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Diginet Discoveries

Tim Hanlon

In our homage to broadcast diginets last week, we teased the notion that today's overflowing cornucopia of linear streaming CTV FAST channels owe a debt of gratitude to their OG OTA subchannel pioneers for helping prove out the business case for free, ad-supported, inexpensive-to-produce, library-powered, genre-based "television." 

In fact, some of the best FAST offerings are now extensions or even live simulcasts of TV station multicast networks, as broadcasters look to extend the scale and reach of their diginet brands into the pure-play streaming realm.  And, in the ultimate mind-meld, a handful of new/original FASTs are now even flexing "backwardly" into broadcast diginets themselves after first proving themselves in streaming.

While the technical distinctions between a true linear broadcast subchannel and a digital streaming/FAST channel may be blurring (a potential boon for broadcasters in the years ahead as NextGen TV's hybrid OTA/IP backbone promises to offer exponentially more content choices to viewers), there is no denying that the broadcast diginet model has become an influential blueprint for the future of linear television - and a canvas for programming creativity to boot.

Some of the most notable examples (and favorites) as recently gleaned from our trusty TiVo Edge OTA antenna/DVR setup:

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MeTV: Weigel Broadcasting's original "Definitive Destination for Classic TV" diginet (launched in 2003), and arguably still the category's best, features a rotating variety of revered shows across multiple programming genres, with a hefty dollop of thematic original fare like oddball horror film host Svengoolie, and the addictive morning animation show Toon in With Me - the success of which is fueling the June 25 launch of spinoff channel MeTV Toons.

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Catchy Comedy: Another Weigel creation (initially as a joint venture with CBS O&O stations called Decades), Catchy is the gold standard of legendary TV sitcoms and comedy-leaning variety shows - featuring (among other things) a daily block of Norman Lear-produced classics, and weekend-long Catchy Binge marathons featuring a deep bench (and often full episode libraries) of oft-forgotten fare (like Thanksgiving weekend's Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts).

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BUZZR: What Sony's Game Show Network started on cable during the 90s, Fremantle's BUZZR continues today - nothing but classic TV game shows from decades past (including 70s celebrity totems Match Game and Tattletales) - with overnight blocks of 1960s black-and-white pioneers like What's My Line and I've Got a Secret, and an annual “Lost & Found” week, featuring lost episodes, never-before-seen pilots and other game show curio.

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Movies!: For cord-cutters missing Turner Classic Movies or priced out of streaming's Criterion Channel, this joint venture between Weigel and the FOX O&O station group is the next best (and completely free) thing. Movies! features a surprisingly rich array of films across decades and genres, with only light-touch editing, limited commercial breaks, and irregular start times to ensure as much breathing room as possible. Themed highlights include dedicated film noir blocks all-day Thursdays and on Sunday nights, plus Friday Night Frights double-features.

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Antenna TV & Rewind TV: Two Tribune Broadcasting originals, now owned/run by Nexstar, featuring a wider array of sitcoms from the 50s-90s (Antenna) and 80s-00s (Rewind). Less original curation and specials than MeTV, but Antenna's daily evening run of original day/date episodes of the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson - renamed here as simply Johnny Carson - is a standout, and includes older/rarer 90-minute shows from the early 70s on Saturday nights.

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Comet: Sinclair's home for modern-day sci-fi classics like The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Stargate SG-1 (and movies too), Comet has recently upgraded carriage to stronger signals across the U.S., as well as begun hosting an annual in-person Comet Fest for fans of the genre.

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Fox Weather: Regardless of your feelings about Fox News, the concept and build-out of the company's relatively new weather spinoff channel was both counter-intuitive and forward-thinking. This now-widely-distributed diginet actually started first as a digital app, before later evolving into a FAST linear streaming channel and then into broadcast carriage via digital TV subchannels (anchored by slots on Fox O&O stations of course) - a novel risk-reducing model for launching a "TV network" in the digital era. The channel leverages meteorologist talent from Fox's O&O and expansive affiliated stations group, and has already usurped cable's venerable Weather Channel in terms of volume and consistency of actual live weather coverage.

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CourtTV: Scripps and its former Katz Networks diginet division brought the pioneering 90s/early 00s cable channel brand back as an OTA subchannel network back in 2019, where it now sits alongside sister channels Scripps News, Bounce and ION as one of its most-watched. In a sea of true crime streaming offerings, CourtTV stands out above the fray - aided and abetted by extensive live coverage of trials and court procedures.

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NEWSNet: Many viewers of certain age fondly remember (and relied upon) Ted Turner's CNN cable spinoff Headline News for a punchy, concise and live-ish 30-minute newswheel featuring hard news, sports, weather and entertainment, repeated and updated 24/7. The "just the headlines" concept has been revived by 5-hour Energy founder and entrepreneurial media mogul Manoj Bhargava, this time with a bare-bones studio broadcasting out of Cadillac, MI - and a growing number of local station affiliates providing both network carriage and development of local news content and advertising.    

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Merit Street: This brand new diginet (and simulcast FAST channel) is the latest in a series of Christian lifestyle-adjacent offerings from religi-caster Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), and is co-produced by TV's controversial "Dr. Phil" McGraw, whose signature show returns to anchor the primetime proceedings. Also aboard is the ever-snarling true-crime sensationalist Nancy Grace, reruns from Steve Harvey, PBR Rodeo, and a gauzy Joel Cheatwood-produced “News on Merit Street” nightly issues-focused news magazine that is light on reporting and heavy on stock footage and opinions. A curious content brew for sure - and it bears (ahem) watching.

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