Retro Television Network

Retro Television Network
Type Broadcast television network
Branding Retro TV
Country United States
Availability Nationwide via OTA digital television
(covering 54% of the U.S.)[1]
Slogan The Best in Classic Television!
Owner Retro Television, Inc.
Parent Luken Communications
Launch date
 July 2005 (10 years ago)
Former names
 On-air branding:
RTN (2005–2009)
RTV (2009–2013)

The Retro Television Network (branded on-air as Retrotv and alternately abbreviated below by its former on-air brand RTN for brevity) is an American broadcast television network that is owned by Luken Communications. The network mainly airs classic television sitcoms and drama series from the 1950s through the 1980s, although it also includes more recent programs from the 1990s and 2000s. Through its ownership by Luken, the Retro Television Network is a sister network to several broadcast network properties that are wholly or jointly owned by the company, including the family-oriented Family Channel and country music-oriented network Heartland.

At its outset, the Retro Television Network was designed to be broadcast on the digital subchannels of television stations; however in recent years, the network's affiliate body has been drawn down to primarily low-power stations, as many station groups have replaced the network on the subchannels of their full-power major network affiliates with similarly formatted networks such as Antenna TV and Me-TV, which have assumed rights to many of the distributors that formerly held programming agreements with RTN. The network is also available nationwide on free-to-air C-band satellite via SES-2 in DVB-S2 format;[2][3] as individualised transmitter-ready feeds for each station are centrally generated using broadcast automation and delivered to the stations by satellite.

History

Retro Television Network logo used from July 2005 to June 2009.

The Retro Television Network (originally branded as "RTN") launched in July 2005 on select television stations owned by the Equity Broadcasting Corporation (later known as Equity Media Holdings), a chain of small (often low-powered) satellite-fed UHF television stations controlled directly from Equity's headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas. Equity had expanded quickly with purchases of many small stations in the early 2000s, but by 2008, the company was struggling to meet its obligations.

In June 2008, while the company was undergoing financial troubles, Equity Media Holdings sold RTN to Henry Luken III's – Equity's former president and CEO, and the company's largest shareholder – Luken Communications for $18.5 million in cash. Equity had an option to repurchase the network for $27.75 million; the purchase option was not exercised and expired on December 24, 2008. Equity had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy three weeks before the expiration of the purchase option.[4]

On January 4, 2009, a contract conflict between Equity and Luken Communications interrupted RTN programming on many of its affiliates with Luken alleging that Equity had left many obligations to RTN's creditors, including programming suppliers, unpaid. As a result, Luken restored a national feed of the network from its Chattanooga headquarters with individual feeds to affiliates not owned by Equity following suit on a piecemeal basis. Equity-owned-or-operated stations lost RTN affiliation, though Luken vowed to find new affiliates for the network in the affected areas.[5]

RTV logo used from June 2009 to March 2013.

The Retro Television Network changed its on-air branding to "RTV" in June 2009 (a nod to the digital television transition that occurred that month, though a trademark dispute with the Racetrack Television Network was also a factor in the change)[6][7]


In 2012, Retro dropped from 120 to 80 affiliates with many ABC affiliates switching to the Live Well Network.[8] The network was rebranded as "Retro TV" in 2013.

Concept and programming

Since its creation, RTN's principal programming concept consists of classic television series, initially maintaining a 24-hour schedule of shows dating from the 1950s to the early 1990s along with rarely seen older programming. There have been some deviations to the format, including during the network's ownership under Equity, which added some original talk programming (notably Unreliable Sources) during the late night slot on weeknights from the summer of 2008 to early 2009, a concept billed as "Classic Hits All Day & Fresh Talk All Night".[9] The network has also featured originally produced horror film showcases such as Wolfman Mac's Chiller Drive-In[10] and Off Beat Cinema; RTN also aired the talk show 'Daytime' produced by WFLA-TV's Riverbank Studios in Tampa, Florida. The show starred co-hosts Jerry Penacoli and Cyndi Edwards.

By June 2011, when RTN's distribution agreement with NBCUniversal Television Distribution ended, the network adjusted its schedule to feature programming from other distributors (such as I Spy and Starsky and Hutch) and public domain programs (such as early episodes of The Beverly Hillbillies), as well as more recent programs (such as Cold Squad and Da Vinci's Inquest), and reality and documentary programming (including reruns of Cold Case Files).[11] RTN also features a Saturday morning block of vintage cartoon programming.[12]

RTN's current programming roster draws from various distributors including Classic Media, Genesis International, Peter Rodgers Organization, and Sony Pictures Television (which maintains a distribution agreement with competitor Antenna TV), as well as Stay Creepy Productions (which distributes Wolfman Mac's Chiller Drive-In) and John DiSciullo (the distributor of Off Beat Cinema). The network previously had major content deals with CBS Paramount Television Distribution until July 2008,[13] and NBCUniversal Television Distribution (whose programming agreement began after the deal with CBS ended) until June 2011.[11]

Until 2011, RTN offered a customized schedule for use at the discretion of the local affiliate. By June 2011, when RTN's relationship with NBCUniversal ended, the network moved towards a set national schedule, although affiliates have the option to pre-empt or reschedule some network programming.[14]

Affiliates

As of April 18, 2013, RTN (according to the network's website) maintains current or future carriage agreements with approximately 90 television stations in the United States. While the network's primary strategy is carriage on digital subchannels of local broadcast stations, only 22 stations within its affiliate body are presently full-power stations. RTV is also seen on approximately 70 digital low-power stations.

Prior to the 2009 digital transition, RTN was seen on a number of analog stations owned by Equity Media Holdings, the network's former owner. Some Equity stations mixed RTN programming with first-run and recent off-network syndicated programming or also carried another networks, such as MyNetworkTV or Ion Television.

References

  1. ↑ "The Top 25 Digital Broadcast Networks". TVNewsCheck.com. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 28 December 2014.
  2. ↑ SES-2 at 87.0°W, LyngSat Archived May 29, 2014 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Free TV from United States, LyngSat Archived December 7, 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ↑ Arkansas Business: "Creditor Files to Liquidate Equity Media, Claims Company Cannot Meet Payroll Obligations", 12/10/2008. Archived February 18, 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Jessell, Harry A. (1/5/2009). "Financial Dispute Disrupts RTN Diginet". tVNewsCheck. Retrieved February 18, 2015. Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ↑ "RTN Rebrands as RTV", from broadcastingcable.com 6/17/2009 Archived September 28, 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ↑ "Attorney Defends Luken Actions In Purchase Of Retro TV Programming". The Chattanoogan. July 24, 2013. Retrieved July 27, 2013.
  8. ↑ Marcucci, Carl (October 31, 2012). "Luken RTV affiliate losses not a big hit". Radio-TV Business Report (Streamline RBR, Inc). Retrieved February 18, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Back from Basic," from BusinessTN, September/October 2009 Archived February 23, 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ↑ "Wolfman Mac interview", from Outsight Radio Hours, 3/27/2011
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Primetime All The Time on RTV: New line-up of program as of 6/27/11 Retrieved June 27, 2011
  12. ↑ "RTV Bringing Back Retro Saturday Morning TV", from TVNewsCheck, 8/5/2010
  13. ↑ Creditor Files to Liquidate Equity Media, Claims Company Cannot Meet Payroll Obligations Archived February 18, 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  14. ↑ RTV Changes Schedule, Loses Universal Archived August 24, 2013 at the Wayback Machine

External links