Grit (TV network)

Grit

Type	Digital broadcast television network (Movies)
Country	United States
Availability	Nationwide via OTA digital television (covering 80% of the U.S.)[1]
Founded	April 3, 2014 (2014-04-03) by Jonathan Katz
Slogan	Television with Backbone
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia
Owner	Grit Media, LLC
Parent	Katz Broadcasting, LLC
Key people	Jonathan Katz (president/CEO, Katz Broadcasting) Bill Cox (SVP of programming, Grit)[2]
Launch date	August 18, 2014 (2014-08-18)[3]
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Affiliates	List of Grit affiliates
Official website	www.grittv.com

Grit is an American digital multicast television network that is owned by Katz Broadcasting.^[4] The network primarily focuses on feature films, and is targeted at men between the ages of 25 and 54 years old; although the network mainly competes with digital multicast networks such as This TV, Movies! and GetTV, the network's gender-targeted format is similar to that of Tuff TV and cable channels such as Spike and Esquire Network.

The network is available in many media markets via the digital subchannels of broadcast television stations and on the digital tiers of select cable providers through a local affiliate of the network.

Originally, Katz sold the network to affiliated TV stations via ad split but by October 2015 had moved to a carriage fees in exchange for the network get the ad inventory due to greater inventory with stations adding a third or fourth subchannel.^[5]1 Grit used direct response advertising as a meter of viewers before switching to Nielsen rating C-3.^[5]3

History

Grit was announced by Katz Broadcasting along with a sister network Escape on April 3, 2014, with a formal launch scheduled for that summer with initial affiliates announced at this time being Univision Communications owned stations.^[4] On August 11, 2014, Katz announced that the two networks would launch simultaneously on August 18. Grit launched at 12:00 p.m. Eastern Time on that date,^[6] with the 1952 film High Noon as the network's inaugural broadcast, leading off a week-long festival of John Wayne films.^[3]

Katz estimated, based on direct response advertising business by September 2015, the network had over 250,000 prime time viewer and available in 91 million homes and 81% of the country. At that time, Grit along with its sister network, Escape, were signing up for national ratings from Nielsen. Previously handling the network's direct response advertising, Marathon Ventures would continue after the change over with advertising and sponsorship sales.^[7]

Programming

Grit's program schedule relies primarily on theatrically released western and action films, as well as a limited amount of acquired television series distributed for first-run and off-network syndication, such as Laramie, and Walker, Texas Ranger.^[8] Katz Broadcasting president and CEO Jonathan Katz based the demographic-targeted concept of Escape and Grit after Bounce TV, a network Katz co-founded with Martin Luther King III and Andrew Young in 2011 that is targeted at African American audiences. Katz stated Escape and Grit are "the country’s first ever male-centric and female-centric broadcast networks," featuring different programming from other classic television multicast networks that Katz referred to as "generic brands with generic names, created by studios to serve the studios."^[9]

Movies

Grit's program schedule relies primarily on an extensive library of films through multi-year program licensing agreements with several major film studios: Warner Bros. Pictures,^[10] Universal Pictures,^[11] Paramount Pictures ^[12] and Sony Pictures Entertainment.^[13]

Affiliates

As of March 2015, Grit has current or pending affiliation agreements with television stations covering approximately 78% of the United States.^[14]

When the network was first announced, Grit entered into an affiliation agreement with Univision Communications, which launched the network in 24 markets served by a station owned by the group or operated through local marketing agreements with Entravision Communications – giving Grit affiliates in 12 of the 20 largest U.S. television markets (including markets such as New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth). The network immediately sought carriage on the digital subchannels of television stations owned by other broadcasting companies;^[4] on June 17, 2014, Katz signed group deals to carry Grit on stations owned and/or operated by Raycom Media in 26 markets.^[15]

On July 17, 2014, Katz announced affiliation deals with the Cox Media Group to carry Grit on WFTV in Orlando and KMYT-TV in Tulsa; as well as KJWP in the Philadelphia market, and Citadel Communications-owned stations in Providence (WLNE-TV) and Lincoln (KLKN). It also expanded its affiliation deal with Univision Communications to add stations in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and Phoenix to the network's originally announced Univision-owned charter affiliates.^[16][17]

On October 9, 2014, the Sinclair Broadcast Group announced that it would carry the network on stations it owns and/or operates in 47 markets.^[18]

On November 16, 2015, Katz announced an affiliation deal with Media General adding the network to five more markets.^[19]

List of affiliates

References

External links

• www.grittv.com Official website