the national network, with "Bob TV" among the names being put under consideration.^[10]

On October 17, 2012, Time Out Chicago reported that NBCUniversal would launch a new classic television network (similar to Me-TV) called Cozi TV; this turned out to actually be the new name of the retooled national version of NBC Nonstop.^[4][11][12] NBC soft launched Cozi TV on its owned-and-operated stations as well as some charter affiliates on December 20, 2012; the network officially launched on January 1, 2013.^[13][14][15]

Programming

Cozi TV permits its local affiliates the option of preempting up to 13 hours of the network's programming each week in order to carry newscasts or other locally produced programming; this is a remnant of the format originated by NBC Nonstop, in which most of NBC's O&Os carried additional newscasts on their Nonstop subchannels.^[16]

Classic television series and movies

Cozi TV's programming schedule relies primarily on classic television sitcoms, dramas, and westerns from the 1950s to the 1980s from the programming library of corporate sister NBCUniversal Television Distribution (including shows from Universal Television, Revue Studios, NBC Studios and MCA Television).

The network's programming lineup includes series such as The Dick Van Dyke Show, Lassie, Banacek, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, Hart to Hart, I Spy, The Lone Ranger, Magnum, P.I., The Six Million Dollar Man, Here's Lucy, Marcus Welby, M.D., The Virginian, Highway to Heaven' and Starsky & Hutch; most of the series airing on the network have been widely syndicated on other television outlets in the United States and abroad, though a few series featured on the network (such as The Real McCoys, The Avengers, The Name of the Game and Life with Elizabeth) have not been seen on television for several years or were syndicated on a fairly inconsistent basis. The network also broadcasts theatrically released feature films on Friday evenings and intermittently during the day on Saturdays and Sundays, featuring films from the Universal Pictures library.

Unscripted programming

In addition to classic television series and films, Cozi TV also carries first-run lifestyle programming from LXTV and other distributors as well as reruns of game shows such as Cash Cab, Hollywood Treasure, House Smarts, 1st Look, Open House TV (both also airs as part of NBC's Saturday late night lineup) and Talk Stoop.

Children's programming

In order to comply with educational programming requirements mandated by the Federal Communications Commission's Children's Television Act on behalf of the network's affiliates, Cozi TV carries a three-hour block of children's programs acquired from the syndication market on Saturday mornings (currently consisting of Aqua Kids and Ariel & Zoey & Eli, Too).

Affiliates

NBCUniversal currently broadcasts Cozi TV in most markets served by a station owned by the NBCUniversal Owned Television Stations group, either on subchannels of NBC or Telemundo stations. The network is also available on the digital subchannels of other television stations, primarily those affiliated with NBC.^[4][5] The network is available to stations on a barter basis, in which Cozi TV and its affiliates split the responsibility of selling advertising inventory as well as the commercial time allocated each hour.

The network soft launched on NBC and Telemundo owned-and-operated stations in most markets (with NBC O&Os carrying the network in most markets where the company owns stations and Telemundo O&Os carrying it in markets where an NBC O&O is not present). The network's initial affiliates outside of the core NBC O&O group included KAIL-TV in Fresno, California, KVOA in Tucson, KSNV-DT in Las Vegas and eight Texas stations owned by London Broadcasting Company (including KCEN-TV in Waco and its semi-repeater KAGS-LD in College Station), with a total initial reach of 26% of U.S. television households.^[17] By July 2013, the network's reach had expanded to 42% of the U.S. (or an estimated 47.5 million households with at least one television set), through affiliation deals with WMFP in Boston, KUBE-TV in Houston and the E. W. Scripps Company's KSHB-TV in Kansas City.^[18]

On June 2, 2014, Cozi TV's programming was made available on AT&T U-verse channel 578 and Dish Network channel 82 on a part-time basis, through a deal with LeSEA Broadcasting's Family Entertainment Television (FETV) network. LeSEA's relationship with Cozi TV was extended to its stations on June 17, 2014, when it signed an affiliation deal to carry the network on its stations in South Bend, Honolulu, Colorado Springs, Tulsa, St. Croix and New Orleans (WHMB-TV in Indianapolis was exempted from the agreement due to an existing affiliation contract with Dispatch Broadcast Group's WTHR and WALV-CD); the network also announced a deal with OTA Broadcasting, LLC to affiliate with KFFV in Seattle and WEPA-CD in Pittsburgh. Both deals expanded the network's reach to 60% of the U.S.^[19][20]

List of affiliates

See also

• Live Well Network – competing digital broadcast network owned by Disney–ABC Television Group, featuring lifestyle programming similar to that previously found on Cozi TV.
• Me-TV – competing digital broadcast network owned by Weigel Broadcasting, specializing in classic television series from the 1950s to the 1980s.
• Decades – upcoming network owned by Weigel Broadcasting and CBS Television Stations, specializing in classic television series from the 1950s to the 1980s as well as archival news programming.
• Antenna TV – competing digital broadcast network owned by Tribune Broadcasting, specializing in classic television series from the 1950s to the 1990s.
• Buzzr – upcoming competing digital broadcast network owned by FremantleMedia North America, specializing in classic television game shows.
• Bounce TV – competing digital broadcast network owned by Bounce Media LLC, featuring television series and movies targeting an African-American audience.
• Grit – competing digital broadcast network owned by Bounce Media LLC, featuring television series and movies targeting an African-American audience.
• Retro TV – competing digital broadcast network owned by Luken Communications specializing in classic television series from the 1950s to the 1970s, along with select recent programming.
• This TV – competing digital broadcast network owned by Tribune Broadcasting and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, primarily featuring movies as well as a limited amount of classic television series.

References

Notes

External links

• Official website