Equity Channels....then and now

[Mr Tony]

Here is a trip down memory lane....and for some of the FTA newbies a history lesson

About 8 years ago there use to be 3 transponders on Galaxy 18 KU Band (when it was G10R) 123W that had a bunch of local affiliates of networks. All were owned by Equity Broadcasting of Little Rock, AR. They ran all the stations out of Little Rock and beamed the stations back to the towers in the local area.
Back in 09 they filed Bankruptcy and sold off pretty much all the stations. The last ones left in August 09

So you might wonder...where are they now? Or better yet...what are they now?
Here is a list of the stations in early 09. Note that Equity shuffled stations around so we'd lose a station and gain a different market. Also they changed affiliations alot in some markets. Because they were low powered they got the "bottom of the barrel" in programming.....Equity also started Retro TV Network....the predecessor to RTV. But in some folks opinions RTN as it was called was much better than it is today as they had programming that is now elsewhere (MeTV, Antenna TV)
Also when the whole Luken/Equity/RTV thing went down (big dispute...remember the red screen of death?)

call sign/network as of closing/city or market/what it is now/the different affiliations they had (that I can remember...some changed weekly)

ironically 5 are still the same...and 3 are Univision

 

[KE4EST]

Thanks for the Posting this Ice. I got foggy on what exactly happened.

 

[Mr Tony]

Here is the thread when the bankruptcy started
http://www.satelliteguys.us/threads/171945-Equity-channels-sold-will-leave-satellite-now-gone

whats crazy is at one point we had affiliates of ABC, UPN, WB, FOX, Univision, Telefutura, PAX (now Ion) and Equity's "lick tv" (yes that is what they called it) all on one satellite
and actually the nets on 99W C-Band originally started on 123W too...CBS, ABC and WB (at the time)

fun times

 

[Anole]

Appreciate the synopsis.
I'd forgotten how long ago it'd been.

 

[Tron]

Ahhh, memories.

My first FTA dish (the 1 meter Channel Master) was fixed on 123W for the Equity stuff. It is now fixed two degrees West for the PBS stuff ...

The Tube on 123W (and on C-Band at 87W if I recall correctly) was one of the best FTA channels of all time. In my opinion, it was the best music video channel of all time.

 

[PopcornNMore]

I still have copies of the station icons you posted several years ago. They are neat to look at once in awhile.

 

[Corrado]

Now and then I watch something I recorded back then and it's great to see all the old promos.

 

[Mr Tony]

Here are the Lyngsat charts for the Equity channels (the affiliations are on some of the channels)

1/4/05

and 5/26/05 (with a noticeable addition)

 

[Blindowl1234]

Ahh how I remember the good old days. 123w was a good place for a fixed dish back then too

 

[Mr Tony]

yup. Had a fixed dish and like 4 receivers running off of that dish

 

[empiretc]

OTA + G10R was a great combination...... back in the day...


retrojams!

 

[Larry1]

But in some folks opinions RTN as it was called was much better than it is today as they had programming that is now elsewhere

The shows that were on (not just RTN, but on Ku on G10r) were numerous with the ability to timeshift or received varied programming due to the many affiliates they servered. I could start listing the shows I remember from G10r, but the list is sooooo big. Some that I remeber well are.... Unreliable Sources, The Tube, and one from when I was setting up a dish was a teen girl out in the forest shooting a deer giving hunting and makeup tips. (never knew what the name of that show was) Also, once before an episode of Hogans Heroes was to start, they had the DVD menu with mouse moving over to select the show to play. I need to dig out some of my old recording, as there were so many great shows.

 

[Mr Tony]

and one from when I was setting up a dish was a teen girl out in the forest shooting a deer giving hunting and makeup tips. (never knew what the name of that show was)

Outdoor Adventures with the Rajun Sexy Cajuns

Still have a disc here of some shows

 

[Larry1]

Captain RTV sits next to my TV waiting for the programming to return.....

 

[Wescopc]

I think 123W was referred to as "the poor mans cable"
Bob

 

[Mr Tony]

pretty much

 

[Joe Capitano]

Ah, memories. It was nice having the ABC channels (Cheyenne and Casper) around during the infamous "Fish v dish" retrans battle of '09. KOMO was vapor for over five months then.

I still consider Fisher's Colleen Brown to be an idiot.