1 of 1- RadioActive
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New Subcarrier Channel Now Airing In Buffalo As Of July 1st
It comes from Scripps, which owns WBKW-TV, and it could well turn up on Channel 7 on Monday. It's called "Ion Plus" and is already a FAST channel you can access online. But this would bring it to over-the-air sets without having to do anything but change the channel.
(WPXJ, Channel 51 in nearby Batavia, already has the Ion Network, so it could also turn up there.)
So what will you see on the newcomer? As often happens with these kinds of things, everything new is old again.
"Programming on Ion Plus features off-network series including MacGyver, Scorpion, Murdoch Mysteries, Leverage, Hudson & Rex and Private Eyes."
So will it wind up here? We could find out as soon as Canada Day.
Scripps Takes Ion Plus FAST Channel Over the Air
- djwildbill
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Re: New Subcarrier Channel Now Airing In Buffalo As Of July 1st
Nice to see this network carrying CanCon programming like Private Eyes (filmed in Toronto) and Murdoch Mysteries. See, now the Americans are demanding our programming. Oh Canada!!
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djwildbill wrote:
Nice to see this network carrying CanCon programming like Private Eyes (filmed in Toronto) and Murdoch Mysteries. See, now the Americans are demanding our programming. Oh Canada!!
Perhaps and there's nothing wrong with these programs. But remember that subcarriers are run on the cheap, they have a lot of time to fill and are looking for inexpensive programming with multiple episodes. The Canadian shows seem to fill that bill.
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Thread Starter- pinto
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Re: New Subcarrier Channel Now Airing In Buffalo As Of July 1st
Soon there will be a BDU where every channel is Hudson & Rex
- paterson1
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Re: New Subcarrier Channel Now Airing In Buffalo As Of July 1st
Nice to see this network carrying CanCon programming like Private Eyes (filmed in Toronto) and Murdoch Mysteries. See, now the Americans are demanding our programming. Oh Canada!!
Perhaps and there's nothing wrong with these programs. But remember that subcarriers are run on the cheap, they have a lot of time to fill and are looking for inexpensive programming with multiple episodes. The Canadian shows seem to fill that bill.
Cancon is a reason why the main over the air ION network is still around. They have been featuring lots of Canadian programming for decades. Shows like Flashpoint, Murdoch Mysteries, Nakita, Durham County, Saving Hope, The Listener,and many others helped the network survive years ago. Now they are doing the same for ION Plus sub carriers.
- ckg927
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Re: New Subcarrier Channel Now Airing In Buffalo As Of July 1st
WKBW's subchannels are Bounce(.2), Grit(.3) and Ion Mystery(.4)...all of which are owned by Scripps, as well as HSN(.5). So they MIGHT be able to add ION Plus. WPXJ(ch.51), afffiliated with Scripps but not owned by them, is pretty much maxed out on subchannels(Court TV, Grit, Laff, Defy and Scripps News, plus 3 shopping channels)
Last edited by ckg927 (June 28, 2024 3:55 pm)
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Re: New Subcarrier Channel Now Airing In Buffalo As Of July 1st
The linked article said 90% of the country will get it. I hope Buffalo is part of that percentage. By the way, there's duplication of I think it's "Grit" on both WKBW and WPXJ. So perhaps one of those can be dropped to make way for the newcomer.
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Thread Starter- RadioActive
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Re: New Subcarrier Channel Now Airing In Buffalo As Of July 1st
It appears the answer is WPXJ's Channel 51.5 subcarrier will have the newcomer. Scripps is shutting down DefyTV as of Monday and will replace it with Ion Plus.
More details here.
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Thread Starter- paterson1
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Re: New Subcarrier Channel Now Airing In Buffalo As Of July 1st
Has anyone looked at the schedule for ION Plus? It is not just a bit of cancon, but a whole lot of it. Shows that don't even play here anymore like CTV's Sue Thomas F.B. Eye. The original ION network ran all of these shows many years ago. Anyway here is the schedule for this week some days are almost all cancon.
- Glen Warren
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Not directly related but kinda,,,,
I've noticed that WGRZ / Tegna has finally ended the duplication of Crime that was appearing on the 2.5 sub channel. (2.5 used to be some sort of fashion or scented candle channel)
It has now been replaced by "Nosey" which appears to be old re runs of Jerry Springer, Maury "You are the father" Povich and other such assorted high brow shows... (So now, the scented candles would really be handy...)
Occasionally, it still falls back to a Crime show here and there...
- djwildbill
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Re: New Subcarrier Channel Now Airing In Buffalo As Of July 1st
Has anyone looked at the schedule for ION Plus? It is not just a bit of cancon, but a whole lot of it. Shows that don't even play here anymore like CTV's Sue Thomas F.B. Eye. The original ION network ran all of these shows many years ago. Anyway here is the schedule for this week some days are almost all cancon.
Maybe they’ll be lucky enough to carry “The Trouble With Tracy”. A true CanCon classic. Lol
- paterson1
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Re: New Subcarrier Channel Now Airing In Buffalo As Of July 1st
Has anyone looked at the schedule for ION Plus? It is not just a bit of cancon, but a whole lot of it. Shows that don't even play here anymore like CTV's Sue Thomas F.B. Eye. The original ION network ran all of these shows many years ago. Anyway here is the schedule for this week some days are almost all cancon.
Maybe they’ll be lucky enough to carry “The Trouble With Tracy”. A true CanCon classic. Lol
The Trouble With Tracy was not on film but video tape. I have a feeling most of the tapes were scrubbed years ago, to bury the evidence! When CTV's Comedy Network first came on the air, they ran promos every so often promoting a full weekend with the best of The Trouble With Tracy, and the dreadful CBC sitcom Not My Department. They had no intention of showing any, but were running the promos as a joke.
Not My Department ran for only six episodes and only on CBC owned stations. Then Ontario Premier David Peterson's wife Shelly was in the program. CBC cancelled the show after it dipped to under 500,000 viewers. Oddly enough, that would be classified as a good prime time rating today, even for a US simsubed show.
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Re: New Subcarrier Channel Now Airing In Buffalo As Of July 1st
I checked Monday morning and sure enough, Channel 51.5 is, in fact, the new Ion Plus.
As noted, it comes after Scripps decided to end its "Defy" channel, which consisted of unscripted and home improvement-like shows. (What those programs had to do with "Defy" is beyond me.)
But that doesn't mean the old station is completely gone. It's been resurrected on something called "Free TV Networks," a group of over-the-air subcarriers and FAST online-only channels whose owner believes there's still life in the format.
Free TV Networks Rebrands, Launches Defy Broadcast Network
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